M-Files adapter

M-Files adapter enables CADMATIC eShare to connect to M-Files document management system, in order to read the folder structure and open PDF documents stored in the folders. If the adapter should support other file types, you can specify them according to the project's needs. Note that eShare cannot index these other file types, and the user needs to download the files to be able to view them in an external viewer.

Creating an M-Files adapter

Create an M-Files adapter to enable CADMATIC eShare to connect to M-Files document management system and access project documents stored in that system.

Do the following:

Navigate to the project to edit, and then click Project Admin in the main menu. The project administration view opens.
Click Adapters and Data Sources. The Adapters and Data Sources configuration view opens.
In the Adapters section, click Add.
In the Available Adapter Types section, select M-Files Adapter, and then click Create adapter.
In the Adapter section, enter a name and description (optional) for the adapter, and specify whether the adapter should be enabled.
In the Adapter Configuration section, specify the following settings:
- M-Files URL – Public URL of m-files web. This is the same URL that can be accessed using a browser.
- Auth Type – Select Username/Password for authentication type. Enter M-Files username and password in the specified fields.
Click Refresh button next to Vault field to refresh the available vaults, ie. collections of files in M-Files.
Select the used vault from the Vault drop-down list.

Is Authorized? prompt will show Yes if authorized, and No if not authorized.
After successful authorization, click Save.

Related Actions

Add a document data source to the adapter as described in Creating an M-Files document data source.

Creating an M-Files document data source

Add a document data source to an M-Files adapter when you want to retrieve documents and their metadata from the external system.

Do the following:

Navigate to the project to edit, and then click Project Admin in the main menu. The project administration view opens.
Click Adapters and Data Sources. The Adapters and Data Sources configuration view opens.
On the Adapters list, click the M-Files adapter to which to add the data source.
In the Data Sources section of the adapter settings, click Add data source.
Select M-Files Document Data Source from the list.
Click Create Data Source.
In the Data Source section, specify the following settings:
- Name – Enter a name for the data source.
- Description (optional) – Enter a description for the data source.
- State – Specify whether the data source is disabled or enabled (default).
In the Groups allowed to see the data section, select user groups that should be allowed to see the data that this data source provides.
- If no groups are selected, only administrators will see the data.
- Add user groups with Add.
- Remove user groups with the remove button.
- If the All Users group is selected, other group selections will be ignored.
The Adapter Configuration section is read-only.
In the Data Source Configuration section, specify the following settings:
- File Type Options
  - File Types – Select the file types that the document data source adapter should support.
  - Additional File Types to Show – If the document data source adapter should support other file types, list them here. Separate the file types with a comma.
- Indexing Options
  - Indexing – Select if the document indexing is enabled. If you enable indexing, eShare is able to create links between model objects and documents.
    
    Note: If you save the data source configuration with indexing, all data sources of the same adapter with indexing enabled, will be indexed again.
    
    If Enabled, specify the following settings:
    - Indexing Speed – Define the duration of indexing.
      
      If you select Duration, specify the target duration of each indexing round in Target Indexing Duration field (in minutes). The set duration takes effect only after the first full round of indexing has been completed. The default is 120.
      
      If you select As Fast As Possible, the target of each indexing round is to be completed in the shortest time as possible.
    - Indexing Mode – Indexing is done every time the data source configuration is saved. Indexing can also be triggered manually from the Project Administration's General view.
      
      If you select Once, indexing is done only after saving.
      
      If you select Daily, indexing is done once every day.
      
      If you select Once per Days of Week, indexing is done once on the selected days.
      
      If you select Given Times in Days of Week, indexing starts on given times of the day on the selected days. The times are given in the server's local time.
      
      If you select Days of Month, indexing is done once on the selected days of the month.
      
      If you select All the Time, indexing is done continuously. Warning: This can consume a lot of resources if As Fast as Possible is selected as indexing speed.
- Caching Options
  - Caching – Select if caching is enabled.
    
    If Enabled, specify the following settings:
    - Folder Tree Caching – Define if the folder tree is cached or retrieved from the server.
      
      If you select Disabled, eShare fetches the folder tree from the server every time the user logs in or refreshes the browser.
      
      If you select Enabled, eShare saves the folder tree in the cache and updates it only periodically. The user sees the cached folder tree. Caching is renewed in intervals defined in Folder Cache Time field. The value is given in minutes.
    - Cache in Background – Define if the folder tree is cached in the background.
- Hierarchy Levels – Creates a document folder hierarchy using metadata.
  - Select Add Level to create new hierarchy level.
  - In the drop-down list, select the name of the metadata to create a level from.
  - Refresh the list of metadata from M-Files using the refresh button .
  - Hide if empty – If enabled, empty hierarchy categories are hidden.
  - Display Prefix – Specify a prefix added to the hierarchy names.
  Levels can be deleted using the delete button . New levels can be added using Add Level. Each new level is added inside the previous level. Levels can also be organized by dragging.
- Document Filters – Filters documents by metadata and shows only documents matching the filter.
  - Select Add Filter to create new document filter.
  - In the dropdown list, select the name of the metadata to filter out.
  - Refresh the list of metadata from M-files using the refresh button .
  - Select Is or Is Not in the drop-down list.
  - Select value of metadata in the drop-down list. Only works when the metadata has a limited number of values or is true/false.
  Filters can be deleted using the delete button . New filters can be added using Add Filter.
  
  Filters are processed as "and", which means that all documents must match all filters to be shown. However, if you have many filters of the same metadata, M-Files treats this as an OR operator.
Click Save.