topic Structured content in Alfresco Archive

Structured content

legba — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 13:15:42 GMT

Hi all, I need to store in the repository a "structured content". By "structured content" I mean a document that has different components. Let me clarify this with an example: let's say that the document represents and article, this means it has, for example, a title, an abstract, a body, an image

Re: Structured content

rivetlogic — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 14:00:58 GMT

Let me see if I understood you correctly: You're trying to get three things done:
1. You're trying to create a new content type for compound documents where a single content item will contain multiple contents (image, doc file, etc.)
2. You need a set of custom meta-data to be associated with your content items
3. You'd like the Web Client and its wizards to handle your custom types

If so, then you seem to be on the right track for 1 & 2. For 1, you'll need to define a new content type that inherits from cm:content and extends it to have properties of type d:content that will be used to store additional contents (this can also be done with custom aspects). As for 2, you can define other properties as you would normally (types/aspects).

The problem is part 3, as you've indicated. For 3, you'll need to modify the Web Client to handle your new content type. A great place to start is to look at forums and how the model and UI were extended to handle those content items and render them differently.

Some of the things to check out are:
forumsModel.xml, faces-config-navigation.xml, web-client-config-navigation.xml, and the forums JSPs.

Going through that code will show you how the UI was extended to handle forums, forum spaces, and posts.

Good luck.

–Sumer

Re: Structured content

legba — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:24:30 GMT

Sumer,
thanks for your kind answer.

You understood me perfectly.
I like the idea of a new conent type with d:content properties, and the pointer to the forum "extension".

I suppose I can follow the hints for [url=http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Adding_a_Custom_Dialog']Adding a custom dialog[/url] and [url=http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Packaging_And_Deploying_Extensions]Packaging and deploying extensions[/url] to figure out how to successfully modify the web client.

I'll get back in touch if I have more doubts or to share my experience.

Bye,

Fabio