Defining the Media Management Framework

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to describe the media management framework structure and operations.

Defining the Media Management Framework

In SAP Commerce Cloud, the Media Management Framework is a set of tools and features that help you manage media assets in the e-commerce platform.

It provides a centralized system for storing, organizing, and delivering various media types, including product images, videos, documents, and more.

If you're interested in manipulating product images and using Artificial Intelligence to do so, our course on the SAP CX AI Toolkit, also available on learning.sap.com, could be of interest.

Note

In this unit, we focus only on product-related media. We also have, of course, content-related media, such as a banner component, which are managed in the content catalog via SmartEdit, but this is out of the scope of this course.

Media Item: Definition, Metadata, and Relation with the Media File

Let's start with the media files we're uploading to SAP Commerce Cloud. The files themselves aren't stored directly in the product catalog. Instead, each media file is represented by a media item, which is linked to its corresponding media file. More precisely, a media item contains a URL pointing to the physical file. The actual referenced media files can be stored in various locations. You can keep them locally, or store them remotely using Amazon S3, Windows Azure Blob, or MongoDB GridFS solutions, for example.

Media items are catalog-aware and need to be synchronized.

Note

There are catalog-aware and non-catalog-aware items. Items that are not catalog-aware aren't stored in catalogs and don't require synchronization. Product stock levels or users are a case in point. Catalog-aware items must be synchronized to appear on the storefront, so remember to do so when handling product images.

Each media item has a unique ID. For example, in the following diagram, the media items with IDs 30124_medium and 30124_thumbnail.

Each media item is assigned to a catalog version and can be synchronized across catalog versions, while the referenced media file location remains unchanged. The media file isn't synchronized; only the media item with its URL to this image is.

That's not all, though. A product image should be available in different resolutions for viewing, on a widescreen monitor or a phone, for example. Right? That means the same image is needed multiple times at various resolutions.

In the following diagram, the media item 1939743_medium references the file 1939743_medium.jpg, and the media item 1939743_thumbnail references the file 1939743_thumbnail.jpg. Both files represent the same image in a different resolution, as you can tell from their identifiers.

This diagram highlights how media items are held in a catalog, catalog version, and product. It also shows the link between a media item and the physical image file.

A System View of the Media Item

The /300Wx300H/1934793_1719.jpg media item in the staged Electronics Product Catalog is shown as an example from the Backoffice Product Cockpit. It internally references its corresponding image file via a URL.

Screenshot showing the /300Wx300H/1934793_1719.jpg media item in the Product Cockpit, displaying metadata including the highlighted URL, as well as ID, catalog version, and PK.

So, how is the system capable of displaying images at the correct resolution depending on the device they're viewed on? High resolution on a widescreen monitor and lower resolution on a phone.

We provide several versions of exactly the same image, but at different resolutions. SAP Commerce Cloud doesn’t know about resolutions at all. Identifier names are just labels and have meaning only to business users, not to the system itself. That is why we connect each media item to a media format to help the system find the right selection.

A media container is typically used to group media items of the same content that are in different formats: for example, the same image but in different sizes or encodings (png, jpg, bmp).

On the storefront, a media container presents just one of potentially many images to a customer. It selects the best matching one based on available space on the storefront and the assigned media format.

Relation Between Media Item and Media Container

In SAP Commerce Cloud, each media item has one media format associated with it. Typical media format examples are:

Images of size 96W x 96H are used to display product auxiliary images. Media in this format are also displayed in the Cart page.
300W x 300H, 500Wx500H, or 1200W x 1200H

A media format is used to tag different images roughly matching the expected resolution; it doesn't mean that the associated media item must have a particular size, but rather indicates its intended use. For example, a small image could be tagged as 96 x 96 (a thumbnail), indicating it should be used when displayed in a list of products.

A media container usually holds multiple media items that display the same image in different resolutions.

Summary

Media files, like product images, can be stored in various locations, either uploaded locally or accessed remotely.
Each media file is represented by a media item, which is linked to its corresponding media file. Media items are catalog-aware and need to be synchronized.
Each media item is assigned a media format to help the system find the proper image based on available space.
A media format is used to tag images that roughly match the expected resolution.
Media items linked to images in different resolutions are grouped by format in a media container.
A media container is typically used to group media items of the same content that are in different formats.
On the storefront, a media container presents just one of potentially many images to a customer. The selection is based on available space on the storefront and the assigned media format.

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