In this tutorial you will learn how to create custom models and implement content modeling using the Model Manager.

You will perform a step-by-step walk-through of creating and using models, custom types, aspects, and their properties in Alfresco Share.

In this tutorial we assume that Content Services is implemented in a fictitious company called DemoCo as their ECM solution for managing content on their new website. DemoCo wants to add new types of content (for example, white papers) to their website and track metadata for all their files in the repository.

For this purpose, DemoCo needs to create a new model, Document with a custom type called whitePaper. If a document is a white paper, then DemoCo would want to capture its writer’s name and domain area. Also, for each document, DemoCo wants to determine if the content needs to be shown on their website. If yes, there should be a flag to indicates that the content is active and the date when the content was set to active.

So, let’s start by creating a new model called Document. It has a custom type - whitePaper with properties writer and domain. The model has an aspect - Webable with properties published and isActive.

Step 1: Navigate to Model Manager

Log into Alfresco Share as a user that is a member of the ALFRESCO_MODEL_ADMINISTRATORS permission group and click Admin Tools > Model Manager.

Step 2: Create a new model

1. Click Create Custom Model.

2. Set the following properties:

   • Namespace: http://www.democo.com/model/document/1.0
   • Prefix: dc
   • Name: Document

3. Click Create.

Step 3: Create a new type

1. Click the content model, Document.

2. Click Create Custom Type.

3. Set at least the following properties:

   • Name: whitePaper
   • Display label: White Paper

4. Click Create.

Step 4: Create new custom type properties

1. Under the Custom Types list, click dc:whitePaper.

2. Click Create Property.

3. Set at least the following properties:

   • Name: writer
   • Display label: Writer
   • Select d:text for the data type
   • Requirement: Mandatory

4. Click Create and Start Another and set at least the following properties:

   • Name: domain
   • Display label: Domain
   • Select d:text for the data type
   • Select List of Values for the constraint and enter Engineering, Marketing, HR, Sales, Finance and Operations.
   • Select Sort Alphanumerically for the order of values.

5. Click Create.

Step 5: Add new type properties to the Layout Designer

1. Navigate to the page displaying the custom types list.

2. Click Layout Designer from the Actions drop-down list for the type, dc:whitePaper.

3. Drag the double column panel layout from top onto the layout area.

4. To specify the panel label, click anywhere on the element’s top panel displaying the label, double column panel.

5. In the Label field, enter Details.
6. Configure other optional fields, if required.
7. Drag the properties, writer and domain onto the Details element.
8. To configure the properties, click anywhere on the property.
9. On the Layout Designer, click Save.

Step 6: Create new aspect

1. Navigate to the Model Manager page.

2. Click the model, Document.

3. Click Create Aspect.

4. Set at least the following properties:

   • Name: webable
   • Display label: Webable
5. Click Create.

Step 7: Create new aspect properties

1. Under the Aspects list, click dc:webable.
2. Click Create Property.

3. Set at least the following properties:

   • Name: published
   • Display label: Published
   • Select d:datetime for the data type

4. Click Create and Start Another.

5. Set at least the following properties for the new property:

   • Name: isActive
   • Display Label: Is Active
   • Select d:boolean for the data type
   • Default value: false
6. Click Create.

Step 8: Add new aspect properties to the Layout Designer

1. Navigate to the page displaying the aspects list.

2. Click Layout Designer from the Actions drop-down list for the aspect dc:webable.

3. Drag the single column panel layout from top onto the layout area.
4. To specify the panel label, click anywhere on the element’s top panel displaying the label, single column panel.
5. In the Label field, enter Publication details and configure the optional fields if required.
6. Drag the properties, published and isActive onto the Publication details element.
7. To configure the properties, click anywhere on the property.
8. On the Layout Designer, click Save.

Step 9: Activate the model

1. Navigate to the Model Manager page.
2. Click the Actions drop-down list for the model, Document.
3. Click Activate.

Now that we have created a new model with its custom type and aspect, let’s see how we can use it to capture a file’s metadata in Alfresco Share.

Step 10: Apply custom type and aspect to a file in Alfresco Share

1. In your site, click Document Library to access the library.
2. Click on a file in the library to view it in the file preview screen.

3. To apply the type, perform the following steps:

   1. Under Document Actions, click Change Type.

   2. In the Change Type window, select whitePaper (dc:whitePaper) from the New Type drop-down list.

   3. Click OK.

      Note: The type properties are displayed on the file preview page, under Properties. You can edit these properties using Edit Properties under Document Actions.

   4. In the Writer field, enter User1.
   5. In the domain field, select Sales.
   6. Click Save.

4. To apply the aspect, perform the following steps:

   1. Under Document Actions, click Manage Aspects.

   2. In the Available to Add list, click the + next to Webable.

      Click the trashcan to remove any existing aspects from the Currently Selected list.

   3. Click Apply changes.

      Note: The aspect properties are displayed on the file preview page, under Properties. You can edit these properties using Edit Properties under Document Actions.

   4. Select Is Active.
   5. In the Published field, enter the date and time as 31/07/2020 and 10:00, respectively.
   6. Click Save.

In this tutorial, you learned how to create and apply models, custom types, and aspects using the Model Manager to capture metadata about files.