Liferay ONLYOFFICE Connector

This connector enables users to edit office documents from Liferay using ONLYOFFICE Docs packaged as Document Server - Community or Enterprise Edition.

Features

The connector allows to:

• Create and edit text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
• Share documents with other users.
• Co-edit documents in real-time: use two co-editing modes (Fast and Strict), Track Changes, comments, and built-in chat.

Supported formats:

• For opening and editing: DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, DOCXF, OFORM.
• For viewing only: ODT, ODS, ODP, DOC, XLS, PPT, PDF.

Installing ONLYOFFICE Docs

You will need an instance of ONLYOFFICE Docs (Document Server) that is resolvable and connectable both from Liferay and any end clients. ONLYOFFICE Document Server must also be able to POST to Liferay directly.

You can install free Community version of ONLYOFFICE Docs or scalable Enterprise Edition with pro features.

To install free Community version, use Docker (recommended) or follow these instructions for Debian, Ubuntu, or derivatives.

To install Enterprise Edition, follow instructions here.

Community Edition vs Enterprise Edition comparison can be found here.

Installing Liferay ONLYOFFICE connector

Either install it from Liferay Marketplace or if you’re building the connector by yourself simply put compiled .jar file from build\libs folder to /opt/liferay/deploy. Liferay will install it automatically.

Configuring Liferay ONLYOFFICE connector

In order to configure it you must navigate to System Settings (Control Panel -> Configuration -> System Settings). In Platform section click on Connectors category and select ONLYOFFICE.

Starting from version 7.2, JWT is enabled by default and the secret key is generated automatically to restrict the access to ONLYOFFICE Docs and for security reasons and data integrity. Specify your own Secret key on the Liferay System Settings page. In the ONLYOFFICE Docs config file, specify the same secret key and enable the validation.

Compiling Liferay ONLYOFFICE connector

Simply run gradle build. Output .jar will be placed inside build/libs directory.

How it works

The ONLYOFFICE integration follows the API documented here:

• User navigates to a Documents and Media section within Liferay and selects the Edit in ONLYOFFICE action.
• Liferay prepares a JSON object for the Document Server with the following properties:
  • url: the URL that ONLYOFFICE Document Server uses to download the document,
  • callbackUrl: the URL that ONLYOFFICE Document Server informs about status of the document editing;
  • key: the fileVersionId to instruct ONLYOFFICE Document Server whether to download the document again or not;
  • title: the document Title (name).
• The client browser makes a request for the javascript library from ONLYOFFICE Document Server and sends ONLYOFFICE Document Server the docEditor configuration with the above properties.
• Then ONLYOFFICE Document Server downloads the document from Liferay and the user begins editing.
• ONLYOFFICE Document Server sends a POST request to the callback URL to inform Liferay that a user is editing the document.
• Liferay locks the document, but still allows other users with write access the ability to collaborate in real time with ONLYOFFICE Document Server by leaving the Action present.
• When all users and client browsers are done with editing, they close the editing window.
• After 10 seconds of inactivity, ONLYOFFICE Document Server sends a POST to the callback URL letting Liferay know that the clients have finished editing the document and closed it.
• Liferay downloads the new version of the document, replacing the old one.

ONLYOFFICE Docs editions

ONLYOFFICE offers different versions of its online document editors that can be deployed on your own servers.

• Community Edition (onlyoffice-documentserver package)
• Enterprise Edition (onlyoffice-documentserver-ee package)

The table below will help you make the right choice.

* If supported by DMS.