Replacing an Existing Book in ACS

If you have an update for a book that is packaged in Adobe Content Server, or you want to change metadata, such as the title or description, or want to re-package for any other reason, you can use the replace feature in the package process. This will replace the existing resource in your Content Server so that customers will be able to re-download the newer version of the file. The advantage is that the customer can use the same download link, meaning that you don't have to regenerate a new download transaction ID and resource ID. Also, you will not be charged for a new transaction.

First, to enable replacement, make sure you have this line in your packaging configuration file:

com.adobe.adept.packaging.allowURLCollisionsOnReplace=true

Then, when you package the book, you'll need to add two elements to the XML:

<package xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/adept">
    <action>replace</action>
    <resource>urn:uuid:bcb9d268-9227-48ce-9432-77a0aa21a2eb</resource>
    ...
</package>

The ACS user manual says to set the attribute "action="replace"" in the root element; this is outdated and you should use the above method instead. Find the ACS User Manual with your ACS software installation package.

The value for should be the resource ID of the book you want to replace. Be sure to use the resid from the ACS database, not the ISBN or any other internal identifier you may use to track books, unless you're already using the resid.

You don't need to add the resource to a distributor as you did when the original book was packaged. After the packaging is done, and assuming you have a system in place that allows customers to download the file again, customers will be able to download this book again without forcing you to pay the transaction fee.

Please note that not all reader applications support the concept of replacing an existing book with the same resid, so on the reader side, the older copy may co-exist with the new download.