› Importing documents › CMIS Import

CMIS Import

You can automatically download files from a CMIS-compliant repository and process them as batches in Transact using the CMIS Import feature.

CMIS-compliant repositories include, but are not limited to:

  • Alfresco

  • Nuxeo

  • Documentum

  • SharePoint

The CMIS Import monitors the CMIS-compliant repository using a cron job, which periodically checks a specified folder for a new file. The file and its properties are downloaded as an XML file. You can use custom scripts to access these properties in the executed batch.

A batch is created for each file downloaded from the CMIS server and executed in Transact. Only files that match a user-specified file extension and CMIS property will be downloaded. After a file is downloaded, Transact changes the CMIS property to another value to prevent it from being imported again.

Configure CMIS Import

This topic provides information on how to configure the CMIS Import feature for a batch class.

  1. From the Batch Class Management screen, select your batch class and click Open.
  2. Click CMIS Import.
  3. Click Add to create a new connection.
  4. Provide the required configuration details. See the following table for descriptions of each field.
    Configurable property Description

    Server URL

    The URL to the CMIS-compliant repository from which Transact should download files. For example, for Alfresco using CMIS 1.1: http://<hostname>:<port>/alfresco/api/-default-/public/cmis/versions/1.1/atom

    Username

    User name for the specified repository.

    Password

    Password for the specified username. The content of this field is hidden.

    Repository ID

    CMIS-compliant repository ID. Reference the documentation for your specific repository for steps on how to get this value.

    File Extension

    File extensions that should be permitted for download from the CMIS-compliant repository.

    Transact only supports PDF and TIF files.

    Folder

    Folder name on the CMIS server from where files need to be downloaded.

    Property

    Defines the CMIS property in the property and value combination, which marks a file to be downloaded from the server.

    For example:

    • cmis:name
    • cm:description
    • cm:title
    • cm:extractionstatus

    Value

    Defines the value for the CMIS property mentioned above. This key-value pair determines which documents will be downloaded.

    For example, if the property is cm:extractionstatus, the value might be Ephesoft.

    New Value

    Defines the value that should be updated in the CMIS property after a file has been downloaded. This is to prevent a document from being downloaded multiple times. For example, if the property is cm:extractionstatus, the CMIS Import feature could change this value to ExtractionComplete after the document is downloaded.

    CMIS Version

    Defines the version of CMIS used by uploaded documents for repository connection. Supported CMIS versions are:

    • 1.0
    • 1.1

Edit CMIS Import Cron Job

This topic provides information on configuring how often the CMIS server should be checked for new files.

  1. Open the cmis-import.properties file, located at <Ephesoft_Directory>\Application\WEB-INF\classes\META-INF\dcma-cmis-import.
  2. Edit the cmisImport.cronExpression property as needed. This cron job controls how often Transact will check the CMIS server for new files. The default value is every 15 minutes (0 0/15 * ? * *). 
    cmisImport.cronExpression=0 0/15 * ? * *

Enable CMIS Import

The CMIS Import feature is disabled by default. To enable the CMIS Import feature, you will need to edit the applicationContext.xml file. Perform the following steps.

  1. Open the applicationContext.xml file, located at <Ephesoft_Directory>\Application.
  2. Locate the following comment: 
     <!-- 
<import resource="classpath:/META-INF/applicationContext-dcma-cmis-import.xml"/> 
-->
  3. Uncomment the above line.
  4. Restart the Transact service. This will enable the CMIS Import feature for your server.

    To disable the CMIS Import feature, comment out the line again.

Troubleshooting

Error message Possible root cause

Unable to connect to the server

Invalid configuration being used to connect to the CMIS server.

Error while generating cmis-properties.xml

This may be caused by one of the following:

  • Transact does not have access to write the properties on the disk.

  • Transact was unable to connect to the network path while writing the file.