How to deploy an IBM Filenet P8 Subscription?

Question

In my current project using Filenet P8 Content Platform Engine 5.2.1 with WebSphere 8.5.5.3, I'm wondering how to deploy a content engine subscription to the system.

I searched the IBM documentation but it tells how to build up a subscription but not how to deploy it (or at least I missed it)

The IBM Administrative Console for Content Platform Engine allows you can register new subscriptions, but during the operation steps it asks you for the fully qualified class name implementing the Action, verifying its existence, I assume, against the application classpath. There is no way to upload the class so I would, again, assume that it must be placed somewhere in the software installation structure.

What is the way to properly deploy subscriptions to a IBM Filenet system?

Answer 1

There are Subscriptions that deal with workflows, and ones that do not. I am assuming that you are referring to non-workflow subscriptions (subscriptions that deal with Event Actions).

Subscriptions are used to subscribe a class (ie Document) to an Event Action. An Event Action is where you actually reference the fully qualified class name implementing the Action. When you create a subscription, one of the steps allows you to also create an Event Action.

Event Actions can either refer to a java class, or can also refer to javascript.

In the case of referring to a java class, a Code Module is needed.

Code Module is a sub-class of Document. Code Modules are simply either class files or jar files as the Content Element of a Code Module object.

So you need to:

1. create a class that implements "com.filenet.api.engine.EventActionHandler" (or you could also create a PreProcessor, but that doesn't have a subscription)
2. Upload the class into a Code Module object
3. Create an Event Action that references the Class that implements EventActionHandler inside your Code Module.
4. Create a subscription that references your Event Action.

Some useful documentation:

1. Change PreProcessors
2. Events and Subscriptions
3. A nice little plugin for eclipse that makes event actions easier to write and update