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The official documentation is at: http://docs.alfresco.com
Design Document
Overview
The role of the Invitation Service is to manage the process of granting users access to a specified resource. At present the Invitation Service only manages access to Sites.
The process of granting a user access to a resource is represented as an Invitation object. An Invitation stores information holds the following information:
- A unique ID for the Invitation.
- The invited user.
- The type of Resource to which access is being granted (currently only Site).
- The name of the Resource to which access is being granted.
- The Role (access level) to be granted.
Invitations are implemented as workflow instances (using either the Activiti or JBPM engine).
The various steps in the invitation process are represented as workflow tasks which are visible in the Share Workflow UI (My Tasks dashlet/page), mostly avoiding the need to develop a UI specifically for invitations.
There are two types of Invitation, *Moderated Invitation and Internal Nominated Invitation, which are discussed in more detail below.
Moderated Invitation
A moderated invitation is one where a user requests a certain level of access (a Role) to a Resource (Site). The request is reviewed by one of the Resource Managers and is either approved, in which case the user is granted the requested level of access or rejected, in which case the user is not granted access.
Since the user must be logged in as an Alfresco Authority in order to initiate a Moderated Invitation external users cannot request invitations in this way.
The diagram below outlines the process followed during a Moderated Invitation.
Moderated Invitation Flow.png
JBPM process definition: invitation-moderated_processdefinition.xml
Activiti process definition: invitation-moderated.bpmn20.xml
Nominated Invitation
A nominated invitation is one where a Resource Manager sends an invitation to another user, inviting them to gain access to the resource (Site) with a specified permission level (Role). When the invitation is sent by the Resource Manager an email is sent to the invited user, providing links for the user to accept or reject the invitation. If the invited user accepts the invitation he gains access to the Resource. If he rejects the invitation then the process ends. The Resource Manager who sent the invitation also has the option to cancel the invitation, ending the process.
The invited user is not required to be an existing Alfresco Authority. In this case a temporary Authority is created for the invited user and if the user chooses to accept the invitation the Authority is made permanent. If the invited user rejects the invitation then the temporary Authroity is deleted.
Nominated Invitation Flow.png
JBPM process definition: invitation-moderated_processdefinition.xml
Activiti process definition: invitation-moderated.bpmn20.xml
Java API
Invitation Service
REST bindings
Get Invitations
Returns a list of Invitations represented as JSON objects. The invitations returned can be filtered by invitee user name, invitation type, resource type and site short name (resource name).
Generic binding:
/api/invitations?inviteeUserName={inviteeUserName?}&invitationType={invitationType?}&resourceType={resourceType?}
Parameter
| Mandatory
| Description
|
|---|
| inviteeUserName | false | The name of the invited user |
| invitationType | false | Is the invitation Nominated or Moderated |
| resourceType | false | Type of Resource (e.g. Site) |
Site-specific binding:
/api/sites/{shortname}/invitations?inviteeUserName={inviteeUserName?}&invitationType={invitationType?}
Parameter
| Mandatory
| Description
|
|---|
| shortname | true | The Site Short Name |
| inviteeUserName | false | The name of the invited user |
| invitationType | false | Is the invitation Nominated or Moderated |
Get Invitation
Returns a JSON representation of a single Invitation, specified by site short name and Invitation Id.
Site-specific binding:
/api/sites/{shortname}/invitations/{inviteId}
Parameter
| Mandatory
| Description
|
|---|
| shortname | true | The Site Short Name |
| inviteId | true | The Id of the Invitation |
Post Invitation
Creates a new Invitation. A JSON object is used to specify the various parameters, including invitation type, invitee user name, role, etc.
Site-specific binding:
/api/sites/{shortname}/invitations
Delete Invitation
Deletes the Invitation as specified by Invitation Id.
Site-specific binding:
/api/sites/{shortname}/invitations/{invitationId}
Related Links
3.2 Invitation Service Design
Invite Service Design (Deprecated)
