Implementing the Call-Web-Script DocLib Action - Alfresco Content Services - 23.4 - 23.4 - Ready - Alfresco - external

Open the add-doclib-actions-extension-modules.xml Surf Extension module file that we have used so far in the tutorial, it is located in the aio/aio-share-jar/src/main/resources/alfresco/web-extension/site-data/extensions directory.

Then define the Call-Web-Script DocLib action as follows:

 <extension>
     <modules>
         <module>
             <id>Add Document Library Actions (Send-as-Email, Call WS, Show Msg, Go to Google)</id>
             <version>1.0</version>
             <auto-deploy>true</auto-deploy>
             <configurations>
                 <config evaluator="string-compare" condition="DocLibActions">
                     <actions>
                     ...
                         <action id="alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript"
                                 icon="callws"
                                 type="javascript"
                                 label="alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript.label">
                             <param name="function">onActionCallWebScript</param>
                             <param name="successMessage">alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript.msg.success</param>
                             <param name="failureMessage">alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript.msg.failure</param>
                         </action>
                     </actions>
                 </config>
             </configurations>
         </module>
     </modules>
 </extension>

This action is also of type javascript in the same way the Send-As-Email action was. However, this action will call a custom JavaScript function called onActionCallWebScript. The callws-16.png icon for this action should already be available if you implemented the Send-As-Email action above.

Open up the aio-share-jar.properties file locate din the aio/aio-share-jar/src/main/resources/alfresco/web-extension/messages directory. Then add the following properties to it:

alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript.label=Call Web Script
alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript.msg.success=Successfully called Web Script
alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript.msg.failure=Failed to invoke Web Script

This is done in the add-doclib-actions-extension-modules.xml file in the section called actionGroups:

<extension>
    <modules>
        <module>
            <id>Add Document Library Actions (Send-as-Email, Call WS, Show Msg, Go to Google)</id>
            <version>1.0</version>
            <auto-deploy>true</auto-deploy>
            <configurations>
                <config evaluator="string-compare" condition="DocLibActions">
                    <actions>
                     ...
                    </actions>

                     <actionGroups>
                        <actionGroup id="document-browse">
                            ...
                            <action index="401" id="alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript" />
                        </actionGroup>
                        <actionGroup id="document-details">
                            ...
                            <action index="401" id="alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript" />
                        </actionGroup>
                    </actionGroups>
                </config>
            </configurations>
        </module>
    </modules>
</extension>

The Call-Web-Script action will be displayed in the same views as the Send-As-Email action. We give it an index of 401 so it is displayed just after the Send-As-Email action.

This is the first custom JavaScript function that we implement so we need a new file for it, call it custom-doclib-actions.js and put it in the aio/aio-share-jar/src/main/resources/META-INF/resources/aio-share-jar/components/documentlibrary directory.

The implementation of the onActionCallWebScript function looks like this:

(function () {
    YAHOO.Bubbling.fire("registerAction",
        {
            actionName: "onActionCallWebScript",
            fn: functionorg_alfresco_training_onActionCallWebScript(file) {
                this.modules.actions.genericAction(
                    {

                        success: {
                            callback: {
                                fn: functionorg_alfresco_training_onActionCallWebScriptSuccess(response) {
                                    Alfresco.util.PopupManager.displayPrompt(
                                        {
                                            title: this.msg("alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript.msg.success"),
                                            text: JSON.stringify(response.json),
                                            buttons: [
                                                {
                                                    text: this.msg("button.ok"),
                                                    handler: functionorg_alfresco_training_onActionCallWebScriptSuccess_success_ok() {
                                                        this.destroy();
                                                    },
                                                    isDefault: true
                                                },
                                                {
                                                    text: this.msg("button.cancel"),
                                                    handler: functionorg_alfresco_training_onActionCallWebScriptSuccess_cancel() {
                                                        this.destroy();
                                                    }
                                                }]
                                        });

                                },
                                scope: this
                            }
                        },
                        failure: {
                            message: this.msg("alfresco.tutorials.doclib.action.callWebScript.msg.failure",
                                file.displayName, Alfresco.constants.USERNAME)
                        },
                        webscript: {
                            name: "sample/fileinfo?nodeRef={nodeRef}",
                            stem: Alfresco.constants.PROXY_URI,
                            method: Alfresco.util.Ajax.GET,
                            params: {
                                nodeRef: file.nodeRef
                            }
                        },
                        config: {}
                    });
            }
        });
})();

The way we plug-in custom JavaScript action handlers is to call the YAHOO.Bubbling.fire(“registerAction”…) method. This will tell the system about the new action JavaScript code, and it will be plugged in after the out- of-the-box code to allow for customization and extensions.

In the org_alfresco_training_onActionCallWebScript function we use the this.modules.actions.genericAction function to call a specific custom web script (or an out-of-the-box web script if we wanted to). The genericAction function is defined in the doclib-actions.js file located in the alfresco/tomcat/webapps/share/modules/documentlibrary directory of a Content Services installation. This function sets up the web script call based on the passed in parameters (that is, success.callback.fn, failure.message, webscript.name, and so on). There are a lot more parameters that we can use if we wanted to more stuff when calling the web script, such as firing an event after successful invocation.

Here is a list from the documentation:

 /**
       * ACTION: Generic action.
       * Generic DocLib action based on passed-in parameters
       *
       * @method genericAction
       * @param action.success.event.name {string} Bubbling event to fire on success
       * @param action.success.event.obj {object} Bubbling event success parameter object
       * @param action.success.message {string} Timed message to display on success
       * @param action.success.callback.fn {object} Callback function to call on success.
       * <pre>function(data, obj) where data is an object literal containing config, json, serverResponse</pre>
       * @param action.success.callback.scope {object} Success callback function scope
       * @param action.success.callback.obj {object} Success callback function object passed to callback
       * @param action.success.activity.siteId {string} Site associated with activity
       * @param action.success.activity.activityType {string} Activity type to post
       * @param action.success.activity.page {string} Page to generate activity link to
       * @param action.success.activity.activityData {object} Metadata for activity type
       * @param action.failure.event.name {string} Bubbling event to fire on failure
       * @param action.failure.event.obj {object} Bubbling event failure parameter object
       * @param action.failure.message {string} Timed message to display on failure
       * @param action.failure.callback.fn {object} Callback function to call on failure.
       * <pre>function(data, obj) where data is an object literal containing config, json, serverResponse</pre>
       * @param action.failure.callback.scope {object} Failure callback function scope
       * @param action.failure.callback.obj {object} Failure callback function object passed to callback
       * @param action.webscript.stem {string} optional webscript URL stem
       * <pre>default: Alfresco.constants.PROXY_URI + "slingshot/doclib/action/"</pre>
       * @param action.webscript.name {string} data webscript URL name
       * @param action.webscript.method {string} HTTP method to call the data webscript on
       * @param action.webscript.queryString {string} Optional queryString to append to the webscript URL
       * @param action.webscript.params.siteId {string} current site
       * @param action.webscript.params.containerId {string} component container
       * @param action.webscript.params.path {string} path where file is located
       * @param action.webscript.params.file {string} file to be deleted
       * @param action.webscript.params.nodeRef {string} noderef instead of site, container, path, file
       * @param action.wait.message {string} if set, show a Please wait-style message during the operation
       * @param action.config {object} optional additional request configuration overrides
       * @return {boolean} false: module not ready
       */

The web script we are going to call is registered on the sample/fileinfo?nodeRef={nodeRef} URL. This is a new custom web script that just takes a node reference as a parameter and then fetches some properties for this node in the controller. The web script template will send back a JSON response with the data for these properties. We will implement it in the next step. The full web script URL that is invoked when the action is executed looks something like this:

http://localhost:8080/share/proxy/alfresco/sample/fileinfo?nodeRef=workspace://SpacesStore/cbb63e68-9884-4d24-abb3-28aaf8677169

The call to the repository web script is proxied via Share so authentication credentials etc are managed automatically for us. There will be no Login dialog popping up.

If the web script is invoked successfully we call the Alfresco.util.PopupManager.displayPrompt( function from the success callback to display the response from the web script. The success callback is implemented with the org_alfresco_training_onActionCallWebScriptSuccess function.

We will add this web script to the repository JAR project that comes with the All-In-One project when it is generated.

Add a web script descriptor file called file-info.get.desc.xml to the aio/aio-platform-jar/src/main/resources/alfresco/extension/templates/webscripts directory. Define it as follows:

<webscript>
    <shortname>Sample Webscript that returns Audit data</shortname>
    <description>Returns the audit data for file with passed in node reference</description>
    <url>/sample/fileinfo?nodeRef={nodeRef}</url>
    <authentication>user</authentication>
    <format default="json"></format>
</webscript>

Then add the controller file called file-info.get.js:

var nodeRef = args["nodeRef"];
var fileNode = search.findNode(nodeRef);

model["name"] = fileNode.name;
model["creator"] = fileNode.properties.creator;
model["createdDate"] = fileNode.properties.created;
model["modifier"] = fileNode.properties.modifier;
model["modifiedDate"] = fileNode.properties.modified;

Finally add the template file called file-info.get.json.ftl:

<#assign datetimeformat="EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz">
{
    "name"          : "${name}",
    "creator"       : "${creator}",
    "createdDate"   : "${createdDate?string(datetimeformat)}",
    "modifier"      : "${modifier}",
    "modifiedDate"  : "${modifiedDate?string(datetimeformat)}"
}

/all-in-one$ ./run.sh build_start

Note that the Send-As-Email action might not be displayed in the pop-up menu if it has already been invoked. Invoking the “Call Web Script” action will display the following dialog with the web script JSON response (if the invocation was successful):