Add existing Category to Item

Hi!

This is taking me way to much time to figure on my own, so a quick question:

How do I add an existing category to an item (I am creating)?

I have a CategoryType ID and DisplayName. But I am not sure how I am supposed to create the new category and add it to the item (especially the adding part fails...)

I thought of something like this, but doesnt work--->

List<Category> catList = myItem.getCategories(); Category cat = new Category();

cat.setDisplayName( "Test" );

cat.setId( "ELS/####" );

catList.add( cat );

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Comments

U4711

Hi Aurel,

you're nearly done.
The thing that's missing is to set the extended category list at the item:

myItem.setCategories(catList);

Category cat = ...
myItem.getCategories().add(cat);

Regards
Uwe

Herbert_Bock

This is a snippet how to create an item with a category. Method newProperty() is a convenience method that creates a Property instance, sets the property name and one or more values:

            Category cat = new Category();            cat.setId(catId);            item.getCategories().add(cat);                        Property prop;            prop = newProperty(                "Remark", DataType.STRING, "This is a remark!");            cat.getProperties().add(prop);                        prop = newProperty(                "DueDate", DataType.DATE_TIME, "2009-03-31T18:00:00");            cat.getProperties().add(prop);                        prop = newProperty(                "User", DataType.PRINCIPAL_ID, "users/Alpha");            cat.getProperties().add(prop);            itemId = elSvc.createItem(item);

Hope this helps.

Aurel Ganga

First of all, thanks for the quick responses!

I tried both approaches, yet I stumble upon difficulties as follows:

myItem.setCategories(catList); --> this method is not available to me

myItem.getCategories().add(cat); --> this is possible but does not add the category as expected. no warning nor error.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Category cat = new Category();
            cat.setId(catId);
            item.getCategories().add(cat);

            Property prop;
            prop = newProperty(
                "Remark", DataType.STRING, "This is a remark!");
            cat.getProperties().add(prop);

            prop = newProperty(
                "DueDate", DataType.DATE_TIME, "2009-03-31T18:00:00");
            cat.getProperties().add(prop);

            prop = newProperty(
                "User", DataType.PRINCIPAL_ID, "users/Alpha");
            cat.getProperties().add(prop);

            itemId = elSvc.createItem(item);

For this approach, my newProperty() is lacking both a method to set DataType and the Value and I am not finding proper methods for class Property.

private static Property newProperty(String Name, DataType Type,

String Value) {

Property prop = new Property();

prop.setName(Name);

// ???

return prop;

}

Herbert_Bock

What version of Enterprise Library are you using? From 10.2.0 items do not support metadata any more. You must set all metadata (i.e. properties, property groups, categories) on the variant.

Here is an implementation for newProperty(). Note that the data type is not set on the property. It is used by the method to create proper string representations for the property values. There are other solutions for this detail. This is just an example. Code is provided without any warranty!

    public static Property newProperty(String name, DataType dataType, Object... values) {        Property prop = new Property();        prop.setName(name);        if(values != null && values.length > 0) {            SimpleDateFormat df;            Date             date;            String           val;            for(int i=0; i<values.length; i++) {                Object value = values[i];                                if(value == null) {                    prop.getValues().add(null);                    continue;                }                switch(dataType) {                    case DATE:                    case DATE_TIME:                        if(value instanceof Date) {                            df = dataType == DataType.DATE                    ?                                 new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd")           :                                 new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss");                             df.setTimeZone(TZ_GMT);                             date = (Date)value;                             val  = df.format(date);                        } else {                            val = value.toString();                        }                        prop.getValues().add(val);                        break;                    default:                        prop.getValues().add(value.toString());                        break;                }            }        }        return prop;    }

The supplied code snippets suppose stubs that were created with JAXWS. If you are using other SOAP implementations like XFire or Apache CXF the snippets may not compile!

Aurel Ganga

Hello and bare with me for a fresh start on this topic...

After a brake I returned to developing and to my problem, which I never got solved - setting categories for documents.

My code is tested on XECM980 and started based on the provided ExampleClient.

I am tryin to add an category to a newly created item (as opposed to adding it at creating the variant/version).

I use this code

     List<Category> catList = myItem.getCategories();

     myCat = new Category();
     myCat.setDisplayName(myCatType.getDisplayName());
     myCat.setId(myCatType.getId());
     //catList.add( myCat );
     // myItem.getCategories().add(myCat);

     for ( Category value : catList )
     {
       System.out.println("Category of item: " + value.getDisplayName());
     }

        myProp = newProperty(
            "KundenNummer", DataType.STRING, "23143");
        myCat.getProperties().add(myProp);

        myItem.getCategories().add(myCat);

itemId = elService.createItem(myItem);

It compiles and runs just fine, but does not set any categories as expected.

These functions are not available to me setCategories() and setProperties(), only getCategories(), getProperties().

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related to this would, as an alternative approach, would be the link between the class Category and the class CategoryType, which I don't understand fully...

I have a properly initialized CategoryType myCatType, which is an existing category of the Content Server.

How can I add this CategoryType as a new Category to a newly created Document?

Thank you!

Aurel Ganga

Small update: after setting the category and propeperties, I select my items' properties again and the category seems to be set correctly, so on the client level everything seems fine.

Yet after running the client, on the Content Server under Properties->Categories, it is empty.

Are these Categories/Properties of the ELIB not the same as when inspecting Categories/Properties in the Content Server?

What could be happening, i am really confused..?

eLink User

It is as I already mentioned in my previous post: from 10.2.0 items do not support metadata any more. Therefore if you are using 10.2.0 or later all metadata for items have to be on its variant. Use Content.createItem() to create an item and a variant in one call. Set the category on the passed variant not on the item.

From: eLink Entry: ELS General Forum [mailto:el_general_forum2@elinkkc.opentext.com]
Sent: Donnerstag, 24. Mai 2012 18:58
To: eLink Recipient
Subject: Add existing Category to Item 2

Add existing Category to Item 2

Posted byaurel.ganga@doctra.de (Ganga, Aurel) On 05-24-2012 12:56

Small update: after setting the category and propeperties, I select my items' properties again and the category seems to be set correctly, so on the client level everything seems fine.

Yet after running the client, on the Content Server under Properties->Categories, it is empty.

Are these Categories/Properties of the ELIB not the same as when inspecting Categories/Properties in the Content Server?

What could be happening, i am really confused..?

[To post a comment, use the normal reply function]
Topic:	Add existing Category to Item
Forum:	ELS General Forum
Content Server:	Knowledge Center

Aurel Ganga

I use XECM980, which I though to be 10.1.0 ?

But I tried it now setting it on the Variant level, it works fine now!

Thank you for the great tip! Guess I should have considered it the first time..

Just as a suggeston for the future: It would help a great deal IMO if you would get a notification/error when setting a property/category at the item level.