Doesn't Alfresco handle MS Access files?

[imdea]

Hello,

I'm having some issues with MS Access files within Alfresco:

MS Access files behavior in Alfresco:

1)    MS Access files (.accdb) are not recognized by Alfresco. The Content Type is set to “Octet Stream”. As a matter of fact, when trying to change the content type, there is no “Microsoft Access” type available in the drop-down list.

2)    In Windows XP, when trying to edit the .accdb files through the Windows Explorer WebDav connection using Access 2007, the files are open read-only. This does not happen with Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Since the file is open read-only, it is not blocked for editing, allowing other users to edit it.

3)    In Windows XP, when trying to save the read-only file with another name through WebDav, the following error message appears: “You cannot use an Internet address here. Enter a path that points to a location on your computer or on the network”

4)    In Windows 7, the .accdb files can be opened in edit mode through the Windows Explorer WebDav connection using Access 2007. However, the program is slow opening the files. There is a new small file created in Alfresco (~1 KB) with the same name as the file being edited and with an extension .laccdb. It has a small lock icon.

5)    In Windows 7, when trying to save the file to the WebDav directory with with another name, the following error message appears: “Not a valid file name”. Saving the file with the same name by clicking on the “save” button in MS Access works ok.

Is there a way to solve this?

Thanks in advance.

[afaust]

Hello,

most of the points listed conform to the Windows / Microsoft behaviour I have come to love over the course of my Alfresco career.

1) Indeed Alfresco is lacking a mimetype configuration for *.accdb files. This can be rectified by providing a configuration extension:

<alfresco-config area="mimetype-map">

   <config evaluator="string-compare" condition="Mimetype Map">
      <mimetypes>

         <mimetype mimetype="application/msaccess" display="Microsoft Access 2007">
            <extension default="true">accdb</extension>
         </mimetype>
      </mimetypes>
   </config>
</alfresco-config>
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

and

<bean id="yourCustom.mimetype.config" class="org.springframework.extensions.config.ConfigBootstrap" init-method="register">
        <property name="configService" ref="mimetypeConfigService" />
        <property name="configs">
            <list>
                <value>classpath:alfresco/extension/yourCustom-mimetype-config.xml</value>
            </list>
        </property>
    </bean>
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

2) For Office, there are a couple of registry settings that govern this behaviour - I didn't find any for Access. This is a purely client related limitation, since opening a file in XP via Web Folders (WebDAV client) by default behaves as if you'd downloaded a file from the Internet.

3) MS Access is apparently unable to handle WebDAV locations for save. This again is a client limitation, since XP and Web Folders do not expose WebDAV drives as "real drives" that any application can work with. The standard Office clients e.g. all have integrated WebDAV support as part of their SharePoint protocol support.

4) The .laccdb is most likely a temporary lock file created by MS Access to prevent concurrent access to the file by multiple users. It should be automatically deleted when Access is closed. Of course, if Access crashes, the file will remain and needs to be manually deleted from Alfresco.

5) No idea here - what is the name you attempted to use? Maybe it really is an invalid name..

Regards
Axel

[patrickvanhoof]

Still no support for uploading MS Access database files (.accdb)?

[patrickvanhoof]

I made a mistake, it is possible to upload .accdb files…