Jan Vonka - London Meetup (March 2017)

Alfresco 5.2 REST APIs

Introduction

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Introduction

Jan Vonka

• Senior Developer @ Alfresco

• Balloonist• flying balloons over cities takes a lot of planning J

• For background, see:

• http://www.slideshare.net/jvonka/alfresco-rest-api-of-the-future-is-closer-than-you-think

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jR2PV5w1O4ImageCredit:https://www.adventureballoons.co.uk

REST API Agenda

• Overview & Architecture• Documentation• What’s New & Changed ?• Demo• What’s Next ?• References

Overview & Architecture

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Alfresco Digital Business Platform

Applications – Engaging UX - Mobile, Web, App Dev Framework, Desktop

Alfresco ProcessServices

Alfresco ContentServices

Alfresco Governance Services

Integrations / Extensions

Open APIs and Open Standards

On-Premise, Cloud, Hybrid, Managed

Intelligence and Analytics

Alfresco API Overview

ContentServices(Repository)

ProcessServices(Activiti)

RESTAPIRESTAPI

Alfre

scoPlatform

Micro-Services/Con

tainers

SearchServices

(Solr)

GovernanceServices(RM)

RM

ECMBPM

CMIS(BrowserBinding)

ADF

JavaScriptClientBinding

HTTPS/JSON/Binary

App App

JavaClientBinding(EA)

App App

OtherLibs/Fwks

RM

REST API components

REST API Introduction

• REST Framework – pragmatic, follows well-defined RESTful guidelines

• Open API– consistent, documented, functional, performant, secure, reliable …

• The API for all new clients– enabler for Alfresco Digital Business Platform

• Roles– End-User vs Administrators– permissions – Groups / Users

• CMIS is still a good option– eg. heterogeneous environments

URL Structure

https://host:port/alfresco/api/-default-/public/alfresco/versions/1/…

Scope APIName Version

Entity Relationship(orOperation**)

Tenant

/nodes/nodes/{id}/nodes/{id}/children/nodes/{id}/copy

* Where applicable** Operations are new for 5.2 (used for specific scenarios where relationship does not make sense)

GET, POSTGET, PUT, DELETEGET, POSTPOST

DeployedEnvironment

Method(*)

Documentation

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API Docs

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• Is your friend !• Single source of truth• Open API Spec (~ Swagger)• Generate client-side bindings• Developer resource

– http://api-explorer.alfresco.com– https://github.com/Alfresco/rest-

api-explorer– http://artificats.alfresco.com

• GAV: org.alfresco.api-explorer (5.2.e/5.2.0)

API Explorer

Example: Content Services Core API

ActivitiesCommentsFavoritesNetworksNodesPeoplePreferences

QueriesRatingsRenditionsShared-linksSitesTagsTrashcanVersions

Provides access to the core features of Alfresco Content Servicesto retrieve, manage and find entities such as:

https://community.alfresco.com/docs/DOC-6532-alfresco-52-rest-apis

Alfresco 5.2 REST APIs

• Cheat-sheet • Links to lots of resources

– Blogs– Videos– Presentations– Bindings– Sample clients– Docs

• Gavin Cornwell• Series has 8 parts so far

– more coming soon– includes Postman collections

Community Blog Post Series

https://community.alfresco.com/community/ecm/blog/2016/10/11/v1-rest-api-part-1-introduction

What’s New & Changed ?

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What’s New

• 56 new endpoints!– Core API– Authentication API– Discovery API– Search API

• REST Framework enhancements– return less => fields query parameter– return more => include query parameter (API specific)– operations (eg. /copy, /move, /lock, /unlock, /revert, /restore, …)– @WebApiNoAuth

Upload contentcurl -utest:test –X POSThttp://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/alfresco/versions/1/nodes/-my-/children -F filedata=@test.txt

Download contentcurl -utest:test -X GEThttp://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/alfresco/versions/1/nodes/99a40be1-268f-4b8e-ab49-866747bbd660/content

Simple Example

Core API

…/alfresco/api/-default-/public/alfresco/versions/1/…

• /nodes/{nodeId}– Navigation– Content– Information– Operations include: Copy, Move, Lock, Unlock– Associations

• /nodes/{nodeId}/renditions• /nodes/{nodeId}/versions

– Operations include: Revert

Core API

…/alfresco/api/-default-/public/alfresco/versions/1/…

• /deleted-nodes– Operations: Restore

• /queries– /nodes– /people– /sites

• /shared-links– public share, unshare, find, …– expiration (new)

Authentication API

…/alfresco/api/-default-/public/authentication/versions/1/…

• /tickets– Login– Logout– Validate

Discovery API

…/alfresco/api/…

• /discovery– Version information– License information (Enterprise only)– Status

• isReadOnly• isQuickSharedEnabled• …

– Installed modules

Search API

…/alfresco/api/-default-/public/search/versions/1/...

• /search– Low level search API (effectively exposes Java API)– AFTS, CMIS, Lucene support– Faceting– Spellcheck– Term highlighting– Search nodes, versions or deleted-nodes

Enhanced APIs

…/alfresco/api/-default-/public/alfresco/versions/1/…

• /sites– Create site (no custom preset support yet)– Update site details– Delete site

• /people– List people (no filtering)– Create person– Update person

• Enable/Disable (admin only)

Demo

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Postman Collection

• File -> Import -> Import From Link

https://www.getpostman.com/collections/e28cf833734602fb4609

Simple File Sharing prototype (using new APIs)

Files&FoldersUpload&DownloadPreviewLiveSearchSharedLinksMove&CopyDelete& Undo….

Client Bindings & Example Apps

• Alfresco ADF (Application Development Framework)– JavaScript client-side– see: ADF 101 tutorial blogs– example: HealthCare Demo App

• Java Client SDKs (Early Access)– see: Java Client blogs– example: basis for new Android client(s)

• Developer Ecosystem … Partners & Community J

What’s Next ?

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Futures

• More Services exposed– Group Management– Download as Zip– …– Audit ?– Repository Actions ?

• Other Enhancements– more REST Framework improvements (eg. batch)– …– new features based on your (client-driven) feedback !

References

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References

• Alfresco 5.2 REST APIs (with more links)https://community.alfresco.com/docs/DOC-6532-alfresco-52-rest-apis

• API Explorerhttps://api-explorer.alfresco.comhttps://github.com/Alfresco/rest-api-explorer

• Tech Talk Live #102 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpSksoy-zkk

Thank You

JanVonkahttps://www.slideshare.net/jvonka