Make user select categories after adding content

[wiggum]

What's the best way to change the Add Content Dialog so that after a user uploads a file, they are brought to the "Select Categories" page (under View Details) for that document?

[wiggum]

You sir, are good!  That was it!  Thanks so much.

[johnwalsh]

Thanks for the info in this thread. I've got the categories control displaying in the Modify Content Properties page, which is great.

I have another requirement, and a usability goal. I'd really appreciate some advice on the best way is to meet them:

Requirements issue: I need to make sure that the user has selected at least one category for the node in question.  If this were a hand-crafted page, I'd enable the OK button after a category had been selected. What's the best way to do that in Alfresco?

Usability issue: Given that we're requiring categorization for every document, the five mouse clicks it takes to select each category (Select button, "Click here…" link, radio button, OK button, Add to List button) is a lot if someone is importing a number of documents with possibly multiple categories per document. Is there a way to get the GUI to display checkboxes or radio buttons and just an "Add to list" button or something so that it only requires one or two mouse clicks per category?

Thank you,
John

[hodsons]

We have the same requirement.

Is there any talk about adding the categories to the upload document wizard and making the create content dialog a wizard with the option of adding categories standard in 3.0?

Combined with that, we'd also like to see UI enhancement in the category picker.

It is being discussed in another discussion thread:

http://forums.alfresco.com/viewtopic.php?t=471&highlight=tags

Does this mean that the UI will be enhanced but they just don't know which way they're going to go, or is it an idea that's being kicked around?

[hodsons]

wiggum, can you post the code in your finishImpl method?  I am working on this solution but since this is my first time really modifying Alfresco, I am struggleing with it. 

Thanks!

[hodsons]

Can someone let me know if i'm doing this right?

I extended the AddContentDialog bean with a custom dialog, WWTAddContentDialog

/*
 * Copyright (C) 2005-2007 Alfresco Software Limited.
 * 
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
 * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
 * version.
 * 
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
 * warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
 * 
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
 * Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
 * 
 * As a special exception to the terms and conditions of version 2.0 of the GPL, you may redistribute this Program in
 * connection with Free/Libre and Open Source Software ("FLOSS") applications as described in Alfresco's FLOSS
 * exception. You should have recieved a copy of the text describing the FLOSS exception, and it is also available here:
 * http://www.alfresco.com/legal/licensing"
 */
package org.alfresco.web.bean.content;

import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;

import org.alfresco.model.ContentModel;
import org.alfresco.service.cmr.repository.NodeRef;

/**
 * Custom bean implementation for the "Add Content" dialog.  Overrides the AddContentDialog
 * add categories to content upon upload.
 * 
 * @author hodsons
 */
public class WWTAddContentDialog extends AddContentDialog
{
  @Override
  protected String finishImpl(FacesContext context, String outcome) throws Exception
  {
    super.finishImpl(context, outcome); 

    // Adding the generalclassifiable aspect to the document
    NodeRef nodeRef = this.createdNode;
    if (nodeService.hasAspect(nodeRef, ContentModel.ASPECT_GEN_CLASSIFIABLE) == false)
    {
      nodeService.addAspect(nodeRef, ContentModel.ASPECT_GEN_CLASSIFIABLE, null);
    }

    return "browse"; 
  }
}
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I then added it to the faces-config-custom.xml which is deployed to alfresco/WEB-INF.

<faces-config>

   <!– *************************************************************** –>
   <!– Empty JSF config file to prevent errors being thrown during JSF –>
   <!– initialisation. Overwrite this file with your custom version.   –>
   <!– *************************************************************** –>
   <!– WWT added to add categories to the add content dialog –>
   <managed-bean>
      <description>
         The bean that backs up the Add Content Dialog
      </description>
      <managed-bean-name>WWTContentDialog</managed-bean-name>
      <managed-bean-class>org.alfresco.web.bean.content.WWTAddContentDialog</managed-bean-class>
      <managed-bean-scope>session</managed-bean-scope>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>nodeService</property-name>
         <value>#{NodeService}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>fileFolderService</property-name>
         <value>#{FileFolderService}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>searchService</property-name>
         <value>#{SearchService}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>navigator</property-name>
         <value>#{NavigationBean}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>browseBean</property-name>
         <value>#{BrowseBean}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>contentService</property-name>
         <value>#{ContentService}</value>
      </managed-property>
      <managed-property>
         <property-name>dictionaryService</property-name>
         <value>#{DictionaryService}</value>
      </managed-property>
   </managed-bean>   
</faces-config>
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I then added the reference to the new WWTAddContentDialog in browse.jsp:

<td style="padding-left:4px" width=80>
<a:actionLink value="#{msg.add_content}" image="/images/icons/add.gif" padding="2" action="addContent" actionListener="#{WWTAddContentDialog.start}" style="white-space:nowrap" id="link3" />
</td>
‍‍‍‍‍

and add-content-dialog.jsp:

WWTAddContentDialog dialog = (WWTAddContentDialog)FacesHelper.getManagedBean(FacesContext.getCurrentInstance(), "WWTAddContentDialog");
‍‍‍

When I try to add a docuemnt through the add content dialog, it works fine until I click "upload" then nothing happens.  There is no error in the log…

Any ideas?  I'm not sure it I am not sure how to continue debugging since i don't have an error in the logs.  I'm pretty sure that I have a configuration problem, but don't know where…

thanks in advance!!

[kevinr]

Usability issue: Given that we're requiring categorization for every document, the five mouse clicks it takes to select each category (Select button, "Click here…" link, radio button, OK button, Add to List button) is a lot if someone is importing a number of documents with possibly multiple categories per document. Is there a way to get the GUI to display checkboxes or radio buttons and just an "Add to list" button or something so that it only requires one or two mouse clicks per category?

Yes it's crazy isn't it. Some of the Alfresco UI is "generic" in that we use a set of well known components wrapped by other components to quickly build UI. This allows us to add features quickly, but this approach can lower the usability noticeably. Fortunately for the next 2.9 release we should have an Ajax "tagging" component in the document details page to allow quick add (and create!) of multiple categories for a document inline.

Thanks,

Kevin

[melttech]

I tried like you suggested :

I edited tomcat/shared/classes/extension/web-client-config-custom.xml file and add these code in my custom content model property sheet 😃

show-property name="cm:categories" display-label-id="cat"    

It works like charm! Great job 😃

I save a lot of time doing this compared to never-succeded AddContentDialog method.