We’re trying to keep our UI graphics (icons, images, symbols) in a shared folder that we reference under /Media, so projects can reuse the same assets without copying them everywhere. The referenced folder shows up normally in Logical View and the files are visible, but when picking an image in mappView, the image selector only displays folders that physically exist in the project’s /Media directory. Referenced folders just don’t appear, and typing the path manually isn’t accepted either.
It would be great if mappView could handle referenced /Media folders the same way it treats local ones, so the UI editor can actually select images from shared libraries. That would make it much easier to reuse graphics across projects and keep everything consistent without constantly duplicating folders and files.
Understand your idea. The AS wizard obviously only shows the media files that are physically stored in the Media folder (this is not the case for referenced files).
Just a short note from me, as moderator:
Even if the Community is often visited by product managers, it could be that someone takes the idea and implements it. But in general, if you would like to create an official request, you have to do so in the official way through your local support office. Official request = official statement: yes, we will implement it; no, we will not implement it.
We have at Community Feedback category, here you can share with us ideas and wish what to do better, what to add,but only in relation to B&R Community. Sorry
Thanks for the tip — I’ll definitely give that a try. I was hoping for a more direct solution in mappView itself, but your workaround does have the advantage of keeping everything centralized without duplicating files, which is exactly what we’re aiming for.
As you already seen, referenced packages seem not to be working if used in the Media folder. The file picker will not show the files, and even if the image path is manually entered, it will not show in the graphical Content Editor. However, during runtime it will still work, as the AS build chain seems to handle the references.
But this is not officially supported, and I would not rely on it. You can even see, that in the AS toolbox of the Media folder, you don’t have the option of referenced packages. So, if you have referenced packages in there, you already used some kind of hack or workaround to place it there, e.g. by manually modifying the package file.
An alternative which is officially supported and which I usually recommend to customers for their standard icons is to use a custom widget library for media. Widget libraries officially support referenced packages / libraries from the toolbox and also the graphical Content Editor will work with referenced libraries and images from referenced libraries. The only drawback is, that you then need to manually enter the image path to the library media, e.g. LibraryMedia/StdMediaLib/SomeIcon.png Help: Widget library resources
Since the topic has developed into a discussion on how to solve your issue, I moved it from Share Info and Ideas to the standard Ask Question category and marked the answer of @patrick.tanner as a possible solution.
Yes, a bit of harmless hacking may have been involved to get that referenced folder into the Media section . For now, I see both your suggestion and Simon’s as viable workarounds, but my preference would be to have a fully supported solution in future mappView versions—one that allows centralizing shared assets and lets the GUI use them effortlessly, rather than the current status quo.
. For now, I see both your suggestion and Simon’s as viable workarounds, but my preference would be to have a fully supported solution in future mappView versions—one that allows centralizing shared assets and lets the GUI use them effortlessly, rather than the current status quo.