Which Documentum APIs should I use?

Question

There seems to be a number of options for interfacing to Documentum; WDK, DMCL, DFC, DFS, DQL, etc.

What else is there? When whould you use which interface? For .NET developers, for Java developers?

Answer 1

• WDK is for making websites.
• DMCL is an old api for communicating with Documentum, in last versions it's only present as an emulation layer, so it should be avoided.
• DFC is the preferred API to interact with Documentum, provides all functionality.
• DFS is for using Documentum from webservices.
• DQL is for querying, it's SQL-like.

DFC and WDK are Java, the others are probably usable from .Net

Answer 2

David provides a good overview but to expand a bit...

DFC is the base Java api for interacting with Documentum. WDK is actually built on top of DFC. The DMCL is the legacy api built in C(or C++ I'm not 100% sure). Prior to D6, all DFC calls used the DMCL under the covers but that layer was rewritten in java for D6 and the DMCL is there just to provide backwards compatibility at this point.

As for accessing Documentum via .NET there is a Documentum PIA that you can use to access the DFC libraries from a .Net project rather than using the traditional Java route.

Answer 3

You could also consider using the CMIS (Content Management Interoperability Services) interface that's being developed for Documentum. It's a web service interface that expands upon AtomPub. It won't be able to leverage all the bells and whistles of the Documentum platform, but it should allow you to use other backends like Alfresco and SharePoint. There's an Early Access Release available via EMC for Documentum.

Answer 4

Both David and shsteimer is right.

But Documentum PIA for .Net is not encouraged now because it will be deprecated in future edition of Doucmentum