Documentum Content Management Foundations: EMC Proven Professional Certification Exam E20-120 Study Guide: Learn the technical fundamentals of the EMC Documentum platform while effectively preparing for the E20-120 exam

Content and metadata stored in the repository are managed and served by the Content Server. However, human users interact with the Content Server through several types of applications. Depending upon their roles, the users may use one of the following means to interact with the Content Server:

Importing content into a repository brings it under the management of the Content Server. This is how content existing outside the repository gets added to the repository.

Importing results in a new Documentum object containing metadata for this content item and the content item is associated with this object. This object gets version labels 1.0 and CURRENT. Versions are described later in this chapter.

Exporting content from a repository creates a copy of the content outside the repository, typically on a file system. This is how content is copied outside the repository and this external copy is no longer associated with the content inside the repository. This operation does not modify the content inside the repository.

Checking out a content item from the repository allows it to be modified by the user performing the checkout. This operation locks the content item in the repository (in an exclusive manner), preventing other users from modifying the content item. The user checking out the item is known as the lock owner for that item.

Applications such as Webtop also create a copy of the content outside the repository, typically on a user's desktop where the user can work on this content item. Other users can still access the locked object or any of its versions for viewing or exporting.

Conventionally, applications display a checked-out item with a key for its lock owner. Other users see a lock on the item. This is shown in the following figure:

Typically, the application checking out the item for a user remembers the association of the external copy with the Documentum object that was checked out. The primary purpose of checking out content is to modify the content and then check it back...

An item checked out for modification can be checked into the repository. This operation applies the changes to the content stored in the repository.

Content Server maintains a history of the changes applied to objects using versions. When a checked out object is checked back in, a new version is created. Each version is a separate object (content and metadata) but is aware of the object from which it was created. A version tree is a visualization of multiple versions derived directly or indirectly from the same root object. Duplicate versions are not allowed in a version tree, since the purpose of the version tree is to enable distinction among objects based on their versions. Versioning is described in detail in the following section.

Applications such as Webtop offer several options for altering the behavior of checkin:

As mentioned earlier, importing or creating a new object creates the version 1.0 for that object. This object becomes the root of the version tree that will be created by checking out and checking in this object and the versions derived from this object. Each version is a separate object with its own content and metadata. The versions are as shown:

The Content Server applies an implicit version label to each object in the repository and the label is of the form Major.minor. Additional symbolic version labels can be added to an object's metadata, which are descriptive and more appropriate for the end user.

If the checkin operation increments the minor version, the major portion is left unchanged. For example, the version label changes from 2.3 to 2.4 when the object is checked in as minor version. If the checkin operation increments the major version, the minor portion is reset to 0. For example, the version label changes from 2.3 to 3.0. In general, the version labels of...

Branching enables users to work from an older version while still retaining the latest changes. However, as we will see in a moment, branching is a part of the version numbering scheme rather than a feature for end users.

Content Server allows checking out a version older than the highest one. When this object is checked in, two options are available as usual — check in as major version or as a minor version. If major version is chosen, the next higher (higher than the highest major version present) major version is used. If minor version is chosen, there are two possibilities — the next minor version is already present or it is not.

If the next minor version is not present, that one is just used. However, if the next minor version is already present, a branch is created in the version tree. The sequence of versions splits off as a new branch at this point. The version for the checked in object at the point of branch origin is obtained by appending .1.0 to the implicit version...

A format identifies the organization of document contents. Typically, it is used to identify the application that can understand the contents of the document and use it meaningfully. Within Documentum, a format captures information such as file name extensions related to the format. For example, pdf and doc are document formats.

Each content item has a primary format. However, it is possible to represent the same document in other formats and attach it to the same object. These other formats (non-primary formats) are called renditions. Thus, it is possible to have text and pdf renditions of a document whose primary format is doc.

Renditions can neither be edited nor versioned.

A rendition is not stored as a separate object within the repository. Each rendition is attached to one object representing the primary format. In fact, the only properties tied to a rendition are the object ID of the primary format and the format of the rendition itself. This is shown in the following figure:

Rendition generation can be automated by installing additional EMC Documentum software components:

Content Server offers the content-related operations in fine granularity. Most of the options described above for these features (such as options available on checkin) are offered by applications such as Webtop, which bundle these together as one unit.

Similar considerations apply to portions of the interaction that take place on the user's desktop. For example, launching an application to view or edit content is a capability of the client application and not of the Content Server.

DTS, ADTS, and MTS are optional EMC Documentum products for converting one format into another and for creating renditions.

At this point you should be able to answer the following key questions: