Changing Default Property Mappings for PDF Metadata Extraction in Alfresco Transform

A common requirement in Alfresco Transform is to change the mapping of out-of-the-box properties, such as mapping the created property to a custom property (e.g., cm:removeAfter) instead of the default cm:created (which is auditable and therefore not updatable) for a PDF file. This can be achieved by modifying the metadata extractor configuration files. These configuration files are found in the following locations:

• Tika Engine Metadata Extractors
• Miscellaneous Engine Metadata Extractors

Modifying PDF Metadata Extractor Configuration

To map the created property to the content model property cm:removeAfter for PDF files, redefine the PdfBoxMetadataExtractor_metadata_extract.properties configuration as follows:

# Namespaces
namespace.prefix.cm=http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0

# Mappings
author=cm:author
title=cm:title
created=cm:removeAfter
modified=cm:modified

Important Notes:

1. Namespace Specification: All namespaces that the content model properties belong to must be specified, just like the sample from the documentation, using the ACME model (namespace.prefix.acme=http://www.acme.org/model/content/1.0)
2. Case Sensitivity: Property names are case-sensitive.

Additional instructions can be found in the Metadata Extractors Documentation.

Applying the Configuration Using Docker

This project includes a sample Dockerfile that applies the above configuration to the Docker Image alfresco-transform-core-aio. The Docker image can be built locally and used in a Docker Compose deployment.

Building and Running the Docker Image

1. Build the Docker Image:

   docker build -t custom-transform-core-aio .

2. Run the Docker Image:

   docker run -p 8090:8090 custom-transform-core-aio

Using Docker Compose

You can also include this custom image in a Docker Compose file for a complete deployment.

Below is an example compose.yaml file:

services:
  transform-core-aio:
    build:
      context: ./transform
    ports:
      - "8090:8090"

Include this Dockerfile in a folder transform on the same folder the compose.yaml file is living.

Deploy the stack using Docker Compose:

docker compose up

This setup ensures that your custom metadata mappings are applied correctly within the Alfresco Transform service.