documentum

Multiple Files with the same name - what's the best way to distinguish them for retrieval


We store uploaded files in Documentum and in the event someone uploads files with the same name, we would like to be able to retrieve the correct file using the Rest API.

We store metadata (filename, etc.) in the database as part of a queue of work. So a user will go in and pick the next item in the queue (in this case look at the uploaded file). Currently we look up using the filename and return the first file which is not ideal.

I know you get the Document back (including object id) upon upload, and I was thinking about storing that along with the other metadata, and we can compare that, but I stumbled across an article suggesting this was a bad idea.

I'm new to Documentum, so how do others manage this?


Solution

  • The referenced article is correct. Using of r_object_id for external references is not good idea especially because of the possible future migration. Because r_object_id contains the docbase ID and when you migrate into a new docbase then all documents will have different r_object_id.

    You can solve it by adding of a custom attribute to the document type, where you can store copy of the r_object_id value (can be implemented by TBO) or generate your own ID (it can be also implemented by TBO or DB sequence), when the attribute is not filled in yet. Then you can use this value as a unique reference to that uploaded document.

    And when you migrate into another docbase in the future r_object_id will change but value of that custom attribute will still remain the same.