DMS/CMIS (Alfresco ) Integration

[ghinkel]

We have a requirement to integrate civi with alfresco (via CMIS) - basically we want to use Alfresco as a central repository for all file attachments (so when you add an attachment to a case for example, the file gets saved to a document repository in Alfresco.)  I have a good bit of the CMIS code done - just not sure how to intercept civi file uploads (and reads) and redirect them to the cmis routines.  Any tips as to where to start?  (I'm fairly new to civi though I have worked with joomla a fair amount....)

[Hershel]

There has been talk of this before https://civicrm.org/blog/xavier/civitimesheet and http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php?topic=8061.0

[totten]

Don't want to interrupt the higher-level discussion about integration (because that's probably more important), but to answer the narrower question about file-processing events:

a) If you haven't created a Civi extension or used Civi hooks before, see documentation like http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Create+a+Module+Extension and http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Hook+Reference .

b) When one wants to intercept DB writes, the place to look is hook_civicrm_pre, hook_civicrm_post, or hook_civicrm_postSave (which is undocumented and lower-level but more consistent/predictable). This isn't quite the same as intercepting file-writes, but we keep a list of files in the DB -- anytime one uploads or deletes a file, there should be a corresponding action on the "civicrm_file" and/or "civicrm_entity_file" table (aka "CRM_Core_DAO_File" or "CRM_Core_DAO_EntityFile"). Your best bet is to write a module which implements all three hooks and then use a debugger or log-statement to inspect the data passing through.

c) For reading file attachments, Civi links to a URL like "/civicrm/file?reset=1&id=1&eid=22" (aka "CRM/Core/Page/File.php"). I don't think there are any hooks for this, but one could write a small patch to trigger a hook in CRM_Core_Page_File::run(), eg

Code: [Select]

<?php
// Write a patch to intercept reads (ie to trigger a hook during reads)
// FILE: CRM/Core/Page/File.php
class CRM_Core_Page_File ... {
  ...
  function run() {
   CRM_Utils_Hook::pageRun($this);
   ...
  }
}

// Write a module which uses the intercept (ie to listen to the hook)
// FILE: myextension.php
function myextension_civicrm_pageRun(&$page) {
  if ($page instanceof CRM_Core_Page_File) {
    // do something different from usual
  }
}

d) If you do write an integration, it would be great to http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Publish+an+Extension

[ghinkel]

thanks for the information.  I have worked with hooks before - I purposely kept the question vague to see if there was a 'better way' that I was unaware of.  You've given me a couple of excellent avenues to pursue.  If I can come up with a suitably generic solution I will definitely publish it!
Thanks again