topic Make user select categories after adding content in Alfresco Archive

Make user select categories after adding content

wiggum — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:58:53 GMT

What's the best way to change the Add Content Dialog so that after a user uploads a file, they are brought to the "Select Categories" page (under View Details) for that document?

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

gavinc — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 22:27:39 GMT

You'll need to override the AddContentDialog bean and return a different outcome. Have a look at doPostCommitProcessing() for an example.

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

wiggum — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 22:26:35 GMT

So far so good – but the filename shows up as blank when I call the editCategory dialog from my overridding bean. How can I make sure that dialog can show the filename?

You'll need to override the AddContentDialog bean and return a different outcome. Have a look at doPostCommitProcessing() for an example.

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

gavinc — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 09:59:43 GMT

Whenever you are 'acting' upon an object in the web client there is a Node object representing the item. The properties are retrieved from the Node object instance. If the editCategory dialog is showing a blank filename it probably means the Node object has not been setup yet or the properties have not been refreshed.

If you are launching the editCategory dialog from within the AddContent dialog i.e. before pressing finish, the Node object will not be created yet, which is more than likely the cause of the issue you are seeing.

Another way you could achieve the same thing is to setup the categories aspect in your bean when the node is created and then have the property sheet that shows up after adding content be configured to show categories?

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

wiggum — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 21:55:22 GMT

Thanks Gavin, I really appreciate your response.

So the node does not get created until the user selects the "Finish" button in the dialog? I am calling the "editCategories" dialog from my own "AddContentDialog" extended class.

I'm interested in pursuing this solution:

Another way you could achieve the same thing is to setup the categories aspect in your bean when the node is created and then have the property sheet that shows up after adding content be configured to show categories?

but I don't completely follow. Any chance you can expand?

Thanks!

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

gavinc — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:23:37 GMT

Sure.

Correct, the node is created during the processing of the Finish button, so if you call the editCategories dialog before the node will be null.

As for the other solution….in your finishImpl method you could add the "generalclassifiable" aspect to the node you created. This will add a cm:categories property to the new node.

Then in the property sheet configuration for your type (or for the standard content type) you could add the following:

<show-property name="categories" />‍

If you just use the standard Add Content dialog and allow it to show the set properties dilaog after Finish has been pressed you should see an entry titled "Categories".

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

wiggum — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 19:12:49 GMT

That is a really slick way to do it – it looks great!

Thanks Gavin!

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

wiggum — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 21:18:03 GMT

Hi, when I use my own Add Content Dialog (which uses all the same code as the original Add Content Dialog), that once I upload a file, if I click "Add Content" again, the last uploaded file persists.

So in this code in the JSP:

myAddContentDialog dialog = (myAddContentDialog)FacesHelper.getManagedBean(FacesContext.getCurrentInstance(), "myAddContentDialog");
if (dialog != null && dialog.getFileName() != null) 
{
   fileUploaded = true;
}‍‍‍‍‍

fileUploaded is always returning true after I upload a file. So I can't upload another one. In my finishImpl(), I'm calling saveContent then returning "browse".

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

wiggum — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 14:16:52 GMT

Any ideas on this?

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

gavinc — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:55:41 GMT

Firstly, apologies for the delay in replying, I had an extended Christmas holiday this year.

Secondly, yes I have an idea!

In browse.jsp there is the line below (line 130):

<a:actionLink value="#{msg.add_content}" image="/images/icons/add.gif" padding="2" action="addContent" actionListener="#{AddContentDialog.start}" style="white-space:nowrap" id="link3" />‍

I'm guessing that you have not changed the AddContentDialog reference here to your dialog bean i.e. "myAddContentDialog". If this is the case the fileName property in your bean will not get reset and have the side effect you mention.

Also you shouldn't need to duplicate the code from AddContentDialog, just extend the class and override finishImpl() i.e.

@Override
protected String finishImpl(FacesContext context, String outcome)
      throws Exception
{
   super.finishImpl(context, outcome);

   // your code here

   return "browse";
}‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Hope that helps!

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

wiggum — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 22:20:44 GMT

You sir, are good! That was it! Thanks so much.

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

johnwalsh — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:18:38 GMT

Thanks for the info in this thread. I've got the categories control displaying in the Modify Content Properties page, which is great.

I have another requirement, and a usability goal. I'd really appreciate some advice on the best way is to meet them:

Requirements issue: I need to make sure that the user has selected at least one category for the node in question. If this were a hand-crafted page, I'd enable the OK button after a category had been selected. What's the best way to do that in Alfresco?

Usability issue: Given that we're requiring categorization for every document, the five mouse clicks it takes to select each category (Select button, "Click here…" link, radio button, OK button, Add to List button) is a lot if someone is importing a number of documents with possibly multiple categories per document. Is there a way to get the GUI to display checkboxes or radio buttons and just an "Add to list" button or something so that it only requires one or two mouse clicks per category?

Thank you,
John

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

hodsons — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:10:26 GMT

We have the same requirement.

Is there any talk about adding the categories to the upload document wizard and making the create content dialog a wizard with the option of adding categories standard in 3.0?

Combined with that, we'd also like to see UI enhancement in the category picker.

It is being discussed in another discussion thread:

http://forums.alfresco.com/viewtopic.php?t=471&highlight=tags

Does this mean that the UI will be enhanced but they just don't know which way they're going to go, or is it an idea that's being kicked around?

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

hodsons — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:50:44 GMT

wiggum, can you post the code in your finishImpl method? I am working on this solution but since this is my first time really modifying Alfresco, I am struggleing with it.

Thanks!

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

hodsons — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:16:30 GMT

Can someone let me know if i'm doing this right?

I extended the AddContentDialog bean with a custom dialog, WWTAddContentDialog


/*
 * Copyright (C) 2005-2007 Alfresco Software Limited.
 * 
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
 * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
 * version.
 * 
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
 * warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
 * 
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
 * Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
 * 
 * As a special exception to the terms and conditions of version 2.0 of the GPL, you may redistribute this Program in
 * connection with Free/Libre and Open Source Software ("FLOSS") applications as described in Alfresco's FLOSS
 * exception. You should have recieved a copy of the text describing the FLOSS exception, and it is also available here:
 * http://www.alfresco.com/legal/licensing"
 */
package org.alfresco.web.bean.content;

import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;

import org.alfresco.model.ContentModel;
import org.alfresco.service.cmr.repository.NodeRef;

/**
 * Custom bean implementation for the "Add Content" dialog.  Overrides the AddContentDialog
 * add categories to content upon upload.
 * 
 * @author hodsons
 */
public class WWTAddContentDialog extends AddContentDialog
{
  @Override
  protected String finishImpl(FacesContext context, String outcome) throws Exception
  {
    super.finishImpl(context, outcome); 

    // Adding the generalclassifiable aspect to the document
    NodeRef nodeRef = this.createdNode;
    if (nodeService.hasAspect(nodeRef, ContentModel.ASPECT_GEN_CLASSIFIABLE) == false)
    {
      nodeService.addAspect(nodeRef, ContentModel.ASPECT_GEN_CLASSIFIABLE, null);
    }

    return "browse"; 
  }
}
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

I then added it to the faces-config-custom.xml which is deployed to alfresco/WEB-INF.


<faces-config>

   <!– *************************************************************** –>
   <!– Empty JSF config file to prevent errors being thrown during JSF –>
   <!– initialisation. Overwrite this file with your custom version.   –>
   <!– *************************************************************** –>
   <!– WWT added to add categories to the add content dialog –>
   <managed-bean>
      <description>
         The bean that backs up the Add Content Dialog
      </description>
      <managed-bean-name>WWTContentDialog</managed-bean-name>
      <managed-bean-class>org.alfresco.web.bean.content.WWTAddContentDialog</managed-bean-class>
      <managed-bean-scope>session</managed-bean-scope>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>nodeService</property-name>
         <value>#{NodeService}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>fileFolderService</property-name>
         <value>#{FileFolderService}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>searchService</property-name>
         <value>#{SearchService}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>navigator</property-name>
         <value>#{NavigationBean}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>browseBean</property-name>
         <value>#{BrowseBean}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>contentService</property-name>
         <value>#{ContentService}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>dictionaryService</property-name>
         <value>#{DictionaryService}</value>
      </managed-property>
   </managed-bean>   
</faces-config>
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

I then added the reference to the new WWTAddContentDialog in browse.jsp:


<td style="padding-left:4px" width=80>
<a:actionLink value="#{msg.add_content}" image="/images/icons/add.gif" padding="2" action="addContent" actionListener="#{WWTAddContentDialog.start}" style="white-space:nowrap" id="link3" />
</td>
‍‍‍‍‍

and add-content-dialog.jsp:


WWTAddContentDialog dialog = (WWTAddContentDialog)FacesHelper.getManagedBean(FacesContext.getCurrentInstance(), "WWTAddContentDialog");
‍‍‍

When I try to add a docuemnt through the add content dialog, it works fine until I click "upload" then nothing happens. There is no error in the log…

Any ideas? I'm not sure it I am not sure how to continue debugging since i don't have an error in the logs. I'm pretty sure that I have a configuration problem, but don't know where…

thanks in advance!!

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

kevinr — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:11:56 GMT

Usability issue: Given that we're requiring categorization for every document, the five mouse clicks it takes to select each category (Select button, "Click here…" link, radio button, OK button, Add to List button) is a lot if someone is importing a number of documents with possibly multiple categories per document. Is there a way to get the GUI to display checkboxes or radio buttons and just an "Add to list" button or something so that it only requires one or two mouse clicks per category?

Yes it's crazy isn't it. Some of the Alfresco UI is "generic" in that we use a set of well known components wrapped by other components to quickly build UI. This allows us to add features quickly, but this approach can lower the usability noticeably. Fortunately for the next 2.9 release we should have an Ajax "tagging" component in the document details page to allow quick add (and create!) of multiple categories for a document inline.

Thanks,

Kevin

Re: Make user select categories after adding content

melttech — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 05:12:03 GMT

I tried like you suggested :

I edited tomcat/shared/classes/extension/web-client-config-custom.xml file and add these code in my custom content model property sheet 😃

show-property name="cm:categories" display-label-id="cat"

It works like charm! Great job 😃

I save a lot of time doing this compared to never-succeded AddContentDialog method.