Managing Bookmarks with the Bookmark Tool

The Bookmark Tool is a utility pre-configured in the Accelerators for exporting and importing bookmarks to and from a directory structure.

What it's for


The standard exporting/importing functionality available in the core ActivePivot API exports the bookmarks/ endpoint in the Content Server as a .json file. However, as the number of bookmarks delivered with Accelerators increases, this option presents a number of issues:

  • The .json file becomes cumbersome to track in git

  • Customisations are increasingly difficult to perform

  • Merging custom bookmarks with any Accelerator changes is awkward

To address these problems, this bookmark tool enables you to export the bookmarks as a directory structure that follows the hierarchy visible in the UI. By having separate files for every bookmark:

  • Incorporating changes becomes easier

  • Git is able to track changes to individual files

  • Merging separate sets of bookmarks becomes as simple as copying custom files or directories to the appropriate location


To export the Accelerator bookmarks:

  1. Run the Accelerator as usual.

  2. Configure the export behaviour.

  3. Run the main method of the ExportReferenceContentServer class.

  4. (Optional) To export to a different folder, you can modify the frtb-content-server parameter of the exportBookmarks() call.

The Accelerators come with a set of properties loaded in the export class, that can be found in the src/test/resources folder of the respective starter module. You can find the properties in the ${accelerator-name}.test.properties file

Property Description
contentServer.bookmarks.export-to-file Determines whether the content server will be exported into a single .json file.
contentServer.bookmarks.export-to-folder Determines whether the content server will be exported into a folder structure.
contentServer.bookmarks.default-owners The list of user roles to be used as the default owners for a bookmark.
contentServer.bookmarks.default-readers The list of user roles to be used as the default readers for a bookmark.
contentServer.url The content server URL.

The Accelerators provide a default set of bookmarks in the accelerator-ui standalone module included in the release deliverables. The import behavior of the content service is configurable within the src/main/resources/${accelerator-name}.properties file in the starter project:

Property Description
contentServer.factory-reset

Determines whether or not a reset will be performed.

  • false disables the reset - no bookmarks will be loaded over the ones already contained in your content server.
  • true and file performs a reset from the core .json file format.
  • folder performs a reset from the bookmark tool directory structure.
contentServer.factory-reset.filename Defines the file to use for the true and file options.
contentServer.factory-reset.folder-name Defines the folder to use for the folder option.
contentServer.bookmarks.default-owners The list of user roles to be used as the default owners for a bookmark.
contentServer.bookmarks.default-readers The list of user roles to be used as the default readers for a bookmark.

The file and folder names will be resolved using a Spring PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver, and the properties conform to its required format.

For an application built as a SpringBoot JAR, the properties have to be replaced with properly formatted absolute paths, as it is impossible to load folders directly from a JAR file.

Export format

The bookmarks directory exported by this tool will contain the folders and files in the following structure:

Directory level Contents
Root bookmarks-listing directory - Contains the full set of bookmarks as displayed in the UI.

i18n.json, and settings.json files.
bookmarks-listing directory Any nested folders (as visible in the UI), together with a folder-name_metadata.json file that determines the description, owners, and readers of the bookmark folder.

Any bookmarks at that level in the bookmark tree as a bookmark-name.json file, together with a bookmark-name_metadata.json file that determines the description, owners, and readers of the bookmark. For more information, see Permissions.

Bookmarks

Individual bookmarks (within bookmark-name.json files) conform to the ActiveUI/Content Server format. The Bookmark Tool offers no additional features or configuration options for bookmark content.

Metadata

bookmark-name_metadata.json files are configuration files for ActiveUI/Content Server auxiliary features.

The files support the following format:

{   "key": "d08",
    "description": "Description of folder or bookmark",
    "owners" : [ "ROLE_USER" ],
    "readers" : [ "ROLE_USER" ]
}
Property Usage Optionality
key Unique identifier for the bookmark or folder. This key is used in the bookmark sharing feature in ActiveUI. Optional. If no key is persisted, a hash of the name and the Content Server object definition will be used.
description A description of the bookmark or folder. It is used as a tooltip within ActiveUI. Optional. If no description is defined, the tooltip will not display a description field.
owners An array of user roles with permissions to modify the bookmark or folder. Optional. For more information, see Permissions.
readers An array of user roles with permissions to view the bookmark or folder. Optional. For more information, see Permissions.

Due to all supported properties being optional, the metadata files can be omitted altogether for new bookmarks. Once imported into the Content Server, the generated internal metadata must be exported (see Exporting), to guarantee key persistence.

Behavior

  • If a folder or file does not have any permissions defined in the relevant metadata file, it uses the permissions of its parent. This inheritance policy is applied right through to the top of the bookmark tree.
  • If none of the files or folders have custom permissions, the default permissions passed into the library call will be used.

Impact on export and import

Which permissions get exported or imported depends on whether permissions are defined in the metadata file for the given folder or file in addition to its location in the bookmarks structure.

Position in bookmark structure
 		Export Import
Top level Only export permissions if different from the default If there is no permission defined in the name_metadata.json file, use the default
Any other level Only export permissions if different from parent If there is no permission defined in the name_metadata.json file, use the default.

Example

In this example, the default permission is set as USER/USER and the bookmark structure is as follows: 

Root└── Bookmark1└── Bookmark2└── Folder1 ...............................[ROOT/USER]        ├── Folder4                ├── Bookmark4                ├── Bookmark5        ├── Bookmark3......................[USER/USER]└── Folder2        ├── Bookmark6└── Folder3        ├── Bookmark7        ├── Bookmark8
  • Custom permissions have been set for Folder1 and Bookmark3.
    So they have their respective permissions files Folder1_metadata.json and Bookmark3_metadata.json
  • All children of Folder1 inherit its permissions [ROOT/USER] except for Bookmark3 which has its own permissions [USER/USER]
  • All other folders and files will use the default permissions as they have no permissions files set.

  • To merge bookmarks, copy the relevant folders and bookmark files to the appropriate location within the bookmarks-listing directory, together with the name_metadata.json file, where appropriate.

  • To edit a bookmark, modify its .json file.

  • To edit the description and permissions of files and folders in the UI, modify the relevant name_metadata.json file.

    If the file does not exist, create it with the following format:

    -- Without Description --{  "owners" : [ "ROLE_USER" ],  "readers" : [ "ROLE_USER" ]}-- With Description --{  "description": "Description of folder or bookmark",  "owners" : [ "ROLE_USER" ],  "readers" : [ "ROLE_USER" ]}