Types of web scripts

There are two types of web script in Alfresco: Data web scripts and Presentation web scripts.

Data web script

Data web scripts provide an interface to the repository for the client applications to create, retrieve, update, and delete content/data in the repository. These web scripts typically send the response in formats such as XML and JSON, and client applications will have to parse it in order to use it further.

Data web scripts encapsulate access and modification of content/data residing in the repository. These web scripts are provided and exposed by the Alfresco repository server only.

Presentation web script

Presentation web scripts can be used to build user interfaces such as dashlets for Alfresco explorer, dashlets for Alfresco share, portlets for a JSR-168 portal, a UI component within Alfresco SURF, or a custom application.

These kinds of web scripts generally render HTML responses.

It is possible to host these web scripts on a separate presentation server or they can also be exposed by the Alfresco repository server.

Presentation web scripts generally make a call to Data web scripts in order to get the required data from the repository.

Note

Out-of-the-box web scripts available in an Alfresco installation can be found at ALFRESCO_HOME\tomcat\webapps\alfresco\WEB-INF\classes\alfresco\templates\webscripts\org\alfresco, where ALFRESCO_HOME is the base directory where Alfresco is installed.

If you are using Alfresco Community 5, you can find out-of-the-box web scripts under the alfresco package inside alfresco-remote-api-*.jar, which is available at ALFRESCO_HOME\tomcat\webapps\alfresco\WEB-INF\lib.