Alfresco Web Studio

[uzi]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to let everyone know the latest news on Alfresco Web Studio.
I've recently added a Wiki page on it here:  http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Web_Studio

Alfresco Web Studio is the visual design piece of what was formerly known as ADW (Dynamic Website).  It's the graphical front-end with all of the drag-and-drop page assembly things in it.  It now runs entirely on the Surf platform.  In fact, most of Surf was derived from ADW and then fortified by Alfresco engineering so that it nicely incorporates the Alfresco Web Script runtimes and Freemarker tranformation engines.

The good news is that we're hard at work on the UI now and will have it available to the community as quickly as we can.  However, the visual UI will not be part of 3.0.  We do, however, expect that it will follow on soon after that.

I think we'll be able to show it off a bit at the upcoming community conferences as well.  Lots of good stuff in the works!

Michael

[stevereiner]

Michael,

On this wiki page, what does "In-Context Editing through JSF Client" mean ?

Steve

[uzi]

Hi Steve,

There are going to be two passes at in-context editing.

In the first pass, for October, we'll provide in-context editing by essentially linking out to the JSF client for forms entry.  This means that users will jump back and forth between Web Studio and Web Forms via the JSF client.  It should be seamless for folks but there will be a transition between the two clients.

In the second pass, we'll provide all forms-based entry directly within the same client application.  This is because we'll be completing our work on the Alfresco Forms Service by that time.  The goal is to synthesize form-based content entry for a diversity of Alfresco data types.  If we do things right, then content contributors and editors will be able to work on articles right within the context of the web site.  No jumping back and forth.

We have big plans for the Forms Service piece but it will not be completed by October.  Some of the ideas include the automatic management of data bindings between form elements and XSD defined XML flat files and/or CM content models.  We would like to provide folks with the ability to configure multiple kinds of editors which are switched based on role.  Things like that - most likely by the end of the year in community and start of next year in Enterprise.

Does that help to answer your question?  Let me know if I can provide any further insight.

Michael

[benswitzer]

Hi Michael,

I've just checked out your code for Alfresco Studio and I'd like to check it out.  I've built it successfully, but can't seem to access.  Just get the default /page url.  What's the URL to kick the tires on this project?  Very interested in checking this out.

Thanks,
Ben

[marcus]

I think there's a couple of JS files not added/complete yet, I'm getting a js error about missing objects which seems to be where the action starts.

[zaizi]

You'll need to update the following configuration file.

tomcat/webapps/studio/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/web-framework-config-application.xml‍

Update the end-point URLs for studio and alfresco. This will load the java script files correctly.

[uzi]

Hey guys,

Thanks for hanging in there.  There was a promotion today to HEAD which will have a few more features and should leave people in a state where they can install the Green Energy sample site.  Look for more updates over the coming two weeks.

We're not quite there yet with the packaging so there may still be some fiddling or tweaks to do after setting up.  But basically, Web Studio is a WAR file that you can drop into any Tomcat instance.  And then, as mentioned by the good people at Zaizi, you may have to weak an XML file or two to get things talking correctly.

With the Labs 3C drop, the WAR file will bundle along with alfresco.war and share.war so things will work straight away.  We should be ready for distribution of Labs 3C after the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US.  A short pitstop for turkey and time with relatives.

And then, it's full on as we press ahead to the future with Labs 3D.  Internally, we're calling it "Jaws" (i.e. Jaws 3D).  Definitely a fun name.  Labs 3D will be more functionally rich and I expect we'll be able to expose more of the WCM Services UI (modified items, sandbox management) as well as some more in-context editing behaviours.

Stay tuned!

Michael

[nimbus58]

Now what?

I got the studio.war
Restarted Alfresco (3c)
Went to myserver:8080/studio
Have a superb "Welcome to Alfresco Web Studio"

And …???

What do I do next?

[roy_thompson]

You need to correct the endpoint-url in the alfresco-web-studio remote endpoint section of
WEBINF/classes/alfresco/web-framework-config-application.xml.

The default url has a port of 8280 and you probably want 8080.

After I do this I get a login page and can create sites.

Roy

[nimbus58]

Jackpot!

Thanks Roy, just what I needed.
This looks good.