What is this
flower ?
Search Tutorial

This
represents
Alfresco !

An ECM Open
Source Solution

Where is the Problem ?

Curious people who want to
understand Alfresco…

With lots of questions…
(To express…)

A possible solution…

Simply a presenter with
presentations about Alfresco

with a few answers…
(To verify)

Let’s do it !

But before starting,
here is a reminder !

The principle is…
Everything is a NODE!
I am a beautiful
node!

The rule is…
Alfresco provides
services to manage
Nodes
Even I have a
manager…

Now let’s go!

As far as I understand, different
language can be possibly used
to do searches…

Indeed!
Let’s have a look…

Lucene
XPath

Lucene first!

Lucene ?
• Apache Lucene is a high-
performance, full-featured text
search engine library written
entirely in Java.
• Although Lucene provides the
ability to create your own queries
through its API, it also provides a
rich query language through the
Query Parser, a lexer which
interprets a string into a Lucene
Query using JavaCC.
• Source: Lucene.org

And with Alfresco…
How does it work?

Put in a nutshell…

1. Collect
Type
Aspect
Properties
Key words
ID

2. Preserve
ID
As
pec
Type
t
Proper
ties
Key w ords

3. Use
es
P roperti
Key words
Aspect

To push further…

When a node is created,
the following actions take place
• Indexing of the whole
set of the items
properties
• Plain text Indexing of
the related content

When a node is created:
• The plain text indexing
takes place if the
content format is:
– Office (Open ou Microsoft)
– XML/HTML
– PDF
– Emails
– Texte

To check it…

Have a look into the data model!
File : contentModel.xml

What does the
« tokenize »
principle mean?
File : contentModel.xml

Tokenising is to split
(or not) a word into
one or many key
words.

Example
Here is a PowerPoint presentation
regarding Alfresco and its search feature.

Without
« Tokenisation »…
t
t en
C onHere
is a PowerPoint presentation
regarding Alfresco and its search feature.

A copy of the whole
sentence is made in
the index
t
t en
C onHereis a PowerPoint presentation
regarding Alfresco and its search feature.
D EX
IN Here is a PowerPoint presentation
regarding Alfresco and its search feature.

The search would
then be done on the
whole sentence!
u
t en
C onHere
is a PowerPoint presentation
regarding Alfresco and its search feature.
D EX
IN Hereis a PowerPoint presentation
regarding Alfresco and its search feature.

However if the
sentence is split into
key words…
u
t en
C on Here is a PowerPoint presentation
regarding Alfresco and its search feature.

The serach can be
done on those key
words only!
u
t en
C on Here is a PowerPoint presentation
regarding Alfresco and its search feature.
D EX
IN Presentation,PowerPoint,
Alfresco, search

So don’t forget to
check your data
model !

OK…
Demo time!

A bi t of
theory

Lucene in Alfresco enables
you to query on
• The NodeRef (ID)
• The Type
Of a NODE!
• The Properties
• The Aspects Do you work for the
secret services ?
• The key Words
(Content)

The
Querie
s

To query on the Noderef
ID:\" <Mon NodeRef> \"
What is the interest of
searching for a node we
already know the name of???

To query on the Type
TYPE:\" <TypeQName> \"
Hopefully you remember
what’s the QName…
Otherwise click here

To query on a property
@<QNamePropriété>\\:\" Value \"
Why is it different than the
other queries??
Why is it not upper
case ?

To query on an Aspect
ASPECT:\" <AspectQName> \"
AAhh! That’s better!

To query on a key word
included in the content of
the node
TEXT:<value>
Okey… Understood!
I am getting bored…

Contex
t

Here is our battle field

Practic
e

Note
Lucene and Alfresco!
According to the Alfresco version you
are working with, you can get
completely different results than
those presented in here.
This is the magic of the search feature!

How to make a simple
query with Lucene
Connect as « admin » to
Alfresco
Click on
Choose the node browser

How to make a simple
query with Lucene
Choose the store :
workspace://SpacesStore
In the drop down list, choose
Lucene

Ready ?

I want the
« Folder Test »

I want the
« Folder Test »!!!!!
@cm\\:name:’’Folder Test’’

Result

Reminder !

To identify and make a node
unique in a store, we use…
A
UUID

The concatenation of the
protocole, the name of the store
and the UUID of a node is
A
NodeRef

In our case
NodeRef UUID

I want the
« Foder Test » with
the UUID
ID:\"workspace://SpacesStore/
b7ecc8b1-5edb-11dd-
afdd-79a008cbb404\"

What about a search with
several criterias ?

You can add Operators !

Operators
+
To add a validated criteria
-
To add a non validated criteria
AND
To add a criteria
OR
To add a choice between several
criterias
NOT
To exclude a criteria

I want all the spaces with
the name « space »
TYPE:\"cm:folder\" AND @cm\\:name:\"Space\"
TYPE:\"cm:folder\" +@cm\\:name:\"Space\"
+TYPE:\"cm:folder\" AND @cm\\:name:\"Space\"

Result

Let’s add a category
to a space
Contex
t

I want all folders with the name
« space » which has a category
TYPE:\"cm:folder\"
AND @cm\\:name:\"Space\"
AND ASPECT:\"cm:generalclassifiable\"

I want all spaces with the name
« space » which
DOES NOT have a category
TYPE:\"cm:folder\"
AND @cm\\:name:\"Space\"
AND NOT ASPECT:\"cm:generalclassifiable\"
TYPE:\"cm:folder\"
+@cm\\:name:\"Space\"
-ASPECT:\"cm:generalclassifiable\"

Result

Let’s have a look into the
property types

Note
Work Zone!
This section is
experimental and results
vary a lot according to
the tests!

To search for text properties, you
can use specific operators

Special Operators
?
Can replace one character
*
Can replace one or many
characters

I want all spaces with the name
starting with « spa »
TYPE:\"cm:folder\"
AND @cm\\:name:\"Spa*\"
TYPE:\"cm:folder\"
+@cm\\:name:\"Spa*\"

I want all spaces with the name
ending with « spa »
TYPE:\"cm:folder\"
AND @cm\\:name:\"*ace\"
TYPE:\"cm:folder\"
+@cm\\:name:\"*ace\"

Note
End of work zone!
This section was
experimental!

For more details…
Lucene WebSite
• http://lucene.apache.org/
• http://lucene.apache.org/java/docs/queryparsersyntax.html
Alfresco Wiki
• http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Search#Lucene
• http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Lucene
• http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Lucene_Extensions_and_Issues

Now XPath!

XPath ?
• XPath is a language for
addressing parts of an XML
document, designed to be
used by both XSLT and
XPointer.
• Source w3c.org

But we are dealing with nodes…
Not with xml…

Yes indeed but…

A Principle…
A Node can
be identified
as an xml
What a face I have
Mirror
now…
XML

The proof in Alfresco…

ACP
WebApp

ACP
Explorer

So XPath enables us to browse
the nodes…

Indeed !
Demo...

A bit
of theo
ry

XPath in Alfresco enables to
query on…
• The Type
• The Properties
Of a Node!
• The Aspects
• The Associations Why me…

Axis

In the Node family, I
want to find myself !
self

Then my
Father!
parent

Then my
children!
Child

Then my older
brothers
preceding-sibling

Then my younger
sisters
following-sibling

Now let’s explore my
family further

I want to know my
entire lineage!
descendant

I want to know my
ancestors
ancestor

I want to know all the
oldest nodes in my family
preceding

I want all the youngest
nodes
following

Isn’t my family
beautiful?

Unfortunately, all my
family are not visible in
Alfresco…
following following-sibling
preceding-sibling preceding

The qu
e ries

To query on an axis
Axe::*
I want to know all the nodes
on this axis!

To query on a property
Axe::*[@<QName>:’<Value>’]
It remind me of Lucene…

To query on an aspect
Axe::*[hasAspect(’<QNameAspect>’)]
The aspect doesn’t make
the node!

To query on a type
Axe::*[subtypeOf(’<QNameType>’)]
Beware! This means the
current and child types!!!

To query on the entire set
of properties and content…
Axe::*[contains(’<Value>’)]
Beware! This means the
current and child types!!!

Contex
t

Here is our battle field

Practic
e

How to make a simple
query with Lucene
Connect as « admin » to
Alfresco
Click on
Choose the node browser

How to make a simple
query with Lucene
Choose the store :
workspace://SpacesStore
In the drop down list, choose
Lucene

Why don’t we use XPath ??

It’s exactly the same!
Except that…

XPath :
From the root of
the store
SelectNodes :
Related to the
current node

We want to start from a
specific folder!

Ready ?

I want the current node
self::*

Result

I want the children of the
current node
descendant::*

I want the parent of the
current node
parent::*

I want the child which has a
description « Space 1.1 Description »
descendant::*[@cm:description
='Space 1.1 Description']

Also note that operators are also
available in XPath…

I want the child which has a description
« Space 1.1 Description » and that is of type
folder
descendant::*[@cm:description
='Space 1.1 Description' and
subtypeOf('cm:folder')]

I want the child which has its aspect related to
categories and is of type folder
descendant::*[hasAspect('cm:genera
lclassifiable') and
subtypeOf('cm:folder')]

To go further…
• Wikipedia [FR]
• W3Schools[ENG]
• Spécifications W3C : Xpath 1.0[ENG]
• Spécifications W3C : XPath 2.0[ENG]
• Developpez.com (A voir!)

I now have many nodes! But where
is Wally/Waldo…? Well actually…
where is the good node?

If you are looking for a node,
use the services…

First, Think about
Alfreso Service Registry !

And then call …
AttributeService
MultilangualContentService AuditService
ScriptService
ActionService
AuthorityService AuthenticationService SearchService
RuleService
NodeService TemplateService
AVMService
CopyService
LockService CategoryService
CheckOutCheckInService
FileFolderService
ContentService
MimeTypeService
EditionService
DictionnaryService
WorkflowService ImporterService
ExporterService
VersionService TransactionService

And then call …
AttributeService
MultilangualContentService AuditService
ScriptService
ActionService
AuthorityService AuthenticationService SearchService
RuleService
NodeService TemplateService
AVMService
CopyService
LockService CategoryService
CheckOutCheckInService
FileFolderService
ContentService
MimeTypeService
EditionService
DictionnaryService
WorkflowService ImporterService
ExporterService
VersionService TransactionService

Or…
AttributeService
MultilangualContentService AuditService
ScriptService
ActionService
AuthorityService AuthenticationService SearchService
RuleService
NodeService TemplateService
AVMService
CopyService
LockService CategoryService
CheckOutCheckInService
FileFolderService
ContentService
MimeTypeService
EditionService
DictionnaryService
WorkflowService ImporterService
ExporterService
VersionService TransactionService

Voilà!
Enough for today!

Now your turn!

Questions ???

Another time…

Next…

What if I want to share my
nodes ?

You would have to
use the protocoles…

To discover…

To go further on…

And to reach our
goals…

Choose ECM
Open Source

Alfresco in few
points…
By JM.PASCAL
www.opensourceecm.fr
&
www.open-source-ecm.com