Assets

Assets are a mechanism for defining client application configuration data and content for a marketplace. The assets are managed by a marketplace operator and changes relatively infrequently. Each asset is an object that defines a path and content. The path gives the asset a name and allows organizing assets in a way similar to a file system, where assets can be organized in directory-like structure. The content of the asset is its data in one of the supported data types.

At present, Flex supports only JSON data as assets. Support for images (JPEG, PNG, etc) is coming in the future.

The assets are typically edited by a marketplace operator though Flex Console.

At present, Flex uses assets for managing marketplace content without code changes:

• you can modify microcopy strings,
• create content pages for your marketplace, and
• configure your marketplace branding, layout, listings, search, footer, and transactions

For example, a marketplace may have assets with the following assets:

├── content
│   └── translations.json
└── design
    └── branding.json

where design/branding.json could contain configuration data (for instance, UI colors, logo, etc) and content/translations.json could contain string microcopy data to be used in a marketplace client application (such as one based on one of the Sharetribe Web Template).

Asset versioning

Collectively, the set of assets of a marketplace is called the asset tree. Each time the data of one or more assets is changed, a new asset is added, or an existing asset is deleted, a new version of the asset tree is created. Old asset tree versions are never updated. In other words, tree versions are immutable.

Each tree version, therefore, represents the exact set of assets and their data at the time when the version was created.

The following analogy with the Git version control system may be useful to consider: The asset tree versions are analogous to Git commit SHAs. The entire asset tree is versioned as a whole and individual assets do not have their own independent versions. Unlike Git, however, the asset tree versioning does not support branching.

To facilitate access to the latest asset data, Flex maintains a built-in alias called latest that always refers to the latest asset tree version.

Retrieving asset data

Client applications retrieve asset data through the Asset Delivery API. Asset data can be access either by alias (using the built-in latest alias) or by specific version.

In order to access asset data, clients need a client ID for a valid Flex Marketplace API application. The easiest way to access assets is by using the Flex SDK for JavaScript.

See the Asset Delivery API reference for more information.

Asset data caching

In order to ensure as efficient data retrieval as possible, the Asset Delivery API response data can be cached by both the Asset CDN and the client. Each API response comes with appropriate Cache-Control and ETag HTTP headers automatically and caching works out of the box with clients that support these headers (such as the end users' web browsers).

Since asset versions are immutable, asset data that is accessed by a specific version can be cached for extended period of time. On the other hand, the latest alias is mutable and therefore asset data retrieved by alias cannot be cached indefinitely. The cache time for access by alias can differ depending on whether your marketplace environment is a development or live one. For live marketplaces the cache time can be up to 5 minutes, while for development marketplaces it is much lower. Refer to the Asset Delivery API reference for up-to-date-information. The Cache-Control HTTP header will always provide correct data and client applications should observe that if custom caching is being implemented.

Further reading

• Editing client application microcopy
• Managing asset-based marketplace content
• Asset Delivery API reference