Wrong CIFS-link in Document Details view?

[alexandra]

I am running Alfresco off my PowerBook G4 with Mac OS X 10.4.9 which is both server and client and I have managed to get the CIFS-volume mounted in Finder but not using the prescribed link:

smb://hostname_A/alfresco

but instead

smb://IP-adress/alfresco

When I view the Document Details view there is a link called "View in CIFS" but that link does not work for me. It looks like this when I copy the link:

file:///%5C%5C1-1-3-48A_A%5CAlfresco%5CUser%20Homes%5CAlexandra%20Larsson%5CKM-lessons.doc

Looking the browser it looks like this (without the encoding):

file:///\\1-1-3-48A_A\Alfresco\User Homes\Alexandra Larsson\KM-lessons.doc

Any ideas of what have gone wrong?

I am accessing the page in FireFox 2.0 for Mac OS X.

Downloading with WebDav works fine.

PS. My ISP provide assigns me a unique hostname in the format 1-1-3-48A DS.

[ronnytimmermans]

Alexandra,

I believe you need to comment out some lines in an Alfresco configuration file to get correct behaviour of those 2 specific operations in your CIFS interface. I experienced the same previously. If that is not sufficient for you to find, I'l have a look and find the right file for you.

Regards,
Ronny.

[alexandra]

I would love to get some more specific instructions because all the config files in Alfresco is still a maze to me 🙂

Alexandra,

I believe you need to comment out some lines in an Alfresco configuration file to get correct behaviour of those 2 specific operations in your CIFS interface. I experienced the same previously. If that is not sufficient for you to find, I'l have a look and find the right file for you.

Regards,
Ronny.

[ronnyt]

I'll have a look for you - think I can find it in the documentation - would be for this evening.

Regards,
Ronny.

[ronnytimmermans]

you can have a look at:
http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/File_Server_Configuration#AVM.2FWCM_Filesystems
already all to say about the server

for the clients:
here is the full text
Configuration

Desktop actions are configured on a per filesystem basis using the file-servers.xml (or file-servers-custom.xml) configuration file. The default file-servers.xml file contains a commented out section with a sample desktop actions configuration.

The following configuration enables the sample desktop actions (Echo, URL, CmdLine, CheckInOut, Javascript) :-

<config evaluator="string-compare" condition="Filesystems">
   <filesystems>
     <filesystem name="Alfresco">
       <store>workspace://SpacesStore</store>
       <rootPath>/app:company_home</rootPath>
       <urlFile>
         <filename>__AlfrescoClient.url</filename>
         <webpath>http://${localname}:8080/alfresco/</webpath>
       </urlFile>
       <offlineFiles/>
       <desktopActions>
         <global>
           <path>alfresco/desktop/Alfresco.exe</path>
           <webpath>http://${localname}:8080/alfresco/</webpath>
         </global>
         <action>
           <class>org.alfresco.filesys.smb.server.repo.desk.EchoDesktopAction</class>
           <name>Echo</name>
           <filename>__AlfrescoEcho.exe</filename>
         </action>
         <action>
           <class>org.alfresco.filesys.smb.server.repo.desk.URLDesktopAction</class>
           <name>URL</name>
           <filename>__AlfrescoURL.exe</filename>
         </action>
         <action>
           <class>org.alfresco.filesys.smb.server.repo.desk.CmdLineDesktopAction</class>
           <name>CmdLine</name>
           <filename>__AlfrescoCmd.exe</filename>
         </action>
         <action>
           <class>org.alfresco.filesys.smb.server.repo.desk.CheckInOutDesktopAction</class>
           <name>CheckInOut</name>
           <filename>__AlfrescoCheckInOut.exe</filename>
         </action>
         <action>
           <class>org.alfresco.filesys.smb.server.repo.desk.JavaScriptDesktopAction</class>
           <name>JavaScript</name>
           <filename>__AlfrescoScript.exe</filename>
           <script>alfresco/desktop/dumpRequest.js</script>
           <attributes>anyFiles, multiplePaths , allowNoParams</attributes>
           <preprocess>confirm, copyToTarget</preprocess>
         </action>
       </desktopActions>
     </filesystem>
   </filesystems>
</config>

The <DesktopActions> section contains the global and per action configuration sections.

The <global> section contains settings and overrides that apply to all the defined actions. The <path> setting specifies the location of the executable that is used by the action pseduo files. The file should be on the classpath. The default <path> value is 'alfresco/desktop/Alfresco.exe'. The <webpath> setting specifies the URL of the Alfresco web application. The ${localname} token in the web application URL is replaced with the local host DNS name or TCP/IP address.

To switch off action confirmations the <noConfirm/> configuration option can be specified in the <global> section to switch off confirmations for all actions, or within the per action configuration to switch off for a particular action.

The <action> section defines a desktop action. The <class> tag specifies the server-side desktop action class, that must be derived from the org.alfresco.filesys.smb.server.repo.DesktopAction class.

The default desktop action initialization code will look for <name>, <filename> and <debug> settings. The <name> tag specifies the action name. The <filename> tag specifies the name of the file that will appear in the folder listing. The <debug/> setting will enable debug output for the action.

[alexandra]

Thank yoo so much for the info, it now seem to make more sense. All these conifiguration files are a bit scary at first but when you start seeing how they all fit together it becomes easier.

But will these CIFS-actions for check-in and check-out work in non-Windows clients…or is it just me who are scared of .exe-files?

[ronnyt]

these actions (properties display and check-in check-out) were provided as shortcuts to these operations within the windows explorer. For other platforms, you have the web clients. However, clients that run a CIFS client, like Windows Explorer, even on another platform could run this, as the majority of the functionality is executed on the server. You need to try once, I guess 

[alexandra]

Well I have not found out from the Alfresco team that these executables are Windows-only but they think similar ones can be created for Mac OS X but it is not on the immediate list right now…

I wonder how difficult it could be to make either a small cocoa application or even an AppleScript application to check/in/out?

[alexandra]

I still wonder if any non-Windows users actually can use the CIFS-links in Alfresco which has the following look:

file://///ALEXANDRAPB_A/Alfresco/User%20Homes/Alexandra%20Larsson/bilder

(Links to a Space)

I find that link by selecting "View Details" in the menu item called "More actions"

Further on…does these links actually work in FireFox 2.0 with the Alfresco plugin selected.

My FireFox just says "Unable to find Explorer…" and since I am on Mac OS X 10.4.9 there is no such thing as an Explorer there. Only Finder…

[paulhh]

The Firefox plugin does have options to call a different commandline to open the file path in the link.  It defaults to 'explorer'.

Cheers
Paul.