topic Re: Understanding where files should be customized in Alfresco Archive

Understanding where files should be customized

uskerine — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 13:40:44 GMT

Hi all,I started few days ago with Alfresco and I am trying to fully understand how Alfresco files are organized. I am using Alfresco 4.2.e with Tomcat 7.0.47.I want to customize login page, and I have understood that this can be done by modifying the FreeMarker file named "login.get.html.ftl".<s

Re: Understanding where files should be customized

arnoldschrijve1 — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 15:18:16 GMT

Well, the methods you suggest are both considered to be 'quick 'n dirty' ways of customizing Share Of the 2 it's best to modify the WAR-file. This contains the packaged application, that is unpacked in the \webapps\share directory.
If you want to be more thorough in your customization you could use the Alfresco Maven SDK and develop your own modular extension for Share (and maybe using Eclipse as your IDE). This will produce either an AMP file (that you install into Share.war) or a Java JAR (that you install in webapps\share\WEB-INF\lib either in the .war or in the dir. directly).
When you modify the war-file, you could delete the directory. When restarting Tomcat the war is automatically unpacked and the directory recreated.

Probably you'll need to change the favicon in the share.war.

NOTE: If you really want to do some more extensive customizations of Alfresco, be prepared to go through quite a big learning curve.

Re: Understanding where files should be customized

uskerine — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 15:39:55 GMT

Thanks a lot Arnold,

This really helps. I will also try to learn about how to develop modular extensions.

Thanks also for the advice regarding on what I will face: I will do my best to not underestimate the complexity when planning for required time and effort to learn.

Re: Understanding where files should be customized

arnoldschrijve1 — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 16:28:20 GMT

If you don't require a lot of customizations, things can also be easy still 😉 For people that don't develop their own modular extension Alfresco offers two directories where you can override existing files or add your own code. These are 'extension' for extending the Repository tier and 'web-extension' for extending the Share (UI) tier. You can place these in <tomcat-dir>/shared/classes/alfresco or in the respective webapps (search in the alfresco wiki or docs for more info).

If you want to start with the Maven SDK this is your url: https://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Maven_Alfresco_SDK. Once you get past the learning curve Alfresco offers a really open architecture with lots of extensibility points so you can create powerful customization.

Good luck!!

Re: Understanding where files should be customized

arnoldschrijve1 — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 16:31:21 GMT

Re: Understanding where files should be customized

arnoldschrijve1 — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 17:44:28 GMT

Ooops, didn't want to repeat myself. Posted from a very ssslloooww internet connection while in the train. Sorry.