20. How to control Information Fetching in MediaLibrary 3.5.x Shop

In this article we will take a closer look at how to control Information Fetching in MediaLibrary 3.5.x Shop.

Fetching information from Amazon in MediaLibrary 3.5.x Shop

When you set the Media Information fetching to Amazon host with the Default host entry in Configure Settings, then the Media details will be fetched from that Amazon host at each page reload.

This is certainly not desirable in the long run, especially the MediaLibrary 3.5.x Shop will also pull in the Amazon Media descriptions from Amazon.com, which you can edit after.

If you set the Fetch Information entry for Media installed on the Amazon server, it would mean that the information you edited will be overwrite (because the new information fetch at the next page reload). From hosts other than Amazon.com, when the Media description is not available through AWS, your entered Media description will be overwrite by the blank page again at the next page reload. So after retrieving the Media info, it is recommend to set the Fetch Information field to "On your own".

Downloading Media information

When a Media's Fetch Information: option is set to "Amazon host" Fetches all information and cover from Amazon at every page load. When this option is set to "On your own" Fetches all information and cover from your own server at each page load.
Exception is only the Media cover image. You have to specify you want to use the locally saved cover!

Manual Media entry in MediaLibrary 3.5.x Shop

When you set Fetch Information to "On your own", ALL fields become freely changeable for manual entry.

The practical way to enter Medias

Fetch the initial info and cover from Amazon (filling only in MediaID, ISBN/ASIN and Category)
Set the Media's Fetch Information field to "On your own"
Edit the Media (title, author, description, etc.)
Indicate that you want to use the locally saved cover by the [Local cover] button
Save your entry

Now all your edited data remain as you put it, until the next time you set the Media to fetch information from Amazon. The additional advantage is that your pages will load much faster, because they don't have to retrieve the Media details from Amazon every time.

Remark:

When you choose Fetch Information to "On your own", ALL fields become freely editable and therefore must be filled manually to make a difference. For example, the cover image path will continue to point to the Amazon image, until you set it to a local path!

Standard path for the covers is /components/com_MediaLibrary/covers. The cover images follow the ISBN/ASIN entered for the Media, so will become ISBN/ASIN_random_number.jpg. For example 0470376031_324676788.jpg. Which means that to set the local Media cover path you would enter: /components/com_MediaLibrary/covers/0470376031_324676788.jpg.

In versions earlier then MediaLibrary 1.5.3 Shop you had to set this path manually after choosing "On your own". From version 1.5.3 onward there is a button provided inside the Media edit page to set the path to the local cover image automatically.

Using local database entries and local covers instead of fetching from Amazon

To avoid issues with data overwriting when a Media entry has been edited by you, we recommend the following way:

In Configure Settings set Download Covers to "YES". This will save a copy of the Media cover in a local folder on your server and make sure you have the cover available after you change the Medias Information Fetching property to "On your own" after editing.
In Configure Settings set the Default host to "On your own"
In Media Manager enter your Medias manually or through the import functions
Select the Medias for which you want to fetch information and click the [Refetch Information] button. You will get an option to choose the Amazon server of your choice in the next screen.
Select the Amazon server you want and click Fetch Information again. You will see a screen with the result of the fetching.
Now click [Cancel] or go directly to the Media Manager.
Select each Media and edit the information.

Important:

Set the Fetch Information dropdown box to "On your own". Use the button [Set Local Cover Path] inside the Media edit page to set the path to the locally saved Media cover.

Save your Media details when you finished editing.
Your edited Media information is now locked from Refetch Information overwrites until you choose to Refetch again.
This will ensure that the Media details and covers will be taken now from the local database tables and local cover location instead of from Amazon at each page refresh.
Your pages will also load much faster, because they don't have to retrieve the Media details from Amazon every time