Using DFC from a Linux C application

Hi all,

I can't seem to find any sample or reference (Powerlink, training materials, documentation) on how can someone write a C unix/linux application which connects to a content server using DFC.

Can somebody point me in the right direction? In Java is simple. On Windows is simple. C and Linux and DFC anyone?

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Comments

bacham

You should probably look into using DFS instead of DFC. DFS is the web services interface to Documentum.

Hicham

raresv

Thanks, but with DFS I can't do what I need and it's not always an option (needs to work on 5.x sometimes).

DFC is the mandatory way to go

Francois Dauberlieu

Check if there is a Linux version of DFC to download from the Download Center, if yes, install it. Then you should be able to use it

bacham

Accessing a 5.3 repository with DFS is supported. You just need to install DFS on a supported app server and point it to your docbroker.

Depending on what you want to do, Docbasic could be another solution. You could also use the DMCL which is still provided. However, if you're looking into a long term solution, DFS is the way to go.

Hicham

raresv

Downloaded. Seems to be Java only. Looking deeper into it... but I can't see any ".so" or lib or .h...

Now I'm really puzzled, could it be that there is no way to use DFC from a native Linux/Unix application? Then how do other Documentum native components connect to the content server?

Francois Dauberlieu

Don't think many Documentum components are using old technology for programming. They use mainly .NET on windoz and Java for the other platforms.

As said by another. DFS is also supported on 5.3 so you could indeed go that route or alternatively, instead of developing in C, you could do it in Java

raresv

Well, it happens that the only way Documentum accepts this (by its architecture) is to be developed in C. So it seems we need to make a bridge from that to Java/api which would not be nice for performance (also a factor here).

And anyway... DFC is old ? (rhetoric)

Thanks for the support, I'll keep this alive to see if there is a definitive answer "yes it can be done" or "no, cannot be".

bacham

Perhaps you could start by sharing what exactly you want to do? Are you writing an authentication plugin?

raresv

We have an external content plugin and we would like to make some DFC calls from it. We have some workarounds but the implementation would be "cleaner" with some DFC calls instead of all others. DFS is an option but it's not really something we would like to use right now.

So, I started a quest to find out a definitive answer to the fundamental question of the universe: can a native C code call DFC in linux?

bacham

You can but you need to use JNI. An alternative is to implement most of the logic for your external store plugin as a Java servlet that you would install on the Java Method Server. Then, your C-code would simply call your servlet using HTTP. A bit cumbersome but it would work.

Otherwise, you can use the DMCL as I stated earlier. I don't have access to a Unix system right now but the libraries should be under $DM_HOME/bin and the header files somewhere under $DOCUMENTUM. However, this is not supported anymore under D6.

Hicham