topic Re: Use of Repository service APIs in Alfresco Archive

Use of Repository service APIs

abhicog123 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:59:20 GMT

Hello,I was planning to do simple application that will have my own UI page. At the backend servlet I want to use the Alfresco repository content management API. I was researching and found that there is one such class AvmRepository available in sdk..it has apis such as create-file() ..etc.. Is ther

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

zaizi — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:29:36 GMT

Are you sure you want to use AVM as opposed to the normal Alfresco repository code?

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

pmonks — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:17:19 GMT

I'd suggest you investigate an out-of-process architecture for your UI, where the UI is implemented as a separate application and interacts with the Alfresco repository via Web Scripts (http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Web_Scripts). This is the design the Alfresco Share and ADW UIs use, and is a model that's been implemented by a number of Alfresco users as well.

Cheers,
Peter

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

abhicog123 — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:16:58 GMT

Zaizi,

To be honest, I am not sure about the difference between the normal repository code and the AVM. Actually I would be able to decide once I am able to look at sample examples of how these classes are used. I was reading through Java foundation APIs and the javadoc link given there.

http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Java_Foundation_API
http://dev.alfresco.com/resource/docs/java/repository/index.html

I was hoping that the AVMrepository class would provide the APIs for content mangement of a document..i.e.provide APIs that would allow to maintain versions of document.

let me know if there is any sample example for for using the Java foundation APIs.

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

zaizi — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:42:18 GMT

Download the Alfresco SDK and set it up. It has sample code examples. http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_SDK

List of sample projects: http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_SDK#Explore_the_Sample_Projects

However, I would refer you to the previous post by Peter. Using web scripts would be best option for integrating with an Alfresco Repository. Further information available at http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Web_Scripts. The Alfresco Share UI integrates a remote Alfresco Repository via web scripts (in the default install it is within the same Tomcat but you can install it on a remote machine(s).

If you still want to do a custom UI and want to use java api, then can try and share the spring context between Alfresco and your custom webapp. You can google to find details of how to do this: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=share+spring+context

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

abhicog123 — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:56:03 GMT

Ok.. I have downloaded the SDK and imported the projects in eclipse. However I do not know how to execute the FirstFoundationClient. I tried running it but got following error. Other SDk samples, like customlogin provide integrate-extension in the build.xml which puts the sdk code into the alfresco.war. But it is not present in the FirstFoundationclient.so my guess is it is to be run differently. As you might have guessed I am newbie to Spring and web concepts   . If there is any list of basic level steps for running FirstFoundation please let me know.

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'serverConnector' defined in class path resource [alfresco/core-services-context.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.io.IOException: Cannot bind to URL [rmi://localhost:50500/alfresco/jmxrmi]: javax.naming.NameAlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi [Root exception is java.rmi.AlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi]
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Cannot bind to URL [rmi://localhost:50500/alfresco/jmxrmi]: javax.naming.NameAlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi [Root exception is java.rmi.AlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi]
   at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectorServer.newIOException(Unknown Source)
   at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectorServer.start(Unknown Source)

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

zaizi — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:47:40 GMT

The FirstFoundationClient tries to connect to the remote Alfresco Repository using RMI (in this case on the localhost port 50500). Have you got an Alfresco install running on the local machine? It should create some sample content within Company Home.

If you are newbie to Spring etc, I would strongly recommend you look at Web scripts. These simple REST web services can be called from PHP, Ruby, JSP, .Net, Java script etc. It might make developing your custom UI much easier.

If you found this post useful, please rate it.

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

pmonks — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:43:40 GMT

Actually the FirstFoundationClient demonstrates the use of an embedded Alfresco repository, so you don't need to have any Alfresco servers running for it to function (in fact doing so while likely cause problems due to port conflicts - perhaps that's the issue here?). If you've imported the Eclipse projects (as described at http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_SDK#Import_the_Alfresco_Eclipse_Projects), then you should be able to just run FirstFoundationClient as a standard Java application from within Eclipse.

What would help is to describe more precisely the steps you followed, what you expected to happen, and what actually happened instead.

Cheers,
Peter

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

abhicog123 — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:56:08 GMT

Hi Peter,

I have Alfresco installed. I had run the setup for AlfrescoEnterprise-2.2.0-Setup ..It is the normal ECM( not WCM).

I imported the SDK project in eclipse. I started the Alfresco server. I could access Alfresco through its web client. Then I ran the FirstFoundationClient as a standard Java project in eclipse. I got the following error.

11:11:02,448 ERROR [transform.magick.AbstractImageMagickContentTransformer] ImageMagickContentTransformer not available: Failed to perform ImageMagick transformation:
Execution result:
   os:         Windows XP
   command:    imconvert "C:\DOCUME~1\ABHIJI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Alfresco\ImageMagickContentTransformer_init_source_44070.gif" "C:\DOCUME~1\ABHIJI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Alfresco\ImageMagickContentTransformer_init_target_44071.png"
   succeeded: false
   exit code: 1
   out:
   err:        CreateProcess: imconvert "C:\DOCUME~1\ABHIJI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Alfresco\ImageMagickContentTransformer_init_source_44070.gif" "C:\DOCUME~1\ABHIJI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Alfresco\ImageMagickContentTransformer_init_target_44071.png" error=2
Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'serverConnector' defined in class path resource [alfresco/core-services-context.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.io.IOException: Cannot bind to URL [rmi://localhost:50500/alfresco/jmxrmi]: javax.naming.NameAlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi [Root exception is java.rmi.AlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi]
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Cannot bind to URL [rmi://localhost:50500/alfresco/jmxrmi]: javax.naming.NameAlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi [Root exception is java.rmi.AlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi]
   at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectorServer.newIOException(Unknown Source)
   at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectorServer.start(Unknown Source)
   at org.springframework.jmx.support.ConnectorServerFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(ConnectorServerFactoryBean.java:168)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1118)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1085)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:429)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:250)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:141)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:247)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:161)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:270)
   at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:346)
   at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:92)
   at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:77)
   at org.alfresco.util.ApplicationContextHelper.getApplicationContext(ApplicationContextHelper.java:55)
   at org.alfresco.sample.FirstFoundationClient.main(FirstFoundationClient.java:69)
Caused by: javax.naming.NameAlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi [Root exception is java.rmi.AlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi]
   at com.sun.jndi.rmi.registry.RegistryContext.bind(Unknown Source)
   at com.sun.jndi.toolkit.url.GenericURLContext.bind(Unknown Source)
   at javax.naming.InitialContext.bind(Unknown Source)
   at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectorServer.bind(Unknown Source)
   … 15 more
Caused by: java.rmi.AlreadyBoundException: alfresco/jmxrmi
   at sun.rmi.registry.RegistryImpl.bind(RegistryImpl.java:123)
   at sun.rmi.registry.RegistryImpl_Skel.dispatch(Unknown Source)
   at sun.rmi.server.UnicastServerRef.oldDispatch(UnicastServerRef.java:375)
   at sun.rmi.server.UnicastServerRef.dispatch(UnicastServerRef.java:240)
   at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Transport.java:153)
   at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
   at sun.rmi.transport.Transport.serviceCall(Transport.java:149)
   at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport.handleMessages(TCPTransport.java:460)
   at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run(TCPTransport.java:701)
   at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595)
   at sun.rmi.transport.StreamRemoteCall.exceptionReceivedFromServer(Unknown Source)
   at sun.rmi.transport.StreamRemoteCall.executeCall(Unknown Source)
   at sun.rmi.server.UnicastRef.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at sun.rmi.registry.RegistryImpl_Stub.bind(Unknown Source)
   … 19 more

The I shut down the Alfresco server and ran the firstFoundationclient ..and got the following error.

11:20:36,287 ERROR [transform.magick.AbstractImageMagickContentTransformer] ImageMagickContentTransformer not available: Failed to perform ImageMagick transformation:
Execution result:
   os:         Windows XP
   command:    imconvert "C:\DOCUME~1\ABHIJI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Alfresco\ImageMagickContentTransformer_init_source_30451.gif" "C:\DOCUME~1\ABHIJI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Alfresco\ImageMagickContentTransformer_init_target_30452.png"
   succeeded: false
   exit code: 1
   out:
   err:        CreateProcess: imconvert "C:\DOCUME~1\ABHIJI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Alfresco\ImageMagickContentTransformer_init_source_30451.gif" "C:\DOCUME~1\ABHIJI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Alfresco\ImageMagickContentTransformer_init_target_30452.png" error=2
11:20:39,585 WARN [remoting.rmi.RmiRegistryFactoryBean] Could not detect RMI registry - creating new one
Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'dictionaryRepositoryBootstrap' defined in class path resource [alfresco/core-services-context.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is org.alfresco.error.AlfrescoRuntimeException: Failure during rollback: org.alfresco.repo.dictionary.DictionaryRepositoryBootstrap$1@497536
Caused by: org.alfresco.error.AlfrescoRuntimeException: Failure during rollback: org.alfresco.repo.dictionary.DictionaryRepositoryBootstrap$1@497536
   at org.alfresco.repo.transaction.RetryingTransactionHelper.doInTransaction(RetryingTransactionHelper.java:281)
   at org.alfresco.repo.transaction.RetryingTransactionHelper.doInTransaction(RetryingTransactionHelper.java:155)
   at org.alfresco.repo.dictionary.DictionaryRepositoryBootstrap.bootstrap(DictionaryRepositoryBootstrap.java:134)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeCustomInitMethod(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1160)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1122)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1085)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:429)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:250)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:141)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:247)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:161)
   at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:273)
   at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:346)
   at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:92)
   at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:77)
   at org.alfresco.util.ApplicationContextHelper.getApplicationContext(ApplicationContextHelper.java:55)
   at org.alfresco.sample.FirstFoundationClient.main(FirstFoundationClient.java:69)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: No user transaction is active
   at org.alfresco.util.transaction.SpringAwareUserTransaction.rollback(SpringAwareUserTransaction.java:479)
   at org.alfresco.repo.transaction.RetryingTransactionHelper.doInTransaction(RetryingTransactionHelper.java:276)
   … 20 more

Are you sure we need to shut down the Alfresco server? The explanation text in the FirstFoundationClient Program states the following..Since it says we need to re-start the web-client..i was guessing that it puts some data in company home folder which is accessible though webclient and so we need the Alfresco server on while we are running the FirstFoundationClient.

/**
* Simple client example demonstrating the use of the Alfresco Foundation Java APIs.
*
* The client creates a content node in the "Company Home" folder. The content
* may be viewed and operated on within the Alfresco Web Client. Note: the web client
* will need to be re-started after executing this sample to see the changes in
* effect.
*

Please let me know what you think.

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

jpfi — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:22:00 GMT

Hi,
as Peter said, JavaFoundationClient use the alfresco repository in embedded mode. The Java Foundation Services API is an in-process and NOT a Remote API.
Therefore you can't reuse a running Alfresco on a Tomcat.
but I don't know where your second error comes from…Are you trying to reuse your alfdata-directory or database without the other one?
Cheers, Jan

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

abhicog123 — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:58:37 GMT

I have not done anychanges to the SDK sample FirstFoundationClient that I downloaded from alfreso.com So to answer your question I am not sure what it does - uses or does not use alddata-directory or database without the other one.

there are 3 files in alfresco.extension folder in the FirstFoundationClient project that I imported in eclipse.

custom-alfresco-shared.properties
custom-repository-context.xml
custom-repository.properties.

I have kept the values/setting in them as it is.because I dont know what changes should be made to those.

I had shut down the Alfresco server when I got the second error. When I looked at the code FirstFoundationClient.java I found that it is trying to get the ApplicationContext.

ApplicationContext ctx = ApplicationContextHelper.getApplicationContext();

This is the line that throws error in both cases (Alfresco ON and OFF).ApplicationContext in facts tried to load the Alfresco's Spring alfresco/application-context.xml.
Now I am puzzled. Since I am running the FirstFoundationClient from within eclipse, and Alfresco is shut down, then it is not possible to load the application-context.xml.

The documentation says that it in-process API. So does this mean that FirstFoundationClient should be run from within the Alfresco Webapp?? I am guessing it should be. But even if it is deployed in the same alfresco.war then how am I going to run the FirstFoundationClient.java. In eclipse I am just invoking the main() method. Again I am guessing, I should write a simple html page and on a button click I could invoke this method from the backend servlet.

But if there is a simple procedure to invoke the FirstFoundationClient from within eclipse , please let me know.

thanks for all your replies guys.

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

pmonks — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:16:37 GMT

The following line of code "boots" an embedded Alfresco instance within FirstFoundationClient (ie. creates a new, independent Alfresco application context within the FirstFoundationClient JVM):

ApplicationContext ctx = ApplicationContextHelper.getApplicationContext();

Any exceptions that occur anywhere in the Alfresco bootstrap process will be thrown out of this method - it indirectly does a lot of stuff. :wink:

The reason you saw those exceptions when you had Alfresco running is that you effectively ended up with two independent Alfresco instances running at the same time (one being the standalone Alfresco server and the other being the embedded Alfresco within FirstFoundationClient). Given that Alfresco (by default) listens on quite a few ports (FTP port 21, CIFS ports 137-139 & 445, NFS ports 111 & 2049 I think?, RMI port 50500), whichever instance you start second will get a lot bind exceptions (since the first instance is already listening on those ports). This is one of the reasons it's best to not to run a standalone Alfresco server at the same time as FirstFoundationClient - changing all of those ports to ensure there are no conflicts is rather tedious, but not changing the ports will prevent the second Alfresco instance from starting (some, but not all, of those ports are required, so bind exceptions are often fatal).

Like Jan I'm not sure what would cause the second exception you're seeing ("java.lang.IllegalStateException: No user transaction is active"). Have you tried clearing out the repository (alf_data and database) that FirstFoundationClient is writing to and running it again? By default this is ./alf_data within the FirstFoundationClient project directory, and (assuming you haven't reconfigured it) uses an HSQLDB database located underneath that directory (in ./alf_data/hsql_data). If you're using those defaults, deleting the alf_data directory will fully reset the repository and should allow for a clean run of the FirstFoundationClient.

Cheers,
Peter

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

abhicog123 — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:10:06 GMT

Hi All,

sorry for replying late. i finally got the FirstFoundationclient running. I had not setup the DB and not configured custom-repository.properties file. Hence the problems.

thanks for all the pointers and tips.

Re: Use of Repository service APIs

amit_wmw — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:46:42 GMT

Hello Abhi & all,

During the time of installation I had opted for "Derby". Can you please specify step by step what exactly
I have to setup with respect to DB and in custom-repository.properties file?

I am still struggling, will be very kind of you.

Thanks n reg-
Amit