Asset Download is an add-on component for STEP that enables users to provide a URL to an asset on a product or entity and have STEP automatically download the asset. This functionality allows users—typically suppliers—to efficiently create and/or replace their business-critical assets in STEP, adding an additional layer of flexibility in how they can manage and store the assets and images that need to be linked to their products.
The Asset Download component enables STEP to pull assets (e.g., images) from external URLs, store them in supplier asset classification structures, and link them to products or entities in an automated operation. It can be used from within the Web UI, workbench, and during imports—i.e., any location where bulk updates and business actions can be run. This functionality can be used for non-image assets as well, such as owner's manuals, MSDS sheets, videos, and so forth.
This feature supports both the download of new assets and the replacement of existing assets. Users can have an asset downloaded from the web by providing the image URL as an attribute value on the product or entity to which the asset will be linked. Through a bulk update operation, or a business action invoked from, for instance, an import or workflow transition, STEP fetches the asset from the URL, stores it in a specified supplier asset classification hierarchy, then links it to the product or entity using a specified asset reference type. The same processes can also be used to replace the content of existing assets. The image URL is checked against previously downloaded assets to determine whether to replace an existing asset or create a new one.
Prerequisites and Considerations for Using Asset Download
- Your STEP server must be able to communicate externally with the location of the specified URL attribute value before assets can be downloaded.
- Standard Asset Download functionality will only work on supplier products or entities, which are products or entities that are linked into a supplier product or entity classifications. However, the actual execution of the features (such as the running of an asset URL bulk update or business rule, detailed within this documentation section) can be performed by any STEP user.
If you need to work with non-supplier products or perform other non-standard operations, such as asset content replacement, you can script an 'Execute JavaScript' business action using the public JavaScript API method, which is detailed in the Configuring Asset Download - Business Rules and Bulk Updates topic here.
- The executing user for Asset Download business rules and bulk updates must have the required permissions, which include, but are not limited to, writing values to the specified URL attribute, linking assets to products, and linking assets to classification structures.
Topics Covered in This Guide
This guide / documentation section covers the following topics: