The BAM wizard was introduced with LiveCycle ES2. By default BAM monitors only the metrics of the processes running on a LiveCycle server not the actual data generated by business transactions. Before this fancy wizard, if you wanted to monitor the data (variables etc.) circulating in your processes with BAM as well, you had to go through a time-consuming procedure to create the required data objects in the BAM workbench and dashboard. With the new BAM wizard, the process of monitoring business data gets much easier and less painful. Basically, it allows you to create a service in your process diagram to monitor your process data metrics. With this easy to use wizard, you don’t have to be a Cognos BI expert in order to create dashboards that show how your business is doing at a particular point in time. This LC component stores the business data in LiveCycle’s own database, so you don’t need to install and use another database for just monitoring business data metrics. BTW if you want to use BAM to collect data from a database other than the one that is used by LiveCycle ES for its operations then you will need a special license called “BAM ES Extended”. Standard license does not cover external database connections outside the LiveCycle environment.

The BAM Wizard helps you monitor your data by creating a separate table in your LiveCycle’s database for each process that has the component. The wizard consists of 5 sections, 4 of which require you to input some data in order to create the table and appropriate fields in the database.

Adobe BAM Wizard

Connection:  Needs to be filled once (the first time the wizard is used). On this page you set the data source, BAM Server URL, BAM Server Username, and the BAM Server Password.

Data: This is the page on which you specify what needs to be monitored by the BAM wizard through XPath expressions. You can also delete or modify previously added XPath expressions here in this section.

Type: This is the section where you need to define the data types of those process variables you added in the previous section.

Views: In this page you can add functions such as SUM, Average etc. (depending on the data types you have)

Parameters: This is the section in which the wizard shows you the XML string that tells what will be sent to the BAM server by the component in order to interact with the data.

You won’t get to use this component unless you install SP1 or SP2. Even then, LC Workbench requires you to install the component manually. After installing one of the service packs, you will see a folder named “LavaActivitySuite” under the “Adobe LiveCycle ES2\LiveCycle_ES_SDK\misc\” folder.  In that folder, you’ll find a document that contains instructions on how to install the BAM Wizard.

In conclusion, the BAM wizard is worth a look if you are looking for a fast and easy way to create dashboards which present business data in an easy-to-read format.

I needed to create a data model for a client who wanted to use LC Content Services for storing documents and some meta-data attached to those documents. It took me awhile to figure out my way around LC Content Services Module so I decided to share what I learned with those who are about to pull their hair out trying to find clear documentation on how to create a custom data model and use it in LiveCycle.

Well, in my case, I had to create a custom model with a bunch of properties that can be retrieved within LiveCycle.  I found out that Alfresco Module Package (AMP) files are used in order to extend repository in LC Content Services.

I have attached a sample AMP file which you can modify and use in your own applications by following the steps given below;

1. module.properties

This is the first file that you will see after extracting the content of the AMP package. Locate the line where you put “moduleid” and then replace it with the name of the folder within \config\alfresco\module\ folder.

2. yourmodelnameModel.xml

The XML file that ends with the word “model”, located in config\alfresco\extension should be named same as the “moduleid” which we defined in the previous step.

First, set the moduleid in the namespace node and then replace the prefix value with your own.

Also, don’t forget to change all the prefix values used in name attributes within the whole XML file.

3. custom-metadata-extractors-context.xml

Replace the model filename with the one you used in your xml model file; and then replace the prefix definitions and keywords located in the “mappingProperties” section.

4. yourmodulename_strings.properties

You’ll find this file in the “\config\alfresco\messages\” folder. This is a simple text file which allows you to set the label values of your properties displayed in LC Content Space.

5. module-context.xml

This xml file is located in the \config\alfresco\module\yourmodulename\ folder. Change the name of the xml file in the  section that has the “resource” configuration.

6. yourmodelname-service-context.xml

This file can be found in the \config\alfresco\module\yourmodulename\context folder.

Change the list values of “configs”, “resourcebundles” and “model” properties accordingly.

7. web-client-config-yourmodulename.xml

This is the xml file in which you define what to be shown in the “More Options” panel in your content space. You can also match properties defined earlier in Step 2 with the “display-label-ids” that will be used when the aspect is applied.

The format of an AMP file is similar to that of a ZIP file. Basically, an AMP file is a collection of XML, image, CSS etc. You can extract the content of an AMP package using WinRAR. However, I couldn’t create a brand new AMP file just by compressing the content files using WinRAR. LiveCycle fails to deploy AMP packages created by WinRAR. I was in a little bit of a hurry so I found a sample AMP package, opened it with WinRAR and replaced the files with the ones I created. It worked like a charm! Once your AMP package is deployed successfully, you can see your model from workbench in the aspects list.

Working with custom aspects in LC Content Services

Deploying AMP packages to LC Content Services is a whole another subject matter which will take more than one post to explain, so I’m not going to touch on it here.

Below is the link which contains all the steps to deploy an AMP file to LiveCycle Content Services;

http://www.drflex.eu/2008/10/extending-adobe-document-management-with-even-more-functionality/