This document will detail the capabilities and use of the Thumbnail Generator tool in AdminTools.

 Instructions

Accessing:

Thumbnail Generator can be accessed by navigating to the “Items” page in AdminTools.

Open

Usage:

1st Step of Tool:

After selecting the tool, the user will be brought to the first step of the tool. This page is “Generate Thumbnail” and is where the user will create the thumbnail that will later be applied to selected items.

This screen will contain 3 sections. They are, from left to right:

• The Thumbnail Creation Type box

  • This box allows the user to select what type of creation/editing mode they wish to use
    
    

• The Preview box

  • This box allows to preview what the thumbnail will ultimately look like.

  • By default, it is a blank box
    
    

• The Elements box

  • This box will contain each element present within the preview box and will allow the user to make adjustments to each element’s size and position, along with other element specific changes.

Open

Thumbnail Creation Type Box

Within the Thumbnail Creation Type Box, users have the following options to select from:

• Templates

  • These are predefined arrangements of images and text (either static or dynamic text) that the user can select.
    
    

• Static

  • The static option gives the user access to graphic creation tools which can then be placed upon a blank canvas and shape as they wish as shown in the preview box. (Detailed explanation of this process is given later on in this guide).
    
    

• Dynamic

  • The dynamic option gives the user the ability to create graphics that will change based on the properties of an individual item. Example: The “Item Name” text field would change for every item it was applied to and would display the name of each individual item.
    
    

  • The following options are available in the Dynamic box

    • Item Name

    • Item Type

    • Item Owner

    • Item Thumbnail

      • This is the existing thumbnail for the item. Users have the option of keeping the original thumbnail while making other changes.

    • Org Thumbnail
      
      

• Background

  • The Background gives the user to apply a solid color background to the thumbnail canvas as shown in the Preview Box
    
    

Preview Box

Important information about the Preview Box:

• Size and Layout

  • As per Esri guidelines, thumbnails are created with a size of 600px wide by 400px high.

    • This is an aspect ratio of 1.5:1
      
      

  • The canvas box is automatically sized to this, with the (0,0) position being in the top left corner.

    • X value moves positive to the right

    • Y value moves positive downward
      
      

Elements Box

Each element present on the canvas will be displayed in the Elements box, and when selected, will have its properties displayed below. Not all properties are displayed at once, so users will need to utilize the scroll bar to access all editing elements.

Important Notes about Elements:

• The X and Y values represent position and are of the top left corner of the element’s bounding box.

• The “Height” and “Width” values are measured in pixels and refer to the bounding box of the element

• “Size” when applied to text, refers to the font size.

Creating a Thumbnail

To create a thumbnail from a template, the user must simply click on the template they want from the Thumbnail Creation Type Box and it will populate onto the canvas in the Preview Box.

To create/add elements from the static or dynamic boxes, the user will need to click and drag the desired element onto the canvas in the Preview Box

• Once the element is in the preview box, the user may click and drag the element to move it, or move it by assigning it an X and Y position value in the properties section of the Element Box
  
  

Important Notes about adding elements to the canvas in the Preview Box:

• When adding an image, users may choose between uploading an image or adding it via URL. If an image is added via URL, the image must be hosted in the associated ArcGIS Online Organization and the URL must be of that hosted image item.

2nd Step of Tool:

Item Selection

This step brings the user to the item selection page. Users will select which items to apply the recently created thumbnails to.

Here, users have the ability to filter items by either applying a manual filter or choosing to filter via a CSV file.

Once items are selected, the user will click “Next” in the bottom right hand corner and move to the confirmation page.

Confirmation and Running the tool

The user will be taken to a confirmation page in which they will be able to review which items will have their thumbnails changed. When the user is satisfied with the confirmation, they will click “Run Tool” which will then execute the tool.

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