Work with a Document Stored in a Liferay

Liferay Portal is an open source enterprise portal software platform designed for developing web portals and websites. Liferay provides a document management system as part of its portal platform, allowing users to create, organize, store, and manage documents in a collaborative and efficient manner. This document management functionality is often referred to as Liferay Document Library.

In this article, we will cover a common scenario for comparing documents uploaded to the root of “Documents and Media” library and uploading the resulting document back.

Preset

Start a new Liferay Portal instance by running Docker:
```
       docker run -it -m 8g -p 8080:8080 liferay/portal:7.4.3.92-ga92
   
```
If you do not have Docker, install it first. You can use another version of the Liferay Portal docker.
Sign in to Liferay using the email address test@liferay.com and password test.
When prompted, change your password.
Retrieve the site identifier using this tutorial.
Purchase an Aspose.Words license or use a Free Trial or 30-day Temporary License.

Note that if you already have a Liferay portal then skip steps 1-3.

Create Console Application

To evaluate how Aspose.Words for .NET works with Liferay Documents and Media library, you need to create a console application with the appropriate settings and implement the logic for uploading documents to the root of Documents and Media library, downloading these documents, processing it, and then uploading the result back to the root of Documents and Media library. To do this, follow the instructions described in this section.

To execute the instructions, you need to find and fix the values of the following variables, which will be available after completing the steps in the “Preset” part:

Site identifier
User login
User password
Base portal url
Path to Aspose.Words License file

Note that the login and password should be obtained in steps 2-3 of the “Preset” part, and site identifier should be obtained in step 4 of the “Preset” part.

Create a New Console Application Project

To create a new console application project, follow these steps:

In Visual Studio, create a new console application project named “LiferayExample” for C# language and target framework .NET 6
Add the following packages:
- Newtonsoft.Json
- IdentityModel
- Aspose.Words

Add Document Files to Compare

Create a “Docs” folder in the project and add the files “DocumentA.docx” and “DocumentA.docx”.

Add JSON Model Classes for REST API Processing

Create a folder “JsonModel” in the project. Create a file “DownloadResponse.cs” in the project and fill it with the following content:

.NET

using Newtonsoft.Json;

namespace LiferayExample.JsonModel
{
    [JsonObject(ItemNullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore)]
    public class DownloadResponse
    {
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "contentValue")]
        public string ContentValue { get; set; }
    }
}

Create a file “FileMetadata.cs” in the project and fill it with the following content:

.NET

using Newtonsoft.Json;

namespace LiferayExample.JsonModel
{
    [JsonObject(ItemNullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore)]
    public class FileMetadata
    {
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "siteId")]
        public string SiteId { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "sizeInBytes")]
        public int SizeInBytes { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "fileName")]
        public string FileName { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "id")]
        public string Id { get; set; }
    }
}

Create a file “UploadResponse.cs” in the project and fill it with the following content:

.NET

using Newtonsoft.Json;

namespace LiferayExample.JsonModel
{
    [JsonObject(ItemNullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore)]
    public class UploadResponse : FileMetadata { }
}

Create a file “GetFileInfoByNameResponse.cs” in the project and fill it with the following content:

.NET

using Newtonsoft.Json;

namespace LiferayExample.JsonModel
{
    [JsonObject(ItemNullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore)]
    public class GetFileInfoByNameResponse
    {
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "items")]
        public FileMetadata[] FilesData { get; set; }
    }
}

Add Liferay REST API Client

Create a file “SecurityContext.cs” in the project and fill it with the following content:

.NET

namespace LiferayExample
{
    public record SecurityContext(string SiteId, string Login, string Password);
}

Create a file “DocumentClient.cs” in the project and fill it with the following content:

.NET

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using LiferayExample.JsonModel;

namespace LiferayExample
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Implements logic to communicate with Liferay over REST requests.
    /// </summary>
    public sealed class DocumentClient : IDisposable
    {
        private readonly string _portalBaseUrl;
        private readonly HttpClient _httpClient;
        private readonly SecurityContext _context;

        private string _className => nameof(DocumentClient);
        private string _documentAPIUrl => $"{_portalBaseUrl}/o/headless-delivery/v1.0";

        /// <summary>
        /// Client constructor.
        /// </summary>
        public DocumentClient(string portalBaseUrl, SecurityContext context)
        {
            _context = context;
            _portalBaseUrl = portalBaseUrl;
            _httpClient = new HttpClient();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Uploads the file to "Documents and Media" root folder with specified name.
        /// </summary>
        /// <remarks>
        /// Overrides the file with the same name in Liferay.
        /// </remarks>
        public async Task<UploadResponse> Upload(Stream file, string fileName)
        {
            var fileInfo = await GetFileInfoByName(fileName);

            if (fileInfo != null)
                await DeleteDocument(fileInfo.Id);

            var uploadFileUrl = $"{_documentAPIUrl}/sites/{_context.SiteId}/documents";
            using var request = GetApiRequest(HttpMethod.Post, uploadFileUrl);

            using var formContent = new MultipartFormDataContent
            {
                { new StreamContent(file), "file", fileName }
            };

            request.Content = formContent;

            using var response = await _httpClient.SendAsync(request);
            response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

            var responseJson = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            var uploadResponse = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<UploadResponse>(responseJson);

            if (uploadResponse == null)
                throw new Exception($"{_className}.{nameof(Upload)}: Unexpected response format: {responseJson}.");

            return uploadResponse;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Downloads document from "Documents and Media" library.
        /// </summary>
        public async Task<Stream> Download(string fileId)
        {
            var downloadFileUrl =
                $"{_documentAPIUrl}/documents/{fileId}?nestedFields=contentValue&fields=contentValue";
            using var request = GetApiRequest(HttpMethod.Get, downloadFileUrl);

            using var response = await _httpClient.SendAsync(request);
            response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

            var responseJson = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            var downloadResponse = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<DownloadResponse>(responseJson);

            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(downloadResponse?.ContentValue))
                throw new Exception($"{_className}.{nameof(Download)}: Unexpected response format: {responseJson}.");

            var fileData = Convert.FromBase64String(downloadResponse.ContentValue);
            if (fileData == null)
                throw new Exception($"{_className}.{nameof(Download)}: Can not convert received data to binary array.");

            return new MemoryStream(fileData);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Disposes client resources.
        /// </summary>
        public void Dispose()
        {
            _httpClient?.Dispose();
        }

        private async Task<FileMetadata> GetFileInfoByName(string fileName)
        {
            var getFileUrl = $"{_documentAPIUrl}/sites/{_context.SiteId}/documents?search={Uri.EscapeDataString($"{fileName}")}";

            using var request = GetApiRequest(HttpMethod.Get, getFileUrl);

            using var response = await _httpClient.SendAsync(request);
            response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

            var responseJson = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            var fileInfos = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<GetFileInfoByNameResponse>(responseJson);

            if (fileInfos?.FilesData == null)
                throw new Exception($"{_className}.{nameof(GetFileInfoByName)}: Unexpected response format: {responseJson}.");

            var fileData = fileInfos.FilesData
                .FirstOrDefault(info => info.FileName.Equals(fileName, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase));

            return fileData;
        }

        private async Task DeleteDocument(string fileId)
        {
            var deleteFileUrl = $"{_documentAPIUrl}/documents/{fileId}";

            using var request = GetApiRequest(HttpMethod.Delete, deleteFileUrl);

            using var response = await _httpClient.SendAsync(request);
            response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
        }

        private HttpRequestMessage GetApiRequest(HttpMethod httpMethod, string requestUrl)
        {
            var request = new HttpRequestMessage(httpMethod, requestUrl);
            request.Headers.Authorization = new BasicAuthenticationHeaderValue(_context.Login, _context.Password);

            return request;
        }
    }
}

Add Scenario Logic to the Program

Move the following content to the “Program.cs” file:

.NET

using Aspose.Words;
using LiferayExample;

try
{
    await RunCodeExample();
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Failed to execute code example: {ex}");
}

static async Task RunCodeExample()
{
    // Settings.
    const string siteId = "TODO"; // For example: 20119
    const string login = "TODO"; // For example test@liferay.com
    const string password = "TODO"; // Fill actual password for the "test@liferay.com" user.
    const string basePortalUrl = "TODO"; // For example: http://localhost:8080
    const string asposeWordsLicensePath = "TODO"; // For example: Aspose.Words.NET.lic

    const string fileA = "DocumentA.docx";
    const string fileB = "DocumentB.docx";
    const string fileCompared = "DocumentCompared.docx";

    // Set licenses.
    License lic = new License();
    lic.SetLicense(asposeWordsLicensePath);

    // Logic of the scenario.
    Console.WriteLine("Code example started.");

    var client = new DocumentClient(basePortalUrl, new SecurityContext(siteId, login, password));

    var fileAUploadData = await client.Upload(File.OpenRead($"./Docs/{fileA}"), fileA);
    Console.WriteLine($"\"{fileAUploadData.FileName}\" uploaded successfully. Assigned identifier is \"{fileAUploadData.Id}\".");

    var fileBUploadData = await client.Upload(File.OpenRead($"./Docs/{fileB}"), fileB);
    Console.WriteLine($"\"{fileBUploadData.FileName}\" uploaded successfully. Assigned identifier is \"{fileBUploadData.Id}\".");

    var fileAData = await client.Download(fileAUploadData.Id);
    Console.WriteLine($"\"{fileAUploadData.FileName}\" downloaded successfully.");

    var fileBData = await client.Download(fileBUploadData.Id);
    Console.WriteLine($"\"{fileBUploadData.FileName}\" downloaded successfully.");

    var docA = new Document(fileAData);
    var docB = new Document(fileBData);

    docA.Compare(docB, "Aspose", DateTime.Now);

    Console.WriteLine($"Documents compared successfully.");

    using var comparedDocument = new MemoryStream();
    docA.Save(comparedDocument, SaveFormat.Docx);

    comparedDocument.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);

    var fileComparedUploadData = await client.Upload(comparedDocument, fileCompared);
    Console.WriteLine($"Comparison result \"{fileComparedUploadData.FileName}\" uploaded successfully. Assigned identifier is \"{fileComparedUploadData.Id}\".");

    Console.WriteLine("Code example completed.");
}

Execute the Created Example and Check the Result

Finally, run the created example and check the result you got:

Compile the project
Run the console application

As a result, the “DocumentCompared.docx” file should be placed in the root of Documents and Media library.

Work with a Document Stored in a Liferay

Preset

Create Console Application

Create a New Console Application Project

Add Document Files to Compare

Add JSON Model Classes for REST API Processing

Add Liferay REST API Client

Add Scenario Logic to the Program

Execute the Created Example and Check the Result

See Also