Extract All properties for certain aspect

[killinchi]

I would like the ability to be able to extract all of the properties of a custom aspect and placed into an excel document for reporting purposes.  I have searched for this solution through the web services interface with no avail. 

Is connecting directly to the MySQL Database recomended by the alfresco team for importing and exporting data?

When importing i have performed inserts directly into the alf_node_properties table as well an insert statement for the custom aspect into the alf_node_aspects table.  By doing this am i compromising the integrity and child/parent relationships of the alfresco database?

Any help would be appreciated

[killinchi]

I cant believe that no one else has had this problem.  It seems that this system is great for entering data but not practical at all from a reporting standpoint.

[rwetherall]

Hi,

Accessing the mySQL database directly for either reads or writes should not attempted at any time.

There are several API's that can be used to access the data once it had been placed with the repository. 

Are you working remotely from the repository (ie: over web services) or are you working within the repository? (ie: do you want this report to be generated, for example by a rule)

Cheers,
Roy

[killinchi]

I am working remotely from the repository but not through the conventional APIs. I am working directly with the MySQL Database to populate the properties by making inserts and I have found a way to report on this data by making many inner joins on the Alf_Node_properties table.  I haven't found a way to do this with the APIs. Reporting data through a rule isn't very practical considering my situation.

Thanks!

Cody

[rwetherall]

Hi,

Making direct calls into the SQL database is not anything we would recommend.

Perhaps you could give an example of the kind of information you are trying to query and I may be able to recommend the correct API to use.

Cheers,
Roy

[killinchi]

I emailed a copy of the View to you. By creating this view it gives me the information in a flat format which allows me to create complex queries through any reporting interface without having to create something through the API. 

I have put a profiler on the MySQL Server and noted what types of transactions take place when a piece of content is given an aspect and what properties are inserted into the database at ever step along the way. I feel that directly inserting these properties into the database as well as creating the aspect for each node is a safe way of importing all of our historical data into the database thus assigning the properties to the correct piece of content.

Do you think this could cause database integrity problems?

Thanks!