AEM 6 SP2 - Servlet for overlaying libs path in apps

Goal

Sample servlet for creating overlay of a /libs path in /apps. Overlays can be used for overriding/extending otb implementation. It's no exaggeration almost all CQ projects may have used overlays at some point for extending product functionality. This servlet checks for type of each node under /libs (of given path) and creates similar path in /apps

Package Install

A sample request http://localhost:4502/bin/experience-aem/create/overlay?path=/libs/wcm/core/content/sites/jcr:content/body/content/content/items/childpages/layout creates /apps/wcm/core/content/sites/jcr:content/body/content/content/items/childpages/layout





Add copyChildren=true to the request URL to copy (not create) the last node from libs

Solution

Create an OSGI servlet with the following code

package apps.experienceaem;

import com.day.cq.commons.jcr.JcrUtil;
import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Component;
import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Properties;
import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Property;
import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Service;
import org.apache.sling.api.SlingHttpServletRequest;
import org.apache.sling.api.SlingHttpServletResponse;
import org.apache.sling.api.resource.Resource;
import org.apache.sling.api.resource.ResourceResolver;
import org.apache.sling.api.servlets.SlingAllMethodsServlet;
import org.apache.sling.commons.json.JSONObject;

import javax.jcr.Node;
import javax.jcr.Session;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import java.io.IOException;

@Component(metatype = true, label = "Experience AEM Overlay Creator")
@Service
@Properties({
        @Property(name = "sling.servlet.methods", value = {"GET"}, propertyPrivate = true),
        @Property(name = "sling.servlet.paths", value = "/bin/experience-aem/create/overlay", propertyPrivate = true),
        @Property(name = "sling.servlet.extensions", value = "json", propertyPrivate = true)})
public class OverlayPathCreatorServlet extends SlingAllMethodsServlet {
    protected void doGet(SlingHttpServletRequest request, SlingHttpServletResponse response)
                                    throws ServletException,IOException {
        String path = request.getParameter("path");
        String copyChildren = request.getParameter("copyChildren");

        String srcHierarchy = "/libs", desHierarchy = "/apps";

        JSONObject json = new JSONObject();

        try {
            ResourceResolver resolver = request.getResourceResolver();

            if (StringUtils.isEmpty(path) || !path.trim().startsWith("/libs")) {
                json.put("error", "Path should start with /libs");
                response.getWriter().print(json);
                return;
            }

            Session session = resolver.adaptTo(Session.class);
            Resource destResource = null, srcResource = null, parentDestResource = null;

            Node srcNode = null; String token;
            String tokens[] = path.substring("/libs".length()).split("/");

            for(int index = 0; index < tokens.length; index++){
                token = tokens[index];

                if(StringUtils.isEmpty(token)){
                    continue;
                }

                desHierarchy = desHierarchy + "/" + token;
                srcHierarchy = srcHierarchy + "/" + token;

                destResource = resolver.getResource(desHierarchy);

                if(destResource != null){
                    continue;
                }

                srcResource = resolver.getResource(srcHierarchy);

                if(srcResource == null){
                    throw new ServletException("Error finding resource - " + srcHierarchy);
                }

                srcNode = srcResource.adaptTo(Node.class);

                if(index == (tokens.length - 1) && "true".equalsIgnoreCase(copyChildren)){
                    JcrUtil.copy(srcNode, parentDestResource.adaptTo(Node.class), null);
                }else{
                    JcrUtil.createPath(desHierarchy, srcNode.getPrimaryNodeType().getName(), session);
                    parentDestResource = resolver.getResource(desHierarchy);
                }
            }

            session.save();

            json.put("success", "Created " + desHierarchy);

            response.getWriter().print(json);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw new ServletException("Error creating - " + desHierarchy, e);
        }
    }
}