Alfresco-share:What is difference between custom model created using model manager and custom model created by someModel.xml file in content-tutorial-platform-jar

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ajay_k
Active Member

Alfresco-share:What is difference between custom model created using model manager and custom model created by someModel.xml file in content-tutorial-platform-jar

Hello,

                             I'm confused of difference between custom model created using model manager in admin tools of share and custom model created using someModel.xml file in content-tutorial-platform-jar(filepath:$TUTORIAL_HOME/content-tutorial-platform-jar/src/main/resources/alfresco/module/content-tutorial-platform-jar/model).

I had a few questions about this

1) Why alfresco provided two ways to create custom model and what is the difference?

2)Can we perform advanced search by custom model created from anyone of two ways?

Thanks 

Ajay

4 Replies
afaust
Master

Re: Alfresco-share:What is difference between custom model created using model manager and custom model created by someModel.xml file in content-tutorial-platform-jar

Creating a custom model via the model manager is an extremely restricted way of creating a model. The tools is a minimal viable product and as such only provides access to maybe 60-70% of the features. It also adds various issues around model lifecycle management and potential reuse. The Content Model Manager in Share was implemented as an after-thought to support prototyping / trivial customization use cases.

In my point of view, there is only one way to define custom models, and the Content Model Manager is "just" a tool that allows non-technical people to create trivial models with a limited scope (and still shoot themselves in the foot) without having to understand much of the underlying technical impications.

Since the Content Model Manager creates a model just as if that model would have been defined in XML, there are no differences with regards to features that work on nodes using types / aspects / properties from that model. Search works just the same....

jpotts
Professional

Re: Alfresco-share:What is difference between custom model created using model manager and custom model created by someModel.xml file in content-tutorial-platform-jar

Completely agree with Axel. Do not use the Model Manager unless you are a "power user" who just needs to create a quick type or aspect and you have no plans on getting a developer involved at any point. Once that happens, the developer will most likely ask you to export the model so it can be placed in a proper SDK-based project and source code controlled and that's not straightforward if the model is already in use.

Associations is one example of something you cannot define in the model manager.

ajay_k
Active Member

Re: Alfresco-share:What is difference between custom model created using model manager and custom model created by someModel.xml file in content-tutorial-platform-jar

Thanks Axel

ajay_k
Active Member

Re: Alfresco-share:What is difference between custom model created using model manager and custom model created by someModel.xml file in content-tutorial-platform-jar

Thanks Jeff Potts