Alfresco CMIS

Table of Contents

Alfresco CMIS

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

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Why Subscribe?

Free Access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Getting Started with CMIS

Understanding CMIS

Commercial products and companies supporting CMIS

The benefits of using CMIS

CMIS use cases

Repository to Repository (R2R)

Application to Repository (A2R)

Application to Multiple Repositories (A2MR)

An overview of the CMIS standard

The domain model (object model)

Services

Query language

Protocol bindings

RESTful AtomPub binding

Web Service binding

RESTful Browser binding (CMIS 1.1)

Summary

2. Basic CMIS Operations

Setting up a CMIS server

Installing your own CMIS server

Using cmis.alfresco.com

Setting up a tool to make HTTP requests

Authenticating with the repository

Getting repository information

Repository information via the AtomPub binding

Repository information via the Browser binding

Listing the children of the root folder

Listing the children of the root folder with the AtomPub binding

Listing the children of the root folder with the Browser binding

Optional parameters when listing the children of a folder

Optional parameters when listing the children of a folder with the AtomPub binding

Optional parameters when listing the children of a folder with the Browser binding

Listing available types and subtypes

Listing the types and subtypes with the AtomPub binding

Listing the types and subtypes with the Browser binding

Getting metadata and content

Getting metadata and content with the AtomPub binding

Getting metadata and content with the Browser binding

Creating, updating, and deleting content

Creating folders

Creating a folder with the AtomPub binding

Creating a folder with the Browser binding

Creating documents

Creating a document with the AtomPub binding

Creating a document with the Browser binding

Updating folders and documents

Updating a document with the AtomPub binding

Updating a document with the Browser binding

Deleting a folder or a document

Deleting a folder or document with the AtomPub binding

Deleting a folder or document with the Browser binding

Summary

3. Advanced CMIS Operations

Version management with check out and check in

Version management with the AtomPub binding

Checking out a document with the AtomPub binding

Cancelling the check out with the AtomPub binding

Updating the physical contents of the checked-out document with the AtomPub binding

Checking in a document with the AtomPub binding

Version management with the Browser binding

Checking out a document with the Browser binding

Cancelling the check out with the Browser binding

Updating the physical content of the checked-out document with the Browser binding

Checking in a document with the Browser binding

Managing permissions for documents and folders

Access control list capabilities

Access control concepts

Supported permissions

Allowable actions and permission mapping

Managing permissions with the AtomPub binding

Managing permissions with the Browser binding

Managing relationships between objects

Creating and reading relationships with the AtomPub binding

Creating and reading relationships with the Browser binding

Searching

Searching with the AtomPub binding

Searching with the Browser binding

CMIS query examples

A word on transactions

Summary

4. Alfresco and CMIS

Timeline

Architecture/stack

Alfresco content model mapping to the CMIS object model

Repository capabilities

Type mappings

Property mappings

Object path's explanation

Versioning

Access control

Change log

Renditions

Search

Support for Alfresco-specific features

Aspects

Tags

Categories

Summary

5. Accessing a CMIS Server with a Java Client

Setting up a build environment

Connecting and setting up a session with the repository

Connecting to a repository by ID

Getting repository information

Listing the children of the root/top folder

Optional parameters when listing the children of a folder

Listing available types and subtypes

Creating, updating, and deleting content

Creating folders

Creating documents

Updating folders and documents

Deleting a document, folder, or folder tree

Getting the content for a document

Copying and moving folders and documents

Working with Alfresco aspects

Using secondary types to manage aspects

Adding aspects when creating an object

Adding aspects to an existing object

Reading aspects

The Alfresco OpenCMIS extension to manage aspects

Adding aspects when creating an object

Adding aspects to an existing object

Reading aspects

Version management with check out and check in

Checking out a document

Updating the content of the checked-out document and then checking it in

Managing permissions for documents and folders

Managing relationships between objects

Searching

Summary

6. Accessing a CMIS Server Using Scripting Languages

Using CMIS in JavaScript and web application pages

Solving the same origin policy problem

Using jQuery

Using CMIS in Groovy scripts

Using CMIS in Spring Surf Web Scripts

Setting up a build project for Spring Surf with CMIS

Updating the Spring Surf project so that CMIS can be used

Updating the home page to display repository info via CMIS

Updating the home page to display text from a file in the repository

Using CMIS calls in Alfresco Share extensions

Summary

7. System Integration with CMIS

Integrating Drupal with a CMS server

The CMIS API module

Displaying a CMS repository file link on a Drupal page

The CMIS Views module

Displaying a CMS repository folder on a Drupal page

Displaying a result from a CMIS query on a Drupal page

Synchronizing the CMS content with Drupal content

Enterprise integration with CMIS

Moving a file from a folder into a CMS server using Mule

Getting a document from a CMS server via Mule

Talking to Alfresco in the Cloud via CMIS

Setting up an account

Registering a client application

Setting up a development project

Authorizing the client application

Making CMIS calls

Summary

Index

Alfresco CMIS

Alfresco CMIS

Copyright © 2014 Packt Publishing

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First published: March 2014

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Cover Image by Veronika Bergljung (<vbergljung@yahoo.com>)

Credits

Author

Martin Bergljung

Reviewers

Robin Bramley (Ixxus)

Karol Bryd

Nicolas Raoul

Barb Mosher Zinck

Acquisition Editors

Subho Gupta

Content Development Editor

Priyanka S

Technical Editors

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Copy Editors

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Proofreaders

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Graphics

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Cover Work

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About the Author

Martin Bergljung is a Principal ECM Architect at Ixxus, a UK Platinum Alfresco partner. He has over 25 years of experience in the IT sector, where he has worked with the Java platform since 1997.

Martin began working with Alfresco in 2007, developing an e-mail management extension for Alfresco called OpsMailmanager. In 2009, he started working on Alfresco consulting projects and has worked with customers such as Pearson, World Wildlife Fund, International Financial Data Services, NHS, VHI Healthcare, Virgin Money, Unibet, BPN Paribas, University of Westminster, Aker Oilfield Services, and Amnesty International.

He is a frequent speaker and has delivered talks at Alfresco conferences in London, Berlin, and Barcelona. He is also the author of Alfresco 3 Business Solutions, Packt Publishing.

I would like to thank Sumeet Sawant, Priyanka Shah, and Subho Gupta at Packt Publishing for suggesting the project and getting it on track.

My thanks also goes to Sherin Padayatty and Michelle Quadros, my Project Coordinators, who were always pushing me to deliver the next chapter. Thanks to the entire Packt Publishing team for working so diligently to help bring out a high-quality product.

Thanks to all the book reviewers who gave me invaluable feedback during the whole project. Specifically, I would like to thank Robin Bramely, my colleague at Ixxus, who gave me invaluable feedback, tips, and ideas throughout the book writing process, thanks!

I must also thank the talented team of developers who created the Alfresco open source product. It opens up a new way for everyone that wants to build any kind of ECM business solution.

And finally, I would like to thank Paul Samuel and Justin Haynes at Ixxus for supporting my book project.

About the Reviewers

Robin Bramley is an experienced Alfresco practitioner, having taken Version 0.6 to bits in 2005 and been using, extending, implementing, integrating, and scaling it ever since. He was the Technical Manager at the first UK Alfresco Gold partner where he built the original IMAP interface to Alfresco and is now the Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Architect at Ixxus, a global Alfresco Platinum partner.

Robin has architected many distributed systems over the past 15 years, ranging from Swaps Trading Platform to Insurance Contract Management and a global Alfresco-based DAM system. Robin has presented at various international conferences and meetups in London; he also writes for GroovyMag, including an article on CMIS integration with Alfresco that NASA wanted the source code for.

I'd like to thank my wife for her patience while I've been glued to my laptop in the evenings!

Karol Bryd has been working with ECM technologies since 2005, first with Documentum and then with Alfresco since 2008. He has worked on numerous ECM-related projects mainly in the Pharmaceuticals sector, performing all manner of roles from Developer to Technical Consultant to Development Manager.

He was a technical architect at Generis (http://www.generiscorp.com) for CARA, one of the first products to fully utilize Alfresco and CMIS technologies, and subsequently, supported its deployment at major corporations. He is also the author of the Alfresco extension Stamper (http://stamper.metasys.pl) for securing and watermarking PDF content in Alfresco.

Currently, he holds the position of Documentum Expert at F. Hoffmann-La Roche, where he is working on Documentum projects that help manage large amounts of business-critical electronic documentation.

Nicolas Raoul is an ECM consultant at Aegif in Tokyo. After obtaining a Master's degree from the French Ecole Nationale d'Ingenieurs, he worked in 13 countries, successfully designing distributed architectures for the French National Library or the Schengen Information System.

Back when CMIS was still in its draft stage, he created CmisSync, a CMIS synchronization client that allows Alfresco users to work faster even when they are offline. Enjoying a strong open source community, CmisSync helps organizations combine the user friendliness and mobility of cloud storage with the security and customizability of their CMIS server, be it on-premise or in private/public clouds.

As an ECM architect, he helped Alfresco design their certification program in 2009. He has been writing open source software since the age of 16. In his free time, he created AnkiDroid, a flashcards app with a million users, and other popular programs.

Barb Mosher Zinck is a freelance writer and VP, Editorial for CMSWire (SimplerMedia Group Inc). She has over 10 years of experience as an IT solutions architect, focused on designing and supporting web-based applications.

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This book is dedicated to my sons Bruce, Thor, and Francisco and to my wife Veronika.

Preface

Content Management Servers (CMS), both proprietary and open source, have been around for a very long time, but there has not been a standard way of talking to them until recently. The Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) standard provides both an application programming interface and a search language (based on SQL-92). Today, most of the CMS systems out there support the CMIS standard.

Alfresco CMIS is a practical, hands-on guide that provides you with a number of clear step-by-step exercises, which will help you take advantage of the real power of CMIS and give you a good foundation in using it via HTTP/XML, Java, or scripting.

This practical companion will get you up to speed on CMIS in no time.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started with CMIS, starts off with an introduction to the CMIS standard to quickly get you up-to-date on the service API, object model, and query language.

Chapter 2, Basic CMIS Operations, shows you how to add, update, delete, and search for content using HTTP and XML/JSON.

Chapter 3, Advanced CMIS Operations, teaches you how to version content, set permissions for content, and create relationships between content items using HTTP and XML/JSON.

Chapter 4, Alfresco and CMIS, covers specifics around the Alfresco content management server's implementation of CMIS, such as how to handle aspects, tags, and categories.

Chapter 5, Accessing a CMIS Server with a Java Client, introduces the Apache Chemistry project and the OpenCMIS Java library, which is an abstraction on top of the standard HTTP and XML/JSON protocol bindings.

Chapter 6, Accessing a CMIS Server Using Scripting Languages, shows how scripting languages such as JavaScript and Groovy can be used to talk to content management servers via the CMIS standard.

Chapter 7, System Integration with CMIS, looks at how CMIS can be used for enterprise application integration. With specific examples of how to integrate Drupal with content management servers, connect Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) with one or more content management servers, and talk to the Alfresco Cloud service.

What you need for this book

For all the chapters except the first one, you will need access to a content management server that supports CMIS, such as Alfresco. In case of Alfresco, you can use an online service available at http://cmis.alfresco.com or install the Alfresco community version from http://downloads.alfresco.com (it is recommended to have your own local server, so you have control of the content and availability).

For Chapter 2, Basic CMIS Operations, and Chapter 3, Advanced CMIS Operations, it's good to install a tool such as curl that can be used to make HTTP calls. Chapter 5, Accessing a CMIS Server with a Java Client, will require JDK and Maven installed. Chapter 6, Accessing a CMIS Server from Scripting Languages, requires the installation of jQuery and Groovy.

Who this book is for

This book is great for developers who want to learn how to build applications that talk to content management servers in a standard way using CMIS. It will be helpful to have a bit of programming experience, but it is not necessary for the first two chapters. The OpenCMIS chapter and Alfresco Cloud section will assume some basic knowledge of Java.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: If we take Documentum as an example, its generic content type is named dm_document and not cm:content.

A block of code is set as follows:

    http://localhost:8080/alfresco/cmisatom/f0ebcfb4-ca9f-4991-bda8-9465f4f11527/types>

    types

    text>Types Collection

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

objectbypath

application/atom+xml;type=entry

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

$ curl http://localhost:8080/alfresco/service/api/login?u=admin&pw=admin 1.0 encoding=UTF-8?> TICKET_39ea5e46e83a6d6e43845182f4254f9de50402fb

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: clicking the Next button moves you to the next screen.

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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Chapter 1. Getting Started with CMIS

Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) is a new interface to talk to Content Management Systems (CMS) in a standard way. This chapter will introduce you to the CMIS standard, explain why it is important, and see how it came about. We will cover the different parts of the CMIS standard, the benefits of using it, and some example use cases for CMIS.

Understanding CMIS

CMIS is an effort toward standardization and is managed by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) body. The latest version is 1.1 (http://docs.oasis-open.org/cmis/CMIS/v1.1/CMIS-v1.1.html), which was approved in May 2013. Version 1.0 specifies most of the functionalities and is quite developed being approved in May 2010. Some content servers might not yet support Version 1.1, so we will point out