CMS Integration

Use images from Asset Bank in your CMS

Asset Bank has standard functionality that enables a Content Management System to use its images. This functionality is described below. If your CMS requires a different process then we would be happy to quote for customising this functionality to suit.

The following steps describe the process by which a user of the CMS will obtain an image from Asset Bank:

In the CMS, when selecting an image, the user sees a button or link, for example: 'Get image from Image Library'. When the user clicks this link they are taken to the search page of Asset Bank. All users arriving on the Asset Bank from the CMS are logged in automatically, or as a special user (for example called 'cms-user'), and will obtain the permissions set up for this user in the Asset Bank admin area.
The user can use the Asset Bank as normal. The only difference is that on the image detail page the user does not see the 'Download' button. Instead, they see a button (or link): 'Select for CMS'.
When the user clicks this button they see a page that enables them to select where the image will be used. This can correspond to a position on one of the CMS templates (for example 'left-hand column'), and the image will be resized accordingly. When the user submits this form they will be taken back to the CMS, and the image they selected will be available for use.

Asset Bank then takes one of the following approaches:

1) It calls an interface in the CMS in order to pass back the information about the selected image. This works as follows:

Asset Bank converts and resizes the selected image and gives the new file a unique name.
The image file is transferred to a particular directory known to the CMS.
Asset Bank calls a URL to let the CMS know the name of the new image file.
The user is redirected to a particular page in the CMS. The request for this page can include parameters to identify the user and provide information about their session. If necessary, the name of the new image file can be included as a parameter as well.

2) Or, it can simply host the converted image itself (i.e. act as an image server) and return the full URL of the image to the CMS, either by calling an interface or simply by using JavaScript to populate a field on the originating form in the CMS.

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