DNN Document Management

Overview

Features

Screenshots

Powerful, Ajax Enabled, Easy to Use.

Document Management has never been better. Open-DocumentLibrary offers an intuitive user interface that, from the very start, allows content to be structured at any complexity level.
Any document can be stored in a folder as well as be assigned to multiple categories. Folders and categories can be nested to any level and users can be given the option to browse documents through the folders as well as the category trees.

Security is guaranteed through granular control over the access to each folder and category.
Roles and/or specific users can be assigned various types of access and administrative rights to regulate access to individual folders as well as the documents contained.

Open-DocumentLibrary's skinning and configuration options, allow for a very flexible, attractive user interface, that can be molded and extended to reflect your presentation needs.
Built with the user and the administrator in mind, Open-DocumentLibrary's design and organization follows advanced ergonomic principles. As a result, functionality is Ajax enabled and arranged in logical blocks, in order to maximize productivity and responsiveness.

Open-DocumentLibarry's quality is guaranteed by Xepient Solutions's experience and excellent support.

UI at a Glance

UI Versatility like never before. Ajax enabled, as always.
Open-DocumentLibrary comes with 4 Skins by default: white and gray skins (these are the traditional skins shipped with the previous versions) and two additional white and gray version Web2.0, for a modern, up-to-date look.
Through the use of UI Templates, various Display Options and CSS, O-DL has a very versatile design.
Custom UI templates, iconsets and CSS can be created (each template has its own CSS and iconsets) so that two modules will never look alike, neither in design nor in disposition of the data.

In-Depth

Live Demo
In the live demo you are automatically granted admin access to a specific folder, so that you may get a feel as to how Open-DocumentLibrary works.
Note: The demo does not grant access to statistics, moderation and module settings.

Documentation
For an in-depth discussion of all of Open-DocumentLibrary and its powerful features, we have created an owner's manual.
Note: We are still working on the v3.0 of the manual. Please use v2.0 as a reference for now.

Trial Version
The trial version offers the possibility to see the module in action (with some restrictions).
Note: In order to download the trial, you will need to login (or register).

Features

Document Management and Organization	Document Statistics	Ajax Enabled Functions
Document Access Rights	Document Moderation [aka Workflow]	UI Display Options
Document Editing and WebDav	Document Versioning	UI Skinning
Document Attributes	Document Storage
Document Tracking [aka Subscriptions]	Document Search & RSS Feeds

Document Management and Organization [back]

	Organize Documents by Folders. You can define Folders in a hierarchical way and as many levels deep as you like. The folders you create will be presented to the users in a way similar to the familiar Windows Explorer format and interface. You will associate a document to a folder, and decide what folders (and what documents inside those folders) a user and or user role can see or not see. Organize Documents by Categories. You can define Categories in a hierarchical way and as many levels deep as you like. Presented as a tree structure to the user, categories can help you to organize your documents by different areas of interest. You can associate a document to as many categories you need, and decide what categories (and what documents inside those categories) a user role can see or not see. By assigning a document to one or multiple categories, you upload your document once, but list it multiple times.

Document Access Rights [back]

	Role and User Based Access Rights Access to a folder can be granted according to roles or, you can grant rights to specific users. Access rights are cumulative, so a user will always have the sum of all the rights granted to its role(s) or specific user rights. Access rights can also be inherited from the parent folders (this is the default behaviour). To aid in the selection of a user, you'll be able to browse and select users from a list. Access Permissions As seen in the previous feature, access rights are given at folder level, and can affect the entire folder as well as all the documents contained in the folder. The rights that can be granted are the following: Rights that apply to Folders View: view the folder and its contents Add: add a folder and documents to it Edit: edit folder settings such as folder name and position in the hierarchy (but not security settings) Delete: delete a folder Edit Security: edit folder settings as well as security and access rights Enable Track: this setting enables the specified role/user to track changes in a specific folder. Every time a document changes (is re-uploaded with the same name) or a brand new document is uploaded, all subscribed users will be notified through email. Enable Moderate: this setting designates the folder as a moderated folder and the specified role/user as a moderator(s). Every time a document change occurs on a moderated folder, it will not be published until a moderator reviews and approves the document. Moderators are alerted by email. Rights that apply to all Documents in the folder Add: add a document or the ability to unzip a .zip package containing documents and folders. Selecting this right will automatically enable folder creation as well. Edit: edit document metadata and what folder the document is in, as well as create and view versions. With this right, a document can also be deleted. Enable Track: this setting enables the specified role/user to track changes in a specific document. Every time the document changes (is re-uploaded with the same name), all subscribed users will be notified through email

Document Editing and WebDav [back]

	Direct Document Editing [Using WebDav] This implementation of Open-DocumentLibrary offers powerful WebDav capabilities such as editing and saving a document, directly on the server where it is stored. To use this option, it is required that the folder be setup as a WebDav folder on the server. Once the folder is properly setup, you will be able to Edit any tipe of editable content (not just office documents). It does NOT require any client browser setup such as enabling ActiveX, so it does not pose any security risk to your client browser. Please Note: this implementation is a step closer to creating a fully automated WebDav server that will not require any setup on the server. Also, changes made to the content of the documents using webDav will not go through the moderation process.

	Document Editing If not using WebDav, you will still have the option to open the document or save it to your hard disk. However, any changes you make to the document will be local, and you will need to re-upload the document if you want the changes to be online. In this modality, all changes are subject to moderation and versioning if those options are enabled.

	Document Metadata Editing The two above options are for document content editing. Editing document metadata (such as document name, description, categories the document belongs to, parent folder etc...) is implemented with the administrator in mind. This administrative interface is implemented using Ajax and reduces unecessary clicks and slow response times. The description field uses a WYSIWYG editor (IE only, in FF it will default to a textbox).

Document Attributes [back]

	Flexible Document Attribute (Metadata) Display There are a number of attributes (metadata) that can be associated with each document. All of these attributes can be shown or hidden as the two images show. List of attributes that can be shown/hidden Document Name Document Icon Document Description Document Size Document first Upload info Document last Modification info

Document Tracking [aka Subscriptions] [back]

	Document Tracking at Document level Documents can be tracked individually. Every time a document change occurs, a notification message will be sent. The user that is interested in tracking a document, will click on the gray envelope icon next to the download icon. The gray envelope will change color, indicating that tracking for that document is enabled. The user will have access to a "documents tracked" area, where a list of all tracked documents will appear, as shown in the following images of this section.

	Document Tracking at Folder level Documents can be tracked at folder level. Every time a document change occurs, a notification message will be sent. A notification will also be sent every time a new document is uploaded. The user that is interested in tracking a document, will click on the gray envelope icon at the top of the tracking column. All gray envelopes for all documents in the folder will change color, indicating that tracking for all documents is enabled. Individual documents can be excluded. The user will have access to a "documents tracked" area, where a list of all tracked documents will appear, as shown in the following images of this section.

	Document Tracking - Admin This area allows users that are tracking documents to review all (also filtering by folder) the documents that are being tracked. In this same area, they can unsubscribe from the document and disable tracking. It is reacheable to authorized users, through the tools menu at the top of the folder tree.

Document Statistics [back]
Statistics are an essential tool when analyzing user behaviour as well as areas (folders or categories) that interest users. O-DL offers an advanced statistics center reacheable to authorized users, through the tools menu on top of the folder tree.

	Statistics by Document See document download statistics and filter by folder, users, dates downloaded etc... Upon entering this area, you will be shown a summary of all documents downloaded with the number of downloads received. Clicking on the looking glass, will show the details of the document of interest, showing download dates, user names etc...

	Statistics by Folder Statistics by folders will show information about folder clicks. It works in the same way that statistics by Documents work. This area gives aggregate information about user areas of interest, rather than actual downloads of documents.

	Statistics by Category Statistics by Category will show information about category clicks. It works in the same way that statistics by Documents work. This area gives aggregate information about user areas of interest, rather than actual downloads of documents.

Document Moderation [aka Workflow] [back]

	Document Moderation Document moderation provides a powerful workflow mechanism that ensures that all content posted will be reviewed and approved before being published. Moderation is assigned on every folder (can be inherited), so you can combine unmoderated and moderated folders. Moderators are designated through the folder settings area, and can belong to entire roles or a specific user. By selecting a role or user to moderate the folder, the folders content will automatically have to reviewed in order to be published. Moderators will receive an email notification every time content needs to be moderated, and will be able to access teh moderation area through the tools menu on top of the folder tree. Upon entering the moderation area, the moderator will see a color coded list of documents that need action. Clicking on the document details, will open the details view of the document, where the moderator will be able to take the appropriate action. Documents can be: Sent to be Revised If the moderator does not approve the document, he/she can send the document for revision. Automatically, the person that changed the document will receive an email, alerting that his/her document needs rework. There is a special area under moderation where only the documents that belong to the user will be listed. Rejected Moderators can reject a document permanently. In that case, the user will be notified through email that the document has not been accepted and cannot be updated further. Accepted Moderators can accept document changes, and publish the document. In that case, the owner of the document will be alerted, as well as all users that Track [subscribe] to the document. Update and SaveModerators can also choose to update the document themselves, and or save it for later processing, without affecting the workflow. In general, a user that is a moderator, cannot moderate its own documents. There is an exception made for SupeUsers and Admins.

Document Versioning [back]

	Document Versioning Versioning allows you to save versions of the documents and restore them on demand. Versioning is automatic when you upload files in the same folder and with the same name. You can also opt to create a version manually, or to turn versioning off. When a document is versioned, you will be able to access the versions of the document and see a chronological list, by clicking on the diskette icon that appears next to the document in the list, or in the documet's edit area. If needed, you can restore an old version or simply re-download it.

Document Storage [back]

	Synchronize content You can opt to create your Document Library from scratch, or to create it from a pre-existing folder structure. Just point the library to the folder that contains all of your sub-folders and documents, and the module will do the rest.

	Secure Files All files can be protected from direct download. This is achieved by renaming all files contained in the library to an extension that is not directly accessible through a browser. The process is transparent to the user and/or administrator.

	Direct Link Option If files are not secured agains direct download, you can also point to them directly from regular links in your DNN pages.

	Restrict Document Types The administrator can decide what extensions to explicitly allow for upload. By default, all file types are allowed.

	UNC Share and WebFarm Support Folders can be created under the home directory of the portal (the same used by the DNN file manager) or another location on the hard disk, as well as a UNC Share, as long as the appropriate rights are granted to the ASP.NET/Network Services user. The UNC Share option is ideal for Web Farms, where there is a centralized repository of files, and all instances of the library point to the same share.

Document Search & RSS feeds [back]

	Search documents through the DNN search box Open-DocumentLibrary integrates with the DNN search function. A search will automatically look for the query terms in the title and the description of the documents stored in the library. The limitations are: Only metadata is searchable (indexed content includes document name and document description) DNN search does not take into consideration user view rights. So, you may get search results that you are not allowed to see. If you click on them, the normal O-DL security process will work, and you will not be able to see the document. The search results, once clicked, will bring you to the page and folder where the document is. (the equivalent of clicking on a folder to see its contents). The search results will not open the document for you.

	RSS feeds One of the side benefits of implementing ISearchable (the interface that allows the module to be searchable by the DNN Search engine), is the ability to syndicate the documents managed through O-DL. You do not have to do anything special to enable this feature. Once DNN Search Participation is enabled in O-DL settings, automatically, the documents will be available for RSS subscription.

UI Display Options [back]

	Familiar Windows Explorer interface. By default Open-DocumentLibrary presents itself in a way similar to the familiar Windows Explorer interface. However, its context menus offer specialized and powerful options that allow the user with the appropriate roles to create, edit, delete, administer security and upload documents of every folder and/or category.

	Restricted Folder View [aka Virtual Roots]. By default, all folders under the library root folder are displayed. However, each instance of the module can designate its own virtual root, by pointing to any folder in the folder hierarchy. The new virtual root (and all of its sub-folders) will then become the new root. This can be accomplished either through an option in the settings, or through a parameter in the URL. This allows you to link to the page where the library is located, from another page, and direct the user only to those folders that you want them to see for a particular purpose. If you eliminate the parameter in the URL, the user will revert back to seeing all folders that he/she has view rights on.

	Private Folders [aka Direct Folder Access]. Allows you to designate folders as invisible unless accessed directly through a URL. These types of folders are subject to the same security restriction that you configure for all folders, except that they will not appear in the folder hierarchycal tree, unless you access them directly. In addition, you can further protect these folders by requiring a password [aka Access Key] to be specified in the URL.

	Flat View. You may not always want to show a tree like navigation construct to access the documents. You will be able to display all documents contained in a folder (and all its sub-folders) at once, by selecting the appropriate options in the modules settings.

UI Skinning [back]
You have full control over the look and feel of your module. Open-DocumentLibrary offers a number of easy, flexible ways to customize the look and feel of your application.

	Skinning through templates [layout changes] We have created templates that allow you to change the disposition of almost every element of the module. You can choose to have the document information display as a column grid (default mode) or in a compact mode, where there is only one column, and all information is arranged vertically. These are only the provided options, you can always create your own.

	Skinning through Styles Aside from the layout of the module you can always change its style. Not only that, we have made it so flexible that each style can and does have its own iconsets. The styles supplied with the default installation range from the classical look to a modern Web2.0 look and feel.

	Skinning through display options Another way to change the look and feel of your library is tightly coupled with the data that you want to display. Virtually all metadata about the document can be shown or hidden. Additionally, the navigation tree can be hidden completely, or its folders be preceeded by the plus or minus sign or a simple arrow indicator. Please see the UI Display Option section for a more in-depth presentation.

Ajax Enabled Functions [back]
All administrative functionality has been designed to be responsive and easy to use. For this reason, Adding a folder/category, editing deleting and uploading is all ajax enabled. There are no unnecessary clicks or page refresh. If you are going to use the application, you will apprechiate the empasis we placed on power, simplicity, usability and speed.

	Drag & Drop Folders. Just like in Windows Explorer, an authorized user can drag & drop Folders around in order to change their place in the hierarchy. Thanks to the use of Ajax, these changes will be reflected immediately in your library.

	Context Menus. Context Menus are just a [right click] away. Access to all folder administrative functionality is granted through context menus. According to the rights that the user has, the context menu can allow to: Add, Edit, Delete folders, as well as Upload documents to it. All actions triggered by the context menus are Ajax enabled. As a result, Adding, Editing, Deleting or Uploading a document will be very user friendly, fast and require very few steps.

	Ajax enabled - Add Sub-Folder. Add a folder at any level of the hierarchy.

	Ajax enabled - Edit Folder Settings. In the General Tab, edit folder Metadata and position in the Hierarchy. Get information on how to create a direct link to the folder from an external URL. Also, grant Folder and document access permissions in the Security Tab.

	Ajax enabled - Delete Folder. Delete a folder.

	Ajax enabled - Add Documents. Upload documents.

Requirements and Compatibility

DNN compatibility
O-DL is compatible with DNN strating from version 3.3.5 up to version 4.7.x (current version), running on SQL 2000 or 20005.
from the above list of compatibilities are excluded DNN version 4.0.x-4.1.x (we can make available these versions upon request).
Note: When running on DNN4.x, you will need to disable advanced performance settings suach as compression and/or viewstate in memory caching.

Upgrades from previous versions
Just install the module without uninstalling the previous one. All of your settings will be maintained.

Trust Level
Medium. DNN's default trust level