Asset, kuid, versions, locations, file, archive, the secrets of the search result page
Each asset in Trainz has his own unique id called kuid. The two first number of a kuid identify an asset:
asset X → kuid2:1234:4567:1
The third number is the version of the asset:
asset X → version 1 → kuid2:1234:4567:1
version 2 → kuid2:1234:4567:2
Every body knows that and this system is easy and well suited... As long as we stay on the DLS of N3V/Auran ...
But as soon as you enter in the internet jungle, everything becomes more complicated. The same kuid can be found in many web sites, and in many locations in the same web site. And there is no technical raison why they are to be identical. There is potentially as many version of the same kuid as physical versions on the web that can be found on the web. A new version level must be added. On this site a physical version of a kuid is called 'location'. A location is one of the - maybe many - avatar of the kuid that you can find in a file somewhere on the web. That would be too simple, however a unique location can be pointed by many different links in different web pages of the same site, even in the same page.
asset X → version 1 → location a → pointed by the link L1 from the page P1 of the site S1
→ pointed by the link L1 from the page P2 of the site S1
location b → pointed by the link L3 from the page P3 of the site S2
version 2 → location c → pointed by the link L4 from the page P1 of the site S1
location d → pointed by the link L5 from the page P4 of the site S3
In this site, on the search results page, the differents locations found for the searched object or version of object, are sorted by web site. For each site a table schow the list of found locations. Each row of the table corresponds to one location. For each locatino the last column contains the links towards the page of the site where the links towards the file containing the object being searched can be found. The results are presented in this order (giving that all the version of the asset X are searched) :
Asset X → site S1 → location a (version 1) → link to the page P1 (where the link L1 to the file can be found)
link to the page P2 (where the link L1 to the file can be found)
location d (version 2) → link to the page P1 (where the link L5 to the file can be found)
site S2 → location b (version 1) → link to the page 3 (where the link L3 to the file can be found)
site S3 → location c (version 2) → link to the page P4 (where the link L4 to the file can be found)
For each location the name of the file containing the searched asset is specified. This file must be downloaded unless the column "In archive file" is filled in. If so, the archive file must be downloaded, and the column 'File name' contains the path and the name of the file to find inside the archive. If the file name is 'config.txt', the searched object is the full directory containing the 'config.txt' file.