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Cascade Server Technical Getting Started Guide - Advanced

Advanced Topics

Parts 4-7 of the Cascade Server CMS Primer will walk you through more advanced topics. Please do not begin Parts 4-7 without having first completed Parts 1-3.

In our Cascade Server Primer "Advanced Topics" you can use the framework you've built out in phases 1-3 to accomplish even more with the content management system. Items covered in the Advanced Topics section include:

  • Importing an Existing Website
  • Creating Dynamic Navigation
  • Creating a Press Release using Structured Data
  • Create an Index of Press Releases

Advanced Topics - Part 4

Part 4 - Import Existing Website

If you have the original files for your site, you can zip all the folders into a single zip file. If you don’t have the originals or have dynamic pages that you would like made into files, you can download and run HTTrack Website Copier from http://www.httrack.com/ to create a local site copy. Using HTTrack will only work if your HTML files include Dreamweaver region comments (e.g. - BeginEditable, BeginLibraryItem). For this walk through, we will use our example demo site (which includes appropriate region comments) that can be downloaded from http://www.hannonhill.com/downloads/demo.zip and saved locally.

Upload and Unpack the Zip File:

To upload the zip file:

  1. Click on the Base Folder, located in the left asset tree, in the Home area of the system.
  2. From there, click Tools -> Zip Archive for the upload screen.
  3. Click the Browse button for the Zip Archive field, and choose the downloaded demo.zip zip file.
  4. The Placement Folder is already set correctly.
  5. Now click the Submit button to upload and unpack your site files.

Integrate Folder Conversion

Now with all the HTML files in the system, you need to have them converted to system pages.

  1. From the top navigation menu, select Tools -> Integrate Folder.
  2. Click the Base Folder browse icon and the chooser window will appear. In the chooser window, select "Base Folder" and click "Confirm."
  3. Browse for a Base Page in the same fashion and choose "example" as our base page.
  4. The default region names are suitable for many common region names found in Dreamweaver templates and do not need to be changed for the demo site. 
    integrate folder
  5. Click the Submit button to start the integration. The integration runs in the background while you can continue to use the system. For the number of pages we have uploaded, it will take approximately 20-30 seconds to complete. You may see the progress of the integrate folder task by repeatedly clicking on Base Folder in the left asset tree and observing the HTML files being converted to Page assets.
All of your existing content has been converted to Pages. 

Advanced Topics - Part 5

Part 5 - Create Dynamic Navigation

With the existing demo site integrated, you will take advantage of additional system functionality – dynamic navigation menus. The first task is to set up our new blocks. First, create a context navigation index block.

dynamic navigation menus chart

Create Context Navigation Index Block

To create a context navigation block:

  1. Browse to your _internal/blocks folder.
  2. In the index folder, click on the menu item New -> Default -> Block.
  3. For Block Type, choose Index Block and click Submit.
  4. For the Index Folder, click the Folder Browse icon and select "Base Folder." Click the Confirm button in the browse folder window. If this field is left empty, the block will index the contents of the page’s current folder.
  5. For the Depth of Index, type 10. This is how many folders deep you want the index.
  6. For Index Assets Types, check the box for Pages.
  7. Skip over the radio buttons, those are used for different types of Index Blocks.
  8. For Indexed Asset Content, check the box for Regular Content (name, path) and the box for User Metadata (title, summary, etc).  context nav index block
  9. Switch over to the System pane and for the System Name field, type in context-navigation.
  10. Now click Submit to save the new index block.

On the View block screen, you’ll see the XML representation of the designated folder and sub-folders including their metadata.

Add Navigation Region to Template

To add regions to the template:

  1. First go to the existing template at _internal/templates/intro. 
  2. Once you are at the template, click the Edit tab.
    3. For your integration, you’re going to add two new regions – context navigation and breadcrumbs. To do this, find the existing system tag that denotes the default region () and put the following tag before it:
  3. With the template content updated, click the Submit button to save the changes. By creating the new region in the template, you now have a new area to insert blocks and formats to plug-in other content.
    Cascade Server new region to template

Assign Index Block and Navigation Format to Template

  1. Click the Edit tab again, and go to the Regions pane so that you can assign your blocks and formats to the newly created region. The editing interface now has the new region and allows for assignment of a block and/or format.
  2. Click the browse icon for the Block, and select the new block from _internal/blocks/index/context navigation.
  3. For the format, use the format distributed in the software with the path [site: _common]/formats/navigation/context-navigation. To do so, after clicking the format chooser, click the Site dropdown menu at the top of the interface and select "_common." Then, choose the "formats/navigation/context-navigation."
After assigning the block and format to your template, navigate to the Asset Tree and select any page to view the results of these changes.

Advanced Topics - Part 6

Part 6 - Create Press Release w/ Structured Data

Create a Data Definition

To create a Data Definition: 

  1. Go to the Administration area, and select Data Definitions in the left navigation bar.
  2. Click the New Data Definition button.
  3. For the Name field, type in press-release.
    4. For the XML field, type in the following XML: **Pleasex Note - if using Cascade Server 6.4 or newer, you will need to click the XML pane at the top of the visual Data Definition builder and copy and paste the XML provided below: **Please Note - Make sure you remove the "#" characters when pasting XML into the builder.

  4. Each text element represents an input field. The identifier attribute is the name of the resulting XML element produced with the captured data. The label attribute is the value that appears on the screen for the form field. The required attribute requires the user to fill in that field before submitting content.
  5. Now click Submit to save the new data definition.
    data definition preview

When you have the chance, please browse through the existing Data Definitions provided with the software to see some of the advanced functionality available.

Copy the Standard Page Content Type

To copy an existing content type and attach a data definition: 

  1. While still in the Administration area, select Content Types in the left navigation bar.
  2. Select our intro Content Type which was automatically created earlier.
  3. Click the Copy tab.
  4. In the System Name field, type Press Release.
  5. Click Submit to copy the Content Type.

Assign the Data Definition

  1. Go to the Edit tab and click the browse icon located to the right of Data Definition.
  2. Select the press-release Data Definition and click Submit.

Create a Page with Structured Data

  1. Go back to the Home area.
  2. Select New -> Default -> Page to create a new page.
  3. Click the System pane in order to type in "example-press-release-name" for the System Name field.
  4. Click the Parent Folder browse icon, select _internal/asset factories
  5. For Content Type, click the browse icon to choose the new type Press Release.
  6. The page will reload and the main default region will be empty.
  7. Click Submit to save your changes.

Create a Press Releases Folder

  1. Select New -> Default -> Folder from the menu bar.
  2. Type releases into the System Name field to name your folder.
  3. Click the Parent Folder browse icon, select Base Folder and click Confirm.
  4. When finished, click Submit to create the new folder.

Create an Asset Factory for New Press Releases

  1. Go the the Administration area, and select Asset Factories in the sidebar.
  2. Click "New Asset Factory" in the Asset Factories section.
  3. Select Page from the list of Asset Factory types and click Submit.
  4. Type "Press Release" into the Name field.
  5. Click the Base Asset browse icon, select _internal/asset factories/example-press-release-name and click Confirm. 
  6. Click the Placement Folder browse icon and select the "releases" folder created in the previous step.
  7. When finished click Submit to save changes.

Create a New Press Release

  1. From the top-navigation menu bar, click New -> Press Release
  2. Fill in the Main Content, Company, and Email fields
  3. Before submitting, click the System pane and type an appropriate name for your release in the System Name field.
  4. Click Submit to save your new release.

Create a Format for Press Releases

Now we will write a simple XSLT to transform this XML into HTML.

To create an XSLT Format:

  1. Click on New -> Default -> Format in the top navigation menu to create the new XSLT format.
  2. Click Submit to select the default choice, XSLT, from the Format Types menu.
    3. For the XSLT Content field, put in the following: **Please Note - The XSLT matches the root XML element, and then loops over all of the paragraph elements, outputting their values. The company element is then output in bold, followed by the phone and fax elements. Finally, the email element is turned into a mailto link and output.
  3. Click on the System pane, and type press-release for the Name field.
  4. Click the Parent Folder browse icon, select _internal/formats and click Confirm.
  5. Click Submit to save the new Format.

We now have our XSLT ready to be applied to the XML that is produced from the Data Definition content.

Copy the Standard Page Configuration Set

To apply a format to a page data definition:

  1. Go the the Administration area, and select Configuration Sets in the sidebar.
  2. Click to open the intro Configuration Set.
  3. Click the Copy tab.
  4. In the System Name field type, "Press Release."
  5. Click Submit to copy the Configuration Set.

Assign the Format to the Configuration Set

  1. Click the Edit tab.
  2. Select the Configurations pane to display the available configurations.
  3. The default configuration, XHTML, will be shown. Click the browse icon located next to Format in the DEFAULT region row.
  4. Select  _internal/formats/press-release and click Confirm.

    apply format to configuration

  5. Click Submit.

Apply the New Configuration Set to the Press Release Content Type

  1. Select Content Types in the left navigation bar and click on the Press Release Content Type.
  2. Click the Edit tab, and browse for the Press Release Configuration Set.
  3. Click Submit.

View Your Formatted Press Release

  1. Click "History" in the top navigation.
  2. About halfway down the history list, you'll see the press release page you created.
  3. Navigate to this page and view the changes.
  4. For the purpose of creating an index of press releases in the next step, please Copy this page several times.

Advanced Topics - Part 7

Part 7 - Create Index of Press Releases

Create an Index Block

To create an Index Block of press releases:

  1. Click on New -> Default -> Block in the top navigation menu.
  2. Select the Index Block radio button, and click Submit.
  3. From the Index Type drop-down menu, choose Content Type Index.
  4. Click the Content Type browse icon, select Press Release and click Confirm.
  5. For the Indexed Asset Content, check the boxes for Regular Content and User Metadata.
  6. For Sort Method, choose "Creation Date."

    CMS index block press release

  7. Now go to the System pane. For the System Name field, type press releases.
  8. Click the Parent Folder browse icon, select _internal/blocks and click Confirm.
  9. Click Submit.

Create a Recent Press Release XSLT Format

Now that the Index Block and the Pages are in place, you need to create a new XSLT Format to transform the XML into HTML.

To create a recent press releases Format:

  1. Click on New -> Default -> Format in the top navigation menu to create the new XSLT format.
  2. Click Submit to select the default choice, XSLT, from the Format Types menu.
    3. For the XSLT Content field, put in the following: **Please Note - The format outputs a heading, recent press releases, and then matches all of the system pages. If the page is one of the first four in the folder (according to the folder positioning) and isn’t the 'index', then a link is created to the press release with the title metadata value and the summary metadata value shown below.
  3. Click on the System pane, and type recent-press-releases for the System Name field.
  4. Click the Parent Folder browse icon, select _internal/formats and click Confirm.
  5. Click Submit to save the new Format.

Create an Index Page for Press Releases

  1. Click on New -> Page in the top navigation menu.
  2. Ignore the blank content region, we will override the content with a list of press releases.
  3. Go to the System pane. For the System Name field type index.
  4. Click the Parent Folder browse icon, select releases and click Confirm.
  5. Go to the Configurations pane. In the "DEFAULT" region, click the Block chooser, select _internal/blocks/press releases and click Confirm.
  6. Also in the "DEFAULT" region, click the Format chooser, select _internal/formats/recent press releases and click Confirm.
  7. Click Submit. You should now see a list of your press releases.

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