A Content Management Primer:What I Wish I Knew

Richard Esplin

Community Technology

Patterns for Handling Content in Applications

Richard Esplin

Community Technology

Why Relational Won't Cut It

Richard Esplin

Community Technology

Solving SharePoint Type Problems With An Open Source Stack

Richard Esplin

Community Technology

Agenda

● Making the case for content management● Best practices: the platform approach● Introducing CMIS● Live examples

What is Alfresco?

Enterprise content management platform across cloud, on-premise, or both

API for content applications that can run in the cloud, on-premise, or both

Content hub for your enterprise tablets1cloud on-premise hybrid cloud sync

What is “content”?

● Data● Don't mistake Code for Content

● Unstructured Data● Structured data works well in a relational data store, XML store, or

key-value store

● Unstructured Binary Data● Unstructured non-binary data works well in source control

● Examples:● Audio, Video, Images, Office Documents, Engineering Files,

Reports

What is a “content-centric application”?

● Applications that access binary files● Files are often generated collaboratively● Often must deal with large numbers of files● May include a mix of structured and unstructured

content● May also include business processes

A few examples

● Web site with catalogs, white papers, and videos● Expense report review and approval● Contract negotiation, creation, and review● Research study authoring● Sales / Marketing collateral creation and communication● Course guide authoring and publishing● Images and media in games● Media curation, transformation, and delivery● Legal compliance and corporate records management

Or the business is saying . . .

● I've got a ton of files,● I've got people that

produce and consume them,

● I've got systems that use them,

● I want to make it easier!

Doug Waldron (cc attribution share-alike)http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougww/922328173/

Let's build it ourselves!

Pasukaru76 (cc attribution) http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasukaru76/4277763808/

DIY approach seems simple . . .

● “This is simple stuff.”● Grab a web-application toolkit● Favorite front-end / presentation framework● Store a bunch of files● Relational Database

● Data Model / Metadata● Comments / Ratings● Tagging / Categorization

File storage options

● On disk● Amazon S3 or an internal CAS filer● Source code control repository● XML database● NoSQL document store

Relational may not cut it

● Good at text and numbers. Not so good at binary.

● Good at static table definitions. Not so good at dynamic aspects.

● Size limits.● Random seek (streaming).● Search: Some relational databases can index

into blobs, but not all.

Once files are figured out . . .

● Ensure security● Execute a workflow● Transform the content between

types● Schedule a job● Provide shared drive access● Versioning● Replication● API Access● Integrate with authoring tools

Lotsof

custom code!

The optimistic scenario

gobucks2 (cc attribution non-commercial share-alike) http://www.flickr.com/photos/69331170@N00/2854583096

The pessimistic scenario

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Professor_Lucifer_Butts.gif

Evaluating DIY reasonableness

● Number and size of documents● Number and concurrency of users● Number and nature of integration points● Business process volatility and complexity● Time and cost of

● Integrating all of these services / sub-systems● Maintaining all of that code . . . forever

● Access to off-the-shelf alternatives

Introducing the content repository

● Content = a file + metadata● File system

● Content binaries● Search indexes

● Database● Relations (associations)● Metadata

● Repository● Abstraction layer

Components of content-centric systems● User Interface● Persistence / Data Model

/ Metadata● Business Process /

Workflow● Library Services

(Upload / Download, Versioning, Check-in / Check-out)

● Security● Search● Scheduler

● Transformation / Rendition / Thumbnails

● Tagging / Categorization● Authoring tool integration● Remote API● Transfer / Publication● Comments● Ratings● Activity Streams /

Notification● Quotas

Packaged systems

Open source content management

● Alfresco● Nuxeo● Knowledge Tree● Magnolia● Apache Jackrabbit● Plone

● (cmis4plone)

Best Practice: The Platform Approach

Platform approach

● The common problems have been solved● Content Platform = Repository + Services

● Find a platform that meets your needs● Extend the platform with your own business logic● Customize the UI that the platform provides● Or write your own front-end using whatever language or

framework makes sense

● Meets your current needs while providing a roadmap for the future

Evaluating content platforms

● Agility● Applicable to a broad set

of solutions vs a vertical specific solution

● Scale up, scale down● Developer ergonomics

● Fast and friendly developer model

● Open Source● Troubleshooting● Bug tracking● Community

● Standards compliance● Easier integration● Lower migration costs● Developer familiarity

General architecture

Web Applications Knowledge Portals Web Services

Virtual File System High Availability

BusinessProcessEngine

CRM

Portal Server

AppServer

Desktop

Mobile

Social Media Channels

Web Services Public Alfresco Cloud

Corporate Systems

Open Web APIs

CMISJSR-168

Connectors

WebDAVCMISCIFS

SharePointProtocol

Open WebAPIsCMIS

CMIS-basedAlfresco Sync

CMISWebDAV

andand

What is CMIS?

● Content Management Interoperability Services

● Language-independent, vendor-neutral API for content management

● Least-common-denominator (some vendors have extensions)● CRUD functions for nodes● Check-in / check-out● Associations● Permissions (Access Control Lists)● Policies● Queries● Repository Traversal

What is CMIS?

● OASIS standard● 30+ ECM vendors agreed to implement

● Two parts● Interoperability through standard SOAP and AtomPub

bindings– JSON bindings coming soon

● SQL-based query language for rich content repositories

● Vendor specific extensions may be useful

Use cases

● Collaborative content creation

● Portals

● Client application Integration

● Mashups

● Embedded content store

Client

Content Repository

Content Repository

Content Repository

Client

Content RepositoryContent

RepositoryContent Repository

● Workflow & BPM● Archival● Documents generation● Digital Asset Management (DAM)● Web Content Mangaement (WCM)

The beauty of CMIS

?

Presentation Tier

Content Services Tier

?Enterprise Apps Tier

REST SOAP

Meet CMIS

Client

Content Repository

Services

Domain Model

read write

Con

sum

er

Pro

vid

er

Vendor Mapping

ContentManagementInteroperabilityServices

CMIS lets you read, search, write, update, delete, version, control, … content and metadata!

Types

Document● Content● Renditions● Version History

Folder● Container● Hierarchy● Filing

Relationship● Source Object● Target Object

ACL● Target Object

Described byType Definitions

Policy● Target Object

Type Definitions

*

Custom Type

Object● Type Id● Parent● Display Name● Queryable● Controllable

Document● Versionable● Allow Content

Folder Relationship● Source Types● Target Types

Policy

Property● Property Id● Display Name● Type● Required● Default Value● …

Apache Chemistry

● Open Source implementations of CMIS● Umbrella project for all CMIS related projects within the

ASF● OpenCMIS (Java, client and server)● cmislib (Python, client)● phpclient (PHP, client)● DotCMIS (.NET, client)

● De-facto reference for CMIS and used by CMIS technical committee to test 1.1 features

Examples

My setup

● Debian Mint Wheezy● OpenJDK 1.6.0_24● Python 2.7.2● Alfresco Community Edition 4.0.d● Open CMIS Workbench 0.7.0

CMIS Workbench

● Download● http://chemistry.apache.org/java/developing/tools

/dev-tools-workbench.html● Connect to Alfresco

● http://localhost:8080/alfresco/cmisatom● Good tool for figuring out what CMIS can do● Check out the Groovy Console!

Python● In the shell:

virtualenv . ./bin/easy_install cmislib ./bin/python

from cmislib.model import CmisClient client = CmisClient( "http://192.168.56.1:8080/alfresco/cmisatom", "admin", "admin") repo = client.defaultRepository repo.id repo.name for (k,v) in repo.getCapabilities().iteritems(): print "%s: %s" %(k,v)

for (k,v) in repo.getRepositoryInfo().iteritems(): print "%s: %s" %(k,v)

root = repo.getRootFolder() root.name folder = root.createFolder('cmis-demo') folder.id folder.name for (k,v) in folder.properties.iteritems(): print "%s: %s" %(k,v)

● Continued:

props = {}props["cmis:objectTypeId"]="cmis:document"doc = folder.createDocumentFromString('testdoc.txt', props, contentString="This is a test showing how to create a text document", contentType='text/plain')doc.isCheckedOut()props = {}props['cmis:name'] = "test-updated.txt"doc = doc.updateProperties(props)doc.namedoc.delete()len(folder.getChildren())result = repo.query("select * from cmis:folder where cmis:name like '%alf%'")len(result)for i in result: print i.name

result = repo.query("select * from cmis:document where contains('name')")for i in result: print i.name

PHP and Drupal

● Drupal CMIS Views● http://drupal.org/project/cmis_views

● Built on Drupal CMIS● http://drupal.org/project/cmis● Configure a repository in settings.php● Enable cmis_sync● Bundles an early release of phplib

● Currently read-only● Good for exposing unstructured data alongside a

structured web page

Where to learn more

● cmis.alfresco.com includes a public CMIS server and links to CMIS resources (check out the cheet sheet)

● Read the CMIS specification● Apache Chemistry site has clients, lightweight server,

documentation● “Getting Started with CMIS” tutorial shows how to use

"cURL to hit AtomPub bindings directly"● Slideshare has some CMIS related presentations from

Alfresco DevCon here and here

Questions?

Attribution and Licensing

● Copyright 2012, Alfresco Software● Some images used in this presentation are

licensed under the Creative Commons by-attribution non-commercial share-alike license.

● Original work in this presentation is licensed under the Creative Commons by-attribution license.

● Thanks to Jeff Potts for allowing me to base my presentation on his.