Applicable to the Theme UI-Kit and Theme Cosmos applications
Gain access to third-party documents and enhance collaboration between stakeholders
by configuring external storage as a source of content that you can attach to your case,
space, or Pulse conversation.
Sourcing from external storage enables you to use more relevant data in your business
process. For example, you can configure an external source for attachments for CSRs who manage
loan requests to ensure that they use the most up-to-date version of the necessary documents,
such as the Terms and Conditions document.
Before you begin:
To enable the sourcing of content from web storage providers, ensure that web storage
providers are correctly configured. For more information, see Integrating SharePoint Online with Pega Platform.
To enable the sourcing of content from file storage repositories, create or configure a
repository in your system. For more information, see Creating a repository.
To enable the sourcing of content from Content Management Interoperability Services
(CMIS) systems:
Ensure that you have a Connect-CMIS rule configured in your
system. For more information, see Creating a Connect CMIS rule.
Important: Ensure that you review the restrictions on adding
a repository for case attachments in Limitations for attachments in a file storage repository. If you fail to
observe restrictions while you implement a repository, you might experience system
failures.
As a best practice, use repositories for case attachments. Repositories use data streaming
to present attachment data directly to your application. When you use web storage or CMIS,
Pega Platform places data on the clipboard before use in the
application, which uses more system resources.
Your environment type determines the repositories that you can configure for your external
content for case, space, or Pulse attachments:
In Pega Cloud environments, you can use
pegacloudfilestorage and the
/attachments subfolder as the repository for case attachments, or
you can configure another type of repository.
Before integrating the repository in
your application, you can change the repository that you use for case attachments to
another external repository type after you create the repository.
Important: Do not use the internal Pega Platform database as a repository.
In the header of Dev Studio, click the name of the application, and then click
Definition.
On the Application form, click the Integration tab.
In the Content sourcing section, configure at least one external
storage system:
Choices
Actions
A web service provider
Select the Source from web storage providers
checkbox.
In the Provider list, select an installed web storage
provider for which you have an account and a content location.
In the Authentication profile box, enter or select an
authentication profile of the OAuth 2.0 type.
Note: Use the same authentication profile to store content
in and source from the web storage provider.
Optional: To change the label that users see when they add an attachment from this web
storage provider, enter a description in the Label
field.
Optional: To use content from more than one web storage provider, click
Add, and then repeat these steps to configure another
provider.
A repository
Select the Source from repositories checkbox.
In the Repository list, select a repository for which
you have an account and a content location.
Note: Pega Cloud clients: To use
Pega Cloud File storage, select the
pegacloudfilestorage repository.
Click Browse, and then select the folder from which to
source attachments.
Note: Pega Cloud clients: To use
Pega Cloud File storage, select the
/attachments sub-folder.
Click Select.
Optional: To change the label that users see when they add an attachment from this
repository, in the Label field, enter a
description.
Optional: To use content from more than one folder, click
Add.
CMIS systems
Select the Source from CMIS systems checkbox.
Optional: To change the label that users see when they add an attachment from this
source, in the Label for this content source (where
available) field enter a description.
For example: Application configured to enable the sourcing of content for attachments from a
web storage provider and a repository
Click Save.
Result: Your content from external storage becomes available when you
add an attachment to a case, space, or Pulse
conversation.
Adding attachments from external locations
Provide more data and relevant context to your work by supplementing your case, space,
or Pulse conversation with external content.
Log in to a portal, and then add an attachment from an external location:
Choices
Actions
Add a case attachment
Create or find a case to which you want to attach external content.
Note: You can locate a case by searching for it or by
looking in your worklist or the Recents list.
In the upper-right corner, click the Expand the utility
pane icon.
In the Files & documents section, click the
Manage files and documents icon, and then in the
Manage content dialog box, click the menu option from
which you can add files from an external system.
The options in the menu show the values that you provide in the
Label field on the Integration
tab of your application rule. For more information, see Sourcing attachments from external storage.
Note: When you connect to your external storage account
from the application for the first time, you might receive a prompt to
authenticate and authorize the connection.
For example: The external storage options configured for the application shown in
the menu
Attach a file from your external system.
Note: Attaching multiple files with the same name to the
same case results in an error because storage providers treat the file name
together with the path as a key.
Click Submit.
Result: The case attachment is displayed in the Files &
documents section.
Note: To remove a case
attachment, click the Delete icon next to the name of
the attachment.
Add a space attachment
In the navigation pane, click Spaces.
Click the space to which you want to add content.
In the upper-right corner, click the Expand the utility
pane icon, and then click the Related
tab.
In the Files & documents section, click the
Manage files and documents icon, and then in the
Manage content dialog box, click the menu option from
which you can add files from an external system.
The options in the menu show the values that you provide in the
Label field on the Integration
tab of your application rule. For more information, see Sourcing attachments from external storage.
For example: A menu with the external storage options configured for the
application
Attach a file from your external system.
Note: Attaching multiple files with the same name to the
same case results in an error because storage providers treat the file name
together with the path as a key.
Click Submit.
Result: The space attachment is displayed in the Files &
documents section.
Note: To remove a space
attachment, click the Delete icon next to the name of
the attachment.
Add a Pulse attachment
Find or create a Pulse message to which you
want to add content.
In the field that is displayed in the Pulse section,
click Add attachmentsExternal Sources, and then click an option from which you can add files from an
external system.
The options in the menu show the values that you provide in the
Label field on the Integration
tab of your application rule. For more information, see Sourcing attachments from external storage.
For example: Attaching files from external locations in Pulse
Attach a file from your external system.
Click Post.
Result: The Pulse attachment is displayed in
the Pulse
section.
Adding case attachments from a CMIS system
Enable users to access content stored in external sources by adding an attachment from
a CMIS system to a case. Downloading content from an external CMIS system guarantees that users
use the most up-to-date version of documents.
Ensure that you have a Connect-CMIS rule configured in your system.
For more information, see Creating a Connect CMIS rule.
Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) are
external systems that use the CMIS standard, such as Alfresco, Microsoft SharePoint, and
OpenText, to which you connect by using a CMIS connect rule. CMIS systems support storing and
sourcing content. For more information, see About Connect CMIS rules.
You
can use any CMIS-compatible server to source data for your application.
Log in to a portal, and then create or find a case or space to which you want to attach
a file from a CMIS system.
In the upper-right corner, click the Expand the utility pane
icon.
In the Files & documents section, click the Manage
files and documents icon, and then in the Manage
content dialog box, click the Content from CMIS
tab.
In the Select a file section, select a file from one or more CMIS
systems.
The CMIS systems in the list correspond to the Connect-CMIS
rules that are available for the current operator.
The files in a CMIS system come from the CMIS repository that you configure in your
Connect-CMIS rule that references the system.
In the Name field, provide a name for the attachment.
Click Submit.
Result: The attachment is displayed in the Files & documents
section.
Optional: To remove a case attachment, click the Show more icon next to
the name of the attachment, and then click Delete.
Managing case attachments stored in a CMIS system
Manage versions of a case attachment that is stored in a CMIS system at run time to
control which version of the attachment you want users to download.
Click the Gear icon next to the name of the attachment.
In the Manage attachment window, in the Version
history section, click the file name for the appropriate version of the
attachment to download.
Optional: To prevent other users from modifying the file attachment, select Lock this
attachment for local editing.
Click Upload new version to check in the new version of the
file.
Result: The new version is displayed in the Version
history section.
