Best solution for Integration with Alfresco

[mdlima]

Hi,

I have a webapp that is build with Spring. I would like to know what is the best solution for my app to retrieve and search the content of Alfresco repository. I already looked at JCR and WebService but since i could get the example os Alfresco 3.2r SDK to work i didn't maked a choice. Can anyone help me?

Thanks.

[jayjayecl]

It depends on what you're about to retrieve in Alfresco.
As for me, webscripts are the best solution for webapps integration with Alfresco.
http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Web_Scripts

[jck]

Hi,
I think indeed Webscripts are the best choice. It will make integration easier whatever your final architecture is.

But, as Romain said, what do you want to retrieve? Documents? Metadata? Do you need complex search queries? If yes, you may need to write custom code, and writing it as a java class will be better, webscript just used as glue code.

HTH

JC

[jayjayecl]

In my opinion, Java-Backed webscripts would be the right choice

[mdlima]

Well, i will be working basically with Documents. I want to create nodes, add documents and search text in the documents. I thought  using JCR and injecting a Spring bean would be more efficient, but i don't know if it is the best way. I never used webscripts, but i'll gonna take a look. Can i make everything (search, retrieve, add content, create nodes) with Webscripts?

Tks!

[jck]

You can do what you want with Webscripts (=Javascript) but as you certainly know, it isn't typed very strong and not very well supported with IDE so you won't be as productive as you could be with Java.

Again, write your business logic in Java and just use webscripts for the required glue code. Usual progamming in fact 😉

JC

[jayjayecl]

You can do what you want with Webscripts (=Javascript) but as you certainly know, it isn't typed very strong and not very well supported with IDE so you won't be as productive as you could be with Java.

Again, write your business logic in Java and just use webscripts for the required glue code. Usual progamming in fact 😉

JC

I quite don't agree, especially with "Webscript = Javascript".
I'd rather say "webscripts = REST => URL adressability".
This why I said that Java-Backed webscripts were the best choice, as for me.

[jck]

I agree it's a very quick shorthand.
I don't like glue code in Java, so I prefer Webscript (which means REST accessibility) with glue code in javascript and business logic written in Java, but maybe it's a matter of taste 😉

JC

[mdlima]

I agree with that. I haved seen  the webscripts and seems pretty enough for my needs. I will try to write some Java code to get used to it. What helps is that Alfresco already have many Webscripts that i can use, if it wasn't that i would go with the JCR API, i'm not too familiar with script language. For now, that's enough information so i can start. I will come back if i get stuck 
Thanks!

[jayjayecl]

I'm not really keen on scripting either.
That's why I'm trying to convince people customizing Alfresco with Java-backed webscripts

http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Java-backed_Web_Scripts_Samples