Bulk Import and Export of Metadata in Alfresco

March 8, 2010

Recently I wrote custom action for Bulk import and export metadata in Alfresco.

Import: The user would upload the files at one hand.

After that, the user will have to prepare a csv or tab separated file which will have filename and custom field columns.
Once this metadata file is dropped in a particular space, an action is kickstarted and the import process takes place.

The custom action is the one which needs all the coding work.

Export: Custom action is kickstarted and the metadata exported in a file and that file is checked in into the same directory.

If you are in need of it, please let me know.


Nithyananda Scandal – Overly Communitive World

March 4, 2010

If you know “nithyananda scandal” in India, then you might have seen the video somehow or other. I am not going to talk much about the scandal itself (though I will talk about it), but the point of this article is different. Online Internet marketing!

Have we ever seen such a video before about a celebrity and the interesting thing is the reach of the “word” to people and how fast and in all means. It is a real Wowwwww!

What an over communicative world we are in now. In fact, it is too much of
communication.
Good or bad – it is stunning to see the word reaching millions of people within just short period of time.

Going back to the past, we had only newspapers to have the message or news to the people. In order for the news to reach, first hand via newspaper, the person has to know how to read or that person has to be linked to people who read etc., Atleast there are so many hurdles before a person gets the news about anything good or bad via newspaper.

Next came the radios, atleast this was better. Then came Television. We thought Television was powerful, but you know what – we are in much newer generation – where the news spreads like a fire or even faster than fire.

Given the example, It started with – in fact SUN TV started showing the video with some censor at least and helping the identity of the actress and they were decent. There are videos which came out from Nakkeeran and others (private parties) who had it uncensored (to an extent) and when I saw the number of views was 352 or so. Now, it has crossed 100s of 1000s. unbelievable!

In other hand to Videos, there are other communication mediums – specific Websites Or social media websites like Facebook. There are broadcasts and propoganda going against the Swami (“holy” man Nithyananda) and also there are propoganda in facebook and youtube “FOR” the Swami (“holy” man Nithyananda). Can you believe, there are still supporters of this man!? How smart and intelligent people are!!

Oh, I cannot forget this – Twitter, Google Buzz, Orkut, Facebook! if you calculate how many people follow how many – you will be stunned to know that even a TV cannot beat the level of communication in terms of speed and content and news it can communicate to huge number of people (we are talking about Millions of people).

I wouldn’t forget the phone, email, VoIP etc.,. Many communicated via the same as well. There is nobody today in Tamil Nadu (a state in India) who do not know this scandal and in that case thousands or NRIs outside the country also is included.

This is called Overly-Communicated world! Every three years, we are in a different generation of the world, unlike those olden days where every 20-30-40 years another generation comes up.

OK, now – the example we considered was a BAD or DIRTY news. This is the first example for the country like India to “consume” or realize the existing powerful media and communicative world we are in. It was shocking to see a bad news (victim swami) to realize this media’s power.

Well, it is a realization anyway – whatever the news it might be. This is a great opportunity from an Online Marketing perspective. We should be able to spread ANY news to HUGE amounts of people within seconds and minutes.

Use the opportunity to build your business or make revenue! Well, that is enough on this article. Hope you liked it!!!


In Alfresco, How best to manage and record the process of migrating changes from Dev to prod?

March 1, 2010

QUESTION:
In Alfresco, How best to manage and record the process of migrating changes from Dev to prod?

ANSWER:

I thought I would share this knowledge with everyone, so that it will be useful for everyone…

1) Record the (configuration/customization) changes and files changed in DEV and document it separately. When we are ready to do the same in PROD, we will have to do the changes one-by-one.

The changes are going to be in as follows -

2) “<ALF_HOME>\tomcat\webapps\alfresco\WEB-INF\lib” for any custom action implementation.

3) <ALF_HOME>\tomcat\shared\classes\alfresco\extension
4) <ALF_HOME>\tomcat\shared\classes\alfresco\messages
5) <ALF_HOME>\tomcat\shared\classes\alfresco\web-extension
6) If there are more changes inside the non-custom area, then we will have to remember it as per our documentation we have done while making those changes in DEV. For example, we did changes to C:\Alfresco\tomcat\webapps\share\WEB-INF\classes\alfresco\site-data\presets\presets.xml directly, because there is no customization built on it yet in Alfresco.
7) We need to make sure we do the necessary changes in SHARE or ALFRESCO folders, if needed.
8) It is recommended the changes are done feature by feature. But in worst cases, it is OK to just move bulk changes of all the feature enhancements or configurations at once.
9) Restart the Alfresco server.
10) Alfresco server has to start and run perfectly without any errors.
11) Test every feature one by one.
12) Since it requires a restart of the Alfresco server, it is ideal to perform this operation only in off-times of the server with advanced notice.

Overall, it is *****RECOMMENDED***** that we move every feature’s changes one-by-one from DEV to PROD, after carefully testing in DEV for functional and also regression testing.

Hope this helps! Also please add, if I have missed anything and add any best practices in this note.

Thank you


How are (Gmail/Yahoo etc.,) Mail Providers providing service without support?

February 28, 2010

How are (Gmail/Yahoo etc.,) Mail Providers providing service without support?

I was wondering today about the fact that the Email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, MSN etc., are able to deliver their service without any support extended at all.

How are they able to do that? Is it because the product is so stable and they don’t have any issues?

What if an user faces an issue with the service and how is that addressed?


Alfresco – a great open source ECM product

February 27, 2010

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Alfresco Forums has become very addictive

February 24, 2010

Lately, I am into Alfresco and it has become very addictive, which is good in many ways.

I am starting to learn a lot, but definitely not enough any day. There is lot to learn but the point I am trying to make is – I am spending lot of time on my commute via iPhone on Alfresco forums and trying to read others posts and trying to answer if I have some clue or answer. This has been a great learning experience so far and I wish this continues on.

Alfresco forums is active to a great extent and we do get answers for the problems posted fairly quickly. Forums is a better channel to get answers for Alfresco, even when compared to Support. Since Alfresco (a great open source alternative for Enterprise Content Management in the market today) has a powerful community and partnership, hence it is faster to get answers in this route rather than that of the Support itself.

Have fun Alfresco-ing!


Work environment makes you productive and feel good

February 24, 2010

I think and I realize Work environment makes you productive and improve your feel good factor a lot.

As I am a consultant, I work in client locations based on the proejct. I was in a project before, where the environment was highly political. That means – there was lot of politics in the environment. To explain a little bit more – Lot of finger pointing in the company. Even in normal cases, people point fingers saying it is not my job and you have not done. Even while asking questions about a task, the question is always in a negative way.

People are highly non-polite, when the same question can be asked in a polite manner. There won’t be any recognition in conversations, instead there will be questions on why this is done this way etc.,

Even though I got out of that environment last month, and came into a great friendly environment – I am greatly affected by that environment. I pity the folks in that environment. The people inside that company do not know what kind of environments exist outside and how friendly things are outside and high productivity can be achieved. For example – I got a call just few minutes back from that company for some left-over work and the way the questions are asked are rude and non-polite. He asks me when completing the call after many questions answered – “Is there anything else I should know?”, instead the same question can be asked – “Thanks for your answers and I appreciate your help! Let me know if there is anything else I need to know?”.

Finding faults in everything and do not recognize on what is done and what is progressed! This creates fear, hate and unfriendliness, which leads to lesser productivity, poor feel-good-factor and less creativity.

The cause of this is mainly because of people in the top of that environment. They are the ones who create and control the environment. This is not good guys!

Grow up and learn more from outside, how things can be achieved with a friendly environment.

If I was asked, if I would go back and work for them again – It is a BIG NO. If I was asked, if I would go back and work for that top mgmnt person again, the answer is – I would never want to work for HIM again or even I don’t want to see him in my LIFETIME!


Configure RSS Feed in Alfresco Share Blog

February 24, 2010

You know we can configure RSS Blog feeds in Alfresco Share Site or User Dashlets.

This blog we are talking about is the Blog created in Share itself.

The problem is after you configure it, and you access the blog feed in Share Site, it asks for authentication. In order to get over it, a solution would be to publish the blog externally also from Alfresco Share and then use the published blog (say wordpress)’s RSS feed and configure it to show in the dashlet of your Alfresco Share site.

How is the idea?


KnowledgeTree™ Shows Significant Q4 Growth and Continues Momentum in 2010

February 18, 2010

KnowledgeTree Shows Significant Q4 Growth and Continues Momentum in 2010

Strategic New Hires Position KnowledgeTree for Success

Raleigh, NC  (February 18, 2010) – KnowledgeTree™, an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) provider focusing on affordable document management software, today announced record sales for Q4 2009 and an impressive start to Q1 2010. New hires in both the Raleigh, NC and Cape Town, South Africa offices have infused the company with additional expertise to continue driving growth.

Tweet this: #knowledgetree finishes strong in 2009 with record sales and new talent; getting off to a great start in 2010 http://bit.ly/KTQ4Growth

Notable customers purchasing KnowledgeTree in the last several months include:

  • Sony Music Entertainment (New York) — global recorded music company
  • Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (United Arab Emirates) — represents the various activities of the private sector in Abu Dhabi
  • Vitesse Semiconductor (California ) — designs, develops and markets high-performance  semiconductor solutions
  • Papa John’s International (Kentucky) — nationally franchised pizza delivery chain
  • Indiana Wesleyan University (Indiana) — private, liberal arts university
  • Mullen (Massachusetts) — full-service creative and advertising agency
  • Iowa State University (Iowa) — one of the top 50 public universities in the US

Q4 also saw the strategic hires of:

  • Rebecca Hirschfield as Director of Marketing — Rebecca has a wide range of expertise in product marketing and marketing communications for software and technology service organizations
  • Evan Person as Director of Product — Evan has held a range of positions in technology companies including training, business analysis, project management, and product and general management roles. He holds Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) and Certified Scrum ProductOwner (CSPO) designations from the Scrum Alliance
  • Roland Williams as Manager of EMEA and Asia Pacific sales teams — Roland brings experience from several successful sales positions, most recently with the online security and mobile telecommunications industries

Daniel Chalef, CEO of KnowledgeTree stated, “I couldn’t be more pleased with the growth and progress of the company throughout 2009 and especially in the last quarter. With the added bench strength brought by Rebecca, Evan and Roland, we’re poised for an explosive year in 2010.”

#    #    #

About KnowledgeTree

KnowledgeTree document management software is affordable, easy to use and enables business professionals to manage the document lifecycle, promote collaboration, reduce paper and ensure compliance. Offering commercial SaaS and on-site editions as well as a free, community edition, KnowledgeTree helps organizations of all sizes transform documents into strategic business assets.

KnowledgeTree’s software is backed by our commitment to excellent customer service and support. Customers around the world in many industries, including life sciences, professional services, and government sectors, use KnowledgeTree to increase business process efficiency and reduce costs. For more information, visit http://www.knowledgetree.com. Follow us on Twitter at #knowledgetree.

KnowledgeTree Inc. is a US company incorporated in Delaware with headquarters in Raleigh, NC. It has a South African subsidiary based in Cape Town, South Africa.

KnowledgeTree is a trademark of KnowledgeTree Inc., Raleigh, NC. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.


KnowledgeTree Joins Tech Data Open Tech Program

February 2, 2010

KnowledgeTree™ Joins Tech Data Open Tech Program

KnowledgeTree’s document management software now available to Tech Data resellers

Raleigh, NC  (February 2, 2010) – KnowledgeTree™, an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) provider focusing on affordable document management software, today announced it joined Open Tech, a new channel for open source independent software vendors (ISVs) to market and sell the company’s solutions to thousands of resellers nationwide. Open Tech was established last fall by leading IT products distributor Tech Data Corporation to better enable its reseller customers to capitalize on the rising demand for open source solutions.

Tweet this:  #knowledgetree joins Tech Data Open Tech program for distribution of its document management software to 1000s of resellers http://bit.ly/c0mcEg.

As part of Open Tech, KnowledgeTree will gain access to Tech Data’s resellers across the country and to a comprehensive channel marketing program. According to KnowledgeTree CEO, Daniel Chalef, “Being part of Open Tech gives KnowledgeTree unprecedented visibility to the resellers who are focusing on affordable, open source solutions for their customers. Tech Data is a well-respected distributor that we believe will open a wide range of opportunities for us.”

Open Tech builds upon Tech Data’s extensive experience supporting open source leaders like Novell and Red Hat. That experience includes helping these leading open source vendors grow their businesses through the channel by recruiting new resellers to deploy their solutions to SMBs, large enterprises, government agencies, educational institutions and healthcare providers.

“Interest in open source will continue to grow as resellers and end users become more aware of open source solutions like KnowledgeTree’s document management software,” said Tech Data Vice President, Software Product Marketing Stacy Nethercoat. “Through Open Tech, Tech Data will work closely with KnowledgeTree to educate resellers and enable them to profitably deliver these solutions to their customers.”

About KnowledgeTree

KnowledgeTree is an enterprise content management provider focusing on affordable document management software that is easily installed and used by business professionals. Offering commercial SaaS and on-site editions as well as a free, open source community edition, KnowledgeTree’s features — including workflow, version control and audit trails — help organizations manage the document lifecycle, promote collaboration, reduce paper and ensure compliance.

As a commercial open source company, KnowledgeTree is committed to affordability, accessibility and integration across operating systems and applications. Customers include organizations of all sizes in many industries, including life sciences, legal, financial and government sectors. KnowledgeTree is headquartered in Raleigh, NC. For more information, visit www.KnowledgeTree.com. Follow us on Twitter at #knowledgetreesw.

About Tech Data Corporation

Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ GS:TECD) is one of the world’s largest distributors of technology products from leading IT hardware and software producers. Tech Data serves more than 125,000 IT solution providers in over 100 countries. Every day, these resellers depend on Tech Data to cost-effectively support the technology needs of end users, including small and medium businesses (SMB), large enterprises and government agencies. Ranked 102nd on the FORTUNE 500®, Tech Data generated $24.1 billion in net sales for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2009. To learn more, visit www.techdata.com.