A document class is a set of configuration parameters controlling the security settings, the behavior and the available custom properties associated with the documents in an AODocs library.
For example, let’s imagine that a group of business users want to use an AODocs library to collaborate, and that they need to manipulate three different kinds of document: invoices, purchase orders and expense reports. Each type of document will have its own list of specific properties:
- invoices will have an amount (a decimal number), a due date (a date/time property), and an accounting class (a list of predefined values)
- expense reports will have an amount (a decimal number), a reporter (a person), and a fiscal month (a list of predefined values)
- purchase orders will have a product code (a list of predefined values), a customer name (a text field), a quantity (an integer number)
In this scenario, you need to create three different document classes: one for invoices, one for expense reports and one for purchase orders. This is because each one of these document types has a different list of properties.
Configuring document classes allows you to:
- define a list of custom document properties with specific data types and configuration options
- set up security options, such as who can delete documents and who can share documents
- define multiple list views to display the documents of your class
- use advanced search features to search documents with their custom properties
- associate workflows to your document classes
AODocs provides a predefined list of data types that you can use for the list of specific properties. In addition, you can create your own field type named "categories" and use them to define the information inside a document.
Using categories in the document classes allows you to:
- choose items from a drop-down list
- enable end-users to add new values to the list
Learn more: Create and configure document classes.