This document summarizes a presentation about enabling real-time collaboration within Word documents stored in Alfresco. It discusses the limitations of single-user editing in Word and how Plutext addresses this using their docx4all product. Docx4all allows multiple simultaneous editors to update a document stored in Alfresco by manipulating the document's XML structure in the browser. The presentation demonstrates basic collaboration functions and explains the technical approach using WebDAV and Java. It envisions future applications of the technology like collaborative document wikis.

1. “Real time” collaboration inside
a Word document using Alfresco
Alfresco Tech Talk
26 June 2009
by
Jason Harrop, Plutext

2. Agenda
• Part 1: Collaboration inside a Word document
• Part 2: Inline editing

3. About Plutext
• We help organisations exploit their Word documents,
outside the Microsoft silo (eg in Java, or sans SharePoint)
• Core product:
– Plutext collaboration in Word (on Alfresco)
• Components:
– docx4all – embeddable Java application/applet
– docx4j open source project
+ =
• Prototypes:
– Alfresco inline docx editors
– docx wiki (in Alfresco)

4. Part 1:
COLLABORATION INSIDE A WORD DOCUMENT

5. The problem with Word today
• It doesn’t matter how you try to open the document…
– Choose offline editing in Alfresco Explorer (or Share)
– Via CIFS or WebDAV (and with or without Alfresco’s Word Add-In)
– Via the SharePoint API
• Only one user can be in “the document” at any time
• Fundamental limitation of Microsoft Word
• .. so you get a proliferation of copies
– the user’s working copy
– copies made by users and collaborators
• Which the document owner has to reconcile
– Tedious, time consuming, and
– Error prone
• .. and which pollute your search index etc.

6. Basic Demo
pdates/adds/moves/deletes
onflict handling

7. Docx4all: cross platform docx editing, with collaboration.

8. Under the hood
Alfresco repository
We
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WebDAV
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Plutext AMP
C# VSTO Word 2007 Add-In JCR
Web SOAP
Services
AV
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vice
b Ser
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Java Swing App

9. More demo
etting up a document
ontent controls
heck in comments
nvite users
udit trail
ecent changes
ersion history

10. Sweet spot?
• High value documents (looming deadlines: even better)
• Document written/edited by > 1 person,
so merging copies is a pain
• Using Alfresco 3.1 Enterprise or Labs 3d, or later
• Most (not necessarily all) users on Word 2007

11. Under the hood – future*
Alfresco repository
Sha
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Sharepoint
We
o in
t API
b Se
rvi .docx (unzipped)
ces
Plutext
CMIS
AMP
C# VSTO Word Add-In
Web WebDAV
Services
AV
W ebD
s
vice
b Ser
We
P
o r S ST
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Java Swing App
Web browser * This page contains forward looking statements (which will probably largely pan out)

12. Part 2:
INLINE EDITING

13. Alfresco can give you a preview of a docx

14. How did we do that?
• Labs (current svn tip = r14939), with
– OpenOffice 3.1
– pdf2swf
• api/node/noderef/content/thumbnails/webpreview does
what it should, as long as web-preview.js invokes it
• need node.previews to include “webpreview”
so Alfresco.WebPreview gets that value.
(.. I just hard coded it in web-preview.get.html.ftl )

15. .. however this is not inline editable
• There are a number of solutions around for editing documents in
the web browser, including:
– Google Docs
– Zoho
• The problem with these is that:
– On load (import), they convert your Office document to their own internal
format, and
– On save (export), they convert it back to the Microsoft format
Result: two conversions; many documents will lose formatting or their “in-
process” state. (This is why OpenOffice never displaced M$ Office)
• Key Requirement: an inline editor’s native format needs to be
Microsoft’s “Open XML” Office format – now an ISO standard.
This is the only way to ensure nothing gets lost!

16. At the SF meetup, I demo’d simple inline editing in the Explorer (JSF)
client. This uses Javascript in the browser to manipulate the raw OpenXML
DOM.
See my post “HOW-TO add an inline editor” in the Alfresco forums for the
steps needed to add an inline editor to Alfresco.

17. Here is docx4all – our Swing app - performing the same role (running as an
applet in the browser, and using WebDAV GET/PUT to load/save)

18. Aside – alt-drag to liberate the applet!

19. You can have a wiki of docx documents
Ingredients:
• Display docx inline in web browser
• Edit inline
• Hyperlinks:
– Click to follow
– Creating one (via the browser or Word) creates target docx (if nec)
Why?
• Knowledge workers can publish Office documents directly to the
wiki, and edit them any conversions
• Cut/paste wiki content into new documents, without loss of
formatting
• No need to learn new editing tools
– Create/edit wiki pages in Word 2007 (or your web browser)
• A single standard for corporate document formats
– Open XML ISO standard documents

20. Feedback please!
Please let me know which bits you think would be most useful.
jason@plutext.org
Thanks!
-------------------------
• Blog: http://dev.plutext.org/blog
• Collaboration test drive: http://alpha.plutext.org/alfresco/register.html
• Docx4j download, forums: http://dev.plutext.org/
• Docx4all: http://dev.plutext.org/trac/docx4all/wiki/Collaboration
• Twitter: jasonharrop