folders and metadata

[gutierrez_ge]

Hi guys, i'm posting this everywhere because i really need it.

I want to know if its possible to set different meta data to different folders.

Thanks,

[rdanner]

Hi guys, i'm posting this everywhere because i really need it.

I want to know if its possible to set different meta data to different folders.

Thanks,

Gutuerrez

Can you expand more on this?  I think you are asking how to add custom metadata to a folder?  Posting the message everywhere will probably help less than posting a single, detailed message in one place.  If you don't get a response just bump (post a reply to your original)  the original message – that way we can see you still need help and need it badly.

[gutierrez_ge]

ok i need to add some metadata depending on the folder where the files are being uploaded.. but someone said that, that feature is not possible to do, not on this release..

so i asked if there is a way to show some metadata depending on the option selected by a combo box..

this is what i need to do..

i upload a file.. and then i set the metadata

i fill out author and description and then i chose an option.. lest say option1 so the page (reload or update via ajax, i dont know) and show 2 more fileds to fill.. like client name and address.. but if i chose option2 i fill city and country instead of name and address, and finally i save the metadata files..

is that possible? how can i do that? where i can find documentation about it?

thanks,

[rdanner]

ok i need to add some metadata depending on the folder where the files are being uploaded.. but someone said that, that feature is not possible to do, not on this release..

so i asked if there is a way to show some metadata depending on the option selected by a combo box..

this is what i need to do..

i upload a file.. and then i set the metadata

i fill out author and description and then i chose an option.. lest say option1 so the page (reload or update via ajax, i dont know) and show 2 more fileds to fill.. like client name and address.. but if i chose option2 i fill city and country instead of name and address, and finally i save the metadata files..

is that possible? how can i do that? where i can find documentation about it?

thanks,

This sounds like something you can do with the Wizard Framework.  http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Wizard_Framework

Add an aspect to a a item in alfresco and you will see similar behaviour to what you describle.  It isnt based on ajax – it forwards the user through a series of steps.  Since you want this to happen on the add content button you will have to modify the existing wizard.  Which I think can be overriden but I am not sure.

The wizard documentation seems a little out of date and I have not had time to compare 2.0 to the limitations stated in the documentation.  Even if the limitations to navigation still exist they can be overcome with JSF and the use of "Tiles" but I would expect at the rate at which Alfresco matures as a product (pretty darn fast in most areas), there have been improvements in places I just havent had time to play with.

Truth be told I am shooting from the hip here.  but it doesnt sound like you are looking to do the impossible to me.  I think this would require some effort on your part.

Look around the webclient and tell me if there is any behavior that is similar to what you are looking to do.  It looked to me like there was and I think it would be possible to get the Web Client Wizard to "act the right way".  If the navigaition capabilities have been upgraded I think this would be pretty easy, if not I think it could be made to work but with some extra effort whcih you would have to consider.  I think Alfresco will move the wizard capability in to a very powerful place, combined with human tasks in the workflow its really hard to make a case for hacking something up.

Also consider changing the problem to solve the problem.  IE:  Add the content, collect the common metadata then as you learn about the object add it to new workflows with user tasks to get the additional metada.  If its one user doing all the entry this will seem clunky but its another option.

[gutierrez_ge]

Thanks you very much!! i'll read them, well anyways im doing a huge effort because i have like 3 days working on alfresco and i havent had the time to catch up with this new technologies like Hibernate, Spring, JSTL, EL, JSF, XSTL, Web Services and all of this.. so i dont understand much of what i have done, but.. is working until now hehehe

I was thinking of working with workflow, but it seems kind of hard and i dont have much time i need to do this by friday.. If i would have built my own CMS.. i would have done it by 2 or 3 days.. cuz what they want is not very hard… BUT!. they wannted to use alfresco, so for me is kind of hard trying to modify third party code (i never like it). But alfresco it seems very good they just need to make an Alfresco For Dummies Guide cuz they explain eveything like if the programmer where just right there when they was building it, anyways, at least they have a nice forum and their own developers post here, thats good…

Thanks men.. really help me out!!

[rdanner]

Thanks you very much!! i'll read them, well anyways im doing a huge effort because i have like 3 days working on alfresco and i havent had the time to catch up with this new technologies like Hibernate, Spring, JSTL, EL, JSF, XSTL, Web Services and all of this.. so i dont understand much of what i have done, but.. is working until now hehehe

I was thinking of working with workflow, but it seems kind of hard and i dont have much time i need to do this by friday.. If i would have built my own CMS.. i would have done it by 2 or 3 days.. cuz what they want is not very hard… BUT!. they wannted to use alfresco, so for me is kind of hard trying to modify third party code (i never like it). But alfresco it seems very good they just need to make an Alfresco For Dummies Guide cuz they explain eveything like if the programmer where just right there when they was building it, anyways, at least they have a nice forum and their own developers post here, thats good…

Thanks men.. really help me out!!

No problem.  Wow that is a lot of stuff to learn in a short period of time!  Really good to have guys like you in the community!

Workflow may be your best bet… no code should really be needed.  You may need to modify the M2 Model (see adding aspects to the content model) and of course create a number of workflows with for each variant set of metadata adds (again this is clunky but if you dont have many steps you can get away with it.)

Build your own CMS when you have a product like Alfresco to start from?!   I think you made the "right choice" hehe.

Not to bother you – you sound like you are on a mad dash to get something out the door but when you need to come up for air or take a break or vent…

Drop by this forum again and let us know everything you love hate or are indifferent about the documentation.  I think the comments you gave are great.  What are the biggest things that could be done to make it better?

[gutierrez_ge]

hahaha well thanks, and yes i was a little but mad.. cuz it's frustrating trying to do something that is really easy and it fails over and over again, and well what would i do with the documentation? could be.. to expand it a little bit more.. with this typical question and add a complete examples (and them it will be easy for you to add new things to your new book, that i was thinking on buying it).. another thing are the "Whys" questions.. for example.. why do i need to create a type and/or aspects inside the model? why on the config property file there is a value of aspect-name, string-compare and node, what is the difference between them… what happen when i change the evaluator type.. and the conditions… lol i have lot to ask…

the thing is that i like to know where do things come and where do they go…  and most of the times i get stuck because of that… (i thing what i need is a course, hehehe)

well another thing that i posted was… why you don't create a DTD or XML Schema for the model and config-properties files… i mean those one that people need to create… so if you have a cool editor like netbeans you could see what options do you have in order to build your file correctly.. but i don't know if that is possible, cuz i guess that if you haven't done it .. is for a reason.. but i like to ask a lot

[gutierrez_ge]

Ohh i forgot!

you should have a forum in other languages like Spanish . hehehe cuz i bet you that there are people that are trying to explain things better and they can't because of the language (like me, hehehe)

[gavinc]

Thanks for all the comments, i agree the documentation is lacking/outdated in some areas and some is definitely very developer focused.

We do have some (noe developer generated) documentation available as part of our "Content Network", you can find details here: http://www.alfresco.com/products/docs/

Also regarding the config questions you alluded to, this page might help: http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Config_Service (it's brief but it may help, you never know!)

The evaluators "node-type" and "aspect-name" check a Node object for it's type and whether it has a particular aspect applied to it, the condition is the value used for that check. i.e. evaluator="aspect-name" condition="author" will see if the node has the author aspect applied.

If you have questions like this just post them!

As for your original question on the metadata, you're right it's not possible out of the box, some customisation is going to be required. You could have a look at the setContentProperties dialog (defined in web-client-config-dailogs.xml) and SetContentPropertiesDialog/EditContentPropertiesDialog java classes and try and achieve what you need by customising these.