Roadmap - Integration of Share and DM Repository

[stevegreenbaum]

New to Share, but I've read the Wikis discussing the future development of Share, but need some further guidance.  As I understand it, Share is built on an AVM repository and thus doesn't directly interact with the DM repository (Webscripts, however, can be developed to build an interface).  AVM, per the last Meetup, is being deemphasized and the DM Repository will become the single repository architecture. 

a.  When will Share be running on the DM Repository? 

b.  Is it planned that Share will ever directly access the DM Repository so that documents don't have to be copied/moved from between the two applications?  I had hoped that a document could be stored once, but be maintainable (e.g., a Word document could be edited) from either the JSF client or Share.

c. How should an interface between Share and DM be architected if a Share user needs frequent access to a set of DM documents?  Can this be done where the user sees a link in the Share library, but it opens the document from the DM repository ready for editing?

[mikeh]

Just to clear up one misunderstanding - the documents are all stored in one place, namely the DM Repository. Share "reserves" the Sites top-level space for site-structured storage and content is only ever copied when users wish to download it.

Thanks,
Mike

[stevegreenbaum]

So does this mean that a Share user can select a document from the DM repository and "add/link" it to their Share library without effectively duplicating/moving the document or writing a webscript?

My original comments came from reading the following on the Labs 3 FAQ page this morning: http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_Labs_3_FAQ#Q:_What_is_Alfresco_Share.3F

Q: Since Alfresco Share is a new application, can existing customers use content already in their Alfresco repositories when they upgrade to 3.0?

Customers can reuse existing content managed by Alfresco by moving / copying content from any spaces in the Web Client to the Document Library portion of Alfresco Share. Note: Any rules defined on the spaces moved / copied *will* continue to work.

http://forums.alfresco.com/en/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=21233

Yes you put a web script that uses the local alfresco script API into the repo and call it from share.

There's lots of examples already within share since this is how share works.

Share uses an AVM repository to store its data so you may find that the scripts you need are already available. Alternativly there's a set of WCM specific web scripts that may do what you need.

[mikeh]

Share doesn't currently like working with content outside of the Sites space - in fact, it was deliberately designed this way from Day One. However you can add a secondary parent reference to content to make it appear in a Document Library. There's currently no UI for this; look at the addNode() API here: http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/3.2_JavaScript_API#Modifying_and_Creating_API

The Labs 3 FAQ is referring to copying/moving around the DM Repo if you've got existing content you want to make available in Share. It depends entirely on whether you want to migrate your users to Share - in which case, you'd distribute the content throughout relevant Sites, depending on how you structure your content / Sites.

Ignore the references to the AVM - it's used for saving customised dashboard layouts and Site page data; no content is stored there.

By the way, we'll be adding a "whole Repository" browser component to Share in the next version.

Mike