Activating missing Webreport Tabs

Missing Tabs

A short, but sometimes time consuming thing are the missing Webreport Tabs. Imagine, you have a Content Server with an jetty based internal Admin Server or an external Admin server on a fast machine.

The problem

Then, from time to time, you will see this on editing a webreport:

Missing Webreports Tabs

All Edit Tabs for the webreport are missing. Although you can start the missing functions within the URL, its annoying.

The Cure

If this happens, use this Magic Trick N,12:

Simply stop Content Server and Admin Server. Start the Admin Server and wait at least 5 min before starting the Content Server.

Magic Trick N.12 in Action

Then you’ll see everything is there.

Wow. You made it. You are a great wizard.

Seriously:

There is a timing problem in the Content/Admin Server. If the Content Server starts to fast, COntent Server thinks, there is no license for webreports at first. Later, it gets the license, but the GUI is drawn without the webreports tabs.

Wait for your Content Server to start up. Wait at least for 5 min. Then everything will be drawn in the GUI.

Happy webreporting.

The Connection Object in smartUI

Setup of the Connection Object

smartUI does have a couple of interesting objects, but the actual documentation about them is not very clear. So lets take a look on the objects.

First, we’ll examine the connection object a little bit more in detail. The page context will follow in another post.

The connection object provides information about the content server to connect with. Normally, this object comes from the content server but has to be constructed manually when you use the index.html testing facility.

Lets take a look at a typical index.html with the connection object setup

Setup of the connection object

Remember, the widget will get everything beeing perfectly setup from the content server, but using the test faciliy, you have to mock up this.

Parameters:

  • url – the url which is the content server url in your mockup data
  • supportPath – where is your content server support directory
  • credentials – in case you want to log in, use this clause
  • session- when you want to ignore the ticketing etc, use ticket:”dummy”

Lets see what this object is doing:

(here the page is running and this is a screenshot from the debugger)

A debugging session with the connection object

We see, there is a connector object beeing the parent for the connection object. The connection object contains all parameter setups from the index.html, mainly the url and the session infos.

There is also an Authenticator in this connector object, which contains another copy of this connection object but also with the information, how the automatic re-login for a valid session ticked should be done. And of course, the type of Authenticator (here InteractiveCredentialsAuthenticator)

(Remember: The security token timeout will cancel your session (within typically 300 sec) if you do not a relogin).

This is the mechanism to avoid permanent logins. Take a look at the available authenticators to see the possibilities.

You can always refer the Connection Object to get the url of the server. This url os merged with the parameters in the Model URL function to build the final REST call.

A useful object. Normally we get it automatically from the server, only while testing with Mock-Up Data we need to setup this object manually.

Dealing with Distributed Agents

Distributed Agent Dashboard

From time to time you’ll have to deal with distributed agents inside content server. This can be a little confusing, so maybe this post is helpful there

In the Admin Pages, you’ll find a dashboard to control the default setup. Either add a func=distributedAgent.AgentStatus to your servers URL or search inside the admin pages for distributed Agent things like this

Distribute Agent Entry

Click on Distributed Agent Dashboard.

Then you’ll see the distributed Agent dasshboard

Distributed Agent Dashboard

Here you’ll find all information about the current state of the system and the configuration of the distributed agent system

Per default a content server has one distributed agent with three workers. You can change the number of workers used by the agent by changing the number of workers in the opentext.ini file in the [distributedagent] section.

You can configure the whole distributed Agent system by clicking on the link indicated with the red arrow above. Then the configuration page opens:

Here you can set up values for the the treatment of low priority tasks (Enable Fairness). The agent can spent between 5% to 50% on low priority tasks, which will be processed aftera minimal age set by “Task Age”.

When you have more than 1 agent in the system, you can switch the priority Agent here also. OpenText recommends that you select the Distributed Agent with the greatest capacity to be your Primary Distributed Agent. Typically, the Distributed Agent with the greatest capacity resides on your most powerful or your least busy computer.

If you want a defined outage to be set, you can do this for the Agent by clicking on “Add new Outage” at the upper right. You can do the same for specific workers, we’ll discuss this later.

Agent System Outage

Back on the DashBoard, you cal also modify single workers. SImply click on the name of a worker, then the “Configure Worker” page opens

Worker Configuration

If you want to set a more specific name as that automatically generated, fill the Description field.

Much more important are the three columns “Never Run”, “Run” and “Run First”. The Run column contains all tasks this worker is supposed to do.

You can exclude tasks from this worker, then this worker will never execute this task. You can also prioritize a task, which means this worker will do this task at first.

To configure this, select either all of the tasklist under “Run” or one or more tasks from the tasklist and move the entries either to “Never Run” on the left (worker will never execute the tasks) or to “Run First” on the right (worker will execute this tasks at first).

This allows you an effective task prioritizing for a single worker.

You can also define an outage for this worker by clicking on the Button “Add new Outage” on the lower right.

Worker Outage

Easy, isn’t it?

Practical smartUI: Reading complex categories on the Content Server Side

Normally, when building REST Services for smartUI, you’ll have to read complex attributes from categories to send them for display to a widget.

Lets use this example

A complex Category with 4 Sets and Table Key Lookups
A complex category with multible sets and table lookups (click to enlarge)

In your REST handler, you r task would be to get the values of the category attached to a node, read them and send them to the client using REST.

In this writing, we’ll focus on the “Read them” part. Our trick is

object  LLNODE = $LLIAPI.LLNodeSubsystem.GetItem(node.pSubtype)
result = LLNODE.NodeCategoriesGet(node)

Thos gives us all Categories connected to a node.

When we receive the REST call in ther server handler, we should do

  1. find the node id of the the object to examine.
  2. find the categories attached to this node (Red Arrow in the Screenshot)
  3. iterate over all categories and get the attributes we want. This is based on
    1. the attribute definitions (Green Arrow on the Screenshot)
    2. the attribute values (Yellow Arrow on the Screenshot)
  4. if you encounter a set (-18 as attribute type), you also will have to iterate over the set (Red Rectangle)
Get the Values of a complex category
The REST Handler to get the Values of a complex category

Lets take a look on the Values of a single Category. They are inside an assoc with one entry per attribute id.

i

The Value list in CSIDE
The value list in CSIDE

Now you are almost done. Put a switch construct to get all values of the attributes on which you are intersted and get them out of the fdata assoc. The Value is found in the fdata assoc of the n-th Category unter the content of the first Value entry. Then we have to pick the attribute id where we find the content of the attribute in the first Value entry.

The Str,ValueTostring typecasts the output to be a string. So when we finished the job, we’ll see in the entry event.eventcycle the value of the attribute with the name “EventCycle”.

Get the attributes of interest
The switch construct to get the attributes of interest

The only thing to do is put the values in assocs and send them to the smartUI widget under the main clause “events” in the JSON array

Sent the values back
Send the values back. Support 200 (ok) and 500 (error) as status code.

So you see, Categories are no Monsters. They are quite user friendly. Using the same mechanism, you can even update complex Categories with one REST call.

Happy smartUI programming.

New: We are offering custom widget development. Interested? Send an e-mail to merz at ebit-company.de stating the purpose of the widget and requesting a qoute

Practical Series II: Building an EVENT Management System in the Content Server using a graphical smartUI Dashboard and Connected Workspaces.

3-5 days, depending on the skills of the attendees.

Here, an EVENT Management system in the Content Server is built from the scratch. Events can be anything, from a Music Concert to Keysessions or anything else. To manage Events, all necessary Notes, Documents, Feedbacks can be stored in the Content Server.

Each event is mapped to a Business Workspace and has several folders to hold all documentation and feedback. Events can be related to other events. Each Event is containing Documents according to the template and has a Team of Coworkers. We also implement a Dashboard to see all Events in smartUI. If an Event is clicked in the Dashboard then the corresponding Connected WorkSpace Business Object is opened. Both parts, the Dashboard and the Business Workspace correspond via REST Service, which is also to be implemented during this workshop.

Uses the Content Server 16.2.10, the smartUI SDK and the D3 library, which is part of the smartUi SDK.

New: We are offering custom widget development. Interested? Send an e-mail to merz at ebit-company.de stating the purpose of the widget and requesting a qoute

Practical Series I: Strategies to “widgedize” an existing Content Server module and to add functionality in an existing widget.

1 day. Here, some practical parts of the SDK usage are discussed. First, we discuss, what’s to do, if somebody wants to use the Barcode Command (Enterprise Scan) as a widget in smartUI. We discuss what’s to investigate using CSIDE and implement the widget. Then the appropriate REST Services are implemented on the Content Server side. Then we add an email functionality to the TEAM widget by implementing this as a view and interconnecting this with the original widget using a command.

Practical Experience in the SDK or the Base Workshop is required.

New: We are offering custom widget development. Interested? Send an e-mail to merz at ebit-company.de stating the purpose of the widget and requesting a qoute

Agenda of the new 16.2.10 smart UI advanced Workshop

“Extended SDK Parts” 1.5 days

Content:

  • Additional Widgets
    • Webreports
      • NodesListReportView
      • TilereportView
      • FilteredCountChartView
      • Carousel Widget View
      • parameter.prompt.form
      • table.report
      • status.screen
      • open.webreport.js (action to show the Parameters form)
  • binf-Datepicker
    • Using the build in datepicker
  • binf-switch
    • Using the binf-switch to turn checkboxes and radio buttons into switches
  • Workflow
    • Workflow Components
    • Workflow in smartUI including Workflow Status (new in 16.2.4)
    • Starting Workflows
    • URL Routes
    • Workitem Model
    • Workitem Actions
    • Workitem Extension
    • Writing Workflow Extensions
    • REST API Support for Workflows
  • Connected Workspaces
    • Configurationvolume
    • Header
    • xECM: Office365 Groups
  • Extended ECM
    • xECM: Header Widget with Business Object Infos
    • xECM: Snapshot of current document Attachments
    • xECM: Dossier View Widget
    • Event Action Center
  • Widgets not part of the SDK
    • Mobile Scanning
    • Discussion Widget
    • Engineering Doc Management: Search
    • MyShares

“Extended SDK Features” 0.75 days

Content:

  • Build Language Packs for Internationalization
    • How to build an English language template
    • How to build the language pack
  • Commands
    • Implementation and Inheritance from “CommandModel”
    • Best Practices
    • Attributes, Methods
    • Using Commands
  • Custom URL Router.
    • Routing, adding custom Routers.
    • Using Routers as Navigation.
    • Perspective Routers
  • Authenticators and Regions
    • Authenticators
    • Non-Attaching Region
    • Non-Emptying Region
    • Script Executing Region
  • Behaviors. What are Behaviors?
    • DefaultActionBehavior
    • ExpandingBehavior
    • InfiniteScrollingBehavior
    • PerfectScrollingBehavior
    • Search Behavior
    • CollectionErrorBehavior
    • CollectionStateBehavior
    • ItemErrorBehavior
    • ItemStateBehavior
  • Mixins.
    • What are Mixins?
    • Discussion of the main mixins
      • LayoutViewEventsPropagationMixin
      • ViewEventsPropagationMixin
      • AutoFetchableMixin
      • NodeAutoFetchableMixin
      • ConnectableMixin
      • NodeConnectableMixin
      • FetchableMixin
      • ResourceMixin
      • NodeResourceMixin
      • UploadableMixin
      • CommandableMixin
      • ExpandableMixin
      • AdditionalResourcesV2Mixin
      • V2CommandableMixin
      • ExpandableV2Mixin
      • FieldsV2Mixin
      • RulesMatchingMixin
      • SyncableFromMultipleSourcesMixin
  • Browsable Support for Collections.
    • Using the “Browsable” support for Model-Collections.
  • Widget Options for the Perspective Manager
    • Wire up your widget options that they can be configured at the Perspective Manager Level

“Additional things to consider” 0.75 days

  • Tips and Tricks
    • Add a OTDS Ticket already in the browser to the connection object
    • Re-using a OTDS Ticket as LLCookie
    • Checking the paths in the test/index.html
    • Adding non CSUI supported jQuery functions in a view
    • Add additional jQuery Libraries
    • Adding Controls to a widget
    • CKEDITOR 4 new
      • Intro
      • JQuery Non-SDK example
      • Usage in the SDK
    • Handlebars advanced
      • Handlebars QuickStart
      • Expressions
      • Helpers
      • Helpers with html output
      • Helpers with Hash Object
      • The Helper fn property
      • The helper inverse property
      • Partials
      • Helpers in the SDK
      • 188 Handlebar Helpers
    • LESS advanced
      • LESS installation
      • Using LESS variables
      • Using Mixins in LESS
      • Parametric Mixins
      • Guarded Mixins
    • D3 new
      • What is D3
      • Basic Elements
      • Zooming and Panning
      • D3 in the smartUI SDK
    • Moment new
      • What is Moment?
      • Performing Time Calculations
    • Alpaca new
      • What is Alpaca?
      • Content Server Support for Alpaca
      • Alpaca Tutorial

“One or two more things” 0.5 days optional

  • Accessibility in Bootstrap. Screen reader support and what’s to change in the SDK to support screen readers for visual impaired users.
    • What is Accessibility
    • Kinds of Disabilities
    • Accessibility and the law
    • WAI-ARIA
    • ASSETS.CMS.GOV
    • PayPal Bootstrap Accessibility Plugin
    • Web Experience Toolkit WET
    • Other resources
    • Best Practices in smartUI development
      • Pre-Development Steps
      • Preparation Steps
      • Development Steps
      • Integration Steps
      • Documentation Steps
  • Development Infrastructure for security aware Organizations new
    • Recommendations what’s to do if the reloading of npm modules during the creation of a widget is not wanted

1 Day optional Discussion of actual problems

Discussion of actual problems

Here actual problems from the widget development are discussed. This part has to be discussed and defined in advance.

New: We are offering custom widget development. Interested? Send an e-mail to merz at ebit-company.de stating the purpose of the widget and requesting a qoute

New 16.2.10 Content Server Smart UI Advanced Workshop

This is a 4-5 days’ Workshop covering the additional Parts of the SDK, the xECM, Webreports, Workflow etc. Modules. Here, some of the more advanced concepts are discussed, like how to make Widgets configurable in the Perspective Manager.

Also, there are overviews of D3 (Graphic Package) and Alpaca (Forms Package) inside the SDK. The complete Training is configurable.

See the complete Agenda here

New smartUI Workshop Basic for 16.2.10

This is an overview of the Content Server part in the SDK. At the end, simple Widgets based on the standard demo widget can be build and set up in the Content Server. This Workshop in available in various lengths to allow a different depth of Understanding. See the complete 5 days Agenda on the next pages. The 1 day and 2 days workshops are subsets of the complete 5 days workshop-

1 Day Content Server Smart UI Workshop Basic

Suited for Managers to get a technical overview of the SDK (Content Server Part) and what’s to do with it. First held at the Enterprise World Vienna 2019.

2 Days Content Server Smart UI Workshop Basic

Suited for technical Team Leaders or Consultants to get a technical overview of the SDK (Content Server Part) and what’s to do with it. Gets more in-depth as the 1-day workshop with more exercises. Forst held at the Enterprise World Toronto 2019.

5 Days Content Server Smart UI Workshop Basic

This is the complete training, covering all areas (JS Patterns, REST, SDK Infrastructure, SDK, Exercises) in the SDK (Content Server Part)

See the complete 5 days Agenda here

New: We are offering custom widget development. Interested? Send an e-mail to merz at ebit-company.de stating the purpose of the widget and requesting a qoute

New Trainings for smartUI and Content Server 16.2.10

Content Server 16.2.10 gave us a lot of new Features, which require a new Traininigs.

Therefore there is a Workshop Line of smartUI Trainings and a new Practical Series.

Workshop Line: The two Workshops Content Server SmartUI Workshop Basic and Contnent Server smartUI Workshop advanced have been extended to 16.2.10. As always this Workshops give the explanation, what and why is going on in der SDK

  • Content Server Smart UI Workshop Basic
  • Content Server Smart UI Workshop Advanced

The Practical Series include a complete Implementation of Widgets, REST Services and Contnent Server based Applications in the form of Business Workspaces. So this part is more a Workshop for the practical usage of smartUI. As the content of the Workshop Line is required in the Practical Series, a knowledge comparable to this Workshop Line is recommended for attending the practical Series.

  • Practical Series I: Strategies to “widgedize” an existing Content Server module and to add functionality in an existing widget.
  • Practical Series II: Building an EVENT Management System in the Content Server using a graphical smartUI Dashboard and Connected Workspaces

New: We are offering custom widget development. Interested? Send an e-mail to merz at ebit-company.de stating the purpose of the widget and requesting a qoute