Orchestrating Document and Media Management using CMIS

Transcription

1 Orchestrating Document and Media Management using CMIS Technical Note - Integrating ActiveVOS with Alfresco CMIS Services AN ACTIVE ENDPOINTS TECHNICAL NOTE 2009 Active Endpoints Inc. ActiveVOS is a trademark of Active Endpoints, Inc. All other company and product names are the property of their respective owners

2 Content Introduction... 3 Demonstration Scenario... 3 About Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS)... 4 About Alfresco... 4 ActiveVOS and CMIS Orchestration Overview... 6 UpdateRepositoryCatalog.bpel... 7 Initiate Review Process... 7 Get Directory Listing Process... 8 Move Reviewed Doc Process... 9 Alfresco Approval Group Process... 9 Demonstration Environment Setup and Configuration Installation Update cmis-ws-context.xml file Create Alfresco ActiveVOS Project Spaces Obtaining the Repository Id Obtaining Space Ids Setup and Deployment of ActiveVOS Processes Step 1 - Download AlfrescoDemo project file Step 2 - Deploy Workflow Processes Step 3 Configure alfresco-config.xml file Step 4 Schedule the Initiate Review Process Running the Demonstration Environment Pre-requisites Testing Process Group Approval Process Summary/Conclusion About Active Endpoints Appendix A - ActiveVOS Installation Step 1 Run the ActiveVOS Designer Installer Step 2 Launch ActiveVOS Designer Step 3 Configure the Embedded ActiveVOS Server Appendix B - Installing Alfresco Step 1 Download Alfresco 3.2 Community Edition Step 2 Run Alfresco Installer Step 3 Launch alf_start.bat Step 4 - Verify alfresco is running Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 2 of 59

3 Introduction Demonstration Scenario Document management systems typically offer the ability to invoke a workflow on a pre-existing document or upon publication of the document or media in the document repository. Document-centric approaches have limitations. Such workflows tend to be proprietary in nature and typically constrained to activities that can only take place within the confines of a document repository. In most implementation advanced capabilities such as parallel threads of execution of the workflow is not possible. When documents and media originates outside a document repository and need to be handled by systems and users a different approach is needed. As such a process (i.e. a workflow) that spans beyond the confines of a document management system needs to be implemented. How though does one integrate system and human interaction with necessary document management functions? The purpose of this document is to describe the use of ActiveVOS in conjunction with the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) web services interfaces. The adjoining demonstration project combines ActiveVOS with Alfresco s CMIS services as shown here. The combination of Alfresco and ActiveVOS leads to easier integration and development of solutions for customers. One of the key components of the integration between Alfresco and ActiveVOS is the use of the CMIS web services. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 3 of 59

4 This approach provides content management systems such as Alfresco with Enhanced workflow capabilities o Human process governance o SLA monitoring/ escalations Easier integration with services and applications Better reporting and process visibility with ActiveVOS BAM/BI functionality Access to document management for access to document and media content and metadata About Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) On September 10, 2008 a group of Enterprise Content Management vendors including EMC Corporation, IBM Corporation and Microsoft Corporation announced the publication of Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) specification and a collection of associated schemas, WSDLs, and XML instances. CMIS s objective is to define a domain model and set of bindings, such as Web Service and RESTful AtomPub that can be used by applications to work with one or more Content Management repositories/systems. CMIS web services expose a series of vendor independent operations/ functions are exposed via the WSDL (or REST) interface. Through the use of these services content management solutions such as Alfresco s enable access to content and media to applications and processes build with ActiveVOS. For further information on CMIS, you can follow these links: About Alfresco The demonstration orchestration project described herein and the adjoining ActiveVOS project leverage Alfresco CMIS content management APIs. Alfresco is a provider of an open source enterprise content management platform depicted here. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 4 of 59

5 To learn more about Alfresco please visit Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 5 of 59

6 ActiveVOS and CMIS Orchestration Overview The demonstration environment includes an ActiveVOS Orchestration project that you can download from the same location in the In-Depth section where you found this document. The Import the Alfresco Project section of the orchestration project describes how to import the project s content. To view the process definitions, you can double click within Project Explorer after to see the visual process representations. The project contains the content shown here. <- Alfresco space names <- Workflows to be deployed <- Reference configuration data files for demo <- Deployment files <- Sample data folder <- WSDL interfaces to Alfresco Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 6 of 59

7 UpdateRepositoryCatalog.bpel This workflow is responsible for updating the catalog file containing the Alfresco repository space id. It uses a CMIS getrepositories operation call to get the main repository space id from the Alfresco repository. Via standard Assign/ Copy BPEL operations, the alfrescoconfig.xml file is updated in the ActiveVOS catalog. Initiate Review Process The Initiate Review process (InitiateReview.bpel) queries the Alfresco ready for review folder. For each document in folder, it moves each document to Under Review folder in Alfresco. Also it initiates group review. This process is scheduled to run periodically. Refer to Step 4 Schedule the Initiate Review Process later in this document for details on how to configure the process schedule. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 7 of 59

8 Get Directory Listing Process This process (GetDirectoryListing.bpel) is invoked by the Initiate Review process QueryDirectoryOperation activity. The Query activity invokes an CMIS function to get a list of files in the Ready folder that needs to be processed. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 8 of 59

9 Move Reviewed Doc Process This process is invoked by the Initiate Review process MoveDoc activity. It gets the folder ids from the catalog file. Based on the group consensus (Accept or Deny), the file is moved to either Accepted or Rejected Alfresco folder using a CMIS defined operation. Alfresco Approval Group Process The Alfresco Group Approval Process (AlfrescoGroupApprovalPro cess.bpel) invoked from the SendDocToReview activity of the Initiate Review Process makes a copy of the Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 9 of 59

10 document from the Alfresco folder. A human task is launched for each of the 3 reviewers (approver1, approver2 and approver3) and a copy of the same file is sent to each of them. Demonstration Environment Setup and Configuration This section describes the setup and configuration steps necessary to run the demonstration environment comprising ActiveVOS and Alfresco. Installation This demonstration environment described in this document assumes the following: 1. Windows XP Operating System - The demonstration environment can be installed on a Linux platform but the steps for this are not provided in this document. Please contact evalsupport@activevos.com for assistance. 2. Alfresco Version - General Available (GA) version of Alfresco 3.2 Community Edition. 3. ActiveVOS Version - ActiveVOS is used to illustrate the examples. Appendix A and B respectively describe the steps to download and install ActiveVOS and Alfresco. Update cmis-ws-context.xml file If you are running with ActiveVOS 7.0 or later, as part of the setup, you need to update cmis-ws-context.xml to remove the requirement for timestamps on the messages. You will find this file in a directory like.tomcat\webapps\alfresco\web-inf\classes\alfresco Remove Timestamp from wss4jininterceptor id as shown below Pre-edit version Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 10 of 59

11 Post edit version Create Alfresco ActiveVOS Project Spaces The demonstration project relies on the existence of pre-named spaces (or folders ) within the Alfresco content management repository. From the Alfresco administrative console GUI, it is easy to configure these required spaces. From the main Alfresco GUI, using the Navigator, go to Company Home and view entries for User Homes. After the initial installation, this space will not have any items as shown below. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 11 of 59

12 Select Import Point to the ActiveVOS.acp file. This file is included in the AlfrescoDemo.zip file in the folder acp see section Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 12 of 59

13 Now do a refresh on the User Homes And now drill into the ActiveVOS space Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 13 of 59

14 At this point, you can delete the ActiveVOS.acp file When you click on the ActiveVOS space, you should see a folder/ directory structure similar to the following: Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 14 of 59

15 Obtaining the Repository Id As part of the workflows, it is required to obtain the repository Id. You can get the repository id by running the UpdateRepositoryCatalog.bpel process An easy way to do this is the use the ActiveVOS Admin Maintenance Scheduler. Logon to ActiveVOS console ( Goto Admin -> Maintenance -> Scheduling Click on Create Schedule link Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 15 of 59

16 Now enter the appropriate values to define the one time schedule Name: Alfresco Repository Id Frequency: Once Service Name: CatalogUpdatePort Input Message : contents <MessageInitiate xmlns=" <initiate/> </MessageInitiate> available from sample-data folder in file InitiateStub.xml Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 16 of 59

17 Select Run Now to have it execute. If you want to verify the correct execution of this task, use the ActiveVOS Admin Console Monitor Process Monitoring Active Processes And click on the process instance Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 17 of 59

18 Obtaining Space Ids As part of the workflows, you need to have the Alfresco space ids (identifiers). To discover these values, you can use the Alfresco GUI to discover the values. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 18 of 59

19 From the Space Navigator, click on Accepted and then, select More Actions & View Details Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 19 of 59

20 Record these spaceids for updating the alfresco-config.xml in an upcoming step. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 20 of 59

21 Setup and Deployment of ActiveVOS Processes Now that the Alfresco components have been configured, you can start on the configuration of the ActiveVOS workflow components. Step 1 - Download AlfrescoDemo project file As part of the example, there is an AlfrescoDemo.zip file Import the Alfresco Project At this point, you can import the ActiveVOS projects for the Alfresco demo. If you have copied the zip file to a location like: C:\temp\Afresco\AcitveVOS demo Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 21 of 59

22 You can use the Eclipse project import capability to import the project contents to your ActiveVOS Designer. Use the File/ Import option Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 22 of 59

23 Click on Open Select Finish After the import is completed, you will see Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 23 of 59

24 Configure tomcat-users.xml To modify the tomcat-users.xml file: Goto the Server Tab and select you ActiveVOS Embedded server entry Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 24 of 59

25 Right click to bring up the menu and click on Open. You will then see a screen like the following. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 25 of 59

26 Expand Configure Identify Provider by clicking on the text Now you can click on the tomcat-user.xml hyperlink to begin editing of the identity XML file. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 26 of 59

27 Switch from the Design to Source view and add the following lines <!-- Alfresco demo integration users --> <user username="approver1" password="approver1" roles="abtaskclient"/> <user username="approver2" password="approver2" roles="abtaskclient"/> <user username="approver3" password="approver3" roles="abtaskclient"/> To the file, You can cut and paste from this word document). You must restart your embedded server to have these new users take effect. To test the users, you can use the ActiveVOS console Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 27 of 59

28 Click on Test Tab If the test for approver1 fails, stop and start your embedded server (from the servers tab). When the ActiveVOS embedded server has been restarted, test for the approver1 id again. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 28 of 59

29 Step 2 - Deploy Workflow Processes Click on Deploy Icon in ActiveVOS console. Navigate and select AlfrescoDemo.bpr file in the../workspace/alfrescodemo/deploy directory Click Open Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 29 of 59

30 And then click on Deploy Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 30 of 59

31 You can typically ignore the warning messages. Verifying successful deployment Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 31 of 59

32 Step 3 Configure alfresco-config.xml file The alfresco-config.xml will contain the Alfresco repository and space ids as reference values in an xml file. To edit, this file, launch the ActiveVOS console ( and navigate to the Catalog/ Resources/ All page Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 32 of 59

33 Edit the above file to set the parameters for the Alfresco spaces. Use the information collected in the Create Alfresco ActiveVOS Project Spaces section Click on Update when you have completed the changes. Step 4 Schedule the Initiate Review Process To schedule the Initiate Review process execution, an ActiveVOS schedule task needs to be configured. To do this, launch an ActiveVOS Console session and navigate to: Admin Maintenance Scheduling Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 33 of 59

34 You should see a screen similar to the following: When you click on Create Schedule, you will see a dialog similar to following screen Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 34 of 59

35 Configure the scheduling task with the following Name Alfresco Polling Frequency once we will launch manually; in a production mode, this could be set to run periodically (e..g 1/minute or 1/hour) Service Name InitiateStub - if you click on the link Services, you should see a list similar to the following Input document see AlfrescoDemo/sample-data/ InitiateStub.xml file for contents for Input document Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 35 of 59

36 This will be used in the end to end testing of the Alfresco/ ActiveVOS integration. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 36 of 59

37 Running the Demonstration Environment Pre-requisites Prior to running the end to end tests, you should have the following installed and running: Alfresco mysql Alfresco Tomcat application server with Alfresco software ActiveVOS Designer with embedded server started Testing Process The testing cycle is detailed below. Step 1 Add file to ready folder Use Alfresco console ( ) Enter credentials and click on Login Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 37 of 59

38 If necessary login as Admin Navigate to Received folder Company Home User home ActiveVOS Received Select Received hyper link Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 38 of 59

39 Now select the Add Content link and follow the prompts to upload your file. Browse to the file you want to upload. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 39 of 59

40 Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 40 of 59

41 Step 2 - The Initiate Review process must be scheduled In the prior section, we configured the scheduler entry for this process. You can now using ActiveVOS console to have the process execute immediately. Click the check box next to Alfresco Polling and then click on Run Now. This will allow ActiveVOS to detect files and launch the workflow. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 41 of 59

42 The InitiateReview process queries the Alfresco ready for review folder. For each document in folder, it moves each document to Under Review folder in Alfresco. Also it initiates group review. Group Approval Process The AlfrescoGroupApprovalProcess.bpel makes a copy of the document from the Alfresco folder. A human task is launched for each of the 3 reviewers (approver1, approver2 and approver3) and a copy of the same file is sent to each of them. To make the approval or deny of the document, each of the human task reviewers will login to the ActiveVOS inbox by starting a web browser session ( ) Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 42 of 59

43 Each reviewer (approver1, approver2, approver 3) to enter in their username and password. ActiveVOS WS Human Task Approve or Reject Document Alfresco Document Active Endpoints Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 43 of 59

44 After 2 acceptances (Approved = true) or 2 Denies (Approved = false) are received (from a possible 3 participants), the ActiveVOS process would then launch the move document workflow The document is then moved from Under Review folder to either Accepted or Denied folder. Check movement of file on Alfresco portal to appropriate folder by logging into the Alfresco Console (e.g. ) and navigating to the appropriate space Company Home ActiveVOS Accepted Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 44 of 59

45 Summary/Conclusion Integration between ActiveVOS and Alfresco is simple via the CMIS web service interface or REST API. The examples provided show the ease of quick integration between the Alfresco repository and simple standards based graphical process workflows within the ActiveVOS product set. Please feel free to contact Active Endpoints for more details on the integration. About Active Endpoints Active Endpoints ( ActiveVOS is the business process management system (BPMS) that development teams will love. ActiveVOS empowers project teams to create business process management (BPM) applications using services, making their businesses more agile and effective. ActiveVOS promotes mass adoption of SOAenabled BPM applications by focusing on accelerating project delivery time with a complete, affordable and easy-to-use system. Active Endpoints is headquartered in Waltham, MA with development facilities in Shelton, CT. To find out how Active Endpoints can help your business, visit call and press 1 for Sales, or us at info@activevos.com. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 45 of 59

46 Appendix A - ActiveVOS Installation To install ActiveVOS download the 30-day evaluation version of ActiveVOS from the following link: If you have any issues with the download, please send an to: evalsupport@activevos.com You will receive a license file shortly after Active Endpoints staff contacts you to learn more about your needs. The installation of ActiveVOS is straight forward. At the appropriate time, you will be prompted for your 30 day license key. Again, if you have any issues with the license key, please contact evalsupport@activevos.com When you have completed the installation of the evaluation version of ActiveVOS, you will have an all-in-one eclipse based environment with Eclipse 3.4 ActiveVOS plug ins o ActiveVOS Designer Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 46 of 59

47 o ActiveVOS embedded server In memory database (Derby) The embedded ActiveVOS server will provide you with the execution environment needed to run the demonstration integration project. Step 1 Run the ActiveVOS Designer Installer After you have downloaded the Windows installer from the link, Double-click to launch the installer. You will be prompted for an ActiveVOS license key file. This is typically ed to you as a separate attachment after you make your initial download request. If you did not receive your evaluation license key file in an message (please check your junk mail folders first), send an to evalsupport@activevos.com asking for assistance. Upon successful installation of the ActiveVOS software, you will see a screen similar to the following: Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 47 of 59

48 Step 2 Launch ActiveVOS Designer Launch ActiveVOS Designer from the ActiveVOS Start Menu created by ActiveVOS Designer installer. Next, you will be asked to select a workspace location where to create ActiveVOS Orchestration Projects. Accept the default for the workspace name and continue Select the option Use this as the default and do not ask again for convenience when you launch the ActiveVOS eclipse based tool again. You can close the welcome screen when it appears and proceed directly to the ActiveVOS Designer workbench screen. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 48 of 59

49 Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 49 of 59

50 Step 3 Configure the Embedded ActiveVOS Server As part of the ActiveVOS setup, you must configure an instance of the ActiveVOS embedded server. To do this, click on the Servers tab to bring into focus. Now with your cursor in the server panel, <right click> to bring up the New option as shown below When you highlight the blue New option, you will have a chance to select the Server option. When you click on Server, you will get the following dialog screen Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 50 of 59

51 Select Next Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 51 of 59

52 Click on Next Accept the port defaults. As appropriate, if there are port conflicts, you may need to change these settings. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 52 of 59

53 Click on Finish and you should see a screen similar to the following with your new ActiveVOS server definition. You can click on the icon and the ActiveVOS server will startup green Server Start Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 53 of 59

54 A new pane Console will display the startup progress. You will see a message in the console INFO: ********** ActiveVOS Enterprise Started when the server has completed its startup process. If you click back in the Server tab, you will see That the server status is now Started versus Stopped Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 54 of 59

55 Appendix B - Installing Alfresco As part of the Alfresco software installation you will perform two main activities: Creating Tomcat application server instance with Alfresco software Create mysql database instance These software components will be installed by running the single Alfresco install wizard. Step 1 Download Alfresco 3.2 Community Edition Download Alfresco 3.2 Community Edition software from The file when downloaded should be approximately 370 MB Step 2 Run Alfresco Installer Click/ launch this executable. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 55 of 59

56 After specifying a root directory (e.g. C:\AlfrescoCE3.2) with the exe file, and accepting the default directories, you will get something like the following on your drive: Hints: 1. Ports To facilitate the construct of this demo, we set the Alfresco ports to be (versus the regular 8080) to avoid conflicts with ActiveVOS. Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 56 of 59

57 In addition, you should change the ports (e.g > 28005) in the Alfresco Tomcat server.xml This will be located in a directory like C:\AlfrescoCE3.2\tomcat\conf. 2. Remove unnecessary.war and folders To speed up startup of the Alfresco software, you may want to consider deleting the following from the from the C:\AlfrescoCE3.2\tomcat\webapps directory : mobile.war studio.war \mobile directory \studio directories Step 3 Launch alf_start.bat In the root Alfresco install directory (e.g C:\AlfrescoCE3.2), you will see a batch file alf_start.bat. Click/ launch this file and you will create 2 windows: a) MySQL default database for alfresco tomcat instance b) Alfresco tomcat instance Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 57 of 59

58 Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 58 of 59

59 Step 4 - Verify alfresco is running Start browser session with URL : Copyright Active Endpoints, Inc. Page 59 of 59