While creating import services I want some configuration mechanism for (not just) BatchProcessor. I like Alfresco’s *-config-custom.xml files (aka Spring framework XMLConfigService), so I did simple custom config service.

Anyone, who customized Alfresco, knows format of this file (web-client-config-custom.xml). I put that structure to new file – mis-config-custom.xml:

[code lang=“xml“]
<alfresco-config>
<config evaluator="string-compare" condition="imports">
<processor>
<worker-threads-num>3</worker-threads-num>
<batch-size-num>6</batch-size-num>
<split-transactions>false</split-transactions>
<logging-interval>1000</logging-interval>
</processor>
<token>
<time-refresh>1000</time-refresh>
<time-expiration>20000</time-expiration>
</token>
</config>
</alfresco-config>
[/code]

Please note those constants are just for ilustration purposes now, more on them in scripting series. My MisConfigService extends org.springframework.extensions.config.xml.XMLConfigService, but uses nothing from that class (except init method in bootstrap), I just added some statics inside to keep things together:

[code lang=“java“]
public class MisConfigService extends XMLConfigService {
public MisConfigService(ConfigSource configSource) {
super(configSource);
}

public static String getChildValue(Config config, String elementId, String childName, String defaultValue) {
ConfigElement myConfig = config.getConfigElement(elementId);
String result = myConfig.getChildValue(childName);

return (result==null ? defaultValue : result);
}

public static Integer getChildValue(Config config, String elementId, String childName, Integer defaultValue) {
Integer result = defaultValue;
try {
String number = getChildValue(config, elementId, childName, defaultValue.toString());
result = Integer.parseInt(number);
} finally { /* O:-) */ }
return result;
}

. . .
}
[/code]

To instantiate this service just add bean definition with UrlConfigSource(-s), which defines path to custom xml configuration:

[code lang=“xml“]
<bean id="misConfigService" class="cz.mis.service.MisConfigService" init-method="init">
<constructor-arg>
<bean class="org.springframework.extensions.config.source.UrlConfigSource">
<constructor-arg>
<list>
<value>classpath:alfresco/extension/mis-config-custom.xml</value>
</list>
</constructor-arg>
</bean>
</constructor-arg>
</bean>
[/code]

Now it’s possible to access those properties in code like this:

[code lang=“java“]
org.springframework.extensions.config.Config config = configService.getConfig(imports");
Boolean splitTransactions = MisConfigService.getChildValue(config, "processor", "split-transactions", false);
[/code]

It’s also possible to access attributes of nodes in that config:

[code lang=“java“]
ConfigElement myConfig = config.getConfigElement("config-element");
for(ConfigElement child : myConfig.getChildren()) {
// child.getAttributes()
// child.getName()
// child.getValue()
}
[/code]

That’s all! And now for something completely different! I also spent some time trying to get properties files working and putting those properties into Spring configurations. There’s nice solved thread in Alfresco forums. Prefix helps:

[code lang=“xml“]
<bean class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
<property name="locations">
<list>
<value>classpath*:alfresco/extension/mis-settings.properties</value>
</list>
</property>
<property name="ignoreResourceNotFound" value="true" />
<property name="placeholderPrefix" value="${mis:" />
<property name="placeholderSuffix" value="}" />
</bean>

<!– and I can use stuff from properties file with prefix –>
<bean class="foo.bar.Example">
<property name="fooAttribute">
<value>${mis:some.sample.property}</value>
</property>
</bean>
[/code]