[Deep Dive] Using Content Intelligence for Content Suite Customizations

Introduction – Why?

This blog post discusses the use of the Content Intelligence(CI) suite of products as an alternative to Oscript based customizations. Much of this blog is devoted to some basic mechanics of how this is possible, but the first question is probably Why?

Despite the great flexibility and configurability of Content Suite, many, if not most, customers find some aspects of the system that they want to change. This ranges from minor cosmetic changes to building full blown applications on top of the existing Content Suite functionality. In an ideal world, each customer would be able to tailor Content Suite to match the specific needs of their business and users. Prior to the existence of the Content Intelligence product, there were already a couple of business tools such as WebForms and Workflows that allowed some business customization. Additionally, the optional Appearances module allowed some tailoring of the user interface. However,  outside the capability of these products the main option historically for customers to extend Content Suite was to create OScript modules to override the core functionality. As most of the existing Content Suite functionality is written with OScript modules, it follows that it is possible to create vast changes or improvements to the out-of-box functionality with this approach. The problem is that the more custom modules on a system, the more trouble when it comes time to upgrade to a new version of Content Suite. There are various reasons for this, and I’ve chosen not to detail these problems in depth here (perhaps the subject of a different blog). A consultation such as the one our company provides (Customizations Audit) can be used to review your specific situation,  but typically, customers who have been through at least one upgrade are fairly aware of issues related to any custom modules they have.

Besides the fact that many customers are becoming resistant to OScript customizations another driver towards non OScript module alternatives is the increased deployment of ECM or xECM as a cloud based offering. These products have explicitly prohibited Oscript customizations while allowing Content Intelligence  modules to be included in the software build. For customers who need some customization of Content Suite or who need to port customizations from their on-premise system to the cloud-based system, Content Intelligence provides an attractive way to meet their needs within the parameters of the ECM Cloud offering.

What about CWS or the REST API?

One of the issues with traditional OScript customizations is that historically there has been a lack of an enforced, well documented and supported API for developers writing code within the Content Suite environment. That being said, there is an API designed to aid developers of external software products in leveraging CS functionality. The original version of this was called LAPI and this was later obsoleted by "Content Web Services" (CWS).  While CWS is still supported, over the last six years or so, many common Content Suite functions have had REST based URL commands created to allow a consistent, supported way for custom client code to invoke Content Suite functionality. This creates a very robust way for customers to leverage existing Content Server URL based commands while creating their own client pages. Essentially it is possible to create an entirely new look and feel for Content Suite by executing REST commands to facilitate any necessary back-end functionality in Content Suite. This approach provides a well-defined, supported interface for developers and therefore solves some of the issues that occur with traditional OScript customizations; however,  this approach still has some limitations. To list a few of the major ones:

• The developer is limited to whatever objects have been developed at any given time on a specific version of Content Suite.
• Besides being limited by the available REST interface objects, it is also not possible to create any unique back end functionality required for an application.  It is possible to perform a set of related tasks by executing them in a specific order using a set of linked client requests but this can require many client requests to perform what ideally would be one function on the back end of CS.
• The REST API by itself does not support specialized behaviors such as scheduled jobs, email notifications, stored output of generated report data, etc.
• For customers who only want minor changes to the existing Content Suite views, this approach by itself does not really provide any obvious way to incrementally enhance functionality or UI pieces on existing Content Suite pages. (Note, this is mostly a problem with the classic UI whereas the new SmartView/SmartUI does allow extension and modification of the standard “out-of-the-box” client interface within the currently supported parameters of this new UI (see next section). 

What about the new “SmartView” (SmartUI) User Interface?

For customers who have Content Suite 16 and later versions, there is a new client interface available for Content Suite, called “Smart View” (sometimes referred to as SmartUI). This UI completely changes the Content Suite interface and is designed to be extendable; however, this flexibility applies to the client code only and is still limited by the available REST API library. This UI is still maturing but does provide a common look and feel based on an established set of JavaScript libraries that Content Suite developers can build on. This new UI provides great potential for developers to create new, more robust applications but without CI, it is still limited and is also fairly complex to master for many customers.  As described below, CI actually provides some specific hooks into Smart View to allow easy access to CI functionality and to integrate SmartView with CI based applications. 

What is Content Intelligence and What are CSApps?

Before discussing how Content Intelligence can be used, it is useful to be clear on what Content Intelligence is and what components make up this product.
Content intelligence is actually a marketing term that describes a collection of modules that were formally only sold individually. Depending on your vintage of Content Suite and what commercial arrangement was agreed, you may own one or one (or all) of these modules. The following chart provides guidance on all of the modules that are (or were) included as part of Content Intelligence.

Technically, CSApps don't actually have to include any WebReport based objects and could be built entirely with objects such as WebForms, WebForm Templates, Workflows, folders and documents; however, using Content Intelligence provides a vast array of useful functionality. 

As described in the table above, CSApps functionality provides a good way to manage a related group of objects in a logical way to allow a customer all of the usual features of an "app" or module plus several unique features related to specific aspects of Content Intelligence. For example, you can include custom sub-tags in a CSApp and it is also possible to specify ActiveView override settings that should be enabled on application installation. More detailed information on CSApps will be the subject of a separate blog. 

So How Does Content Intelligence help?

Using Content Intelligence makes it possible to build various useful Content Server extensions or enhancements  ranging from packages of reports and analytics tools (one great example is the three CSApps used for Records Management reports), to various modifications of the Content Suite classic interface, to customized Smart View widgets, to complex applications.  Some OpenText partners have built full fledged products using Content Intelligence.  For example, Kinematik, ProcessNet, and Formark, to name a few.  Using Content Intelligence to address this type of requirement allows you to tailor Content Suite to your specific business requirements while dramatically lessening the potential for  compatibility issues during software upgrades. This latter benefit is due to the strict API that is provided by the WebReports engine. 

How Do I Build CSApps with Content Intelligence?

Perhaps the best way to illustrate how Content Intelligence can be used to build complex applications is to describe some typical aspects of OScript customization along with a description of the Content Intelligence approach. 

Development Paradigm

The Content Intelligence paradigm is based on a template type of approach, similar to some modern day template paradigms in frameworks like Django. It is also similar in some respects to the concept of a "WebLingo" in OScript; however, the WebReport object can also be used to perform backend functionality as would typically be found in an OScript Request handler.  A WebReport does not normally support direct access to any functionality in the Content Suite, OScript code base but instead of this, a huge set of tags and sub-tags provide access to micro functions and pieces of data within CS. This library is not all encompassing but it has been developed over a period of about 16 years so it is pretty comprehensive. Additionally you can create and support your own sub-tags very simply and easily and this will also be the subject of a future blog.  While the basic approach is a template one, with static text content intermingled with data returned by tags, the tag framework also supports several looping and conditional statements to support some macro control of the content. Additionally, it is possible to include blocks of script (using the OScript language) where this seems more appropriate than using the tag based scripting.  This is referred to as "Server Side Scripting" and will be the topic of another blog. 

Summary

In summary, given all of the functionality available through Content Inteligence it is possible to create significant customization of Content Suite,  essentially comparable to OScript customization but with a much tighter API than is typically the case with OScript customization.  Through the built in "Application Management" section of CS you can also package applications built using this technology into discrete managed applications within Content Server. Many of these applications can also be installed or removed without the need for Content Suite restarts.