XForm created XML content and custom content types?

[chrisb]

Hi,

I have been getting to grips with Alfresco over the last few weeks, and in particular the differences / features offered by the "vanilla" Alfresco system and the WCM component.

I need to create custom XML content to model a particular business application. Initially I thought the best way to do this was by creating a custom model with custom content types, associations and aspects as described in the Data Dictionary section of the Wiki.

However on looking into the WCM component further I see it supports custom XML content types via XForms and .xsd's. My target application is web based and users will need to create and enter data for instances of my custom data types.

Do custom content types created via XForms in the WCM end up getting added as a custom Model in the main Alfresco repository / config?

If you create a custom model in the Data Dictionary can you then use the XForms component in the WCM to create forms for populating the data in your custom types?

Apologies if I have missed something obvious here, but I'm not clear on the most appropriate way to go forward on this (custom content type in custom model, or custom content type via XForms in WCM, or a combination of both!).

[dnind]

XForms is currently only available in Web Content Management.

See (around the middle of the page):
http://forums.alfresco.com/viewtopic.php?t=5452

[fgruyer]

I think the response is NO to your 2 questions.

Regards.

[chrisb]

Thanks for the responses. I understand that XForms is only available as part of the WCM component - perhaps I didn't phrase my original post clearly enough…

If I create custom content types within a  custom model using the Data Dictionary approach described in the Wiki, what I need to know is can I then use the custom content types from within the WCM Space?

For example can users create and manage instances of my custom content types using the tools in the WCM? Would I be able to setup XSL transformations within the WCM space to render my custom content types to HTML pages or PDF for example?

Thanks.

[chrisb]

Just as a follow up to this.

It seems I can do what I need just using the XForms in WCM. It is possible to  associate the xml content generated by one XForm with instances of content generated by other XForms. It is also possible to specify the cardinality of the association.

An example of this is  the press release XForm in the WCM tutorial. It uses a callout to a JSP to allow users to associate one or more instances of another XForm generated content type (company footer) with the press release.