Dynamic File System

Files are stored in an application-dedicated table, ensuring constant performance even with a growing number of applications. See PFFile for further details about persisted metadata.

Files can be created from a template or uploaded using the FileHolder control. This can be made within an Item's form or via inline editing. File has to be confirmed by saving the parent item, otherwise it won't be persisted after form closing.

Once uploaded, a PFFile can be downloaded, deleted or edited online (MS Office files), even before confirmation.

At modeling level, designer can select a template source fileHolder for another FileHolder. Settings are available to narrow the range of files proposed.

This allows easy runtime management of template files.

Each file can be accessed through 2 standardized URLs.

• [PackflowSiteUrl]/Files/[Application Id]/[ContentType Id]/[Item Id]/[File Id]
• [PackflowSiteUrl]/Files/[Application Id]/[ContentType Id]/[Item Id]/[FileHolder Field Name]/[File Name]

Both URL formats can be used to download files and perform other WebDAV operations.

CRUD permissions are based on parent Item's CRUD. Here is a table showing relations between file and item permissions.

A PFFile always exists under a PFItem instance. It saves metadata about its parent PFApplication, PFContentType and PFFieldFileHolder.

PFFile references are exposed via a PFFieldFileHolderValue on the parent item's FileHolder property.

This value allows to load the files using the Files property on the item.

Here is a list of events developers can hook on to override default behavior.

• FileDownloaded
• FileOpened
• BeforeCreateFile
• AfterCreateFile
• BeforeUpdateFile
• AfterUpdateFile

Here are some exemples on how to use the PFFile object via API.

• Subscribe to file events for every file under a ContenType.

  Override the item's OnInitialized method, and hook on the events from there.

  You may also subscribe to events directly on an item instance, but this will have effect on this specific instance only.

  See following handler and event arguments for further details.

  • PFItem_FileEventHandler
  • PFItem_FileEventArgs
  C#

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  public partial class ParentItemClass:PFItem{
  
      protected override void OnInitialized()
      {
          base.OnInitialized();
          FileDownloaded += OfficialDocument_FileDownloaded;
          FileOpened += OfficialDocument_FileDownloaded;
          BeforeCreateFile += OfficialDocument_BeforeCreateOrUpdateFile;
          BeforeUpdateFile += OfficialDocument_BeforeCreateOrUpdateFile;
      }
  
      void OfficialDocument_BeforeCreateOrUpdateFile(object sender, PFItem_FileEventArgs e)
      {
          //Your event code here.
          PFFile currentFile = e.File; 
      }
  }

• Get a file from a FileHolder value

  Items expose FileHolder fields values as properties returning a PFFieldFileHolderValue object.

  C#

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  public class MyUtils {
  
      public List<PFFile> LoadFilesUnderItem(MyItemClass myItemInstance)
      {                                        
          PFFieldFileHolderValue fileHolderValue = myItemInstance.__MyFileHolder;
          //PFFIeldFileHolderValue holds metadata about files in the 'References' collection.
          //You may find here the file name, its URl, and parents Ids and Guids.
  
          PFFileReference fileRef = fileHolderValue.References.FirstOrDefault();
          string fileName = fileRef.Name;
          string fileUrl  = fileRef.Url;
  
          //You may load files with all metadata and content by using the Files property on the PFItem.
          List<PFFile> files = myItemInstance.Files.GetByValue(fileHolderValue);
  
          return files;
      }
  }

• Create a file under an item.

  C#

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  public class MyUtils {
  
      public void CreateFileUnderItem(MyItemClass myItemInstance)
      {
          string fileName = "MyNewFileName.pdf";
          byte[] fileContent = File.ReadAllBytes("c:\testFile.pdf");
  
          PFFile newFile = myItemInstance.AttachFile(fileName, fileContent, 
          myItemInstance.ParentContentType.PFField_MyFileHolder);
          newFile.Save();
  
          //Save parent item to confirm file.
          myItemInstance.Save();
      }
  }

• Do a manual QuickParts dataBinding

  Packflow can feed MSOffice documents with Word QuickParts-compatible data. See MS Office integration for further details. The code below loads a PFFile, creates or updates its QuickParts dataset, then saves it.

  C#

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  public class MyUtils {
  
      public void RefreshFilesQuickParts(MyItemClass myItemInstance)
      {
          PFFile fileToFeed = myItemInstance.Files.GetByValue(myItemInstance__MyFileHolder).FirstOrDefault();
  
          if(fileToFeed!=null && MicaSystems.Utils.Utils_File.IsWord2010File(fileToFeed.Name);
          {
              PFQuickPartsBinder binder = new PFQuickPartsBinder(myItemInstance.ParentContentType);
              Stream updatedFileStream = binder.refreshFile(fileToFeed,myItemInstance);
              byte[] updatedFileContent = binder.refreshFile2(fileToFeed,myItemInstance);
              fileToFeed.save();
          }
      }
  }

  See PFQuickPartsBinder for further details.

Online edition is compatible with Forms Authentication.

See Forms authentication for details.

Note
Online edition of documents can only be triggered when browsing forms with Internet Explorer or Firefox. Extension to Chrome is scheduled but not yet implemented.

QuickParts databinding is set in modeling, with specific settings for each FileHolder.

Note
Databinding is one-way only, from item's data to document. There is no mechanism to get the values in a document back to the item. This may implemented in custom code, by subscribing to AfterUpdateFile.

See the following links for further details about XML and Quick Parts in Office.

Basic description of Quick Parts in MS Word.

Well defined Custom XML parts : Content-Types schemas

Information about the XML schemas Packflow complies with for MS Word integration.

DataBinding triggers

DataBinding source content-type

Databinding sequence

Forms authentication compatibility is achieved through MS-OFBA compliance.

See Forms Authentication for further details.

When adding the querystring '?Thumb=true' to a WebDAV query, the server will compute a 200px wide png thumbnail and return it if applicable. See GetThumbnail for further details.

Thumbnails are generated for the following file types:

• Image files: Bmp, Jpg, Jpeg, Png, Gif
• Office Files: Docx, Docm

On every request file, the version of the cached file is compared to the version in Database. Hence, only up-to-date files are output by the WebDAV module.

The thumbs are also cached by WebDAV for better performances.