Chapter 9. Amazing Extensions

In this chapter, we are going to cover some extensions, as well as configuration that will show you some amazing capabilities of the Alfresco platform. Be aware that some of them are only available in Alfresco Enterprise. We won't go very deeply into each item, because we just want to open your eyes to Alfresco and let you imagine what you can achieve using it.

Specifically, in this chapter you will learn:

• What the Search Manager is and how you can configure the search result screen by adding your own metadata

• How to use and to configure Smart Folders

• Discover the different methods provided by Alfresco to create your own mobile application

• Create your first application with Appcelerator

Configure and use the search manager

If you do a search in Alfresco Share, using the top right search bar or using the advanced search page, you'll land into the same result page. If you take a look, the search result page displays a left panel with facets. If you click on a value, the list of results will be filtered. By default, this page allows you to filter on:

• Creator

• File Type

• Creation Date

• File Size

• Modifier

• Modification Date

Note

What's faceted search? Faceted search, also called faceted navigation or faceted browsing, is a technique for accessing information organized according to a faceted classification system, allowing users to explore a collection of information by applying multiple filters. A faceted classification system classifies each information element along multiple explicit dimensions, called facets, enabling the classifications to be accessed and ordered in multiple ways rather than in a single, pre-determined, taxonomic order. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceted_search...

Configure and use the Smart Folders

Alfresco provides a way to do smart virtual classification. Smart Folders organize all your documents and folders to be able to view them based on types, properties, or document type. Smart Folders are bundled as a core element of Alfresco, so there is no need to install any separate AMP in your instance. Using Smart Folders in this way helps you to manage your information; for example, where you have a number of sources of information in a variety of folders. Content that might be related to, but not directly involved in your work is also retrieved, depending on the search criteria. Let's discover some terms that you need for fully understanding how it works:

• Filing rule: Defined in a Smart Folder template and defines in which physical folder a document will be moved when a user attempts to upload a document to a Smart Folder. The rule specifies the type and aspects to apply with all relevant property values as well.

• Smart Folder: Displays the result...

Alfresco mobile

Accessing documents on the go becomes more and more vital for a lot of companies. Providing a web application is not enough anymore, assuming that employees will use their laptop connected to Internet. Now, we need to access information or to interact with the repository directly from smartphones or tablets.

Alfresco already provides an iOS app and an Android app completely free. But some clients want to customize their application completely. From the logo, or the app name, to the type of documents that can be seen, or the possible actions, everything should be customizable. Alfresco provides you a lot of options to achieve that:

• Alfresco Mobile SDK for Android: Includes a set of APIs and samples that will simplify the development of your own app. Using these artifacts, you can build an application that connects to your Alfresco instance on-premises or Alfresco Cloud. (http://docs.alfresco.com/mobile_sdk/android/concepts/mobile-sdk-android-intro.html)

• Alfresco Mobile SDK...

Summary

In this chapter, you learned how the Search Manager can be configure to customize the search results screen. You discover how you can add new facets based on your custom content model, and they can be displayed depending on the context: entire repository or specific site.

Then, you discovered the concept of Smart Folders and how they can be used to create virtual classification based on metadata. You investigated the sample of smart folder JSON configuration provided by Alfresco. And then you created your own smart folder classification based on search queries.

Finally, you learned that Alfresco provides you many ways to create your own mobile application. And you used the Appcelerator SDK to create your own application in JavaScript and package it for iOS.