DFC (Documentum Foundation Classes 6.0)
DFC is a key part of the Documentum software platform. While the main user of DFC is other Documentum software, you can use DFC in any of the following ways:
• Access Documentum functionality from within one of your company’s enterprise applications.
For example, your corporate purchasing application can retrieve a contract from your Documentum system.
• Customize or extend products such as Webtop.
For example, you can modify Webtop functionality to implement one of your company’s business rules.
• Write a method or procedure for Content Server to execute as part of a workflow or document
lifecycle.
For example, the procedure that runs when you promote an XML document might apply a transformation to it and start a workflow to subject the transformed document to a predefined business process.
You can view Documentum functionality as having the following elements:
Repositories One or more places where you keep the content and associated metadata of your organization’s information. The metadata resides in a relational database, and the content resides in various storage elements.
Content Server
Software that manages, protects, and imposes an object oriented structure on the information in repositories. It provides tools for managing the lifecycles of that information and automating processes for manipulating it.
Client programs
Software that provides interfaces between Content Server and end users. The most common clients run on application servers (for example, Webtop).
End Users People who control, contribute, or use your organization’s information. They use a browser to access client programs running on application servers.
Documentum Foundation Classes (DFC) lies between Content Server and clients. Documentum Foundation Services are the primary client interface to the Documentum platform. Documentum Foundation Classes are used for server‑side business logic and customization.
DFC is Java based. As a result, client programs that are Java based can interface directly with DFC.When application developers use DFC, it is usually within the customization model of a Documentum client, though you can also use DFC to develop the methods associated with Content Server functionality, such as document lifecycles.
In the Java application server environment, Documentum client software rests on the foundation provided by the Web Development Kit (WDK). This client has a customization model that allows you to modify the user interface and also implement some business logic. However, the principal tool for
adding custom business logic to a Documentum system is to use the Business Object Framework (BOF).
BOF enables you to implement business rules and patterns as reusable elements, called modules. The most important modules for application developers are type based objects (TBOs), service based
objects (SBOs), and Aspects. Aspect modules are similar to TBOs, but enable you to attach properties and behaviour on an instance‑by‑instance basis, independent of the target object’s type.
BOF makes it possible to extend some of DFC’s implementation classes. As a result, you can introduce new functionality in such a way that existing programs begin immediately to reflect changes you make to the underlying business logic.
The Documentum Content Server Fundamentals manual provides a conceptual explanation of the capabilities of Content Server. DFC provides a framework for accessing those capabilities. Using DFC and BOF makes your code much more likely to survive future architectural changes to theDocumentum system.
Where Is DFC?
DFC runs on a Java virtual machine (JVM), which can be on:
• The machine that runs Content Server.
For example, to be called from a method as part of a workflow or document lifecycle.
• A middle‑tier system.
For example, on an application server to support WDK or to execute server methods.
For client machines, Documentum 6 now provides Documentum Foundation Services (DFS) as the primary support for applications communicating with the Documentum platform.
Acronyms
DFC Documentum Foundation Classes
TBO Type based object
SBO Service based object
WDK Web development toolkit
BOF Business object framework
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