Open and save docs straight from the DL in Liferay

[Rene van Steenis, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

I have the following problem: When I open a document from the Document Library within Liferay the documents are opened read-only.

I use LR 5.2.1.

What I need is (just like in Novell Teaming) that docs are opened from the DL, edited in OpenOffice and saved directly back to the DL when I choose Save in Writer or other apps.

Is this possible or not?

And can someone explain what the SharePoint Protocol-support means in LR? Is this the WebDAV 2 support or is there more to it.

[Rene van Steenis, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

I checked this in Social Office. Same 'problem' there. No real-time opening and saving documents from the portal using a browser.

Downloading and uploading is so 'nineties'...

And can someone explain what the SharePoint Protocol-support means in LR? Is this the WebDAV 2 support or is there more to it.

Novell is able to pull this off with Teaming, then LR can do better...

Is nobody out there who can answer my questions?

[Rene van Steenis, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

I cannot believe that no one can give me an answer on my previous questions?!?!

Who is the lead engineer within Liferay for Document Library?

[Rene van Steenis, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

I am very disappointed that no one answers this question...

[Mauro Mariuzzo, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

If you want to use OpenOffice to edit document via WebDav you have to configure OOo to not use native dialogs.

[Rene van Steenis, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

Mauro,

thanks for your reply.

I already managed to use WebDAV with OpenOffice.

The problem is that I want to log into Liferay with Firefox, browse to the Document Library and open my documents right into OpenOffice. And when I click on Save when my editing is done, the document should be saved back into the portal. No downloading and uploading!

When I open a document from the portal now, it is opened in Read-Only mode...

[Mauro Mariuzzo, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

I think I haven't understand what you are doing.

This is what I do:

• login into Liferay
• go to DL portlet
• choose a file
• copy file webdav url
• open OpenOffice
• paste url into Open File dialog
• edit the document
• when I click the save button, document is saved into Liferay and version is incremented

[Rene van Steenis, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

Mauro,

I followed your instructions and it worked like a charm. But....

Opening files this way from LR into OpenOffice feels like a workaround (copy-and-paste the WebDAV URL)

What I would like to do is:

* login into Liferay
* go to DL portlet
* choose a file
* click on the filename
* open it with OpenOffice (not in Read-Only mode which happens at this moment)
* edit the document
* when I click the save button, document is saved into Liferay and version is incremented

So the big difference is in the way I would like to open the file in OpenOffice.

[Mauro Mariuzzo, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

I have the same needs, but this "workaround" is what I can do with my knowledge.

To have OOo to automatically open the document you can edit the jsp and change the field from input to url, and register OOo (how depend of operating system) as default application for webdav:// protocol.

Our big problem is authentication. We need a Single SingOn mechanism, and I haven't found how to make it

[Lisa Simpson, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Mauro Mariuzzo:

I have the same needs, but this "workaround" is what I can do with my knowledge.

To have OOo to automatically open the document you can edit the jsp and change the field from input to url, and register OOo (how depend of operating system) as default application for webdav:// protocol.

Our big problem is authentication. We need a Single SingOn mechanism, and I haven't found how to make it

There are serveral.... you might consider deploying another open source product called CAS.

[Mauro Mariuzzo, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

About SharePoint protocol.

Thank's to EU Microsoft was ordered to make public "integration specific" of some products.

This allowed Liferay people to implement part of SharePoint protocol within Liferay. The part regarding file storing and versioning.

This allow Liferay to be a SharePoint replacement for people obliged to use Microsoft Office.

[Rene van Steenis, modificado 15 Anos atrás.]

Mauro,

thanks for the explanation. Now I understand the statement from LR about the Sharepoint protocol.

[Lari Tuominen, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Hi all, any progress with this issue?

Can the following (what Rene suggested) be done by any means?

* login into Liferay
* go to DL portlet
* choose a file
* click on the filename
* open it with OpenOffice (not in Read-Only mode which happens at this moment)
* edit the document
* when I click the save button, document is saved into Liferay and version is incremented

- Lari

[Chris Wirth, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

I'm using 5.2.2 and at least with MS Office, the WebDAV integration works great.

1. Within a site (org) in LR I add a Doc Library portlet, and create a few folders, possibly some sub-folders.
2. Copy the webDAV URL from the doc library portlet
3. In Windows create a network place and "connect to a network server"
4. paste in the webDAV URL that you copied from the LR Doc Library portlet -- hit save.

A network place icon for the LR doc library now shows up your desktop as well as in the "file>open" or "file>save" dialog from Office under "Network places" -- this is all as performed in XP.

Users can add folders or sub-folders from the desktop icon or from within LR. Opening a file from the LR doc library and then saving it back automatically creates a new version of the doc with timestamp. Docs opened by a user are locked to prevent simultaneous edits.

As the Brits are fond of saying, "works a treat" ; )

Chris

[Lari Tuominen, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Thanks Chris. Great answer!

- Lari

[Dmitry Babain, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

What version of windows do you use?

[Chris Wirth, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

XP SP2

Running LR 5.2.2 on Tomcat

[Max Astraloff, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Using this scenario doesn't allow using user-frendly document workflow fetures.

Users usualy do:

1. Open folder (local or shared) in Exploer
2. Double click on the file to view or edit it.
3. Click the save button to save the edited doc.


Users expect in portal right the same functionality:

1. Open LR Doc Library
2. Change folder, find the document
3. Single click on the document to view or edit it
4. Save the document after editing using SAVE button of the external editing program.

For normal office document workflow the cut&paste and Download&Put_somewhere_in_network_neighbourhood matters won't work.
It would be easier for the user to get the doc from the shared folder i.e. "\\server\docs\etc" or send it by e-mail.

So to my mind, the goal is to distinguish the "shared folder" usability through the LR Doc Library.
Right as Rene suggested.

I think that the only thing we need - is to manage the referal links that appears for the browser when user clicks the document.
i.e

Now the link for the doc is:
http://server:8080/c/document_library/get_file?p_l_id=13422&folderId=13433&name=DLFE-101.docx
we see the action - "get file", so we have the Download File dialog after clicking the file

But why not to make an option in folder access rights or somewhere else, that will set the direct webdav links for the file, i.e.:
http://server:8080/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/liferay.com/astraloff/document_library/Astraloff/Test/Document.docx

This kind of file-links representation allows us to get the same functionality in any browser and any Office application.

Any suggestions, opinions?

Chris Wirth:

I'm using 5.2.2 and at least with MS Office, the WebDAV integration works great.

1. Within a site (org) in LR I add a Doc Library portlet, and create a few folders, possibly some sub-folders.
2. Copy the webDAV URL from the doc library portlet
3. In Windows create a network place and "connect to a network server"
4. paste in the webDAV URL that you copied from the LR Doc Library portlet -- hit save.

A network place icon for the LR doc library now shows up your desktop as well as in the "file>open" or "file>save" dialog from Office under "Network places" -- this is all as performed in XP.

Users can add folders or sub-folders from the desktop icon or from within LR. Opening a file from the LR doc library and then saving it back automatically creates a new version of the doc with timestamp. Docs opened by a user are locked to prevent simultaneous edits.

As the Brits are fond of saying, "works a treat" ; )

Chris

[Lisa Simpson, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

If I'm reading the stuff below correctly, you want to have the whole process be more seamless for the user. It shouldn't be that hard to let them download a desktop short cut.

Max Astraloff:

Using this scenario doesn't allow using user-frendly document workflow fetures.

Users usualy do:

1. Open folder (local or shared) in Exploer
2. Double click on the file to view or edit it.
3. Click the save button to save the edited doc.


Users expect in portal right the same functionality:

1. Open LR Doc Library
2. Change folder, find the document
3. Single click on the document to view or edit it
4. Save the document after editing using SAVE button of the external editing program.

For normal office document workflow the cut&paste and Download&Put_somewhere_in_network_neighbourhood matters won't work.
It would be easier for the user to get the doc from the shared folder i.e. "\\server\docs\etc" or send it by e-mail.

So to my mind, the goal is to distinguish the "shared folder" usability through the LR Doc Library.
Right as Rene suggested.

I think that the only thing we need - is to manage the referal links that appears for the browser when user clicks the document.
i.e

Now the link for the doc is:
http://server:8080/c/document_library/get_file?p_l_id=13422&folderId=13433&name=DLFE-101.docx
we see the action - "get file", so we have the Download File dialog after clicking the file

But why not to make an option in folder access rights or somewhere else, that will set the direct webdav links for the file, i.e.:
http://server:8080/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/liferay.com/astraloff/document_library/Astraloff/Test/Document.docx

This kind of file-links representation allows us to get the same functionality in any browser and any Office application.

Any suggestions, opinions?

Chris Wirth:

I'm using 5.2.2 and at least with MS Office, the WebDAV integration works great.

1. Within a site (org) in LR I add a Doc Library portlet, and create a few folders, possibly some sub-folders.
2. Copy the webDAV URL from the doc library portlet
3. In Windows create a network place and "connect to a network server"
4. paste in the webDAV URL that you copied from the LR Doc Library portlet -- hit save.

A network place icon for the LR doc library now shows up your desktop as well as in the "file>open" or "file>save" dialog from Office under "Network places" -- this is all as performed in XP.

Users can add folders or sub-folders from the desktop icon or from within LR. Opening a file from the LR doc library and then saving it back automatically creates a new version of the doc with timestamp. Docs opened by a user are locked to prevent simultaneous edits.

As the Brits are fond of saying, "works a treat" ; )

Chris

[Mickey Fox, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

The interesting part of this issue is, at least to me, that there are different "work arounds" based on different operating systems and products (e.g. OO v. MSO). I am greatly concerned that the work arounds are not user-friendly (that is, they will require training/teaching of the end-user). As we all know, if something is not intuitive in its operation, it will be met with resistance and shunned by the end-user.

Lastly, while some have noted how they now "work around" the issues, will these work arounds still work with Windows 7? If Liferay is to be deployed in any real sense, it must be cross-platform and cross-system compatible otherwise its viability and usability are greatly limited.

[Lari Tuominen, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

I Strongly agree what Mickey said!

The interesting part of this issue is, at least to me, that there are different "work arounds" based on different operating systems and products (e.g. OO v. MSO). I am greatly concerned that the work arounds are not user-friendly (that is, they will require training/teaching of the end-user). As we all know, if something is not intuitive in its operation, it will be met with resistance and shunned by the end-user.

This is just the way it goes (especially when users are not engineers ;)

- Lari

[Claas Ruschmeyer, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Mickey Fox:

The interesting part of this issue is, at least to me, that there are different "work arounds" based on different operating systems and products (e.g. OO v. MSO). I am greatly concerned that the work arounds are not user-friendly (that is, they will require training/teaching of the end-user). As we all know, if something is not intuitive in its operation, it will be met with resistance and shunned by the end-user.

Agreed!!

For MS Office (XP, 2003 & 2007) and IE it can easily implemented with a ActiveX-control:
- look at Alfresco webdav.js
- extend html/portlet/document_library/edit_file_entry.jsp
- testing... works great with WebDAV and Sharepoint (5.2+)

Sure, it's not the overall solution but it's a simple "first throw". (Like Alfresco did.)

Maybe we have to discuss: overall vs. gradual implementation

[Lisa Simpson, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Great - it works for Windows.... We don't really use Windows. We're heavily Mac and Linux centric. So *we* still have no solution....

I'm going to say this for about the billionth time....

Making assumptions about what your client is, has, or can get is a complete and total violation of the concept of web services.

And to expound on Mickey's comment, you can't make them install a bunch of stuff, like a specific operating system just to perform a single function.

[Lisa Simpson, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Understand, I like the feature, but it needs to be implemented via some technology that will work for as many OS/Browser combos as possible. Not just a select few.

[Alexander Chow, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

@Claas

Thanks for the suggestion and pointers. I just committed your fix to trunk. Check out LPS-5214.

@Lisa

Yes, I know your pain. I work on OS X and come across a lot of problems like this... unfortunately, a lot of that is browser-specific. Of course, IE is closely coupled with Office... but Safari and FF, as far as I know, do not have any means of custom launching like it does in IE. If you know of any possible solutions, please, let me know.

Cheers!

[Lisa Simpson, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

I think it's probably the wrong approach. I think you should be looking at something that's a lot more like Google Docs and a lot less dependent on launching Microsoft Word from the browser. Failing that, you could upgrade Jackrabbit. 2.0 is already in alpha and will be out soon as a stable release. That might solve some of the issues.

[Alexander Chow, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Lisa Simpson:

I think it's probably the wrong approach. I think you should be looking at something that's a lot more like Google Docs and a lot less dependent on launching Microsoft Word from the browser. Failing that, you could upgrade Jackrabbit. 2.0 is already in alpha and will be out soon as a stable release. That might solve some of the issues.

Yes, I think ideally, we would all love Liferay to replace Google Docs. However, I think launching MS Word is one solution that some people do appreciate.

I haven't been keeping up with Jackrabbit. Is there a reason why you think 2.0 would help by way of in-browser editing?

[Claas Ruschmeyer, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Alexander Chow:

@Claas
Thanks for the suggestion and pointers. I just committed your fix to trunk. Check out LPS-5214.

Hi Alexander, thanks a lot! LPS-5214 is an easy "quick win". Liferay announces itself with Integration with Microsoft Office® and now we have a new feature.

[Lisa Simpson, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Jackrabbit 2.0 will support a newer WebDAV standard than the one currently in use with Liferay.

[Waldemar Moes, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Dear all,

I started using Liferay about 2 months ago and have been wondering about the collaboration possibilities with the document library.
As I understand from the many posts on this forum there is some confusion about getting WebDAV to work with Liferay and also the integration with MS Office, which preferably should enable the user with a seamless document management experience.

I have been looking in all the posts concerning WebDAV etc. and also the available Liferay documentation.
Unfortunately I have not been able to find a comprehensive step by step description of the setup process for WebDAV (and if possible how to use it with MS Office) for a non-techie admin such as myself.

Also it would be nice to know where Liferay stands on this and how far developments are.

Can anybody refer me to such overall documentation?

We are using:
- Windows 7
- Liferay 5.2.3
- Tomcat 6.0.18
- MS Office 2007

Much much obliged,

Waldemar

[Alexander Chow, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

@Waldemar

Thanks for your post.

You may find as helpful the video tutorial done for Social Office which, essentially, are the same steps.

http://www.liferay.com/web/michelle.kawaye/blog/-/blogs/setting-up-social-office-with-webdav


Alex

[Bryan Cheung, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

Hi Rene, Chris, Lisa, Lari, Max, Mauro, Mickey,

Please see the Document Library Improvements Wiki Page and provide feedback and further detail. Thanks!

[Lisa Simpson, modificado 14 Anos atrás.]

You can go there to vote for all kinds of features you might want