AMP modules JSF managed beans

[jenglert]

Hey all,
   I have to admit…. I cheated!  I edited the Module Management Tool (http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Module_Management_Tool) to copy the /web/WEB-INF directory into the AMP'd war.  I did this in order to copy my faces-config-custom.xml into the new war. 

   Everything works great! except for a small issue I'm having trouble addressing.  I would like to be able apply two AMP modules to a war.  Both need to specify managed-JSF-beans (in faces-config-custom.xml).  When I use the MMT tool to AMP my war the second faces-config-custom.xml is used.  This presents an issue for me at least. I'm not a JSF expert by any means, I get by.  Is there a way to include a number of JSF confg files using wildcard specification such as adding WEB-INF/faces-*.xml to the web.xml.  Thus far, I have had no success figuring this out.

Thanks,
Jim

[frederick]

Yes you can add multiple faces-config files to your WAR file; but there are some restrictions:

If you only add new beans and don't override existing ones, you can place the file in the META-INF folder of a JAR file in your AMP file. JSF spec states that all "META-INF/faces-config.xml" files in the webapps' resource path get loaded.

Eg: ampfile>lib>jarfile>META-INF>faces-config.xml
will get picked up as the jarfile will be installed in the lib folder of the webapp.

However, because these file are loaded before Alfresco's own faces-config files, you cannot use this method to override Alfresco's beans.
(more info here: http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Packaging_And_Deploying_Extensions)

If you do override beans, you must use the faces-config-custom.xml in the WEB-INF folder.

[ribz33]

And about navigation rules in face-config.xml, what are restrictions ?
How can we modify navigation rules ?
thx

[gavinc]

You should be able to override JSF navigation rules by using faces-config.xml in the location that Frederick mentions.

[harshad]

I need to override certain beans and hence need to use faces-config-custom.xml

While packaging the AMP file which is the folder in AMP structure which Maps on to WEB-INF? Basically where do I put my faces-config-custom.xml file?

From wiki…
/
  |
  |- /config - mapped into the /WEB-INF/classes
  |
  |- /lib - mapped into /WEB-INF/lib
  |
  |- /licenses
  |
  |- /web
    |
    |- /jsp
    |
    |- /css
    |
    |- /images
    |
    |- /scripts
  |
  |- module.properties
  |
  |- file-mapping.properties

file-mapping.properties does not work in 2.0 (as per wiki).

thanks,

[frederick]

There seems to be no direct mapping to WEB-INF currently. This is what the default-file-mapping.properties looks like in 2.0:

# The default AEP => WAR file mappings
/config=/WEB-INF/classes
/lib=/WEB-INF/lib
/licenses=/WEB-INF/licenses
/web/jsp=/jsp
/web/css=/css
/web/images=/images
/web/scripts=/scripts

So you'd either have to edit this file (located in org.alfresco.repo.module.tool), or wait for 2.1 (I think custom mappings will be available then).

[gavinc]

I've raised an issue in JIRA for this: http://issues.alfresco.com/browse/AR-1380

[harshad]

Ok. Thanks for the info. I have one more need. I have an application in which  I have create a couple of spaces and then have a couple of space rules configured on them by uploading scripts under datadictionary/scripts space.

How do I package this in an AMP?

Where should I copy the scripts so that they go under the datadictionary/scripts space. I guess If I take an 'acp' dump of the folder then the folders and the space rules will be exported but the scripts have to be copied separately.

Thanks,

[derek]

http://issues.alfresco.com/browse/AR-1349

The Module Management Tool on HEAD is a standalone component now.  So, any changes can be immediately picked up and used without having to wait for a release.  I'll try to add the custom mapping in as soon as possible.  But as a quick win, what other common mappings should go into the default?

Regards

[nicolasraoul]

Here is how to override JSF managed beans in an AMP:

1) At the root of the AMP, create a file-mapping.properties file containing /WEB-INF=/WEB-INF

2) At the root of the AMP, create a WEB-INF directory.

3) Put your faces config file in the WEB-INF directory with name faces-config-custom.xml

Hope this helps,
Nicolas Raoul