Customize the Explorer Integration

Documentum provides an integration with Windows Explorer. When the Desktop Client is installed on your computer, you can use the familiar Windows Explorer interface to manage documents on your local and network drives, and in the Content Server. Using the Documentum Desktop you can create, edit, view, check in, check out, copy and delete documents. The Explorer interface also provides access to advanced functionality including workflows, virtual documents and document lifecycles.

This functionality is provided through a collection of COM components that are called into action when a user requests an operation. For instance, when a user requests a check out on a document, a component called DcCheckoutComp is invoked to perform the operation.

For those times when the Explorer interface does not provide the necessary functionality, or when you wish to remove functionality, the Explorer integration can be extensively modified. With the Menu System Designer utility, developers can modify both the user interface and the behavior of the Explorer integration. Customization options to the user interface include:

• Deleting menu items and toolbar buttons from the menu system.
• Renaming or repositioning menu items or buttons.
• Adding new menu items and buttons.

Menu items include those that appear on menu bars and context menus (the menus that appear when you right click an object or the background within a context, like a folder or Docbase). Developers may also modify the behavior of the menu system by changing the component that is invoked when a user selects a menu item or button. Developers can associate one of the existing components (for instance, DcCheckin, DcImport, DcNewDocument) or they may create a new component to assign to a menu item or button.

Developers can modify one of the components for which Documentum provides the source code, or they can create a component from scratch. Since Documentum provides the Visual Basic source code for many components including check in, check out, cancel check out, import, open, and more (for a complete list see the Technical Publication Developing DocApps ), developers can modify these components to meet their needs. For example, you may want to display and edit properties for a custom type. This can be accomplished by modifying the properties component (DcProperties) and adding the properties of your new type.

To create a new component, developers use the language of their choice to build a COM component and associate that component with the menu item or button.

The desktop client components are used by the Explorer integration, the Microsoft Office integration and may also be used by custom-developed applications. Therefore, keep in mind that when you modify a component, the changes will be seen in all applications that reference the component.

Customize Office Integrations

Documentum provides integrations with some third-party programs to allow them to request content management functions directly from the Content Server. For instance, the Desktop Client is an integration with Microsoft Explorer and can be extensively modified as described in the previous section. Documentum also provides integrations with the Microsoft Office suite of products.

Documentum makes a basic set of eight server requests available for use with application integrations. Three of them (Check into Docbase, Document Properties, and Find in Docbase) can be customized since Documentum provides source code for these components. Other server requests are performed by components for which Documentum does not provide the source code (New from Docbase Template, Open from Docbase, and Check In as New). These components may not be customized, however, you can replace them with components that you build yourself. The remaining two server requests (Send from Docbase and Local Files) are not implemented through components and therefore cannot be customized or replaced.