File-Storage Application Requirements

I. Introduction

This document describes the requirements for an ACS File-Storage application. The file-storage application allows individuals to place their files on a publicly accessible web site and share some or all of them with other members of that web community.

II. Vision Statement

Web communities are about sharing information. This information can come in a variety of forms, text, images, executable files, in addition to web pages. The file storage application should provide a convenient way for users to share information in any of these formats. Users should be able to determine which individuals or groups should be allowed to read particular items and who should be allowed to upload new versions. (This was initially done with permissions set within the file-storage application but is now done using the ACS general permissions application.)

Since information is only useful if you can find what you're looking for, files in the file storage system should be searchable using site-wide search. To facilitate this, files uploaded to this system are stored in the database.

In addition to its use as a stand-alone user application, the file-storage system can provide helper services to other ACS applications that need a mechanism for managing uploaded files.

III. System/Application Overview

The File-Storage application will consist primarily of a user interface that allows individuals to manage their file-storage folder(s) and to see other people's publicly accessible files. There is also an administrative interface that allows administrators to view and, if necessary, edit/delete any user's files.

IV. Use Case and User Scenarios

Using File-Storage to Run a Project

In the course of her job at Acme Publishing Company, Ursula User is working with people from several different offices. In the course of her work she needs to exchange pictures, Excel spreadsheets detailing the cost estimates, and collaboratively write contracts using Word. At any time, she and the other people she works with need to be able to find the most current copy of each of these documents - and be able to look at older versions if need be to track the evolution of the project. With so much going on, Ursula also needs to be able to find all the documents pertaining to a particular issue - so will need a full-text search feature.

For each project, Ursula makes a folder on the file-storage system and gives read, write, and edit permission to the group of people she is working with for that project. Then she makes subfolders for each of the tasks for that project and asks appropriate team members to start uploading versions of the documents as soon as they have completed drafts. She downloads the documents, makes edits, adds, comments to them, etc. Then she uploads her new version to the same folder. She and the other members of her team go back and forth with this until they have a version they are satisfied with. Occasionally, Ursula wants to ask someone outside the group their opinion so she gives them read access to just one version of a file so that they can download it and take a look. Sometimes production tasks change; if so, Ursula can rearrange the project's sub-folder hierarchy to make it more closely reflect the new organizational scheme.

Administer File-Storage

Occasionally in her rearranging, Ursula deletes something she later regrets having lost. So she calls Annie Admin to see if the file can be recovered. Annie goes to the admin version of Ursula's files and resurrects the correct file and all its versions so that Ursula can use them again. While she is there, she notices that there are two copies of the same enormous file uploaded one right after another, both with the same title and comment. When she asks about it, Ursula says sheepishly that she had forgotten that she had already uploaded this version and had uploaded another copy of it. "Yes they are exactly the same, and yes, the duplicate copy may be deleted." So Annie does this in order to reclaim some disk space.

V. Related Links

VI.A. Requirements: Data Model

10 The Data Model

10.1 each file should have a unique identifier

10.2 each version of a file should have a unique identifier

10.3 each file shall have an associated owner

10.4 permissions for files and versions will be handled by the general permissions system

10.5 a user's set of files will be organized in a hierarchical set of "folders" and "sub-folders"

10.6 each version of each file will have individual read, write, comment, and administer permissions associated with it

10.7 to allow administrators to recover "deleted" files, when a user asks for a file to be deleted, it is marked deleted_p = 't' but not deleted from the database

VI.B. Requirements: Administrator Interface

20 Administrator Interface

20.1 the administrator should be able to view all files in the file-storage system

20.2 the administrator should be able to edit, delete, or alter permissions for any file belonging to any user

20.3 so that the administrator can manage database space, when he requests that a file be deleted, the file should really be deleted, not just marked deleted-p = 't'

VI.C. Requirements: Developer Interface

30 Developer Interface

Any other application should be able to us the file storage system to hold information in the form of uploaded, versioned, files organized in a single or multi-level hierarchy. To support this, the file storage application should:

30.1 provide a function for creating a new file

30.2 provide a function for uploading a new version of a file

30.3 provide functions for checking the read, write, and edit permissions for any version of any file

30.4 provide a function for downloading any version of any file

N. B. items 1 & 2 are not currently implemented in a proceduralized fashion. Items 3 & 4 are implemented as tcl procs or registered filters.

VI.D. Requirements: User Interface

40 User Interface

40.1 a user should be able to create folders and subfolders in which he can place his files

40.2 a user should be able to add new files and new version of files

40.3 a user should be able to move files to different folders or sub-folders

40.4 a user should be able to delete folders and individual files

40.5 a user should be able to download any version of any of the files accessible to him

40.6 a user should be able to view and/or edit other user's files if the owner has marked them public, or if the user has been granted individual or group permission with access to the files

40.7 a user should be able to search the text of the documents stored in the file-storage system (requires full-text search capability from the database - in the case of Oracle, requires InterMedia)

VII. Revision History

Document Revision #	Action Taken, Notes	When?	By Whom?
0.1	Creation	10/1/2000	Cynthia Kiser

cnk@arsdigita.com