Blogs - June 2010

Below are the blog entries for June 2010.

Hannon Hill Releases Cascade Server 6.7

By Chris Armistead
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 12:00pm

As you hopefully already know, yesterday Hannon Hill released one of the most anticipated versions of Cascade Server in recent memory.  Cascade Server 6.7 is loaded with new features sure to enhance the end-user and admin experiences alike.  Future blogs will feature in-depth explanations by members of our team on specific features, but we want to give you an overview of some of the key features in case you missed them.

  • Recycle Bin - users can restore deleted assets.  Enough said!
  • Cross-site Move and Copy - allows users to re-organize assets in Sites and copy them across Sites
  • Rich Text Editor improvements - newer version of the TinyMCE editor with a re-written "paste" plugin for much improved pasting from Word documents and consistent UI between browsers
  • Unsaved changes warnings - users are warned before attempting to navigate away from pages with unsaved changes
  • SFTP/FTP compatibility improvements - more reliable publishing to a variety of different SFTP and FTP servers including Windows 2008's built-in FTP server.
  • Live View - preview the published version of pages at their public URL from within the application
  • XHTML/Data Definition Blocks - data definitions can be assigned to blocks to provide users the same form controls available in page editing when editing blocks
  • Variety of UI improvements to the application's main menus and help links
  • Support for the Google Chrome browser, the SQL Server 2008 database server, and Java 6

We encourage you to read the release notes and join the many who have already downloaded Cascade Server 6.7.  We can't wait for you to try it out!


Category

  • Resources

Serena Migration Tool - FAQs

By Kat Liendgens
Friday, June 18th, 2010 at 1:00pm

As you may know, the Hannon Hill engineers have developed a Serena Migration Tool, which helps you migrate your Serena content into Cascade Server quickly and easily. In this blog, I'd like to answer some frequently asked questions I get about the tool and how it works.

1. How does the migration tool work?
The migration tool takes your exported Serena Collage content and processes all of the exported XML files. During this process, it detects all of the asset types used in Serena as well as the fields used by each asset type. It also determines what your Cascade Content Types are and which Metadata fields and Data Definitions they use. Knowing this information makes the Serena migration tool a very user-friendly application, because it is able to guide you through the process by giving you pre-defined choices, thus decreasing the chance for user errors. First, the tool lets you map which asset type in Serena corresponds to which Content Type in Cascade. Next, it asks you to specify which fields in Serena should be mapped to which fields in Cascade. It's as simple as that. Once you're done providing the mappings ("this section in Serena equals that section in Cascade"), you will see a summary screen on which you can specify if you would like to keep existing assets, overwrite them, or update them. Finally, you click a button to start running the migration tool. You will see a progress screen that shows you the growing list of assets that have been successfully created in Cascade Server.

2. What do I need to do to run the tool?
In order to migrate your Serena content, you will need to have your site created in Cascade Server. In other words, you will need to have everything set up except the folders containing your pages and the actual pages themselves. In addition, you need a zip file containing all of your exported content in XML format. Finally, we highly recommend that you plan your migration carefully by creating a spreadsheet on which you specify which asset type in Serena will correspond to which Content Type in Cascade as well as which fields in Serena correspond to which Metadata fields and Data Definitions in Cascade.

3. What do I need to do if I made a mistake while running the tool?
The migration tool is very forgiving. You can stop the process at any time. You may also wait until the tool has finished its job. Then, you can simply go back to the beginning, make the appropriate changes to your mappings and select "overwrite existing assets".

4. Will the tool re-write links?
Yes, the tool will align internal links. If you have a specific section of your site that you are not migrating, and you would like for the appropriate links to point to an external URL instead, the tool will allow you to do so.

5. How long does it take to run the tool?
It depends on the size of your exported content. The tool can typically create about 300 assets in under five minutes. It also comes with a built-in link checker, which, after all of the content has been migrated, generates a list of all intact and all broken links. Of course, if you choose to run the link-checker, the overall process takes a bit longer.

6. Does the migration tool only create pages or does it also upload images, CSS, and other files?
The migration tool only creates page assets and folder assets. However, Cascade Server's Zip Archive Tool allows you to quickly bulk-upload images and other files.

7. Do I have to migrate my entire site all at once, or can I migrate the content section by section?
The migration tool gives you full flexibility in terms of how big or how small you would like to start. You can simply adjust your Serena export and migrate one folder at a time.

8. Does the tool have to run on the same server as Cascade Server?
No. In fact, the tool is so flexible that you can even run it on your local computer, as long as you are connected to your network.



Category

  • Resources

2010 User Conference Updates

By Uran Piedra
Friday, June 11th, 2010 at 1:00pm

As we continue planning for the 2010 Cascade Server User Conference, we wanted to inform you of a few updates. Earlier this week, some of you may have seen that we had sold out of double rooms for the conference already. Due to some registration changes, however, we now have one double room (2 occupants) available again. If you are interested in coming to the conference and sharing a room with someone from your organization, snag this last room before its gone again! Single rooms are also going very quickly, so make sure you reserve your spot today.

Finally, the session schedule for the conference is currently being planned, and we expect to have it ready and posted on the site sometime in July. Stay tuned for updates by subscribing to our blog RSS or following us on Twitter.

Category

  • Events

Check Out UWO's Presentation at OUCC 2010

By Chris Armistead
Friday, June 4th, 2010 at 10:00am

As you probably know if you read our blog and follow us on twitter, Hannon Hill loves to spotlight what our customers are doing with Cascade Server.

We are particularly proud of our client Judy Steward of the University of Western Ontario.  At the recent Ontario Universities Computing Conference 2010, she gave a great presentation on UWO's implementation of Cascade Server after selecting it against several solutions including some open-source competitors.

Take a few minutes to watch the video in case you weren't able to see the live show at OUCC 2010!

Category

  • News