query on XML elements/attributes?

[trevoralyn]

I'm evaluating Alfresco for use as a CMS in an XML-centric documentation workflow. I'd like to be able to query on particular element and attribute values – for example, to pull up all XML files that have PROLOG@status="ready_for_review".  This could be done with a full text search, but that's a bit clumsy.  Does Alfresco allow this by any other means than a full text search (e.g., something like an XPath query)?

By the way, I'm not a developer, so if the solution involves custom code, it's going to be beyond my abilities.

Thanks,
trevor

[andy]

Hi

You would have to do tull text search or find a metadata extractor that pulls your data out of the xml and adds it to an attribute. You could then search for the attribute.

Andy

[kvc]

To add to Andy's comment, for our upcoming 2.1.0 Community release, we intend to provide support for this capability in our WCM module.  With 2.1.0, our target is to provide a pre-built extractor that, based on some identified list of XML elements configured via a config file, will take those individual elements and set them as atttributes.  With 2.1.0 then, as Andy noted, you will then be able to execute the type of queried you asked for.

2.1.0 ships as Community release end of month.  This capability, I should note, is a non-stop ship item.  This means that there is the possibility that this feature will not make it, should complications arise with our major feature commits.  We will keep you updated on progress, and the release, so stay tuned.

Kevin

[trevoralyn]

Thanks for the reply, Andy, I appreciate it.

Kevin – That's great news!  If that's the case, I'm going to think about using Alfresco in a flat-file manner for now, and then rethinking the workflow pieces once this feature is implemented.  Thanks a ton for replying.

trevor

[lock999]

Hi,

Do you have any sample scripts or documentation regarding XML extractor (pre-built extractor) in Alfresco 2.1?

Thanks