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Limitations of Model Manager in Alfresco Share
The Model Manager in Alfresco Share offers a user-friendly way to define custom types, aspects, and properties, but it comes with several notable limitations:
- Cannot Edit Existing XML or Bootstrapped Models: The Model Manager does not allow editing of content models that have been defined in XML and bootstrapped through Spring (static models). It only manages models created within the tool itself
- Deactivation Restrictions: You cannot deactivate a content model if any of its custom types or aspects are still applied to content, including items in the trashcan
- Limited Property and Constraint Support: Multi-value properties are supported, but certain constraints (like those on d:long, d:float, and d:double) are not fully supported for multi-value use or for list constraints
- You cannot reuse constraints across properties
- No Support for Associations: The Model Manager does not support defining associations, which are essential for modeling relationships between content items
- Inheritance and Localization Gaps: You cannot access all parent types or aspects for inheritance, especially for content types not yet activated
- There are limitations in localizing property titles and constraint list values
- Mandatory Aspects and Property Overrides: You cannot set mandatory aspects on a type or override properties through the Model Manager
- Search and Facet Integration: You cannot create custom search forms directly in the Model Manager
- Adding model properties as custom facets in the search engine is not supported without a system restart
- Form Customization: While the layout designer allows for some UI customization, advanced form configurations and interactions still require XML editing or custom development
Hyland Developer Evangelist
