Share and Explorer questions

[unknown-user]

Hello,

I am new to alfresco and i am trying to grasp it all very quickly. I installed CE3.3 and i have a few question about Explorer and Share usage…

It seems that the "community" refers to Share as a place to work on projects and Explorer as a replacement to network drives.

This throws me off a little bit since:
1.- i think Share is more useful to day to day users since they can preview the documents within the browser something you cant do within Explorer.
2.- However, Share doesnt seem to have a "check-out" option so i cant lock the file like Explorer can.
3.- I read in a forum post that Explorer would be mostly used by Admins, managers, etc to setup advance work flows, etc while Share would be more for users that need to get the files, edit them, upload them, etc.

Any comments is appreciated.

Thanks

[mrogers]

<quote>It seems that the "community" refers to Share as a place to work on projects and Explorer as a replacement to network drives.</quote>
I don't think I agree with that statement.

"Community" refers to Alfresco's Community version there is also an "Enterprise" version.

Both Share and Explorer are user interfaces for Alfresco.    Each has their own strengths and weaknesses so choose one, both or neither.

Share is organised around the concept of "Sites" although that distinction was blurred in 3.3 with the addition of the "document repository".
There's also the concept of "Web Projects" which are a WCM concept in "Explorer".

The "replacement to network drives" is yet another interface to alfresco, independent of Share or Explorer.   So you can use alfresco with CIFS/WebDav/SPP/IMAP/FTP/SMTP clients and probably another few others as well.

[unknown-user]

<quote>It seems that the "community" refers to Share as a place to work on projects and Explorer as a replacement to network drives.</quote>
I don't think I agree with that statement.

"Community" refers to Alfresco's Community version there is also an "Enterprise" version.

Both Share and Explorer are user interfaces for Alfresco.    Each has their own strengths and weaknesses so choose one, both or neither.

Share is organised around the concept of "Sites" although that distinction was blurred in 3.3 with the addition of the "document repository".
There's also the concept of "Web Projects" which are a WCM concept in "Explorer".

The "replacement to network drives" is yet another interface to alfresco, independent of Share or Explorer.   So you can use alfresco with CIFS/WebDav/SPP/IMAP/FTP/SMTP clients and probably another few others as well.

I was misunderstood when i said community, i was referring to the people that use it (discussions on the forums) and not the versions.

I just find it a bit difficult to grasp why users would need to learn and use 2 different interfaces, Explorer and Share… Maybe i am over complicating things, but perhaps someone can provide an explanation…

Thanks

[mikeh]

The short version is: Explorer came first. It was build on top of and hence deeply interconnected to, the Repository. It's built using JSF.

Share is a completely remote client, so can be deployed on a different server to the Repository, or have multiple instances. Share is built on top of the Surf web framework. Eventually, Share functionality will align with Explorer's, but that will take time due to all the new remote APIs that have to be put in place first.

Thanks,
Mike

[unknown-user]

Ok,

1.- Is there any conflicts when modifing files in sites created in Share via Explorer..? When i access those sites via Explorer a warning is shown on the screen, saying that i should manage that using Share.

2.- If i add files to Explorer is there any way to add them to Share without duplicating data..?

3.- When i log in to Explorer, under company home, a few spaces are listed (Data Dictionary, Guest Home, Sites, User Homes, Web Deployed, Web Project) i am assuming those are "system" spaces and not sample data, how can i hide them from users..?

4.- We are planning to use Folder Redirection for "My Documents", could i redirect it directly to "server/Alfresco/User Homes/user/" using CIFS…? Will i see any problems or performance issues (other than network issues)?

Thanks!