topic Re: Incremental custom model in Alfresco Forum

Incremental custom model

javiercasfer — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 12:25:13 GMT

Hello,I'm new at Alfresco and, after Googled alot, i have no solution to my current problem. My situation is that i have custom content model xml file and a cmm file for that model, both generated by a java application. First time is generated, i deploy the zip file to alfresco, activate the model a

Re: Incremental custom model

angelborroy — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 13:01:41 GMT

Probably I'm missing something, but re-deploying your new XML Content Model (the one with the new properties) file should be enough. Just overwrite your old XML file.

Re: Incremental custom model

javiercasfer — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 11:24:38 GMT

Hi, thanks for the answer, but it doesn't work.

I deploy the model by the ui, on admin tools > Model management. So, when i try to import the same model but with updated properties, Alfresco says that a model with that name already exists.

Re: Incremental custom model

angelborroy — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 11:29:13 GMT

Ah, ok, so you are using Model Manager tool.

Sorry, I have no experience with that tool. I'm always using the other content model deployment options.

Re: Incremental custom model

afaust — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 11:30:53 GMT

The Model Management tool should come with a big, red sticker stating "This tool is only good for quick prototyping / test models - it should not be used for anything more serious than that".

In short, the UI does not support importing a model as "an update" to an already active/deployed model. You could technically override the XML file by going via the Repository -> Data Dictionary -> Models folder, but be aware that your XML may be overidden by changes made via the model management tool afterwards.

My usual suggestion is to always use the traditional, Spring-based XML bootstrap approach using an extension module (JAR / AMP, whatever you prefer) for serious development use or production.

Re: Incremental custom model

javiercasfer — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 12:46:00 GMT

Ok, gonna try it.

Do you have a link to any good tutorial of a proyect example?

Thanks in advice.

Re: Incremental custom model

afaust — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 13:11:59 GMT

Well, Jeff Potts' tutorial is a mandatory read.

Re: Incremental custom model

javiercasfer — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 07:18:43 GMT

Thanks!

Re: Incremental custom model

heiko_robert — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 09:55:44 GMT

I just read your post and want to add to your requirement "mechanism to have an active incremental custom model":

Alfresco's document model behaves like a hierachical, NOT like a relational database (or like a bunch of xml documents you write a xml schema for). Altering the type in the document model is not the equivalent of "alter table modify column ...". This means

If you change the document model it is your responsibility to make only changes which are compatible with your already existing content. There is no mechanism to migrate already existing data to comply with your modified model. Even harder: If you use versions it may not be possible to modify (meta) data already stored and you will get into trouble when you don't expect to since Alfresco parses the model on read and write - e.g. when a user tries to show a document in Share UI years after you made the changes on the document model.

To make the long story short: Alfresco has only very limited support for document model changes and you should therefore spend as much analysis as possible to make sure you don't need to change the model.

Over then years after we started with Alfresco document models we have the best practices:

store as few metadata in Alfresco model as possible and reference metadata from other systems if possible (store only data in alfresco properties which are not stored anywhere else).
try to implement a generic model which you don't need to modify

Since we had to reengeneer several Alfresco implementations over the years we created our own lowlevel migration module which is able to migrate all the metadata, types and aspects in any node as a batch routine - even for document versions but this approach shouldn't be used on a regular basis 😉

Re: Incremental custom model

rsclark3 — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 14:43:43 GMT

This is an odd question but are there any alternatives for model management if you do not have root or admin access to the server? The server teams does not allow the Alfresco support team access to the server. I had hoped Model Manager, and the Model Manager group rights, to help with non-server team model management but we can't use it for the reasons stated above. A vendor installed a Spring-based XML model and if I dare use Model Manager, I'm sure disaster awaits. We're stuck with extending our generic model for various business units that would like additional attributes.

Re: Incremental custom model

heiko_robert — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 15:23:43 GMT

You could store your model in the Alfresco repo (/Data Dictionary/Models) which can be easily modified from Share-UI or WebDAV but I would not recommend this in production systems. You don't have the same flexibility and how would you implement deployments / lifecycle management, QM? Why not creating traditional spring based models packaged in jars which can be easily deployed by the server team? Of course you need a dev system with server filesystem access to develop and test your changes ...

Could you please give an example for the model extensions you want to implement?

We tried to implement a shared model (GitHub - ecm4u/businessdocumentmodel: ecm4u Alfresco Business Document Model ) to be used by as many Alfresco users as possible to avoid the problems you are facing with but we didn't find enough combatants. We should update this model since we already refactored this to a more flexible aproach which allows online changes on generic types referencing relational and/or external data.

Re: Incremental custom model

rsclark3 — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 20:55:05 GMT

First problem is editing an existing content model. I need to add new values to the selection list e.g., 'As-Built' and 'Specifications' so these can be selected. At this point, I can only have a vendor come in and make the change.

Second problem is extending this model to include new properties. I want to add 'Company' as a multi-line text entry later on in this complex model.

The other problem is property layout in a form but that's beyond this question. I had hoped to use Model Manager for all content model attributes but now I'm stuck with engaging expensive consultants to make minor changes as we expand our models for searching.

Ultimately, it would be best if a robust Model Manager was added to Alfresco that allows both file system models to be exposed and new models to be added.

Re: Incremental custom model

javiercasfer — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 07:53:14 GMT

Hi, thanks for all the answers.

In my case, your recomendations do not work for me.

What I have is a document manager wich document types have some properties and, maybe, on two or five month, that document type will have two more properties. That could happen to all types i have.

What I need is to import all those documents (only those that are not going to be modified) and import them to Alfresco, to create a historic document storage.

After studying what could be the best solution, I think that an aggregation model is the solution. I made a software that can create a model with all properties for all documents extracted and create CMM file for them all, but, in the future, will be more extractions, so I'll need to add all those new properties and types. The old model will be update with the new model generated on the extraction.

There will be a moment that I'll have an active model that I have to update.

Finally, my questions are:

- Having the model created, wich options do i have to import it to alfresco?

- Do I have to create manually all cofigurations files and update them all (config, message, etc) or there is an alternative (like an amp file) to import it automatically?

Hope there is someone in my situation with an answer

Re: Incremental custom model

javiercasfer — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 14:48:00 GMT

Hi everybody!

I've solved my problem.

What I do is, when I do a content extraction from the source, i generate a model content xml with the types and properties i get. Then I use the xsd definition to compare my old model with my new one and add all new types and properties i have to the new one.

Then, from may aggregation model (the old updated), i generate my own share-config-custom.xml with the forms and properties I need and model.propreties files. Then, replace these 3 files on my alfresco instalation and restart it. It works perfectly. Keep in mind that these only will work if you don't remove types or properties when you are updating your custom model.

Maybe that could help someone. Thanks for all the answers.