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Editing Documents from Linux: WebDAV / CIFS Links?

dusty128
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
Hi,
I recently installed Alfresco 4.0d community edition on a Linux Debian server. As a client, I use a Linux desktop. The primary interface I'd like to use is Alfresco Share. My problem is that editing documents is quite complex:

- Download it to the local system
- edit it
- upload it again.

The flash uploader does not work, btw., it seems that the Linux flash plugin has some problems with it, so this does not ease the editing process.

However, what I did is mount the alfresco repository with either CIFS and/or WebDAV (DavFS) from my linux client, so I can see everything on a file system base. Therefore an ideal solution to my problem seems to be that Alfresco Share offers me an "edit" link, which points to the file in my mounted file system, something like:

file:///mnt/alfresco/site/documentLibrary/somefile.ods

This solution sounds very obvious to me, however, this is either not implemented or I can't find resource of how to do so. I would assume that this configuration is done on a per-user base, as not all users have their alfresco mounted on the same path, so the most simple solution would be some prefix for the download path that can be configured on a per-user base.

Or, maybe, there's some better way to do this? Or am I overlooking an even more obvious way to seamlessly edit document from a Linux client?

Any help is appreciated!

Best Regards,
Hermann
4 REPLIES 4

mrogers
Star Contributor
Star Contributor
The usual way to do this is to not use file: url's which point to the local filesystem but to use either http or smb URLs.   
These don't depend upon any local mounts points so are the same for all machines.

dusty128
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
The usual way to do this is to not use file: url's which point to the local filesystem but to use either http or smb URLs.   
These don't depend upon any local mounts points so are the same for all machines.

Hmmm, yes, that's certainly true. But how could e.g. an http:// link point to an editable document at a Linux desktop?
For offline editing, the link in Alfresco Share looks like the following:

https://my_host:8443/share/page/site/act/document-details?nodeRef=workspace://SpacesStore/8db67db8-e...

If I click on it from Firefox / Google Chrome, a dowload box appears. If I click on the downloaded file, the application (e.g. Open Office writer) is opened with this document, however the "save" button is greyed out. The only way is to select "save as", choose an appropriate file name and save it on my local system. Then I have to click on "Upload new version" in alfresco an upload the new file.

This is quite complex - am I missing something?

Btw. - many thanks for you quick reply!

Best Regards,
Hermann

i have installed alfresco 4.2.c in debian machine. Can any one please help me how to map the network drive . I have tried a lot but i am unable to get it

I have resolved the issue. I used the mount -t cifs //<server-name>/alfresco /<destination> -o Username=<alfresco username> then enter.

THats it "" DONE.