Custom Action UI Pre 1.3

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Obsolete Pages{{Obsolete}}

The official documentation is at: http://docs.alfresco.com

Actions
IMPORTANT: This document details the Custom Action UI for Alfresco pre-1.3.  For more recent versions then please see this document: Custom Action UI. Note that this page will no longer be maintained or updated except to correct any mistakes.

Table of Contents

• 1 Adding UI for a Custom Action


• 2 Adding the navigation configuration for the custom action


• 3 Create the action UI


• 4 Adding the display strings for the action


• 5 Modify backing bean to correctly set parameters and summaries


• 6 Enabling the action in the 'Run Action' dialog

Adding UI for a Custom Action

During this tutorial we will assume that we have already created a custom action with the id 'action-id' and that it requires one parameter value with id 'param-name'.

Adding the navigation configuration for the custom action

1. Open faces-config-navigation.xml found in web/WEB-INF.
   
2. Search for '/jsp/wizard/new-rule/*'.
   
3. Add the navigation case to the rule wizard:
   

     <navigation-case>
        <from-outcome>action-id</from-outcome>
        <to-view-id>/jsp/wizard/new-rule/action-id.jsp</to-view-id>
     </navigation-case>

1. Search for '/jsp/wizard/create-action/*'.
   
2. Add the navigation case to the new action wizard:
   

     <navigation-case>
        <from-outcome>action-id</from-outcome>
        <to-view-id>/jsp/wizard/create-action/action-id.jsp</to-view-id>
     </navigation-case>

Create the action UI

1. Navigate to /web/jsp/wizard/new-rule.
   
2. Create action-id.jsp. See action-add-features.jsp.  Things to note:
   
   • The title id must be unique and is used to I18N the title of the page.
     
   • The form should also have a unique id.
     
3. Add the controls that will allow the user to enter the parameter values of the action.  Things to note:
   
   • Any methods that need to be added to support the population of a control should be added to BaseActionWizard.java
     
   • The values of parameters should be stored in the actionProperties map found on the BaseActionWizard.
     

Adding the display strings for the action

1. Open config/alfresco/messages/webclient.properties.
   
2. Add the title string:
   

  this_is_the_title_id_of_the_new_action=This is the title of the action

1. Add the summary string for the action:
   

  action_<the id of the action with dashes replaced with underscores>=The description of the action used in the summary

1. Open config/alfresco/messages/action-config.properties.
   
2. Add the title and description strings. These will appear in drop down lists when selecting and configuring the action. Follow the entries under # Actions, such as:
   

   action.title=This is the title of the action
   action.description=This is the description of the action

Modify backing bean to correctly set parameters and summaries

1. Open org.alfresco.web.bean.wizard.BaseActionWizard.java.
   
2. Search for 'protected Map<String, Serializable> buildActionParams()'.
   
3. Add the code to map the parameters from the actionProperties map into the action itsself.
   
4. Search for 'protected void populateActionFromProperties(Map<String, Serializable> actionProps)'.
   
5. Add the code to map the parameters of the action back into the actionProperties map.
   
6. Open org.alfresco.web.bean.wizard.NewRuleWizard.java
   
7. Search for 'protected String buildActionSummary(Map<String, Serializable> props)'
   
8. Add the code to generate the summary message for the action.
   

Enabling the action in the 'Run Action' dialog

1. Follow the steps for creating the action UI, but create a new file in /web/jsp/wizard/create-action.