MULTI-DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTE SYNCHRONIZATION IN A CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20080077631A1
• Filed: 09/21/2006
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Petri, John E.
• Application Number:
  US11/533,790
• Publication Number:
  US 20080077631A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and article of manufacture for synchronizing multi-document attributes in data objects managed by a content management system (CMS). Generally, when a document is checked into or out of the CMS, document attributes may be synchronized; maintaining document consistency for multi-document attributes across multiple documents.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing a multi-document attribute common to at least a first document and a second document, comprising:

identifying the first document, wherein the first document is related to the second document, and wherein access to the first document and the second document is managed by a content management system (CMS);

determining at least one synchronization rule associated with the first document, wherein the synchronization rule specifies a rule for synchronizing the multi-document attribute, and;

based on the rule, synchronizing a value of the multi-document attribute in the first document with a corresponding value of the multi-document attribute in the second document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first document is a parent document containing links to one or more child documents, and wherein the multi-document attribute is an attribute of the parent document synchronized with document content in one or more of the child documents.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the parent document and each of the child documents are marked up using an XML grammar.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a first document comprises receiving a request to check-out the first document from the CMS by a client application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first document comprises receiving a request to check-in the first document into the CMS.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-document attribute common to the first document and the second document is reflected as a metadata attribute in the first document, and reflected as content of the second document.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising synchronizing document metadata maintained by the CMS with synchronizing the value of the multi-document attribute.

8. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation for synchronizing a multi-document attribute common to at least a first document and a second document, the operation comprising:

identifying the first document, wherein the first document is related to the second document, and wherein access to the first document and the second document is managed by a content management system (CMS);

determining at least one synchronization rule associated with the first document, wherein the synchronization rule specifies a rule for synchronizing the multi-document attribute, and;

based on the rule, synchronizing a value of the multi-document attribute in the first document with a corresponding value of the multi-document attribute in the second document.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the first document is a parent document containing links to one or more child documents, and wherein the multi-document attribute is an attribute of the parent document synchronized with document content in one or more of the child documents.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the parent document and each of the child documents are marked up using an XML grammar.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein identifying a first document comprises receiving a request to check-out the first document from the CMS by a client application.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein identifying the first document comprises receiving a request to check-in the first document into the CMS.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the multi-document attribute common to the first document and the second document is reflected as a metadata attribute in the first document, and reflected as content of the second document.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the operation further comprises synchronizing document metadata maintained by the CMS with synchronizing the value of the multi-document attribute.

15. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory containing a content management system (CMS) configured to perform a method for synchronizing a multi-document attribute common to at least a first document and a second document, comprising;

identifying the first document, wherein the first document is related to the second document, and wherein access to the first document and the second document is managed by the CMS;

determining at least one synchronization rule associated with the first document, wherein the synchronization rule specifies a rule for synchronizing the multi-document attribute, and;

based on the rule, synchronizing a value of the multi-document attribute in the first document with a corresponding value of the multi-document attribute in the second data object.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first document is a parent document containing links to one or more child documents, and wherein the multi-document attribute is an attribute of the parent document synchronized with document content in one or more of the child documents.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the parent document and each of the child documents are marked up using an XML grammar.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein identifying a first document comprises receiving a request to check-out the first document from the CMS by a client application.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein identifying the first document comprises receiving a request to check-in the first document into the CMS.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the multi-document attribute common to the first document and the second document is reflected as a metadata attribute in the first document, and reflected as content of the second document.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the CMS is further configured to synchronize document metadata maintained by the CMS with synchronizing the value of the multi-document attribute.

22. A method of synchronizing a multi-document attribute common to at least a first document and a second document, wherein the first document is related to the second document, the method comprising:

receiving a request regarding the first document, wherein access to the first document and the second document is managed by a content management system (CMS) and the request is one of a request to check-in the first document to the CMS and a request to check-out the first document from the CMS by a client application; and

responsive to the request, synchronizing a value of the multi-document attribute in the first document with a corresponding value of the multi-document attribute in the second document;

wherein the synchronizing is based on a synchronization rule associated with the first document.