IBM FileNet P8, Version 5.2.1            

Folder behavior

Folders are based on the Folder class. Like other classes, the default behavior of the folder class can be extended by using subclasses, assigning custom properties, or changing the security of these subclasses.

Folders are not versionable; only documents are versionable. This means that any changes you make to the folder properties, or to the objects it contains, are not kept in a history or tracked in any way, such as the way that document versions capture what the document was at a particular point in time.

System administrators and users with sufficient permission can change the class of a folder to a different class after the folder has been created and put into production. The folder immediately takes on the properties and security of the new class. System administrators can also edit the class itself, but such changes do not flow down to the existing folders already based on that class. Only new folders based on the class get these changes.

Some add-ons features and third-party applications use specifically designed subclasses of the base folder class. You can find these subclasses by browsing the Other Classes folder in the administration console.

Documents and custom objects contained by reference

Documents and custom objects are not actually contained in a folder; rather, the folder contains a reference to the object. You can create multiple references to any single document or custom object. Creating multiple references means that a single document version, for example, can be pointed to by more than one reference. As a result, the document version can appear in several folders. For example, a trip report might be put in the folder belonging to the employee who wrote the report as well as in a folder containing trip reports. Both references point to the same document.

Users and system administrators can create the multiple appearances of documents and custom objects by copying them from one folder and pasting them into another.

Documents and custom objects do not have to be contained in a folder at all, for example, when you unfile a document. Regardless of how many folders a document is contained in, and even if it is not contained by a folder at all, it can always be found by submitting a query that searches for its property values.

A technical aside on referential containment

The reference objects mentioned here and elsewhere are Referential Containment Relationship (RCR) objects. These objects have two pointers, one of which points to a particular folder and the other points to a document or custom object.

Typically, RCR objects are dynamic, meaning that they point dynamically to the latest version of a document.

Static RCRs point to a specific document version and do not change even when new versions of the document are created. Static RCRs can be created only programmatically. Unless otherwise noted, the Content Platform Engine documentation always describes dynamic referential containment.

Root folder

Each object store is created with a root folder, a system-created folder based on the default folder class. The root folder is the parent of all other folders that are created in the object store. The root folder is analogous to the C:\ drive in a Windows-based system. The root folder and the document objects and custom objects it directly contains are not displayed by client applications. The folders directly contained by the root folder do appear in the application as the top level of folders.



Last updated: March 2016
df_folder_behavior.htm

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