Folder
Digest
A folder within Cascade contains a group of related assets. From the Dashboard, the Asset Tree to the left is where your folders and all the assets in the system appear.
Clicking on a folder will expand the folder view in the asset tree, revealing the assets and/or subfolder(s) inside. Additionally, clicking on a folder from the asset tree will open it in the main viewing area as well.
Concept
The Base Folder
The Base Folder is the top-level folder for assets and folders located in the Home area.Within the Home area, all of the assets will have a parent folder, including folders themselves. The top-level folder is called the Base Folder because it is the only folder that does not have a parent. Therefore, the Base Folder is the root folder for all other Home assets in Cascade Server.
When multiple sites are managed within the same instance, the Base Folder may also be used to refer to the top folder for a specific site.
Viewing a Folder
Clicking on a system folder will reveal its contents both in the left asset tree and in the main view.
The Contents pane is the default view of the folder. Here you can sort by Name, Folder Order, Last Modified Date, and Last Modified User. You can also rearrange the order of assets within the folder on this screen.
If there are images in the folder, clicking the Gallery pane will show thumbnails for each image. If there are no images in the folder, the system will simply display the message "There are no images in this folder."
Like other assets, the Properties pane will display further information relevant to the folder, including Metadata (System, User, and Custom) and Access Rights.
Publishing a Folder
To publish a folder, simply select the folder from the left asset tree, and select the Publish tab. All available targets and destinations for that folder will be listed and can be checked or unchecked as desired. Each output type, such as HTML, PDF, WMA, XML, etc. will have its own target/destination. When a folder is published, all pages and subfolders within that folder will be published.
Check whether you would like a publish report generated. This report will appear in your dashboard, under messages, and will alert you to any problems.
Moving a Page to a Different Folder in Cascade
URLs are defined by the folder location inside the system. For example, if www.hannonhill.com/news/2005/updates.htm were moved from the 2005 folder to the 2006 folder, the URL would now be www.hannonhill.com/news/2006/updates.htm. The system itself automatically updates all links throughout the system.
When a page is moved and a URL is changed, however, links outside the system (on other websites or bookmarked in visitors’ browsers) will still link to the old address.
Folder Capabilities and Insight
Folders may:
- be nested
- have workflows assigned for assets they contain (via the 'Workflows' tab)
- have access restrictions (configured via the 'Access' tab)
While there are no restrictions on what types of assets can be placed in a folder, it is important to note that a well-reasoned folder structure is important for organizing and regulating access to assets in the CMS.
In Cascade Server 4.0 and above, folders appearing outside of the 'Home' area (and most commonly in Cascade’s ‘Administration’ area), are known as 'containers'.
FAQs
- How do Folder Access Rights Work?
Folder access rights can be a source of confusion for new users to the CMS. Similar to any system that attempts to find a balance between simplicity and complexity, the CMS implements an access rights approach that attempts to address the many contingencies that can arise with designing a permissions scheme for an organization's managed assets.
There are three types of access rights:
- Write - user has full access to the asset: reading as well as modifying its properties and content. For folders, users can also create assets inside of them.
- Read - user can only see the asset but he or she cannot modify its properties or content. For folders, user cannot create assets inside of them.
- None - user cannot view or modify the asset. Even though the user cannot see the asset when browsing the folder structure, he or she can be still aware of its existence. For example, a page a user can see might be linking to a page the user cannot see. In this case the user will be aware of the existence of the linked to page but will not be able to see it within Cascade Server.
There are three ways a user can gain access rights:
- Through user assignments - user can be individually selected to have particular acceess rights on an asset.
- Through group assignments - all users belonging to selected group will gain particular access rights on an asset.
- Through the all option - all users have particular access rights on an asset.
The Write rights have higher prioprity than Read rights and Read rights have higher priority than None. This means that for example, if a particular asset has the all option set to None and a user is selected through user assignments to Read, the user will have Read access rights because Read rights have higher priority than None. Likewise, if all option is set to Read and user is selected through user assignments to None, the user will still have Read access rights, for the same reason.
Every new asset created in a folder inherits access rights from that folder.
Technical
Creating a Folder
A folder within the CMS is a way to group related assets.
To create a folder:
- On the top navigation menu, select New -> Default -> Folder.
- On the System pane:
Name - Select a name for the folder.
Parent Folder - By default, the new folder will be placed into the current folder. This can be overridden by selecting a new parent folder from the chooser.
Publish - This determines whether the folder will be published.
Indexing - This determines whether the folder will be indexed for dynamic navigation. - On the Metadata pane:
Input the desired metadata values. - Click Submit to save your new folder.
**Additional Notes - In lieu of folders, the Administration area uses 'containers' to organize components.
Copying a Folder
Folders can be copied and moved as desired within the system for easy duplication and content archival. With versions of Cascade Server 6.2 and newer, when copying a Folder, the system will now rewrite/resolve links within that folder to reflect the new location.
Consider the following scenario:
- FolderA contains PageA and PageB
- PageB contains links to PageA and PageC
- PageC is not contained inside FolderA
Prior to Cascade Server 6.2
Copying FolderA will produce:
- FolderA-copy containing PageA-copy and PageB-copy
- PageB-copy linking to PageA (original) and PageC
Beginning with Cascade Server 6.2
Copying FolderA will produce:
- FolderA-copy containing PageA-copy and PageB-copy
- PageB-copy linking to PageA-copy and PageC
In general, links contained within assets in the original folder (or any sub-folders) that point to other assets also contained within the original folder will be updated during the copy process; specifically, they are updated to point to the new copies.
This behavior is true for all links being updated, whether they are XML links (i.e. "href=" or "src=") or "system-asset" links. This link rewriting process applies to Formats, Pages, Files, Templates, and Blocks linked to within the Folder being copied. In addition, links in text files that have the "Rewrite links in file" checkbox checked will have links resolved. "Text files" refers to file assets with extensions listed in the Content Preferences "Plain Text File Extensions" field. Copying a folder will also update folder index blocks when the indexerd folder is or is inside of the folder being copied.
This folder-copy mechanism works either by using the standard "copy" command at the folder level, and also, by copying a folder via web services.
Note - Folder copying is intended to resolve links contained by the Pages and other assets of the copied Folder, and NOT those Pages' related Configurations. For example, when copying a Folder, links in the child Pages will get updated, but chosen assets in Page Configuration Regions will not be updated.
Assigning Workflows to Folders
To have a workflow process invoked for any given asset, the workflow must be assigned at the folder level. Multiple workflows can be assigned to a single folder. When an asset is edited, copied, published, or deleted, the system determines which assigned workflows apply to the user's action and allow the user to select from a list of available workflows.
To attach a workflow to a folder:
- In the home area, use the left asset tree to locate and choose the desired folder.
- Click the Workflow tab.
- Under Workflow Options:
Inherit Workflows - If there are workflows assigned to a parent folder, selecting "Yes" will ensure this folder inherits those workflows from the parent folder. If "No" is checked, only workflows assigned to the folder itself will be applicable.
Require Workflow - When selected, this requires users who do not have permissions to bypass workflows to start a workflow when editing, creating, copying, and deleting assets in that folder. If there are no available workflows, an error will occur. If "No" is checked, users can create, edit, copy, and delete without initiating a workflow.
Apply to setting child folders - Checking this box for either of the options above will apply these same characteristics to child folders of the folder being edited. 
- If you are adding one or more workflows at this level, click the workflow icon next to Add Workflow to open the Workflow chooser.
- Navigate to the desired workflow and click Submit to close the window.
- You may attach additional Workflows if desired.
- Click Submit to save your changes.
Reordering Assets Within a Folder in Cascade
Asset reorderingis a feature that enables you to manually change the order of assets within a folder. This is useful in creating dynamic navigation menus because you can customize the order in which indexed assets appear in the menu.
To reorder assets within a folder:
- Open the folder in which the assets to be reordered reside.
- Under the Actions column, next to each asset, are a series of icons including double up and single up arrows, as well as down and double down arrows.
- Clicking on one of the single up or down arrows will move the associated asset up or down one place.
- Clicking on one of the double up or down arrows will move the associated asset up to the top of the list or down to the bottom.
- There is no Submit button for this action; assets are moved instantly and can be reordered as desired.
**Additional Notes - The left asset tree orders all assets alphabetically for ease of use, and therefore will not necessarily reflect the actual manually managed asset order inside a given folder.
Additional Insight on Folder Access Rights (For Administrators and Managers)
Folder access rights can be a source of confusion for new users to the CMS. Similar to any system that attempts to find a balance between simplicity and complexity, the CMS implements an access rights approach that attempts to address the many contingencies that can arise with designing a permissions scheme for an organization's managed assets.
Cascade Server currently makes use of Unix-style access rights with folder assets which means that there is no way to configure access for separate groups on one folder asset. Each folder may only permit access for one group, a single user, or all users.
For example, suppose there are three groups within the system that require separate permissions policies from one another. Group A needs full read and write access while Group B simply requires read access and Group C needs to be completely locked out of the folder. Access rights in the CMS would allow Group A to edit/copy existing assets as well as create new ones that will reside in the folder, which can be achieved by choosing "Group A" from the "Group" field dropdown list in the Access dialog for the folder and selecting the "Edit/New" radio button. In terms of satisfying the granular requirements for Group B and Group C, an administrator must accept a current limitation with folder access rights. An administrator cannot assign read-only access to an additional group and also lock out another group when specific group access has already been configured as is the case with Group A. Both groups will either need to accept read-only access or both be locked out of the folder since the only other option that the administrator has is to configure the "All Users" field which allows for any user, regardless of their group, to either edit/create, read, or have no access to the folder assets.
The likely decision for Group B and Group C is to permit read access for all users since this will naturally apply to both groups. Although it is not ideal, read access still provides a security measure against unauthorized edits to folder assets by Group B or Group C, since Group A is the only group of users who may create, read, update, or delete assets.
Assigning Permissions
Permissions determine which users or groups have access to a specific folder or asset. You may grant read or write permissions to multiple individual users, or multiple groups.
To specify permissions for a folder or asset:
- Select the folder or asset from the left asset tree
- Click on the Access tab.
- To specify one or more users, select each desired user from the Unassigned box, and click the green forward arrow to bring them into the Read box. Once users have been entered into Read box, you can then select from those users which ones you want to have Write access. Users left in the Unassigned box will have the default permissions level, as specified under All.
- To specify one or more groups, select each desired group from the Unassigned box, and click the green forward arrow to bring them into the Read box. Once groups have been entered into Read box, you can then select from those groups which ones you want to have Write access. Groups left in the Unassigned box will have the default permissions level, as specified under All.
- You may also restrict the folder or asset for all users by selecting the appropriate radio button under All. This will determine the default level of permissions for any users not specified above.
- If you are defining permissions for a folder, select whether or not these permissions should be replicated for all child folders by checking or unchecking Apply to children.
- Click Submit to save your changes.
PLEASE NOTE - If a user or group is given read or write access to a child folder, read access is automatically granted to all parent folders and higher to facilitate navigation to the specified folder.
Cross-Site Relationships
For information on Cross-Site relationships for pages, check out our Cross-Site relationship rules page.