Getting Started
Guide
Copyright (c) 2007 by Alfresco and others.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice. No part of this document may be
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without the express written permission of Alfresco. The trademarks, service marks, logos or other
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expressly provided in any written agreement from Alfresco.
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You may not use this documentation if you are a competitor of Alfresco, except with Alfresco's
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If you need technical support for this product, contact Customer Support by email at
support@alfresco.com . If you have comments or suggestions about this documentation, contact us
at documentation@alfresco.com.
This edition applies to version 2.0.x of the licensed program.
ii
Contents
Before you start.............................................................................................. v
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................
Typographic conventions.............................................................................................................................
Command conventions...............................................................................................................................
System paths..............................................................................................................................................
v
v
vi
vi
1Setting up Alfresco...................................................................................... 1
Logging in to Alfresco as user “admin”........................................................................................................ 1
Logging in............................................................................................................................................... 1
Adding users to a space.............................................................................................................................. 2
2Using Alfresco.............................................................................................. 6
Logging in to Alfresco as a normal user....................................................................................................... 6
Looking around the user interface............................................................................................................... 8
Toolbar................................................................................................................................................... 8
Navigator................................................................................................................................................ 8
Shelf....................................................................................................................................................... 8
Clipboard........................................................................................................................................... 8
Recent Spaces.................................................................................................................................. 9
Shortcuts........................................................................................................................................... 9
Spaces.................................................................................................................................................... 9
Changing the space appearance.......................................................................................................... 10
About clickable icons................................................................................................................................. 11
About breadcrumbs................................................................................................................................... 11
The next steps........................................................................................................................................... 11
Creating a new space................................................................................................................................ 13
Navigating around Alfresco........................................................................................................................ 14
Creating shortcuts................................................................................................................................. 14
Adding content to the space...................................................................................................................... 15
Launching a content file............................................................................................................................. 18
Using the clipboard.................................................................................................................................... 19
Uploading content from your hard drive..................................................................................................... 20
Editing a document inline........................................................................................................................... 21
Downloading a file for editing..................................................................................................................... 22
Summary of different ways of editing in Alfresco....................................................................................... 23
Editing content offline................................................................................................................................ 24
Updating the file in Alfresco....................................................................................................................... 24
Adding versioning to a file manually.......................................................................................................... 25
About checking out and checking in files................................................................................................... 25
Checking out content................................................................................................................................. 26
About document properties after check out............................................................................................... 27
Checking in content................................................................................................................................... 28
About workflow.......................................................................................................................................... 30
About content rules.................................................................................................................................... 30
Creating a content rule.............................................................................................................................. 30
Using the Conditions pane of the Create Rule Wizard.......................................................................... 32
Using the Actions pane of the Create Rule Wizard............................................................................... 33
Using the Details pane of the Create Rule Wizard................................................................................ 35
Using the Summary pane of the Create Rule Wizard........................................................................... 36
Activating content rules.............................................................................................................................. 36
Moving content for approval....................................................................................................................... 37
Searching spaces and content................................................................................................................... 38
About space templates.............................................................................................................................. 39
Creating a space based on an existing template....................................................................................... 40
Collaboration with your colleagues............................................................................................................ 41
Mapping an Alfresco space to a network drive.......................................................................................... 43
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Finding your machine name.................................................................................................................
Deriving the server name......................................................................................................................
Mapping the drive.................................................................................................................................
Using the mapped drive.............................................................................................................................
Accessing the content repository...............................................................................................................
Installing the Firefox extension..................................................................................................................
About user roles.........................................................................................................................................
Inviting users to your space.......................................................................................................................
About advanced workflow..........................................................................................................................
Configuring your dashboard for workflow tasks.........................................................................................
Attaching workflow to content....................................................................................................................
Specifying workflow options..................................................................................................................
Reviewing the content...............................................................................................................................
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3Using WCM................................................................................................. 57
WCM users and tasks................................................................................................................................
Creating tutorial users................................................................................................................................
Creating new web forms............................................................................................................................
Creating a web form for a company footer............................................................................................
Creating a web form for a press release...............................................................................................
Creating a web project...............................................................................................................................
Step 1: Web Project Details..................................................................................................................
Step 2: Configure Web Forms..............................................................................................................
Configuring the company profile form..............................................................................................
Configuring the press release form..................................................................................................
Step 3: Configure Workflow..................................................................................................................
Step 4: Add Users.................................................................................................................................
Step 5: Email Users..............................................................................................................................
Step 6: Summary..................................................................................................................................
Importing the sample web site...................................................................................................................
Verifying Mark's review tasks.....................................................................................................................
Viewing recent snapshots..........................................................................................................................
Creating new web content: press releases................................................................................................
Creating new web content: press releases................................................................................................
Submitting web site changes.....................................................................................................................
Checking Mark's review list........................................................................................................................
Checking and approving Lee's review list..................................................................................................
Approving Mark's review list......................................................................................................................
Finishing the admin tasks..........................................................................................................................
Rolling back to an earlier version...............................................................................................................
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4WCM Reference.......................................................................................... 92
Content Staging, Promotion, Workflow, and Snapshots............................................................................
Multi-channel content publishing................................................................................................................
Output path pattern....................................................................................................................................
Sandboxed content development..............................................................................................................
Starting the virtualization server.................................................................................................................
Virtualization and in-context preview.........................................................................................................
WCM overview...........................................................................................................................................
XML content authoring...............................................................................................................................
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Before you start
Introduction
The purpose of this tutorial is to:
●
Introduce you to the Alfresco user interface.
●
Show you some of the useful, time-saving features.
●
Walk you through a typical sequence of workflow operations in Alfresco.
●
Show you how to work in collaboration with your colleagues.
Typographic conventions
The following conventions are used:
Formatting convention Type of Information
Triangular Bullet (Ø) Step-by-step procedures. You can follow these instructions
to complete a specific task.
Bold Used when referring to any item on the screen. This
includes items you must select, such as menu options,
command buttons, items in a list, and text that you type
yourself.
Italics
●
Used to emphasise importance.
●
Used for variable expressions such as parameters.
For example:
kill -9 <process_id>
CAPITALS Names of keys on the keyboard. For example, SHIFT,
CTRL, or ALT.
KEY+KEY Key combinations for which you must press and hold down
the first key and then press another, for example, CTRL+P,
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Before you start
or ALT+F4.
Command conventions
This document follows the usual convention for indicating a series of commands in
succession. For example, the following command is seen often in Windows
applications:
File > New > Document
This simply means:
1. On the menu bar, click File.
2. In the drop-down menu, click New.
3. In the further drop-down menu, click Document.
System paths
●
If a Windows path is explicit, back slashes (\) are used. For example:
c:\Alfresco
●
If a Linux path is explicit, forward slashes (/) are used. For example:
/srv/Alfresco
●
If the same path can apply in both a Windows or Linux environment, forward
slashes are used. For example:
<configRoot>/alfresco/
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1 Setting up Alfresco
Logging in to Alfresco as user “admin”
If you are not the Alfresco administrator, continue to “Logging in to Alfresco as a
normal user“ on page 6.
During the Alfresco install process, a user account is created for the user admin, So the
first person to log in to a new, “empty” version of Alfresco must be the admin user,
who can then create accounts for other users.
You need to know the name of the server where Alfresco is installed. If Alfresco is
installed on your own machine, then you can use localhost, or your computers server
name. To find your computers server name:
●
Windows
Right-click My Computer > Properties > Computer Name. Use the computer
name without the domain.
●
Linux
Type
uname -a
at the prompt.
Logging in
➢ To log in to Alfresco
1. In your browser, enter the following URL:
http://server_name:8080/alfresco
Where server_name is the name of the server where Alfresco is installed. The
login page appears.
2. Ensure that admin is entered in the User Name text box.
3. In the Password text box, enter admin.
Depending on your installation, you may have a choice of languages in the
Language drop-down menu. This guide assumes that your selected language is
English.
4. Click Login.
The Company Home space appears (figure 1).
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For a description of the screen contents, see “Looking around the user interface“ (page
8).
Figure 1: Company Home
Adding users to a space
You now need to add some users to the User Homes space. We will add the user Joe
Bloggs. (If you intend to work through this tutorial, you might want to also create a
normal user's space for yourself.)
➢ To add a user to a space
1. In the User Homes space, click the
icon in the header.
Note: You can add a user from any space.
The Administration Console pane appears.
2. Click Manage System Users.
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The Manage System Users pane appears (figure 2).
Figure 2: Manage System Users
3. In the header, click Create User.
The first pane of the New User Wizard appears (figure 3). This is the Person
Properties pane, as you can see from the list of steps at the right of the pane.
Figure 3: New User Wizard
4. In the First Name field, enter Joe.
5. In the Last Name field, enter Bloggs.
6. In the email field, enter a real email address (for example, your own).
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Later in this tutorial, you might want to send an email. So you need a real
addresses. If you are entering details for real users, you should of course enter
their real email addresses.
7. Optionally, enter Company ID.
8. Click Next.
The second page of the Wizard appears (figure 4).
Figure 4: Properties page of wizard
9. In the User Name, Password, and Confirm text boxes, enter joe.
10. In the Home Space Name text box, type Joe Bloggs.
This is the name for the home space for the user that you are creating.
11. Click Next.
The Summary pane of the wizard appears.
12. Check that all information is correct. If so, click Finish.
13. You are returned to the Manage System Users pane.
At this point, you could continue to add more users by repeating the process
from step 3. We will simply return to the User Homes space.
14. Click Close, and Close.
You are returned to the User Homes space with the new user added (figure 5).
Note: If you started from a different space at step 1, you will be returned to that space. But the new
user is added to the space that you specify during the procedure. In our case, this is User Homes.
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Figure 5: New space for Joe Bloggs
You are returned to the Users space with the new user added.
Note: If you started from a different space at step 1, you will be returned to that space. But the new user is
added to the space that you specify during the procedure. In our case, this is Users.
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2 Using Alfresco
Logging in to Alfresco as a normal user
Before you can log in to Alfresco, your system administrator needs to create an account
for you. Ask your administrator for your user name and password, and the server name
on which Alfresco is installed.
Of course, if you simply want to try out Alfresco for yourself, you can download it and
install it on your own machine. (Alfresco is very easy to install.) In this case you can log
in either as admin, or as yourself. The server name can be either localhost or your
machine name. (To find your machine name, refer to "Finding your machine name", on
page 43).
➢ To log in to Alfresco
1. In your browser, enter the following URL:
http://server_name:8080/alfresco
The login page appears (figure 6). Now log in as joe:
2. In the User Name text box, enter joe.
3. In the Password text box, enter joe.
Depending on your installation, you may have a choice of languages in the
Language drop-down menu. This tutorial assumes that your selected language is
English.
4. Click Login.
The My Alfresco Dashboard space appears (figure 7).
Note: The remainder of this tutorial assumes that you have logged in as Joe Bloggs.
The right pane of the dashboard will be discussed later, when we talk about
workflow. Now we talk about the various navigation features in Alfresco.
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Figure 6: Login page
Figure 7: My Alfresco Dashboard
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Looking around the user interface
The user interface has three sections:
●
The toolbar along the top.
●
The shelf at the left.
●
The working area at the right.
Each of these are described in the following sections.
Toolbar
The toolbar (figure 8) allows you to quickly navigate between your own home space
and your company home space. If you now click Company Home (try it!), you can see
another example of a space.
Figure 8: The toolbar
To get help at any time, click Help (in the middle of the toolbar).
We will discuss the search tool at the right of the toolbar later.
Navigator
The navigator is another quick way to move to different
pages (figure 9).
Shelf
To display the shelf, click on Navigator (or the icon to
the right of Navigator). Then click Shelf in the dropdown menu. The Navigator changes to the Shelf (figure
10).
Figure 9: The navigator
You can hide the pane that contains the Shelf by clicking
in the centre of the toolbar. Clicking
restores the
pane, with its previous contents.
Clipboard
The Alfresco clipboard is similar to the Windows
clipboard, but more useful in the following ways:
●
The contents are always visible and ready for use.
●
Contains up to six easily identifiable items.
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Figure 10: The shelf
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Each time you copy an object, the item is inserted in the clipboard. You can delete a
clipboard item at any time. Otherwise the item remains in the clipboard until you log
out.
Recent Spaces
The Recent Spaces list is a quick way to return to a space that you visited earlier. This
is similar to the Window list that appears in most Windows applications.
The most recent space is at the top of the list; the next most recent space is second in the
list, and so on. There are no duplications. So if you alternately click Company Home
and My Home (try it), the list will contain these two spaces, with each space being top
of the list alternately. There is a limit of six spaces in the list. So when you visit the
seventh (non-duplicate) space, the oldest space drops off the list.
The contents of Recent Spaces are lost when you log out.
Shortcuts
A shortcut is simply a quick link to an object that you want to access frequently. These
are similar to the shortcuts that you create on your Windows desktop.
Spaces
The Joe Bloggs space is currently empty, but if you click Company Home (top left),
you can see the default company space (figure 11).
Figure 11: Company Home space
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The concept of spaces is similar to the concept of folders in Windows. In Windows
Explorer, a folder can contain sub-folders and files. Similarly, in Alfresco, a space can
contain sub-spaces and content.
Spaces can be arranged in a hierarchy. You can drill your way down through the
hierarchy in the same way that you can drill down through folders.
➢ To see an example of a hierarchy
1. Ensure that you are in the Company Home space (click Company Home in the
top left of the toolbar).
2. In the Browse Spaces pane, click Data Dictionary.
3. In the Data Dictionary space, click Presentation Templates.
The Presentation Templates space opens. In the Content Items pane, you can
see the template files.
Figure 12: Presentation Templates space
The Content Items pane in the lower part of the pane can
contain any kind of file: documents, PDF files, emails, rich
media, streaming media, images, and so on.
Changing the space appearance
Your view of the Presentation Templates Space might not
look like the figure. To experiment with the appearance of
your spaces, click Icon View at the top right of the header
(figure 13). Click each of the other options and watch the
appearance of your space changing.
When you click Details View, you can see the similarity to
Windows Explorer, with one line of detail for each item.
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Figure 13: Changing
the view
Getting Started Guide
Using Alfresco
Each line contains properties that describe the item.
You can set the view that you feel most comfortable with. However, throughout this
tutorial, any screen shots of a space will show the Details View.
If you hover your mouse over the names of space items or content items, you can see
that each name is a link. If you click on a space name, it opens a sub-space. If you click
on the name of a piece of content, and if the browser knows how to open the file (based
on the file extension), it opens the file. Otherwise you are presented with the usual
dialog asking you to choose an application to open the file.
About clickable icons
Many actions in Alfresco are implemented by clicking icons. To find out what an icon
does, simply hover your mouse over the icon. A pop-up message explains the purpose
of the icon.
About breadcrumbs
While you were navigation down through the hierarchy in the previous topic, you may
have noticed the trail of "breadcrumbs" being created in the space header. The
breadcrumbs are shown highlighted in figure 14.
Figure 14: Breadcrumbs
These breadcrumbs allow you to return to a previously visited space without having to
repeat all the steps. If you hover your mouse over the breadcrumbs, you will see that
each item is a link. Clicking on a link returns you to the space corresponding to that
link. If you have visited many different spaces, this can be a real time saver.
For a note on the origin of breadcrumbs, refer to the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadcrumb_(navigation)
The next steps
The next steps in this tutorial will follow the numbered sequence shown in Figure 15,
below. The steps show typical activities that would be followed in any fully-featured
content management system. Note that step 2, upload content, appears in two
locations.
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1
create a space
“s m art”
ope ration
m anual
ope ration
2
10
upload conte nt
create rules
ve rs ioning
w ork flow
2
7 add versioning
upload conte nt
m anually
8
8
check out
conte nt
check out
conte nt
3
e dit conte nt
inline
4
dow nload
conte nt
5
e dit conte nt
offline
6
update
content
e nd
9
Alfres co
autom atically
update s the
version
num be r
check in
conte nt
e nd
e nd
11 m ove conte nt
for approval
Figure 15: Workflow in this tutorial
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Creating a new space
This is step 1 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
We will now add a space called Drafts, in the Joe Bloggs space.
➢ To create a space
1. Ensure that you are in the Joe Bloggs space (My Home).
2. In the space header, click Create > Create Space.
The Create Space pane appears (figure 16).
Figure 16: Creating a new space
3. In the Name text box, type Drafts.
Name is the only mandatory entry. However, if you have many spaces, a
description can help to remind you of what the space contains.
4. In the Description text box, type any description, such as Contains Working
docs.
You can now select an icon to match the type of content that you intend to put in
the space, or you can accept the default icon.
5. Click Create Space.
You are returned to your Home page, with the new Drafts space inserted (figure
17).
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Figure 17: The Joe Bloggs space with new Drafts space
Navigating around Alfresco
Alfresco has four easy ways to navigate from one space to another:
●
The Recent Spaces list, which we saw earlier. This list is updated automatically
by Alfresco.
●
The Company Home, My Home, and Guest Home links above the header.
●
Breadcrumbs.
●
Shortcuts
We will now look at shortcuts.
Creating shortcuts
If you have spaces or files that you use frequently, you can create shortcuts to these
objects. It is easy to see that a shortcut would be most useful if it points to an object that
is deep down in a hierarchy. Let us create a shortcut to the Drafts space. (Creating a
shortcut to a file is done in the same way.) To create a shortcut to a space or file, you
need to be in the space that contains that space or file.
➢ To create a shortcut
1. Ensure that you are in the Joe Bloggs space.
2. For the Drafts space, click
(View Details).
The Details of 'Drafts' pane appears.
3. In the Actions block (top right), click Create Shortcut.
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You are returned to the Details pane.
4. Click Close (top right).
You are returned to the Joe Bloggs space. The shortcut is
added to Shortcuts, (figure 18) and will remain there even
after you log out. You can delete the shortcut at any time.
You can try out the shortcut by moving to another space, for
example Company Home, then clicking on the Drafts shortcut.
Adding content to the space
Now that you have a space, you can add some content in the
space. There are three ways to add content:
●
You can upload content from your hard drive.
●
You can copy a file from another space.
●
You can create TXT files and HTML files directly in the space.
Figure 18:
Shortcuts
We will look at the first two of these methods later. First, we will create an HTML file
in the space.
➢ To create an HTML file in a space
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. In the header, click Create > Create Content.
The first pane of the Create Content Wizard appears (figure 19).
Figure 19: Create Content Wizard
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In this wizard, and in any Alfresco wizard, you can track your progress through
the wizard from the list of steps at the left of the pane. The first step, Details, is
highlighted.
3. Enter, or select, the details as shown.
Note that the Type drop-down menu also contains Plain Text. Later, you will
see the effect of the Modify all properties ... check box.
4. Click Next.
The Enter Content pane of the wizard appears (figure 20). Note that Enter
Content is now highlighted in the list of steps at the left of the pane.
Figure 20: Entering HTML content
You can see that there is a comprehensive set of tools to help you to format your
HTML document. Enter some text, using some of the formatting features. To see
the HTML tags, click
(Edit HTML Source).
The HTML Source Editor is displayed (figure 21). If you were to edit the text
or the tags in this window, and click Update, you would be returned to the Enter
Content pane in the wizard, with the contents changed.
5. Close the editor window using the X at top right.
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Figure 21: The HTML editor
6. In the Enter Content pane, click Next.
The Summary pane of the wizard appears (figure 22).
Figure 22: Summary pane for Create Content Wizard
7. Click Finish.
The Modify Content Properties pane appears (figure 23). This pane appears
because we checked the Modify all properties ... check box earlier.
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Figure 23: Modifying properties
8. Add some information as shown.
The Edit Inline option allows you to edit the document later.
9. Click OK.
You are returned to the Drafts space, with your newly created file inserted
(figure 24).
Figure 24: Your new HTML file
Launching a content file
You can now launch the HtmlFile.html that you have just created.
➢ To launch a content file
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. Hover your mouse over the name of the file HtmlFile.html
You can see that the file name is a link.
3. Click on the link.
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The file opens in a new tab or browser window.
This is an HTML file, and all browsers can launch such a file. The browser recognizes
most common file types such as PDF, PPT, XLS, and so on. If the browser does not
know how to open the file, you will be prompted with Windows dialog box containing a
list of applications from which you must choose. This is the normal behaviour if you try
to launch a file on any Internet page.
Using the clipboard
The Alfresco clipboard is similar to the Windows clipboard. You use the clipboard for
copy and paste, or cut and paste. We will copy the HtmlFile.html file to your home
space using the clipboard.
➢ To copy an item to the clipboard
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. For the HtmlFile.html, click
(More Actions), then click
(Copy).
As a result of the copy, the clipboard contents
are as shown in figure 25. The first thing to
notice is that there is a icon (Copy)in front of
the file name. This icon indicates that the
contents of the clipboard are the results of a
copy operation. If, instead, you had used a Cut
operation, then the icon would be . The
Figure 25: Copying a file to
Remove icon means that you can remove the
the clipboard
item from the clipboard at any time. The
contents of the clipboard are lost when you log out.
3. Select the Joe Bloggs space.
We are going to copy the HtmlFile.html to this space.
4. Click
(Paste).
The file is copied to the Content Items pane.
5. Click
(Paste).
A link to the original file is created in the Content Items pane.
Notice the Paste All and Remove All commands in the clipboard. These commands are
useful if you have multiple items in the clipboard.
You can use the clipboard to copy a space to within another space. When you copy a
space, you also copy its sub-spaces, content, and its “smart” rules. (Rules are discussed
later.)
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Uploading content from your hard drive
This is step 2 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
We said earlier that there are three ways to add content to a space:
●
You can upload content from your hard drive.
●
You can copy a file from another space.
●
You can create TXT files and HTML files directly in the space.
We have already discussed creating a file inline, and copying a file using the clipboard.
We will now show you how to upload a file from your hard drive. We need a file to
upload, which is not a TXT or HTML file, so create a file AlfrescoTutorial.doc on
your desktop. The file need contain only a few words.
➢ To upload a file from your hard drive
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
Drafts should be in Recent Spaces.
2. In the space header, click Add Content.
The Add Content Dialog appears (figure 26).
Figure 26: Specifying a file to upload
3. To specify the file that you want to upload, click Browse.
4. In the File Upload dialog box, browse to the AlfrescoTutorial.doc file that you
created on your desktop. Click Open.
Alfresco inserts the full path name of the selected file in the Location text box.
5. Click Upload.
The second page of the Add Content Dialog is displayed (figure 27). A message
informs you that your upload was successful.
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Figure 27: Second page of Add Content Dialog
Verify the prepopulated information in the text boxes.
6. Click OK.
The Modify Content Properties pane is displayed.
7. Add or edit any of the properties.
8. Click OK.
You are returned to the Drafts space. The file that you uploaded appears in the
Content Items pane. Alfresco extracts the file size from the properties of the
disk file, and includes the value in the Size column.
Now that we have two files, we can show you some things that you can do with these
files.
Editing a document inline
This is step 3 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
HTML files and plain text files can be created and edited inline. Each file type is edited
in its own WYSIWYG editor.
➢ To edit a document inline
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. For the HtmlFile.html file, click
(Edit)
The file opens in your browser (figure 28).
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Figure 28: Editing an HTML file inline
3. Make a quick change to the file, that you will recognize later, such as adding $ to
the end of a word.
4. Click Save.
5. You are returned to the Drafts space. Notice that the Modified column shows
the current date and time. You can verify that the file contains your changes by
any of the following:
●
Clicking the name of the file launches the file in read-only mode.
●
Clicking
opens the file in the editor that you used previously.
Downloading a file for editing
This is step 4 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
You can now download the AlfrescoTutorial.doc file that you uploaded earlier.
➢ To download a file
1. In the Content Items pane, click on
click (Edit).
the file icon For AlfrescoTutorial.doc,
The following pane appears.
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Figure 29: Downloading a file for editing
Alfresco has recognized the DOC file extension, and knows that your file cannot
be edited inline. You are being given the opportunity to download the file to your
hard drive, where you can edit the file using Word.
2. Click AlfrescoTutorial.doc.
The normal browser download dialog opens.
3. Click Save to Disk.
4. Browse to a suitable location, for example your desktop.
5. Click Save.
If you examine your desktop, you will find the file.
Summary of different ways of editing in Alfresco
In each of the previous two topics, you started the editing procedure in the same way:
you clicked the icon (Edit) for the file. This is what happened:
●
●
TXT files and HTML files are editable inline, so the HtmlFile.html file was
automatically opened in the native editor.
The AlfrescoTutorial.doc was not editable inline, so Alfresco opened the normal
browser dialog to prompt you for a location to save the file on your computer.
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Editing content offline
This is step 5 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
Using the editor that is appropriate for the file, for example MS Word, make some
changes to the file.
Updating the file in Alfresco
This is step 6 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
Now that you have edited AlfrescoTutorial.doc, you need to return the edited file to
Alfresco.
You cannot use the Add Content procedure that you used to originally upload the file
to Alfresco (see “Uploading content from your hard drive“ on page 6), because
Alfresco's security features do not allow you to overwrite an existing file. (You can try
it!) You must use the Update option associated with the file.
➢ To update an existing file
1. Ensure that you are in the space containing the file that you want to update.
In our case, this is the Drafts space.
2. For AlfrescoTutorial.doc, click
(More Actions).
3. In the drop-down menu, click Update.
The Update pane appears (figure 30).
Figure 30: Uploading a file
4. Browse to the location of the AlfrescoTutorial.doc.
5. Click Upload.
6. Click Update.
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7. You are returned to the Drafts space. There are two ways to check that your file
was updated:
●
From the date and time.
●
By clicking the icon for the file, and selecting Open With Word.
This is the end of the simple file-management process shown in Figure 15 (page 12),
using the steps 1,2,4,5,and 6. We will now follow a more complex file-management
process shown in the same figure, but following steps 1, 2, 7, 8, 4, 5, 6, and 9. Of these
steps, 7, 8, and 9 have not yet been discussed, so we will discuss these steps now.
Adding versioning to a file manually
This is step 7 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
The use of versioning allows a new version number to be assigned to a document after
each revision.
➢ To add versioning to a file
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. For AlfrescoTutorial.doc, click
(View Details).
The Details pane appears.
3. Scroll down to Version History. Click
You are informed that the current file has no version history.
4. Click Allow Versioning.
The history table appears, with the current version at 1.0 (figure 31).
Figure 31: Version history
5. Click Close (top right).
You are returned to the Drafts space.
About checking out and checking in files
If you are a Windows user, you may have tried to open a file on a network shared drive,
and seen the message that the file is currently locked by another user. You are then
invited to make a copy of the file if you wish.
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The purpose of locking a file is to prevent simultaneous editing by two or more people.
Each time one person saved the file, it could overwrite earlier changes made by a
colleague.
When an authorized user checks out a file from Alfresco for editing, the file is
automatically locked. While the user is editing the file, other users can view the file, but
they cannot edit the file.
When the user has finished editing the file, the file is checked in. The checked in file
overwrites the previous version of the file, and the lock is removed.
We now show you how to check out the AlfrescoTutorial.doc file that you uploaded
earlier.
Checking out content
This is step 8 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
➢ To check out a file
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. For the AlfrescoTutorial.doc file, click
(Check Out).
The Check Out pane is displayed (figure 32).
Figure 32: Checking out content
3. Select In the current space.
4. Click Check Out.
The Check Out ... Complete pane is displayed (figure 32).
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Figure 33: Pane shows that checkout is complete
Now you have a choice:
●
If you click Edit the working copy now, you can download the file
immediately.
●
If you click OK, the file is simply copied to the appropriate space. You then
need to download the file later for editing (see “Downloading a file for
editing“, on page 22).
●
If you click Undo Check Out, the checkout is cancelled and you are returned
to the Drafts space as if nothing had happened.
For this tutorial, we have no reason to edit this file. We will simply check it back
in later.
5. Click OK.
You are returned to the Drafts space.
About document properties after check out.
We can now compare some properties of the original document and the checked-out
version (figure 34).
Figure 34: Comparing properties for a checked-out file
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From the document properties, you can see the following features:
●
The original version of the file has a lock, . This indicates that no-one else can
check out this file until you check it back in.
●
If you click (More Actions) for the locked copy, there is no Update option.
You can only update the working copy.
●
The original version of the file has no
●
The checked out file has Working Copy inserted in the file name.
●
The working copy has an
icon (Edit), or
icon (Check Out).
icon (Check In).
The desired effect of all these features is that you cannot edit a checked-out file –
deliberately or accidentally.
Checking in content
This is step 9 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
We will now check in the AlfrescoTutorial.doc file that you checked out earlier. Note
that if we had downloaded and edited this file, we would need to update the file using
the Update action for the working copy of the file.
➢ To check in a file
1. Ensure you are in the Drafts space.
2. For the working copy of the AlfrescoTutorial.doc file, click
(Check In).
The Check In pane appears (figure 35).
If you had made only minor changes to the file, you would check Minor
Change. In this case, the minor version number would be incremented after
checkin. For example, if you checked out version 3.4, then the version number
after checkin would be 3.5. Leaving Minor Change unchecked would cause the
major version number to be updated to 4.0.
3. Ensure that Minor Changes is checked.
The option Check in changes and keep file checked out is a useful option if
you intend to keep the file locked for several days. You can continually mirror
your changes from the working copy to the locked copy. This means that if
another user wants to look at the file, they will see an up-to-date copy.
Otherwise, they would need to wait for several days until you checked in the file.
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Figure 35: Checking a file back in
You now have two options:
●
Use copy in current space. You would use this option if you had previously
used Update on the working copy.
●
Use copy uploaded from my computer. If you use this option, you do not
need to have previously used the Update option.
There will be situations where one or other of these options is preferable. You
will learn from experience.
4. Click Use copy in current space.
5. Click Check In.
You are returned to the Drafts space.
There will no longer be a working copy of AlfrescoTutorial.doc. The date and time in
the Modified column will be updated. If you click (View Details), and scroll down to
Version History, you will see that the history has been updated.
This is the end of the second content management process shown in Figure 15 (page
12), using steps 1, 2, 7, 8, 4, 5, 6, and 9.
The only remaining steps in the figure are step 10, create rules, and step 11, move
content for approval. Both of these steps involve the concept of workflow.
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About workflow
A typical content workflow is shown in figure 36. The content can be a document, a
graphics file, a Web page, streaming media, and so on.
create /e dit
conte nt
acce pte d
m ove conte nt
to approval
publish
conte nt
archive
conte nt
rejecte d
Figure 36: Typical workflow
We have already discussed creating and editing content. We will now discuss the steps
needed to move content to the approval stage, which is shown by second box in the
figure.
Earlier in the tutorial, we showed you how to apply versioning manually to a specific
file. By creating a space rule that includes versioning, we can apply versioning to every
file in the space.
The next topic shows you how to add workflow and versioning to a space. All files
within that space will follow the same rules for versioning and workflow.
About content rules
The workflow shown in the previous figure could be accomplished manually. You
would create spaces, Drafts, Approval, Publish, and Archive. Then each responsible
person would need to manually copy and paste documents from one space to another,
check out documents, send emails to the next person in the process, and so on. There are
many opportunities for errors, forgetfulness, and general inefficiency.
By using Alfresco's content rules, you can automate the entire flow process, including
the sending of emails. The easiest way to see this in action is to work through the next
topic.
When an Alfresco space is controlled by user-created rules, the space is refer
red to as a smart space. When a rule is created in a space, all files that are added to the
space after the creation of a rule are affected by the rule. Files that were in the space
before the rule was created are not affected by the rule. These files might need to be
addressed manually.
Creating a content rule
This is step 10 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
Before we start, we need a new space called Awaiting Approval, in the Joe Bloggs
space. Go ahead and create this now.
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We are going to add versioning and workflow to the Drafts space. One effect of the rule
will be to add an option, Move to approval, to the More Actions menu of each file in
the Drafts space. To satisfy the doubters, we shall first show that the rule is not
currently in the menu.
➢ To check the More Actions menu for AlfrescoTutorial.doc
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. For the AlfrescoTutorial.doc file, click
(More Actions).
3. Verify that Move to approval is not in the menu (figure37).
We shall now create the rule.
Figure 37: More
Actions menu
➢ To create a content rule
1. Ensure you are in the Drafts space.
2. In the space header, click More Actions > Manage Content Rules.
The Content Rules pane appears (figure 38). Currently there are no rules.
Figure 38: The Content Rules pane
3. In the header click Create Rule.
The first pane of the Create Rule Wizard appears. This is the Conditions pane,
as you can see at the left of the pane (figure 39).
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Figure 39: The Create Rule Wizard
Using the Conditions pane of the Create Rule Wizard
Have a look at the options in the Select
Condition drop-down menu (figure 40).
Terms such as type, aspect, category, and
mime type will be discussed later.
However, even if you don't presently
know what these terms mean, you can see
how useful it would be to apply different
rules to different classifications of content.
Figure 40: Selecting a condition
1. In the Select Condition drop-down
menu, click All Items.
2. Click Add to List.
The condition Match any item is added under Summary. Because we have
selected All Items, it makes no sense to add any other conditions. However, if
we had selected a more restrictive condition such as Items of a specified type or
its sub-types, then we could now add another condition such as Items with the
specified category value. The rule would then apply to both of these conditions.
3. Click Next.
The Actions pane of the wizard is displayed (figure 41).
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Figure 41: Adding an action to a rule
Using the Actions pane of the Create Rule Wizard
In the Select Action drop-down menu in this pane, have a look at the possible actions
(figure 42). These are the actions that can be implemented as soon as content arrives in
the space.
We will explain these actions later, but
some actions are obvious. You could select
Check out content if you knew that any
content arriving in the space must be edited
by you. This means that you would not need
to manually check out the content.
The action Send an email to specified
users would allow you to email yourself (or
others) when the content arrived.
For this tutorial, we are going to specify
Add aspect to item. This is because we
want any item that arrives in this space to be
versionable. In normal content management
terminology, versionable is an aspect.
Figure 42: Selecting an action
1. In the Select Action drop-down menu, select Add aspect to
item.
2. Click Set Values and Add.
3. In the next pane, in the Select required feature drop-down
menu, select Versionable.
4. Click OK.
Figure 43:
Selecting an
aspect
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You are returned to the Actions pane of the wizard. The Versionable aspect has
been added under Summary. At this point, there are several options available to
you before you press Next:
●
You can click
to delete the aspect that you have just added.
●
You can click
to replace the aspect that you have just added.
●
You can select another action from the Select Action drop-down menu, and
repeat the process in the same way as for the aspect Versionable. We will
repeat the process to add the action Add simple workflow to item.
5. In the Select Action drop-down menu, select Add simple workflow to item.
6. Click Set Values and Add.
The Set action values pane appears (figure 44).
Figure 44: Setting action values
7. In Name for approval step, type Move to approval.
Note: This is the text that will appear in More Actions menu for any file in the Drafts space, and all
subspaces of the Drafts space.
8. Click the Move radio button.
9. In the Approve Flow block, click Click here to select
the destination.
10. Click the radio button for the Awaiting Approval space
(figure 45).
11. Click OK.
Awaiting Approval is inserted in the To: field.
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Figure 45: Selecting
the destination space
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12. In the Reject Flow pane, click the No radio button, because our simple workflow
does not contain a rejection cycle.
13. Click OK (top right).
You are returned to the Actions pane. Your new action is added in the Summary
sub-pane (figure 46).
Figure 46: The Versionable aspect has been added
14. Click Next.
The Details pane of the wizard appears (figure 47).
Figure 47: The details pane
Using the Details pane of the Create Rule Wizard
1. In the Type drop-down menu, click Inbound.
This means that the rule will apply to all content that enters the space. The other
drop-down menu option, Outbound, applies to all content leaving the space.
2. In the Title text box, type To approval.
3. In the Description text box, type Applies versioning and workload.
4. Check Apply rule to subspaces.
This is a logical selection. It means that you can create a hierarchy of spaces
under, for example, the Drafts space, and each of these spaces will have the
same rules.
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5. For this tutorial, leave Run rule in background unchecked.
This means that the rule will be applied immediately a piece of content arrives in
the space.
6. Click Next.
The Summary pane of the wizard appears.
Using the Summary pane of the Create Rule Wizard
1. Verify the values that you have entered. Click Finish.
You are returned to the Content Rules pane. Your new rule will be added to the
list (48). You can click
to modify the rule that you have just created.
Figure 48: The "To approval" rule has been added
2. Click Close.
You are returned to the Drafts space.
Activating content rules
We mentioned earlier that content rules only apply to those files that are added after the
specific rule is added. You can verify this by clicking the icon (More Actions) for any
file in the Drafts space. You will not find Move to Approval in the drop-down menu.
Similarly, if click the (View Details) icon for AlfrescoTutorial.doc you will find
that no workflow is in operation. Versioning is applied, but that is only because you
applied versioning manually in an earlier topic.
In order to see the rule at work, you must upload another file. Here is the easiest way to
do that:
1. Rename the AlfrescoTutorial.doc on your desktop to AlfrescoTutorial_02.doc.
2. Upload the file to the Drafts space.
3. After you upload the file, click the More Actions menu, and you will see that
Move to Approval has been added.
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4. View the details for the file and you will see that versioning and workflow are
active.
You now have enough knowledge to do all these steps yourself.
Moving content for approval
This is step 11 as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
We will now use our newly created workflow rule to move a file for approval.
➢ To move a file to approval
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. For AlfrescoTutorial_02.doc, click the
icon (More Actions).
In the drop-down menu, you can see Move to approval.
(figure 49). This action is part of the rule that you created
in the previous topic.
3. Click Move to Approval.
AlfrescoTutorial_02.doc is removed from the Drafts
space.
4. Navigate to the Awaiting Approval space.
AlfrescoTutorial_02.doc is now in this space.
You can now look at some information about this file in the
Awaiting Approval space:
1. For AlfrescoTutorial_02.doc, click the
Figure 49: "Move
to approval" is
now in menu
icon (More Actions).
In the drop-down menu, you will not see Move to approval, even although the
file had this menu option in the Drafts space. This is because the rule was
created for the Drafts space (and any of its subspaces). The rule does not remain
attached to the file.
2. For AlfrescoTutorial_02.doc, click the
icon (View Details).
3. In the Details pane, you can see that the file has versioning but no workflow.
This is because versioning is an aspect, and aspects remain attached to files
wherever they go. Workflow, on the other hand, only applies to the specific
space in which the rule was created (and subspaces, if required). In the Awaiting
Approval space, you can create different workflows. For example, you could
move a file back to Drafts if it is rejected; and move it to Published if it is
approved.
This is the end of the workflow section of the tutorial, as shown in Figure 15 (page 12).
It is easy to see that you can add further spaces and further rules, and you now have the
knowledge to accomplish these tasks.
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Searching spaces and content
The search tool at the right of the toolbar is a quick way to locate files and spaces. Click
on the
icon to see the drop-down menu
(figure 50).
From the options in the menu, you can see that there
are three types of searches:
●
Spaces by name
●
Files by name
●
Files by contents
The search for All Items will combine all three of
these searches.
Figure 50: Search options
Now click on the Advanced Search option in the drop-down menu. The Advanced
Search pane appears (figure 51).
Figure 51: Advanced search options
In the figure, all the options have been exposed by clicking each of the icons. All of
the search options are self-evident, with the possible exception of Show me results in
the categories. To use this option, you would need to have previously separated your
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content items into various categories. The discussion of categories is beyond the scope
of this guide.
About space templates
When you created spaces earlier, you had to carry out several individual tasks. Here are
some of the things you did:
●
Create a hierarchy of spaces, with each space being created individually.
●
Add content.
●
Apply versioning manually.
●
Apply versioning and workflow by creating a rule.
All the work that you did manually could have been done in a few seconds simply by
using a template. The easiest way to see the power of templates is to work through the
example in the next topic. But before you do the example, we can show you the
objective. Have a look at the following space hierarchy:
Company Home > Data Dictionary > Space Templates > Software Engineering
Project (figure 52).
Figure 52: The Software Engineering Project space
(Currently, Software Engineering Project is the only template in the Space Templates
space.)
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You can see from the figure that the spaces in Software Engineering Project are a
typical set of spaces that you might create for a typical software project. So the same
template could be used for all your projects. If the template did not match your needs
exactly, you could add or delete some spaces in the template itself.
Drill down a bit further to Documentation > Samples. You can see that a template can
contain standard content. In this case, the system-overview.html file is, itself, a
template for a system overview document.
Note that the Software Engineering Project does not contain rules. This is because
rules will vary from one company to another. For example, workflow processes will
vary. For your own company projects, adding rules and standard content will increase
the value of the template.
Creating a space based on an existing template
➢ To create a new space based on an existing template
1. Ensure that you are in the Joe Bloggs space.
2. In the space header, click Create > Advanced Space Wizard.
3. The first pane of the Create Space Wizard pane appears (figure 53).
Figure 53: Creating a new space based on a template
4. Click the Using a template radio button.
5. Click Next.
The Space Options pane of the wizard appears (figure 54).
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Figure 54: Selecting a template
6. In the drop-down menu, select Software Engineering Project.
7. Click Next.
8. In the Name text box, type Software project.
9. Click Next.
10. In the final pane of the wizard, verify that the properties are correct. Click
Finish.
You are returned to your home space, with the new space inserted.
You can now browse around your new space and compare it with the Software
Engineering Project space. You will find that the space contents will be identical.
Collaboration with your colleagues
If you are developing a piece of content in collaboration with some of your colleagues,
you can discuss specific objects with selected colleagues.
➢ To create a discussion
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. For the AlfrescoTutorial.doc, click (More Actions),
then click Start Discussion (figure 55).
The Create Topic pane appears (see below).
3. In the Subject text box, type First draft.
4. In the Message text box, type any message.
5. Click Create Topic (figure 56).
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Figure 55: The
"Start Discussion"
action
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Figure 56: Creating a topic
The First draft pane appears (figure 57). This is the name that you entered for
your topic.
Figure 57: The "First Draft" topic
Note Bubble View at the top right. This can also be displayed as Details View.
If you now return to the Drafts space, you will see that AlfrescoTutorial.doc has a new
icon,
(View Discussions). This is the icon that will alert your colleagues that
discussions on this content have started. If you click on
(View Discussions), the list
of discussion topics appears (figure 58).
Figure 58: List of discussion topics
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If you click the icon (More Actions) for AlfrescoTutorial.doc, you see that Start
Discussion is no longer in the menu.
When you move or copy an object that has an associated discussion, the discussion
moves with the object.
Mapping an Alfresco space to a network drive
You may be familiar with the concept of a shared network drive (often called a network
share). This is a folder on a network computer that you have mapped to a “virtual” drive
on your own computer. If you have the correct permissions, working with files on the
shared drive is no different from working with files on your local drive.
In exactly the same way, Alfresco allows you to map a space to a drive on your
computer.
Finding your machine name
Before you can map an Alfresco space, you need to know your machine name.
➢ To find your machine name
1. On your desktop, right-click the My Computer icon.
2. In the drop-down menu, click Properties.
3. In the System Properties dialog, click the Computer Name tab.
4. The computer name is shown in this tab.
Assume that your computer name is Abc123
Deriving the server name
For mapping a drive to Alfresco, the server name is derived from you computer name
by adding _a (underscore + a). In our example, this would be Abc123_a
Mapping the drive
We will now map the space Joe Bloggs.
➢ To map an Alfresco space
1. In Windows Explorer, click Tools > Map Network Drive
The Map Network Drive dialog appears.
2. Select an unused drive letter.
3. In the Folder text box, type:
\\Abc123_a\alfresco\Users\Joe Bloggs
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Where the syntax is:
\\YourMachineName_a\alfresco\Users\YourSpaceName
4. Check the Reconnect at logon check box.
5. Click Finish.
6. Type your Alfresco user name and password when prompted.
As a result, the left pane and right pane of Windows Explorer should look like
the figures.
Figure 59: A mapped drive
Figure 60: Contents of
mapped drive
Note: If you are unable to map your drive, contact your system administrator, or refer to "Setting up the
CIFS server" in the Installation Guide".
If you open the various directories, you will find that the contents are identical to the
contents of corresponding spaces in Alfresco - with a single exception: Windows
Explorer has an additional item in each directory, __AlfrescoClient, which you can see
in the right-hand figure above. This is a direct link to the Alfresco space that
corresponds to the directory. If you click on this link, a new tab or a new browser
window will be opened, containing the corresponding Alfresco space.
Using the mapped drive
It may be obvious that if you insert a file into any of the directories on the mapped
drive, then refresh your browser, the inserted file will also appear in the corresponding
space. You should try this with any file. If you then delete the file in Alfresco, the file is
simultaneously deleted from your mapped drive.
This feature allows you to work offline. You can also keep several computers
synchronized by using Microsoft Briefcase.
Accessing the content repository
As well as being able to access shared drives on your computer, you can also access the
Alfresco content repository.
On the right of name of a space, you can see a
icon (figure 61). If you click on this
icon, a Windows Explorer window opens, showing the contents of the space. (Firefox
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users might need to install an
extension in order to activate
the
icon. See the
instructions in the next topic.)
Figure 61: The repository icon
Installing the Firefox extension
➢ To install the Firefox extension
1. Browse to the URL:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/alfresco
2. Click the green box, Download Alfresco Content Management.
3. Scroll down to Firefox extension, and click Download.
4. Click the link alfrescoext-0.9.xpi
5. In the list of download sites, click Download for the site nearest you.
6. Allow permission to install the extension.
About user roles
Alfresco uses roles to determine what a user can and cannot do in a space. These roles
are associated with permissions. The following table shows each role, and the
permissions for that role.
As a general rule:
●
Users have all rights in their own spaces.
●
Administrators have all rights in all spaces.
45
Collaborator
Contributor
Editor
Consumer
See invited space
X
X
X
X
X
X
View content
X
X
X
X
X
X
Copy content
X
X
X
X
X
X
Preview content in template
X
X
X
X
X
X
View content properties
X
X
X
X
X
X
Checkin content to invited space
X
X
X
X
Checkout content to different space.
X
X
X
X
Update/edit content created by other users
X
X
X
X
Update properties for content created by other users
X
X
X
X
Edit existing discussions
X
X
X
X
Create/add new content (1)
X
X
X
X
Cut/delete content created by other users
X
X
Create child spaces in the invited space
X
X
X
X
View content rules
X
X
X
X
Checkout content to same space.
X
X
X
Contribute to existing discussions
X
X
X
X
Invite others
X
X
Start new discussion topic
X
X
X
X
Delete content created by other users
X
X
Same access rights as content owner
X
X
Take ownership of content
X
X
Create space rules
X
X
Note: All permissions apply to the invited
space
No permissions
Coordinator
Using Alfresco
Owner (1)
Getting Started Guide
(2)
Notes:
(1) A creator automatically owns their own created content.
(2) Because an editor cannot create a new file in the invited space.
(3) All permissions are based on the default permission model. Your system
administrator can fine-tune the model. For example, an editor can be prevented from
editing topic discussions. inviting users to join your space.
You can grant permission for users to do specific tasks in your space. You do this by
inviting users to join your space. ne
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Each role applies only in the space in which it is assigned. For example, you could
invite a user to one of your spaces as an editor. You could invite that same user to a
different space as a collaborator. That same user could be invited to someone else's
space as a coordinator.
Inviting users to your space
➢ To invite users to your space
1. Ensure that you are in the Drafts space.
2. In the space header, click More Actions > Manage Space Users
The Manage Space Users pane appears (figure 52).
Figure 62: Managing users for a space
3. In the header, click Invite.
The Invite User Wizard pane appears (figure 63).
Figure 63: The Invite Users Wizard
Before continuing with your invitation, you can experiment with the Search
feature. If you type a single character in the Search box, then click Search, all
words containing that single character are listed. The character can appear
anywhere in the word, not just at the beginning. Similarly, if you type a group of
consecutive characters, then all words containing that group are listed.
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4. When the person that you are searching for appears in the list, highlight the name
of that person
5. Highlight a role for that person.
6. Click Add to List.
7. The person's name is added to the list of invitees.
8. Continue to add other names. When you have finished, click Next.
About advanced workflow
Earlier in this tutorial, we showed you how to create a simple workflow by adding
workflow and versioning to a space. All files within that space will follow the same
rules for versioning and workflow. The only way to add complexity is to create rules for
other spaces, and pass content around from space to space.
In this topic we give an example of an advanced workflow, which allows you to attach
workflow to content, and then assign the content to another user for review.
Workflow is managed in your dashboard, so the first thing to do is configure your
dashboard.
Configuring your dashboard for workflow tasks
You can configure your dashboard to list tasks that you have to do, and tasks that have
completed.
In the following tutorial example, Joe Bloggs will assign a review to another user, Jane
Doe.
Depending on how your Alfresco is configured, you might be allowed to create another
user called Jane Doe. You can then switch from one user to another by logging out and
logging in as the other user. Your system administrator might create a user called Jane
Doe simply for the purposes of this tutorial.
If you cannot create another user, then simply assign the task to yourself. The
functionality, and the screen shots, will remain almost the same.
➢ To configure your dashboard
1. In any space, click My Alfresco.
2. The space, My Alfresco Dashboard appears.
3. Click Configure (top right).
4. The Layout pane of the Configure Dashboard Wizard appears.
5. Accept the default of Single Column. Click Next.
6. The Components pane appears (figure 64).
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Figure 64: Selecting dashboard components
We are now going to remove Getting Started from the Selected Components
box, and insert My Completed Tasks.
7. In the Selected Components list,
highlight Getting Started. Click
Remove.
8. In the Available Components list,
select My Completed Tasks. Click
Add.
The component is added to the
Selected Components list
(figure 65).
9. Click Next.
Figure 65: Selected dashboard
components
The Summary pane appears.
10. Click Finish.
Your dash board is now available for workflow tasks (figure 66).
Figure 66: Dashboard ready for workflow
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If there is another user called Jane Doe, then you must configure the dashboard for
Jane Doe when you log in as that user.
Attaching workflow to content
Workflows are attached to content. So, in the Joe Bloggs space, create a plain text file
containing a few characters. Use Create > Create Content, and call the file
WorkflowFile.txt
➢ To attach workflow to content
1. For WorkflowFile.txt, click
(More Actions).
2. In the drop-down menu, click Start Advanced Workflow.
The Choose Workflow pane of the Start Advanced Workflow Wizard appears
(figure 67).
Figure 67: Choosing a workflow
3. In the Available workflows block, enable Review & Approve.
4. Click Next.
5. The Workflow Options pane appears (figure 68).
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Figure 68: Specifying workflow options
Specifying workflow options
➢ To specify workflow options
1. In the Description text box, type some text to describe what you want the
recipient to do.
For example, "Pls review attached doc"
2. In the Review Priority drop-down menu, click 2.
3. For Review Due Date, click None.
4. The date selector block appears
Figure 69: The date selector block
5. Select some future date.
6. For Reviewer, click Select.
The search block appears (figure 70).
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Figure 70: Searching for a reviewer
●
If you do not type anything in the search field, then click Search, this causes a
list of all users to appear in the drop-down menu.
●
If you type some characters, then click Search, all user names that contain
those consecutive characters will appear in the menu.
7. In the drop-down list, select either yourself, or the other user that you created.
8. Click OK.
Notice the Add Resource field at the foot of the pane. This field allows you to
add more files to the content package for review and approval. Each file that you
add will appear in the list.
9. Click Next.
The Summary pane appears.
10. Click Finish.
11. Click My Alfresco to show the Joe Bloggs dashboard (figure 71).
Figure 71: The Joe Bloggs dashboard
If you are logged in as the other user (Jane Doe), you see the dashboard shown
in figure 72.
Hover your mouse over the icon in the Actions column, and you see that the
task can be reassigned to another user.
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Figure 72: The Jane Doe dashboard
Reviewing the content
➢ To review the content
1. Ensure that you are in your dashboard. If not, click My Alfresco.
2. Click the description of the task that you want to review.
The Manage Tasks pane appears (figure 73).
Figure 73: Managing a task
3. Click the Status drop-down menu to see the contents (figure 74).
4. Change the status to Completed.
5. Click Save Changes.
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The Manage Tasks pane closes. You are returned to the
dashboard. You can see that Status is Completed.
(figure 75)
You are now going to reject or approve the document.
6. In the dashboard, click on the description of the document.
The Manage Tasks pane re-opens..
Figure 74: Status
menu
Figure 75: Before approving the task
7. Click Approve.
You are returned to the dashboard (figure 76).
Figure 76: After approving the task
The task moves from the My Tasks To Do section to the My Completed Tasks
section.
If you login as Joe Bloggs, the dashboard now looks as in figure 77.
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Figure 77: Joe Bloggs dashboard
Note that the status of Joe's task is Not Yet Started. Remember that a workflow
is a sequence of tasks. Each time a workflow moves to the next person in
sequence, a new task is started for that person, so the status will be Not Yet
Started.
8. In My Tasks To Do, click the task.
Figure 78: Managing the task
9. The assignee changes the status to Completed, and clicks Done.
The assignee's two tasks have been completed (figure 79).
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Figure 79: Assignee has completed the two tasks
56
3 Using WCM
This chapter shows you how to use WCM (Web Content Management). For reference
material on WCM, refer to "WCM Reference", on page 92.
The tutorial assumes that you have Alfresco installed on your own computer. This
allows you to be an Alfresco administrator, so you can create three other fictitious users
who all have parts to play in this tutorial.
WCM users and tasks
The following table shows what tasks you (admin) can do, as well as the other three
users.
Table 1: WCM users, roles, and tasks
User
Role
Task
admin
Web developer

Create new users.

Create new web forms in the Alfresco web forms
library.

Register multiple templates with a web form for
multi-channel output.

Create a new web project, including:
Mark
Content Manager
●
Set-up of a basic staging and promotion model.
●
Configuration of web form and templates for
web publishing.
●
Configuration of workflow for editorial review
for structured and non-structured assets.

Review and approve content from the Alfresco
dashboard.

Rollback published website changes by reverting to
an older snapshot.
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Table 1: WCM users, roles, and tasks
Pat
Lee
Content Publisher
Content Reviewer

Create new re-usable XML assets using browserbased forms.

Automatically generate new web pages from
multiple XML assets.

Stage and preview changes to the website, including
both static and dynamic pages.

Promote changes to the website and submit for
editorial review.

Review and approve content from the Alfresco
Dashboard
Creating tutorial users
You (the person doing this tutorial) will play all four WCM roles. As the admin user,
you can play the role of content contributor. You must then create three other fictitious
users to play the other three roles. You then need to login and logout depending on
which user you want to be.
To create users, you need to log in to Alfresco.
➢ To log in to Alfresco
1. In your browser, enter the following URL:
http://localhost:8080/alfresco
The login page appears (figure 80, below).
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Figure 80: Alfresco login screen
2. In the User Name text box, enter admin.
3. In the Password text box, enter admin.
4. Accept the default language as English.
5. Click Login.
The Company Home space appears (figure 81).
Figure 81: Company home space
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You can now create the three users.
➢ To create users
1. Click on the Administration Console icon, shown highlighted in figure 82.
Figure 82: Administration Console icon
2. In the Administration Console pane, click on Manage System Users.
3. In the Manage System Users pane, click on the Create User icon (shown
highlighted in figure 83).
Figure 83: The Create User icon
The Step One page of the New User Wizard appears (figure 84).
Figure 84: First page of New User Wizard
4. In First Name, type Mark.
5. In Last Name, type von Alfresco.
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6. In Email, type mark@alfrescodemo.org
7. Click Next.
The Step Two pane of the New User Wizard appears.
8. In the User Name field, type mark
9. In the Password field, type demo
10. In the Confirm field, type demo
11. Click Finish.
You are returned to the Manage System Users pane.
Now enter the details for two more users, Pat and Lee, in the same way as for Mark.
For each user, repeat the previous instructions from step 8. The details for Pat and Lee
are given in table 2.
Table 2: WCM users and tasks
Pat
Lee
First Name
Pat
Lee
Last Name
von Alfresco
von Alfresco
Email
pat@alfrescodemo.org
lee@alfrescodemo.org
User Name
pat
lee
Password
demo
demo
Confirm
demo
demo
Creating new web forms
The next two topics show you how to create a web form for a company footer, and a
form for a press release.
Remain logged in as Mark (the admin user).
Creating a web form for a company footer
➢ To create a web form for a company footer
1. If you are not in the Company Home space, click on Company Home (top left).
2. In the Company Home space, click Data Dictionary.
3. In the Data Dictionary space, click on Web Forms.
4. In the Web Forms space, click on Create > Create Web Form (figure 85).
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Figure 85: Creating a web form
The Step One pane of the Create Web Form Wizard appears.
5. Click Browse (next to the Schema text box).
6. In the File Upload dialog, navigate to:
<AlfrescoRoot>\extras\wcm\forms\company-footer.xsd
Where <AlfrescoRoot> is the directory where you unzipped Alfresco. For
example:
c:\Alfresco
Note: XSD files are used by XML Schema Definition.
7. Click Open.
You are returned to the wizard with information added about
company-footer.(figure 86, below).
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Figure 86: Creating a web form
8. Type the following information:
Title
Description
Company profile form
Provides a summary overview of a company.
These summaries are included in press
releases.
9. Accept the default value for Output Path Pattern (${name}.xml)
10. Click Next.
The Step Two pane of the Create Web Form Wizard appears.
11. Leave all values blank. Click Next.
The Step Three page of the Create Web Form Wizard appears. this page
allows you to create default workflows for form data. These defaults will apply
across all projects. However, rather than setting a default, we will configure
workflow locally when creating our web project.
12. Select No not now. Click Next.
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13. In the Summary page (figure 87), verify that your information is correct. If there
are errors, click Back. If the information is correct, click Finish.
Figure 87: Summary page
14. You are returned to the Web Forms space. The newly created form
company-footer has been added to the space.
Creating a web form for a press release
➢ To create a web form for a press release
1. Remain logged in as admin.
2. In the Web Forms space, click on Create.
3. In the first page of the Create Web Form Wizard, click Browse.
4. In the File Upload dialog, browse to:
<AlfrescoRoot>\extras\wcm\forms\press-release.xsd
5. Click Next.
6. Type the following information:
Title
Description
Press release form
Creates press releases for www. HTML and
printer-friendly versions are created.
7. Accept the default value for Output Path Pattern (${name}.xml)
8. Click Next.
In the Step Two pane of the Create Web Form Wizard, click Browse.
9. In the File Upload dialog, navigate to:
<AlfrescoRoot>\extras\wcm\forms\press-release.xsl
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Click Open.
You are returned to the Step Two pane of the wizard. The template file is used
by the rendering engine to render the press release form.
10. For Rendering Engine, accept the default of XSLT.
11. Type the following information:
Title
Description
Press release HTML template
Pre-generates an HTML page for www.
12. For Rendition Mimetype, accept HTML.
13. For Output Path Pattern, accept ${name}.xml
14. Click on Add to List.
15. The template information is added (figure 88).
Figure 88: Press release HTML template
Now add a second template association:
16. Click Browse.
17. In the File Upload dialog, navigate to:
<AlfrescoRoot>\extras\wcm\forms\press-release-plain-text.ftl
18. Click Open.
19. For Rendering Engine, accept FreeMarker.
20. Enter the following information:
Title
Description
Rendition mimetype
Press release plain text template
Pre-generates a printer-friendly
version to be linked from the press
release HTML page.
Plain Text
21. For Output Path Pattern, accept ${name}.${extension}
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22. Click Add to List.
23. View the new template associations (figure 89).
Figure 89: Template associations for press release form
24. If all the information is correct, click Next.
25. In the Step Three pane of the wizard, select No not now
26. Click Next.
The Summary page appears (figure 90).
27. If all the information is correct, click Finish.
You are returned to the Web Forms space. The newly created form,
press-release, has been added to the space beside the previously created
company-footer.
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Figure 90: Summary information for press release form
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Creating a web project
The previous topics showed you how to create web forms, and configure the default
settings. This topic shows you how to create a web project, and use the forms to create
and publish content.
The wizard-based process is easy but lengthy, because it involves multiple wizard steps.
To simplify the instructions, each pane of the wizard is described in its own section. The
title of the section is the same as the title of the step.
➢ To create a web project
1. Remain logged in as admin.
2. Ensure you are in the Company Home space.
3. Click Web Projects.
4. Click Create.
5. In the drop-down menu, click Create Web Project (figure 91).
Figure 91: Creating a web project
The Step One pane of the Create Web Project Wizard appears.
Step 1: Web Project Details
➢ To enter project details
1. Type the following information:
Name
alfrescowww
DNS Name
alfrescowww
2. Click Next.
The Step Two pane of the wizard appears.
Step 2: Configure Web Forms
Figure 92 shows that the two web forms we created earlier are available to our new
project.
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Figure 92: Available web forms
Configuring the company profile form
➢ To enter details for the company profile form
1. For Company profile form, click Add to List.
Information about this form is added to the lower pane (figure 93.
Figure 93: Company profile form
2. For Company profile form in the lower pane, click Web Form Details.
The Web Form details pane appears.
3. Accept the values for Title and Description.
4. For Output path pattern, type the following value:
/${webapp}/media/releases/content/${name}.xml
Click on the “?” icon next the output path field to learn more details on available
options for this expression.
For some reference information on Output path pattern, refer to "Output path
pattern", on page 92.
5. Ensure that Web Site Submission is selected.
6. Click OK.
You are returned to the Step Two pane of the wizard, showing the modified
information for Company profile form in the lower pane.
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Figure 94: Workflow attention icon
Note the
icon in figure 117, below.This icon alerts you to the fact that,
having selected Web Site Submission in the previous pane, you must now
configure that workflow.
➢ To configure workflow for the company profile form
1. For Company profile form in the lower pane, click on Configure Workflow.
The Configure Workflow pane appears.
2. For Type of Review, accept Serial
The VP of Marketing, Mark, must review and approve all company profiles.
3. To add Mark to the review list, type Mark in the Search box.
4. Click Search.
5. In the list of search results, highlight Mark von Alfresco
6. Click Add to List
7. Repeat the previous two steps for Pat, our VP Partner Marketing. Pat will now be
a second approver.
8. Click OK.
You are returned to Step Two of the Create Web Project Wizard.
Note: Do not configure templates for Company profile form. There are no templates associated with the
form.
You must now configure the press release form for use in your web project.
Configuring the press release form
➢ To enter details for the press release form
1. For Press release form, click Add to List.
Information is added to the lower pane.
2. For Press release form, in the lower pane, click Web Form Details.
The Web Form Details pane appears.
3. Accept the defaults for Title and Description.
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4. For Output Path Pattern, enter the same value as you entered for Company
profile form.
This is:
/${webapp}/media/releases/content/${name}.xml
5. Select the Web Site Submission option.
6. Click OK.
You are returned to Step Two of the Create Web Project Wizard.
Note: The
icon means that you must now configure the workflow for the press release.
➢ To configure workflow for the press release form
1. Next to Press release form, click Configure Workflow.
The Configure Workflow pane appears.
2. For Type of Review, select Parallel from the drop-down menu.
3. Add Mark and Lee to the list of reviewers (figure 95, below).
Figure 95: List of reviewers
4. Click OK.
5. You are returned to Step Two of the wizard.
Note: The
icon has been removed, because you have configured the workflow.
➢ To configure templates for the press release form
1. For Press release form, click Configure Templates.
Note: You did not configure templates for Company profile form, because that form had no templates
associated with it.
2. For both templates, for Output path, enter the following:
/${webapp}/media/releases/content/${name}.${extension}
3. Click OK.
You are returned to the Step Two pane of the wizard.
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4. Review the web content configuration information. Click Next.
The Step Three pane of the Create Web Project Wizard appears.
In this pane, you will configure workflow for all changes to web assets that are
not generated using web forms.
Step 3: Configure Workflow
➢ To configure workflow
In Select Workflows, there is only one workflow in the list.
1. Click Add to List.
Information is added in the Selected Workflows area at the foot of the pane.
Note: The
icon means that you must now configure the workflow for the selected workflow.
2. Click Configure Workflow.
The Configure Workflow pane appears.
3. For Type of Review, select Serial.
4. Add Mark as sole reviewer of web assets that are not generated using forms.
In Workflow Settings, note the use of .* in the Filename pattern match field.
This default means than any asset other than those generated via a Web Form
will go through this review process.
You can add the Web Site Submission workflow multiple times in Step Three
of this wizard. For each of these workflows you can configure a different chain
of reviewers. By modifying the pattern match in the Filename pattern match
field, you can allow each reviewer to review different sections of the website, or
different types of assets.
For example, you could have an additional reviewer – the Creative Director – for
any assets under /assets. The Product Manager could review anything under
/products.
5. Click OK.
You are returned to the Step Three pane of the wizard.
6. Click Next.
The Step Four pane of the wizard appears.
Step 4: Add Users
This pane is for specifying user roles.
➢ To add users
1. In the Search box, type Mark. Click Search.
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2. In the search results, select Mark von Alfresco.
3. In the Role list box, select Content Manager.(figure 73, below).
Figure 96: List of reviewers
4. Click Add to List.
Mark's name is added.
5. Repeat for Pat (Content Publisher) and Lee (Content Reviewer).
6. Click Next.
The Step Five pane of the wizard appears.
Step 5: Email Users
➢ To specify the email notification option
1. In response to the question, Do you want to send an email to notify the invited
users? accept the default No.
2. Click Next.
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The Step Six pane (Summary) of the wizard appears. This pane is shown in two
parts in figure 74 and figure 98, below.
Figure 97: Summary pane (part 1 of 2)
Figure 98: Summary pane (part 2 of 2)
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Step 6: Summary
Review the summary of your newly created web project. If you need to make any
changes, click Back. If everything is correct, click Finish.
You are returned to the Web Projects space, in which you started to create the
alfrescowww project.
From any space, you can see your web project by navigating to Company Home >
Web projects.
Importing the sample web site
The previous topics showed you how to create web forms, then create a web project
using those forms. This topic will show you how to import default web content and
submit this content to staging to allow users to create new content and manage updates.
1. Ensure that you are in the space, Company Home > Web Projects
Figure 99: The alfrescowww project
Figure 99 shows the normal view.
2. To show the sandbox view, click on alfrescowww, or on
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Figure 100: Sandbox view of the alfrescowww project
3. For My Sandbox, click Browse Website.
4. Verify that the admin sandbox is empty (figure 101, below).
Figure 101: admin sandbox for alfrescowww
5. In the admin sandbox, click Create > Bulk Import
The Bulk Import pane appears.
6. Click Browse.
7. In the File Upload dialog, browse to the file:
C:\Alfresco\extras\wcm\alfresco-sample-website.war
8. Click Open
The complete path is shown in the text box.
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9. Click Upload
You are returned to the Bulk Import pane, with your uploaded file shown under
Uploaded Content.
10. Click OK.
The processing might take several minutes. A partial view of the results is shown
in figure 102, below.
Figure 102: Partial view of uploaded content
11. To preview your sample web site, click Preview Website (top right).
The preview is shown in a new tab (figure 103).
If the preview does not appear, you may have forgotten to start the virtualization
server. For information on starting the server, refer to "Starting the virtualization
server", on page 93.
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Figure 103: Preview of the sample website
12. Click on the Modified Items link in the admin sandbox.
You see a list of all the items that were recently imported from the sample WAR
file. A partial view is shown in figure 104.
Figure 104: Partial list of recently imported items
The next topic shows you how to submit the imported content to staging. This allows
users to create new content and manage updates.
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➢ To submit content to staging
1. Select all the items in the Modified Items list.
One way to select all the items is to check each checkbox individually. The quick
way is to check the single box highlighted in red in figure 104, above. As soon as
you check the box, all other boxes are checked. (If you now uncheck the box
marked in red, all other boxes are unchecked.)
2. Click Submit Selected.
The Submit Items pane appears.
3. Enter Initial Import in both boxes.
4. Click OK.
You are returned to the modified items list.
Compare the icons with figure 104, above. You will see that the submitted items are no
longer editable, because they are now under review.
Verifying Mark's review tasks
➢ To review Mark's review tasks
1. Logout as admin, and log in as mark (VP Marketing).
On Mark's dashboard, note that he has a new review task, Initial import (figure
105, below).
Figure 105: Mark's new task
2. Click on Initial import.
The Manage Task: Review pane opens, containing the list of items that Mark
must review and approve.
3. Click Approve (top right).
You are returned to Mark's dashboard. Now there
are no tasks to do (figure 106).
4. Logout as Mark, and log back in as admin.
Note that the Initial import task has been
transferred from Mark's dashboard to the admin
dashboard.
Figure 106: Mark has no
tasks
5. Open the Initial import task.
6. In the Manage Task: Approved pane, click Task Done.
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You are returned to the admin dashboard. There are no remaining tasks in the
list.
Viewing recent snapshots
➢ To view recent snapshots
1. Ensure that you are in the space Company Home > Web Projects >
alfrescowww
2. In the Staging Sandbox pane, click Recent Snapshots (figure 107).
Figure 107: Recent snapshots
There is only one item in the list, Initial import (figure 108).
Figure 108: Version 2 of Recent Snapshots
Note that the version number of our web site is now 2. Version 1 was the
original, empty version of Staging. The version number advanced to 2 with
Initial import.
3. Click on the
icon of Recent Snapshots to collapse the list.
4. In the admin sandbox, click Web Forms (figure 109).
Figure 109: Web Forms
You will see the forms Company profile form and Press release form.
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In the next topic, you will start to create some new web pages.
Creating new web content: press releases
➢ To create a new web page
1. For Company profile form, click Create Content.
The Step One pane of the Create Content Web Wizard appears.
2. In the Name text box, type Alfresco.
3. Click Next.
The Step Two pane of the wizard appears.
4. In Name, type Alfresco.
5. In Body, type some text that you will recognize later. For example, "Alfresco's
greatness is surpassed only by ...(continued next week)."
6. Click Next.
The Summary page of the wizard appears.
Note the expression:
/ROOT/media/releases/content/Alfresco.xml
This expression is generated from the expression for Output Path Pattern that
you entered when you created the project:
/${webapp}/media/releases/content/${name}.xml
Figure 110: Web Forms
7. Check this box.
This speeds publication,because we no longer intend to work on this asset. If you
do not check the box, you would need to initiate a separate submission process
after completing the wizard.
8. Click Finish.
You are returned to the Staging Sandbox pane for alfrescowww.
9. In My Sandbox, open Modified Items.
Note that Alfresco.xml is available only for preview.
The preview process is covered later in this tutorial. You can now create three
more company profiles repeating the previous instructions from step 1.
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10. For the next three profiles, you can type any information that you want. We have
used the following information
Second profile:
Name
InterDoc
Name
InterDoc
Body
InterDoc is a leader in the Enterprise Content
Management field.
Third profile:
Name
Easypress
Name
Easypress
Body
Easypress Technologies provides software for
converting content between XML and
QuarkXPress.
Fourth profile:
Name
The World Economic Forum
Name
The World Economic Forum
Body
The World Economic Forum, based in
Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent
organization committed to improving the state
of the world.
11. When you have completed the profiles, log out as admin, and login as Mark
(VP Marketing).
Mark's four review tasks are in the dashboard (figure 111).
Figure 111: Mark's review tasks
12. Note the ID of the first task, because the next time that you look at the list, this
task will not be present.
13. Click on the first task.
The Manage Task: Review pane appears.
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14. Click Approve.
You are returned to Mark's dashboard, with three tasks remaining in the list. The
task that you noted earlier will have been removed, because it has been reviewed.
15. Open each of the remaining tasks and click Approve.
16. Now logout as Mark and login as Pat (Product Marketer). Pat is the second
reviewer in the serial review chain.
Pat's dashboard contains the four tasks that were removed from Mark's
dashboard.
Note: If you had logged out as Mark after approving each task, then logged in as Pat, you would have
seen that each task that was removed from Mark's dashboard would have appeared in Pat's dashboard.
17. Open each task and click Approve.
There are no tasks remaining in Pat's dashboard.
18. Log out as Pat, and log in as admin.
The admin dashboard contains the four tasks that were removed from Pat's
dashboard. Note that Description for each task is Approved.
The arrival of these tasks in the admin dashboard confirms that each item has
been approved.
19. Click a task in the dashboard.
20. In the Manage Task: Approved pane, click Task Done.
You are returned to the admin dashboard, with that task removed from the list.
21. Repeat for the other three tasks in the dashboard.
Creating new web content: press releases
➢ To create a new press release
1. Ensure you are in the space, Company Home > Web Projects > alfrescowww
2. In My Sandbox, open Web Forms.
3. For Press release form, click Create Content.
The Step One pane of the Create Web Content Wizard appears.
4. In Name, type WorldEconomicForum_Tech_Pioneer
5. Click Next.
The Step Two pane of the wizard appears.
6. If this pane contains an error message similar to the message shown in figure
112, then your virtualization server might not be running. To start the
virtualization server, refer to "Starting the virtualization server", on page 93.
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Figure 112: EMark's review tasks
7. In the Include Company Footer pane, select World Economic Forum.
8. Click the
icon to add another footer (figure 113).
Figure 113: Mark's review tasks
9. In the added Include Company Footer pane, select Alfresco.
10. Check the Include Media Contacts option.
11. Ignore Keywords, because we don't use keywords in this tutorial.
12. In the Category drop-down menu, select Company.
13. For Launch Date and Expiration Date, insert any values.
These are mandatory fields, but they are not used in this demo.
14. Click Next.
15. The Summary pane appears (figure 114).
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Note: In the Summary pane, do not check the option, Submit these 3 files when the wizard finishes.
Figure 114: Summary for World Economic Forum press release
In figure 114, notice that both templates that you configured for the press release
form have been applied to generate two output files, an HTML file and a TXT
file.
Also, the file path for the generated content corresponds to the rule that you
configured using Output path pattern in the Create Web Project Wizard.
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Figure 115: Summary for World Economic Forum press release
You are returned to the Web Projects > alfrescowww page.
➢ To create a second press release
1. Repeat the previous steps from step 1 to create a second press release. Use the
following information:
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Name
Title
InterDoc_Alfresco_Solution
InterDoc Chooses Alfresco to Deliver Solution for
the Government of Quebec
Abstract
Alfresco continues Government Momentum in
Canada
Location
LONDON
Body
Alfresco Software Inc., the first provider of an open
source |enterprise content management solution,
today announced that it has been chosen by InterDoc
to create a new regulatory government solution for
customers including the government of Quebec.
Include Footer
InterDoc
Include Footer
Alfresco
Include Media
Yes
Keywords
Category
None (not used in tutorial)
Company
Launch Date
Any date (not used in tutorial)
Expiration Date
Any date (not used in tutorial)
2. When you click Finish, you are returned to the Web Projects > alfrescowww
page.
3. Expand the Modified Items list.
You can see the files that you have just created.
4. Click Preview Website.
5. In the preview window, browse to About Us > News.
See the JSP page virtualize a unique dynamic view of the website as staged in
the Admin sandbox. Test all three links to the newly created web pages. Next,
confirm that the newly created web pages are only available in the Admin
sandbox. Click on the Preview Website link in Staging. Navigate to the About
Us > News page. See that no press releases are currently available.
Submitting web site changes
➢ To submit web site changes
1. In the admin sandbox, check the Name checkbox (shown highlighted in figure
88).
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Figure 116: How to select all items in Modified Items
This causes all items to be checked.
2. Select Submit Selected.
The Submit Items pane appears.
3. In the Name field, type Launch press releases.
4. In the Description field, type Major new awards, OEMs, and solutions.
5. Click OK.
You are returned to the alfrescowww space.
In the next two topics, you will see the submitted task in both Mark's and Lee's review
list. This was because you configured this review process to be a parallel, rather than a
serial review.
Checking Mark's review list
➢ To check Mark's review list
6. Log out as admin and log in as Mark.
In Mark's dashboard, you can see the task, Launch press releases.
Note: Do not take any action as Mark until you have seen Lee's dashboard.
Checking and approving Lee's review list
➢ To check Lee's review list
7. Log out as Mark and log in as Lee.
In Lee's dashboard, you can see the task, Launch press releases.
8. While logged in as Lee, click on Launch press releases.
The Manage Task: Review pane opens, containing the list of items that Lee
must review and approve.
9. Review the details in the pane, then click Approve (top right).
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10. You are returned to Lee's dashboard. Now there are no tasks to do.
Approving Mark's review list
1. Log out as Lee and log in as Mark.
2. In Mark's dashboard, click on Launch press releases and approve the task.
Finishing the admin tasks
1. Log out as Mark and log in as admin.
2. In the admin dashboard, click on Launch press releases.
3. In the Manage Tasks: Approved pane, click Task Done.
You can now review the list of staging snapshots:
4. Navigate to the alfrescowww space.
5. In the Staging Sandbox, expand the Recent Snapshots list.
By default, you will see the list for Today.
6. To see the full list, select one of the longer-range options, such as All.
Figure 117: Recent snapshots
7. To see a preview of the newly submitted web site, click Preview Website in
Staging Sandbox. Then click About us > News.
You might need to click Reload on your browser.
Now that you have published a new version of the web site, the next topic show how to
roll back to a specified earlier version of the site.
Rolling back to an earlier version
We show you how to revert to the version of your site that existed just before you issued
press releases. From figure 115, above, you can see that you need to revert to version 6.
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➢ To roll back to an earlier version of your site
1. Ensure that you are in the space Company Home > Web Projects >
alfrescowww
2. In the Staging Sandbox pane, expand the list Recent Snapshots
3. To display all your snapshots, click All in When:
The list is displayed as in figure 115, above.
4. For Version 6, click Revert
A new version, Version 8, is be added to the top of the list.
Figure 118: Version 8 is the same as version 6
This is now the latest version of the website. Version 8 is identical to the old
Version 6, so there will be no published press releases. You can now prove this:
5. Click on Preview Website
A partial view of the site is shown in figure 110. You can see that there are no
press releases.
Figure 119: Version 8 has no press releases
You can now recover the version of the site that contains the press releases
(version 7):
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6. For Version 7, click Revert
A new version, Version 9, is be added to the top of the list.
7. Click on Preview Website
The Alfresco home page is launched in a separate tab.
8. Click on About us > News
You might need to click Reload on your browser. The page (figure 100) shows
the same press releases that you saw earlier in version 7.
Figure 120: Version 9 has the press releases of version 7
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4 WCM Reference
Content Staging, Promotion, Workflow, and Snapshots
A user can display a list of modified items in their sandbox. The user can then select one
or more items to be promoted from that sandbox to a staging sandbox, using a wizard.
Submitted changes are routed, via workflow, for one or multiple users to review and
approve. Reviews can be serial or parallel.
For the editorial review workflow, the user can use Alfresco’s out-of-the-box sample
workflow or any custom-built WCM workflow.
After approval of the site changes, Alfresco automatically stores a snapshot of the
staging sandbox. This snapshot is an archive of the current version of the site, and
provides an audit trail and rollback point for previous versions of the site.
When a snapshot is stored, all committed changes are immediately available to each
user in their own sandbox. This enables all users to consistently QA their potential
changes against the latest and greatest version of the website.
Multi-channel content publishing
WCM adds support for enforcing rules to generate different output formats from created
XML assets. Web developers can upload one or more XSL, Freemarker, or XSLFO
templates. These templates are then associated with an XSD, and used to generate
content.
Output path pattern
During creation of a web project, you can configure web forms. You are asked to
specify a value for Output path pattern. For example, you could specify a value of:
/${webapp}/media/releases/content/${name}.xml
This expression specifies both the name and folder location of XML assets generated
when using the web form that is being configured.
For this tutorial, you must include the leading "/" in the output path. This creates a path
relative to our web application.
If you omit the leading slash, all generated paths will be relative to the current folder
location where the Create Web Content Wizard is launched.
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Sandboxed content development
To support the creation and editing of web content, Alfresco provides support for a
"sandboxed" development model. For any web site or web application, each user has
their own special space – a sandbox – where they can make changes to web content.
They can add, edit, or delete files and folders.
Alfresco tracks all content modifications made within a user’s sandbox. These changes
are maintained independently from changes made by other users working within their
own sandboxes.
In this way, large teams of users can work independently on changes to the website
without affecting the work of other users. Web developers can modify source code, web
designers can change the look-and-feel of the site, and content publishers can create and
modify content. All these activities can be done in parallel, in their own separate virtual
staging environments, without risk of interfering with the changes made by other users.
Starting the virtualization server
➢ To start the virtualization server
1. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the
2. Double-click
<alfresco_root>
directory.
virtual_start.bat.
A new DOS console is opened.
3. When you see a message similar to the following, you can click Preview
Website to preview your site:
INFO: Server startup in 92753 ms
Virtualization and in-context preview
Key to sandboxes are the concepts of virtualization and in-context preview.
Virtualization means that each user in the context of their sandbox has a complete view
of all current, approved, and checked-in content along with those unique modifications
made within the context of their sandbox.
In-context preview means that when previewing any asset (modified or unmodified) in a
sandbox, Alfresco provides a complete virtual view of the website. This view shows
how the site would look if all changes in the sandbox were committed to the live site.
In this manner, each user in the context of their sandbox can do rigorous and thorough
QA for all changes that they are posting to the website:
●
Web developers can ensure that code changes to JSP, class files, or JARs are
working properly.
●
Web designers can test changes to CSS files.
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WCM Reference
Content publishers can test that XML they are creating are properly generating
HTML pages and being sourced in any number of dynamic web pages.
Combined with sandboxed development, virtualization and in-context preview means
that large, diverse web team can easily collaborate on changes to the website with
reduced risk and higher overall quality.
WCM overview
Alfresco’s new Web Content Management (WCM) extends Alfresco 2.0’s capabilities
in the following areas:
●
XML content authoring.
●
Multi-channel content publishing.
●
Sandboxed content development.
●
Content staging and promotion.
●
Virtualization.
●
In-context preview for both static and dynamic web pages.
●
Each of these features are discussed in the following topics.
XML content authoring
WCM adds XForms support. This enables content publishers to create reusable XML
content using a simple browser-based form. Web developers can upload and register
XMLSchema (XSDs) within a central form library in the Alfresco data dictionary.
Web developers and content managers can subscribe individual web projects (websites
or web applications) to use one or more forms from this library to create and edit
content.
A web form can be configured for a specific web project. Content publishers can then
access this form from the Create New Content Wizard. The wizard walks you through a
step-by-step process for creating or editing XML assets.
Web forms include support for the following features:
●
Standard text areas.
●
WYSIWYG text boxes.
●
Radio buttons, single-select, and multi-select lists.
●
Calendar pickers.
●
Callouts for dynamic content selection options (used to generate conditional lists
of values for users to select for radio buttons, single- or multi-select lists).
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●
Repeating elements, both single and compound.
●
Mandatory and non-mandatory fields.
●
Client-side input validation.
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Index
8080, port number
1
Add Content Wizard
20
adding users to space 2
aspect 33
breadcrumbs 11
Browse View 10
checking in file 25, 28
checking out files
25
clipboard
8
collaboration 41
content rules 30
conventions
commands
vi
typographic
v
Create Rule Wizard
31
dashboard
48
configure
48
Dashboard View
10
Details View
10
document
downloading 22
editing inline 21
editing
offline 24
editing document inline 21
editor, HTML 16
English, language option
file
checking in
25, 28
checking out 25
downloading 22
lock
25, 28
updating
24
version number 28
helf
8
help
8
HTML 15
editor 16
Icon View
10
inbound
35
inviting users to space 47
language option, English
localhost
1
lock, file
25, 28
log in
admin user
1
normal user
6
password
6
mapping space to network drive43
navigating Alfresco
14
network drive, and space
43
New User Wizard
3
outbound
35
password
admin user
1
roles, user
45
rules, content 30
searching
38
server name
6
shortcut
9, 14
simple
workflow
30
smart space
30
space
adding users 2
inviting users 47
mapping
43
space templates
39
tasks
completed
48
to do 48
templates, space
39
toolbar 8
TXT file15
typographic conventions
v
updating file
24
upload content 20
user
name 6
roles 45
version number 28
versioning
manual 25
Wizard
Add Content
20
New Rule
31
New User
3
workflow
30
workflow, advanced
48
1, 6
6
96