Alfresco Content Load

Introduction

This article continues my demonstrations of the user interfaces for Alfresco at their current build state. This demonstration is with revision 344 using the command line SVN client. This post will demonstrate the following:
- Bulk import of web site
- Individual file import

This demonstration assumes that a test web project already exists, you have logged in and navigated to the project space.


Bulk Import

1) Select the appropriate user sandbox. For this I selected the admin sandbox by clicking the browser link.



2) From the admin sandbox: Select the create: bulk import in the upper right hand side of the screen.



3) From the Bulk Import: Click Browse to navigate to a zip file containing your web site.



4) From the file browser: Navigate to the zip file containing the web site and click open.



5) From the Bulk Import screen: Click upload to upload the zip file to Alfresco



6) From the Bulk Import: Click OK to have Alfresco crack open the zip file and insert the content in the sandbox.



7) From the Bulk Import: Notice the status lights.



8) It may be necessary to stop and start the virtual server using /alfrescohome/virtual_stop.sh, and virtual_start.sh to enable the new area to preview properly. This could just be an issue with the build I have, but it may be necessary when first creating a space.

9) Content from import is displayed



Individual File Import

1) Navigate within a sandbox to the directory you would like to import content into. For this demonstration we will assume we need to add a new page under company.

2) From the sandbox in teh company directory: Select create, and add content.



3) From the add content screen; Browse for content, and click upload to upload the file to Alfresco.



4) From the Add Content Screen: Verify the file uploaded successfully, and that the correct content type is selected, and click OK.



5) The system returns you to the sandbox where you can see the file imported.



6) To preview content from the sandbox click the eye icon across from the content you would like to preview. This will open a new browser window to display the content in context.

Conclusion
This should help you see how to do a bulk import of content. This could be for the first initial load of content or for a load of a large content set. I know from my work with some other CMS systems that often the import of content beyond the sales person's speak of "Oh it's drag and drop" a utility like this can come in handy.

My next article will deal with the question of what is the best method to do include files. This will not be something focused solely on Alfresco, but I will take the time while demonstrating a method we are using with Alfresco to show that interface as well.

For further information or questions please email me: dmusser@eyestreet.com