Media Server FTP Monitors
Media Server FTP Monitors
The Media Server can be used to monitor for the arrival of files sent via FTP and, according to how the monitors are configured, import files as necessary.
The tables below list the types of monitor that are currently available and the possible ways that filenames may be encoded to contain a vehicle registration, image point of view, language etc.
Table 1. Monitor Types
Monitor Type
/Monitors for
/Filename Encoding Options
BcaDirectInspectionBaseMonitor / PDF, TXT, CSV, HTM, DOC and DOCX files / BcaDirectInspectionBaseFilenameEncodingImageMonitor / Vehicle Images (JPGs) / BcaDirectVehicleImageBranchFilenameEncoding
BcaDirectVehicleImageInspectionFilenameEncoding
DefaultVehicleImageFilenameEncoding
FrenchDefaultVehicleImageFilenameEncoding
FrontRearInteriorVehicleImageFilenameDecoding
ItemConditionVehicleImageFilenameEncoding
MerkertVehicleImageFilenameEncoding
InspectionBaseMonitor / Basic Inspection PDFs / DefaultPdfFilenameEncoding
LocalizedPdfFilenameEncoding
MotMonitor / MOT PDFs / DefaultPdfFilenameEncoding
ServiceHistoryBaseMonitor / Basic Service History PDFs / DefaultPdfFilenameEncoding
SpecificationSheetMonitor / Specification Sheet PDFs / DefaultPdfFilenameEncoding
V5Monitor / V5 PDFs / DefaultPdfFilenameEncoding
V5MotMonitor / V5 and/or MOT PDFs / V5MotFilenameEncoding
Table 2. Filename Encoding Options
Filename Encoding Scheme
/Applies to
/Remarks
BcaDirectInspectionBaseFilenameEncoding / BcaDirectInspectionBaseMonitor / Decodes BCA Direct InspectionBase filenames.REGISTRATION.pdf
REGISTRATION.txt
REGISTRATION.csv
REGISTRATION.htm
REGISTRATION.doc
REGISTRATION.docx
BcaDirectVehicleImageBranchFilenameEncoding / BcaDirectInspectionBaseMonitor / Decodes BCA Direct Branch image filenames.
REGISTRATION.jpg: Master Beauty External
REGISTRATION_N.jpg:
N=1: Master Beauty External
N=any other integer: Beauty
BcaDirectVehicleImageInspectionFilenameEncoding / ImageMonitor / Decodes BCA Direct Inspection image filenames.
REGISTRATION.jpg: Beauty External
REGISTRATION_N.jpg:
N=1: Master Beauty External
N=2 or 3: Beauty
N=any other integer: Damage
DefaultPdfFilenameEncoding / InspectionBaseMonitor
MotMonitor
ServiceHistoryBaseMonitor
SpecificationSheetMonitor
V5Monitor / Decodes PDF filenames
Vehicle identifier information only is encoded in filenames
REGISTRATION.pdf
DefaultVehicleImageFilenameEncoding / ImageMonitor / Decodes image filenames
This base implementation yields no meaningful point of view
REGISTRATION.jpg
FrenchDefaultVehicleImageFilenameEncoding / ImageMonitor / Decodes image filenames
REGISTRATION_N.jpg
N=1: Master Beauty External Front
N=2: Beauty External Rear
N=3: Beauty Internal
N=any other integer: Beauty
FrontRearInteriorVehicleImageFilenameDecoding / ImageMonitor / Decodes image filenames
REGISTRATION_F.jpg: Master Beauty External Front
REGISTRATION_R.jpg: Beauty External Rear
REGISTRATION_I.jpg: Beauty Internal
ItemConditionVehicleImageFilenameEncoding / ImageMonitor / Decodes image filenames
Decodes component or equipment item, and condition information from a filename.
REGISTRATION _C_AAAA_BBBB.jpg (Component code AAAA, condition code BBBB, POV inferred from AAAA)
REGISTRATION _O_AAAA_BBBB.jpg (Option code AAAA, condition code BBBB)
LocalizedPdfFilenameEncoding / InspectionBaseMonitor / Decodes PDF filenames that contain an encoded ISO 639-1 language code
REGISTRATION_en.pdf
REGISTRATION_de.pdf
MerkertVehicleImageFilenameEncoding / ImageMonitor / Decodes image filenames
REGISTRATION_N.jpg:
N=1: Master Beauty External
N=2, N=3, N=4: Beauty External
N=5: Beauty Internal
N=6: Master
N=any other integer: Damage
V5MotFilenameEncoding / V5MotMonitor / Decodes PDF filenames that are encoded MOT or V5
REGISTRATION_XXXXX_v5.pdf
REGISTRATION_XXXXX_mot.pdf
Characters XXXXX are ignored but must be present.
FTP User Accounts
In order to setup an FTP account for users, BCA require the following information:
- The first name, last name and e-mail address of the user.
A valid working e-mail address is required in case there are any problems with the account that need to be reported back to the user. - What types of documents you intend to upload (see Table 1. Monitor Types).
- The filename encoding scheme that you intend to use (see Table 2. Filename Encoding Options).
It is very important that you decide how your files will be named because the name determines how it will be represented when it is imported into the Media Server. For vehicle images in particular, please note that there are a number of different encoding schemes to choose from.
Please note that it is possible for BCA to setup multiple monitors for an FTP account. Each folder in the FTP hierarchy is associated with one monitor. A monitor can only have one filename encoding scheme.
Vehicle Images
When uploading several images for a given vehicle, one of the images should be the Master shot. This single image is the one that is typically shown as a thumbnail in web applications, and the one that is often shown first when a list of images is shown. Typically, web applications will not show any images for a vehicle unless a Master shot is present.
At the time images are imported to the Media Server from the FTP service, the image filename and filename encoding scheme that is in operation will determine whether an image is a Master shot, a Beauty shot, Damage etc.
Optionally, according to the chosen filename encoding scheme, you may send beauty and/or damage images. This information is used by internet applications to decide the order in which images are shown (or whether they are shown at all).