Extending Filenet P8 3.5 Workplace with custom GUI and code

Question

I'm not familiar with Filnet P8.

My assumptions from reading some online docs is that it has a central web-based user interface called Workplace which is implemented on the Java web stack and communicates with the core parts of Filenet through Java APIs.

Also it seems you can extend the Workplace trough JSR 186 compliant portlets. - from what I've read Filnet P8 Workplace is not a portal itself and cannot host portlets, but provides some of the functionality as portlets which can be used with 3rd party portals.

Filenet also seems to have a lot of extensibility points which don't require coding, but I'm considering a highly-customized application with custom dynamic grids and forms.

Is it possible to extend the Workplace using portlets and/or plain JSP/Servlet approach with custom GUI for a custom workflow? (Probably the "Web Application Toolkit" is the tool)

The GUI can contain grids with filtering and column selection, forms (not paper once) with dynamically disabling/enabling fields, custom search forms, dynamic context and dropdown menus. The GUI should be able to integrate with the Content and Process engines of course.

A link to an existing Filenet P8 based solution which proves such a custom Workplace GUI extension possible would be great.

Thanks!

Answer 1

This is possible. First of all Workplace comes with FULL source code. Look in the AESource directory (usually in c:\Program Files\FileNet\AE if you are running it on Windows). What you need to decide first of all is where you want to plug in (for example do you want to create a new Wokrplace page altogether like the Browse and Search pages or do you want to splice it in as a new action like Checkout, Get-Info etc).

Once you figure that out, I can provide more specific information of where you want to look to add your new code. Once you can display an entry point to your own feature in Workplace, then you can use whatever you want as far as controls etc. You can use JSF grids or just classic JSP stuff or even JQuery controls (provided you link the right libs etc).

Another thing to keep in mind is that you are going to need to get familiar with the Web Application Toolkit (WAT) so that you can make sure you are getting the right state information from Workplace (like the user token of who is logged in, maybe what doc id the user clicked on, what folder they were in when they entered your UI).

Anyways, here is some info to get you started. If you provide more info about where you want to splice your UI in, I can provide some guidance as what you need to change etc.