Assets Server REST API - updatebulk

What does it do?

This call updates the metadata of multiple existing assets in Assets Server, either by using a query or based on ID.

Log in requirement

Before being able to request information from Assets Server by using a GET request or make changes to the system through a POST request, a log in to Assets Server is required. For information about the available APIs for logging in, see Assets Server REST API - introduction.

POST requests only

This REST API only accepts POST requests, not GET requests. Also, the POST request needs to include a cross-site request forgery (csrf) token.

The csrf token is a unique code which, by including it in the request, also makes the POST request unique and therefore much more secure.

The csrf token is obtained by first logging in to Assets Server through a POST request. The response that is received will include the csrf token which can then be used in subsequent POST requests as a http header:

"X-CSRF-TOKEN: <some_csrf_token>"

For more information including examples, see Assets Server REST API - Performing a POST request with a csrf token.

Methods

Metadata can be updated either based on ID or by using a query.

Based on ID

In this method, assets are targeted by referencing their ID.

The API endpoint is the same as for the query method, but it takes an array of objects as parameter:

[object1, object2,object3,...]

The object in the array should have an "id" of type 'string' and a metadata object. For example:

[
  {
    "id":"8LYE_winarE8ETOFU9L2di",
    "metadata":{
      "status":"Draft"
    }
  },
  {
    "id":"8vUY-5NlKR_9d4URK-YfpP",
    "metadata":{
      "status":"Production",
      "description":"Ready for production"
    }
  },
  {
    "id":"Dnt5MAmPqVo9R1jZXpOpGN",
    "metadata":{
      "description":"A nice description of my file"
    }
  }
]

An array is returned with the updated asset objects, similar to the given parameters.

Using a query

In this method, assets are targeted based on a general query.

http://yourserver.com/services/updatebulk
    ?q=<query>
    &metadata=<JSON encoded metadata>
    &<Elvis metadata field name>=<value>

Parameters

Return value

The operation returns a JSON object with the following properties:

If called with async=true, the operation returns a JSON object with the following properties:

If the operation fails, a JSON error object is returned.

Examples

Update metadata

This call sets the rating to 4 and status to New for all assets with the tag "animal":

http://demo.assets-server.com/services/updatebulk
    ?q=tags:animal
    &metadata={rating: -1, status: "Correction"}

Passing metadata as separate parameters is useful when working with HTML forms, but for AJAX calls it can be easier to pass metadata as a JSON encoded string. The following will set the rating to "Rejected" (-1) and will change the status to "Correction" on all assets below the "Demo Zone/Images/Nature" folder:

http://demo.assets-server.com/services/updatebulk
    ?q=ancestorPaths:"/Demo Zone/Images/Nature"
    &rating=0
    &status=New

Add values to existing metadata

Using an updatebulk, you can append or remove existing metadata on multiple assets. For example, you could add a tag to a set of assets while leaving their current tags intact.

Tip: You need to escape the '+' character with %2B if you use it in URLs. A plain '+' would be interpreted as a space character (as defined in the specification on URL encoding).

The following call will remove the "house" tag from all assets that have it, while at the same time adding the tags "beach", "villa", "sunny". If one of the assets has the tags "sea", "bay", those would not be removed. If one of the assets has the tag "villa", it will not get "villa" twice; assets can only have a specific tag once.

http://demo.assets-server.com/services/updatebulk
    ?q=tags:house
    &tags=%2Bbeach, -house, %2Bvilla, %2Bsunny

It is also possible to append text to a single value field using the '+' character or add text around the existing value using {CURRENT}.

http://demo.assets-server.com/services/updatebulk
    ?q=tags:house
    &description=%2Bhouse
    &subject=before{CURRENT}after