Suffix-specific Icons

1 Initial Problem

File objects in ILIAS generally all have the same icon, there is no differentiation based on the content in the icons. From operating systems and file browsers, users are often used to being able to distinguish which type of file it is based on the icon.

2 Conceptual Summary

We would like to distinguish the icons in the display of file objects in the Tile View and the List View depending on the file type. We would only support a set of file types by default and deliver the corresponding icons. These would be distinguished by the file extension in the icon:

The management of icons for file types should be possible in the administration. New icons can be uploaded for file extensions (always only one icon per file extension possible), the default icons are already recorded.

3 User Interface Modifications

3.1 List of Affected Views

• facs/file_objects
  • New Tab / View: "Suffix specific Icons"

3.2 User Interface Details

The new view lists all available icons as presentationTable. Via a button in the toolbar, new icons can be added. Thereby the following fields are raised in a form next to the SVG icon (upload):
- Suffixes (Text, comma-separated)
- Active (checkbox)
When saving, it is checked whether an icon has already been entered for this one of those suffixes. In this case, an error message is output and the form cannot be saved.

Existing icons can be edited. The Suffixes and Active fields can be edited, and a new icon can be uploaded to overwrite the existing one.

We suggest to deliver ILIAS 9 with a set of default Icons for the following suffixes:

• pdf
• docx,doc,odt
• jpg,jpeg
• png
• mp3
• mp4,m4a
• m4v
• xlsx,xls,ods
• ppsx,pps,odp

3.3 New User Interface Concepts

none

3.4 Accessibility Implications

Only existing UI components are used; the accessibility implications of these components apply.

4 Technical Information

To display the icons, a consumer is required for the IRSS, which can deliver the icons directly without prior verification.
Furthermore, there is a dependency or an incompatibility with the skin (system styles). Since the icons for suffixes are dynamic and no final list of icons is defined, these icons cannot be overwritten by system styles.

5 Privacy

No user-related data is collected or processed

6 Security

The icons for file types can be delivered directly without prior check, a rights check is not necessary in this case.

7 Contact

• Author of the Request: Schmid, Fabian [fschmid]
• Maintainer: Schmid, Fabian [fschmid]
• Implementation of the feature is done by: Schmid, Fabian [fschmid] / Zehnder, Lukas [lzehnder] / Fuhrer, Thibeau [tfuhrer]

8 Funding

If you are interest in funding this feature, please add your name and institution to this list.

• Universität Basel

9 Discussion

Seiler, Yvonne [yvseiler], 12 JUL 2022: As a simple variant for the provision of a set of icons for common file types (e.g. for the Office Palette), we could have our icon designer Caroline Wanner develop a variant that corresponds to the "PDF" icon currently used in the administration for PDF generation (Administration > System and Maintenance):

Instead of PDF, there could be WORD (W) or EXCEL (E) or P(?). This system could also be applied to other file types (e.g. ODT).

If desired, the typical product colours could be used here (blue, green, orange) -> Note: These would then be the only icons with colour, I'm not sure if we want that.

If we want to follow this path, the current PDF icon in the administration would probably have to be replaced and supplemented with something that includes "Generate" (hint from Kunkel, Matthias [mkunkel]).

Lanz, Jonas [jlanz], 27.07.2022: We should make the wording clear:

• File Type: There are twenty main types of files. Files of each group can have several extensions (see. https://www.g2.com/glossary/file-type)
• Mime Type or Media Type: This can be "application", "audio", "image" etc. As far as I understand, the information of the type of these files is stored in the file itself.
• Files with the same extension can have different icons depending on the application they are registered with. I.e. a csv-file can be registered with Excel or with Word as well.

As a conclusion we have to create individual Icons for each File Type in combination with the appropriate File Extensions. This would be a large number of Icons.

Schmid, Fabian [fschmid] 2022-09-06: Thanks Jonas for your input. We changed the suggested behaviour: you now can upload one icons for multiple suffixes. Therefore you can create a set e.g. for all image types with one generic image-icon. the whole feature request is designed for suffixes only, no mimetypes or other ways of categorising files. besides, it is only about the presentation in ILIAS, which icon a file gets after download depends on the operating system and other factors.

10 Implementation

A new view for managing the suffix-specific icons has been added under Administration > Repository and Objects > Files: Suffix-Specific Icons. Es mentioned in JF, this is implementated as a presentation table.

After the update to ILIAS 9, this view will contain a set of default icons for the following file extensions:

• avi, bmp, csv, docx, flv, gif, ico, jpg, md, mov, mp3, mp4, odp, ods, odt, pdf, png, pptx, rtf, svg, tiff, txt, wav, wma, xlsx, xml

Default icons cannot be deleted but deactivated. Adding new icons works as follows via a form:

You cannot add icons for file extensions that already have an active icon.

Icons are then displayed in the list view and in the object titles according to their file extension: 

We implemented a Filter as well to Filter Default Icons, Inactive Icons and per Suffix Test Cases

Testcases

Test cases completed at 09 FEB 2023 by Lorenz, Katharina [klorenz] 

C54151 : Icon suchen

C54149: Neues Icon hinzufügen

C54150: Icon (de-)aktivieren

C54152: Endungen aktualisieren

Approval

Approved at 06.03.2023 by Francz, Gilbert [gilbertfrancz]gilbertfrancz [/iln](Gilbert Francz, gilbert.francz@unibas.ch, Uni Basel).