Chapter 4. Organize Your Content

This chapter focuses on how to manage, store, preserve, and deliver content, and more, via the following main topics:

  • Structure content introduces types of drives and views, functions on action tabs, actions on folders and documents, and content administration.

  • Manage content shows how to contribute content, and to manage content (for example, creating/editing/publishing/deleting content).

  • Manage newsletters includes information of newsletter viewer and newsletter manager, and actions which can be done on the newsletter manager.

  • Manage workflows represents default processes, including holiday and pay raise, and how to create and manage these processes. Also, this section also focuses on how to upload or view details of a process.

Content is a main part of a website that may consist of various elements, such as texts, images, sounds, videos, animations, and more. In eXo Platform, you can manage both structured and unstructured content.

To create and manage the content more effectively and dynamically, you need to pay attention to the structure of each content, including:

Main content contains all key contents, such as texts, images, links, tables, and more.

Illustration is an image which is used to clarify or explain the content. Also, a summary also can be added to this image.

default.css contains CSS data which are used to present the web content, such as layout, font, color, and more.

default.js contains JS data which are used to make web content more animating and dynamic.

This page is used to manage all documents in different drives. This is really a flexible way because you can do through Internet whenever and wherever. By default, anyone can access Sites Explorer, but the ability to do actions on Sites Explorer depends on the role of each user.

The Private drive contains personal data of registered users. Hence, only these individuals can access data in this drive type.

By default, there are some initialized folders to store private resources of users.

In Private drive, there are many functions on the Action bar, including:

With the Public drive, there is no initialized folder but you can create by yourself.

In the Public drive, you also can take similar actions to those in the Private drive.

By default, there are two initialized folders but you also can add more and take actions that is similar in the Private drives. Only users in a specific group can access its drive.

The sidebar is used to show nodes like a tree or show the related documents, tags, clipboard and saved searches.

You can hide/show the sidebar in two ways:

The first way

  1. Click sprocket to open the Preferences.

  2. Deselect the Show Sidebar checkbox, then click Save to accept your changes.

The second way

There are many drives in Sites Explorer. Each drive has some views that enable you to view data in the drive in a particular way. Each view has some action tabs and each action tab contains some functions.

eXo Platform supports you some ways to view nodes in a specific folder and show actions of corresponding tab on the Action bar.

Note

The number of view types depends on which drive you are browsing. In eXo Platform, you can manage view types by selecting --> Content --> Content Administration --> Content Presentation --> Manage View. See the Manage views section for more details.

In this view, each item in the list includes following information: Name, Date Created, Date Modified, Owner, Versionable and Auditing. These information will help you manage nodes easily.

You also can sort nodes to the nodes information by clicking the label of corresponding column.

This view is defined as a dynamic one with the side-scrolling view to nodes in a folder. In this view, when a node is selected, its name is set with bold effect to more outstanding than others.

To move from one node to another one, you can do one of these ways:

In this view type, nodes in a specific folder will be viewed as icons. The name of each node will be shown under its icon.

By using the Thumbnails view, nodes in a specific folder are viewed as icons bounded by frames. Name of each node is shown under its icon.

If nodes are image files, their thumbnails will be shown like the screenshot below.

In this view type, pictures in folders are viewed in the slide show.

To view pictures in the slide show, click slide show.

If nodes are pictures, they are displayed like the following illustration.

The Slide Show view automatically shows all picture nodes. Users can control this slide show by clicking the below buttons.

Button Function
Go to the first picture node.
View the previous picture node.
Pause the slide show. After clicking this button, will become . Click to continue viewing the pictures node.
View the next picture node.
View the last picture node.

This view enables users to view all nodes created and uploaded by simply clicking clock.

All the nodes, which have been created and uploaded, will be displayed.

You can directly click the node name to view its content in details.

You can also click star to mark your item as favorite, or star of a favorite node again to remove it from favorites.

Functions are added to tabs in Sites Explorer by administrators. The number of displayed actions depends on each tab and each drive you are browsing and your role.

This section shows you how to take all actions in Sites Explorer.

This function enables you to add a category to a node.

  1. Select a node to which you want to add a category.

  2. Select [ Add category ] on the Action bar to open the Add Category form.

  3. Enter a name for the category in the Category Name field.

  4. Click Save to accept creating the new category.

There are several types of document in eXo Platform, such as File, Article, Podcast, Sample node, File Plan, Kofax and more..

The table below shows types of nodes which can be added to various document types. The rows indicate which nodes in the left column can be added. The columns indicate which nodes at the top can contain.

 FileArticlePodcastSample nodeFile PlanKofax documentContent folderDocument folder
File
Article       
Podcast
Sample node       
File Plan    
Kofax  
Uploaded file
Content folder    
Document folder    

Note

green tick indicates that the corresponding document can be added into. A blank entry means that the corresponding document cannot be added into.

Following the horizontal, you will know which nodes can be added.

Following the vertical, you will know which node can be included.

Add a new document

  1. Select a folder from the left pane where you want to add a new document.

  2. Click [ Add Document ] on the Action bar to open a list of content templates.

  3. Click your desired template. See more details in Step 3 of the Add a content section.

    Each document (except Article) must be added to categories when being created.

Attach files to a document

  1. Select a document or a folder that you want to attach files, and click [ Upload ] on the Action bar.

    The Upload File form will appear.

  2. Enter a name into the Name field. If not, the Name field is automatically filled with the file name.

  3. Click Browse... to select the attachment file. You can click plus to add more files.

  4. Click Save to attach the files.

    To view the attached file directly in Sites Explorer, simply click its name.

    Note

    eXo Platform enables you to view all types of documents, such as Open Office, Microsoft Office in the PDF format.

Create a new article

  1. Follow the steps in the Add a new document section to open the corresponding form to add a new Article document.

  2. Input name and title of the Article in the Name and Title fields. Special characters (@ # % & * ( ) " ' : ; [ ] {} / !) are not allowed in the Name field.

  3. Input values for both fields: Summary and Content.

  4. Click Save or Save & Close to accept the inputted values.

After being created, your newly added Article document will be shown as below.

The Links area lists all its related documents. After adding relations to a document, Article will be displayed. You can click these links to view the content of the related documents. For more details about how to add a relation to a document, refer to the Add a relation section.

The Attachments area lists all its uploaded files/documents which are attached with the Article. You can remove the attachments by clicking trash can.

For more details about how to add an attachment, see the Attach files to a document section.

Note

The name of document may be as the same to that of the existing one. When a new document is created with the same name as other existing document, a numeric index will be added to the name (for example, test [2]).

Create a new Podcast

  1. Follow the steps in the Add a new document section to open the corresponding Podcast form.

    Details:

    FieldDescription
    NameThe document name which is required. Special characters (@ # % & * ( ) “ ' : ; [ ] {} / !) are not allowed in the Name field.
    CategoriesCategories of a document.
    TitleThe display name of a document.
    LinkThe link to the source path of the uploaded media file that is required.
    AuthorThe author of the uploaded media file.
    Explicit

    It is used to indicate if your Podcast episodes contain an explicit content or not.

    CategoryThe category of the uploaded media file, for example music, film, or short clip.
    KeywordThis field allows you to search your Podcast files more quickly. You can use commas to separate between keywords.
    Publish DateThe date when an episode was released.
    DescriptionInformation about the uploaded media file.
    Mime TypeThe type of the uploaded media file.
    LengthThe length of the uploaded media file.

  2. Input values for fields. To upload a media file, click Browse... and select the media file from your device.

  3. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

Once being created, a Podcast will be displayed.

Create a new Sample node

  1. Follow the steps in the Add a new document section to open the Sample node form.

  2. Complete the appropriate fields.

  3. To upload an image, click the Browse... button and select an image from your computer.

  4. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

After being created, a new sample node will be displayed.

The Relations area is used to list all its related documents. See the View relations section.

You can click the links to view content of the related document.

The Attachments area is used to list all its uploaded files. See the Attach files to a document section for more details.

Create a new File Plan

  1. Follow the instructions in the Add a new document section to open the corresponding form to add a File Plan document.

    Details:

  2. Fill in the appropriate fields of the tabs in the form.

  3. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

Create a new Kofax document

  1. Follow the instructions in the Add a new document section to open the Add Kofax Document form.

  2. Input a name for a Kofax document in the Name field which is required. Special characters (@ # % & * ( ) “ ' : ; [ ] { } / !) are not allowed in this field.

  3. Select categories for a Kofax document by clicking plus.

  4. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

After being created, a Kofax document will be displayed.

  • The File View tab is used to display all added nodes in that Kofax. Besides, all added files in Kofax are also displayed in the Document View tab.

Create a new event

  1. Follow the instructions in the Add a new document section to open the Add an event document form.

  2. Enter a title for the event.

  3. Input the location where the event will take place in the Location field. Select the Google Maps checkbox if you want the location of the event to be shown on Google Maps.

  4. Enter the Start and End Date/Time of the event.

  5. Fill the Summary and Content fields.

  6. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

After being created, the event will be displayed like the illustration bellow.

You can create a document immediately in a specific drive. However, adding a document to a specific folder enables you to manage documents better.

There are two types of folder:

In the default skin, the icon for a content folder node is displayed in blue and the icon for a document folder node is displayed in yellow.

File and folder types in a folder

Content folder
Document folder

Create a folder

  1. Select the path to create a folder.

  2. Click [ Add Folder ] on the Action bar. The Add Folder form is displayed:

  3. Select a folder type.

  4. Input values for both Name and Title fields which are required. Special characters (@ # % & * ( ) " ' : ; [ ] {} / !) are not allowed in these fields.

  5. Click Save to accept creating a new folder.

Note

The name of a folder may be the same as that of the existing one. When a new folder is created with the same name as other existing folders, an index will be added to the name of your newly created folder (for example, test[2]).

You can only create a content folder in another content folder.

You can create a document folder in a content folder or a document folder.

This function enables users to add multiple languages for a document. This action is similar to adding a language.

  1. Select a document to which you want to add the translation. For example, select an Article in English.

  2. Click [ Add Translation ] on the Action bar. The Symlink Manager will appear.

  3. Click plus, then browse to the target document that has different language with the first document. For example, the Article version in French.

  4. After you have selected the document, click Save on the Symlink Manager form.

  5. Select the document to which you have added the translation, then click the Relation button on the Filter bar.

    You will see the available language for the selected document. Click the language on this pane to view the document in the corresponding language version.

You also easily add a Symlink to a document. This function allows you to access your desired documents quickly.

  1. Select a node where you want to add a Symlink.

  2. Click [ Add Sym Link ] on the Action bar. The Symlink Manager pop-up will appear.

    Details:

    FieldDescription
    Path NodeThe path of a link.
    Symlink NameThe name of a link.

  3. Click plus to open the Select Target Node form.

  4. Select the workspace which contains the node that you want to add a Symlink.

  5. Click green tick in the row of the node that you want to add. The path that the node will appear in the Path Node field and the name of the node is set by the name of the selected node. You can also edit this name.

  6. Click Save to finish adding a Symlink.

This function is used to comment on a document.

Note

You cannot comment on a File Plan document.

  1. Select a document to which you want to add your comment.

  2. Click [ Comment this document ] on the Action bar.

    The Comment form appears.

  3. Add your comment to the Comment field.

  4. Click Save to commit.

The comments are shown at the bottom of the document.

To view your comment, click the Show comments link:

You can edit your comment by clicking pencil or delete it by clicking trash can.

There are two ways to edit a document.

The first way

  1. Select a document you want to edit in the left panel.

  2. Click [ Edit Document ] on the Action bar.

The second way

  1. Select a folder that contains the document you want to edit.

  2. Right-click the document you want to edit and select Edit from the menu.

    The Edit Document form will appear. All information of the selected document will be displayed in this form and ready for you to change except the Name field.

  3. Click Save to commit your changes.

Nodes can be exported into either .xml or .zip file types.

  1. Select a node that you want to export.

  2. Click [ Export Node ] on the Action bar to show the Export Node form.

    Details:

    FieldsDescription
    Path to ExportThe path of the node being exported. This field will be pre-populated.
    FormatThe format of the original node.
    System ViewEach node and each property of that node is included in a different tag.
    Document ViewEach node is a tag and properties of that node are considered to be elements of that tag.
    ZipIf this field is checked, the node will be exported as a .zip file.

  3. Click Export and select a location to save the exported file.

    Note

    The Export Node form can contain Export Version History if the exported node or any of its child nodes is versioned.

    This action exports all of the node's version history.

Nodes which are in the .xml file format can be imported into the JCR Explorer system.

  1. Select the location where you want to import the new node.

  2. Click [ Import Node ] on the Action bar. The Import Node form appears.

  3. Click Browse... next to the Upload File field and navigate to the file you want to import.

  4. Select one value from the UUID Behaviour drop-down menu, including:

    Create New

    If you select this behavior, the imported nodes receive new UUIDs which are completely independent of any existing nodes. As the imported nodes get new UUIDs, there are no UUID conflicts with the existing nodes in the workspace. The existing nodes in the workspace are not moved, modified or deleted. The imported nodes are considered as new nodes and therefore, do not have a version history. You cannot import a version history for these nodes.

    Remove Existing

    If you select this behavior, the imported nodes in a selected path receive the same UUIDs of the exported nodes. As the result, there is UUID conflicts with the existing nodes. Therefore, the existing nodes are removed from the workspaces and the new nodes will have the same version history as the existing nodes.

    Replace Existing

    If you select this behavior, you only can import the exported nodes into their original workspaces where they are exported. When the new nodes are created with the same UUIDs of the existing nodes, causing UUID conflicts with the existing nodes in the workspaces. Therefore, the existing nodes are replaced by the new ones in the same location and the new nodes have the same version history as the existing nodes.

    Throw Exception

    If you select this behavior, there is a message which will alert that you can not import this node in case this node has been existing in the workspace. If this node hasn't existed, a new node will be created.

  5. Click Browse... next to Version History to select a version to import.

  6. Select a format.

  7. Click Import to import the file's selected version.

  1. Select the node to which you want to add an action.

  2. Click [ Manage Actions ] on the Action bar.

    The Manage Actions form will appear.

  3. Select the Add Action tab.

    Details:

    FieldDescription
    Name The name of this action. This name is internal to the JCR explorer.
    Lifecycle Select the lifecycle for this action. The action will be executed, depending on the lifecycle:

    • 'User Action': The action is executed when right-clicking the folder and then selecting the action.

    • 'Content Addition': The action will be executed on a new document, but not on a subfolder when the document or the subfolder is created in the folder to which an action has been added. It is also applied to a new document in the subfolder of the folder.

    • 'Content Removal': The action will be executed on a document, but not on a subfolder in the folder when the document or the subfolder is moved.

    • 'Property Addition': The action will be executed on a document when a property is added to the document.

    • 'Property Removal': The action will be executed on a document when a property is removed from the document.

    • 'Property Modification': The action will be executed on a document when a property of the document is modified.

    • 'Schedule': The action is done at specific time.

      If you need the same action to be executed in several lifecycles, you have to create several actions.


  4. Select one type for your action from the Create Action of Type drop-down menu.

    Details:

    FieldDescription
    exo:AddMetadataActionAdd metadata.
    exo:autoVersioningAdd a version automatically.
    exo:createRSSFeedActionCreate an RSS file.
    exo:enableVersioningEnable versioning.
    exo:getMailAction Fetch mails.
    exo:populateToMenuThis type is not supported.
    exo:sendMailActionSend mails.
    exo:taxonomyActionCreate categories.
    exo:transformBinaryTo TextActionConvert .pdf or .doc file types into plain text.

  5. Complete all the fields in the form. The Name and Lifecycle fields are required.

  6. Click Save to commit the action.

All actions of a node are listed in the Available Actions tab.

Once an action is added to a node, it is auto-added to any child nodes of the selected node.

If an action is added with the lifecycle named 'User Action', it will be applied to the current node. If an action is added with other lifecycles, it will be applied to the child nodes.

Note

Not all actions are listed in a right-click menu of nodes. Some actions can be performed immediately when that action is added.

  1. Open the Manage Actions form and select the Available Actions tab.

  2. Click magnifying glass that corresponds to the action you want to view.

    The details will be displayed in the Action Info tab.

  1. Open the Manage Actions form and select the Available Actions tab.

  2. Click pencil that corresponds to the action you want to modify.

  3. Edit properties in the Action Form.

  4. Click Save to accept your changes.

  1. Open the Manage Actions form and select the Available Actions tab.

  2. Click trash can that corresponds to the action you want to modify.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to delete the action.

This function logs property changes in nodes.

  1. Select a node.

  2. Click [ Manage Auditing ] on the Action bar. The Activate Auditing message appears.

  3. Click Activate to enable auditing on the selected node.

  4. Click [ Manage Auditing ] again to view the audit information of the selected node.

    The Auditing Information list appears.

    If the node has no audit information, the form will appear as below.

You can add categories to the document type nodes only.

  1. Select the node to which you want to add a category.

  2. Click [ Manage Categories ] on the Action bar.

    The Add Category form appears.

  3. Select the Select Category tab to show the available categories.

  4. Click green tick to add the corresponding category to the node.

The category, which has been added to a node, is listed in the Referenced Categories tab.

All nodes, which belong to a category, can be viewed as follows:

View a category

  1. Go to the drive which contains the category you have added. There will be a list of categories available.

  2. Select your desired category. The documents in that category will be listed.

Note

When copying and pasting a node in a drive, a new node with the same content will be created with a different name.

When copying and pasting a node in the category tree, a reference to the original node will be created. This reference is a link rather than a copy. This feature is used to preserve the disk space.

  1. Select a categorized node.

  2. Click [ Manage Categories ].

  3. Select the Referenced Categories tab.

  4. Click trash can that corresponds to the category you want to delete.

Nodes can be hidden or shown easily.

Hide a node

  1. Select the node you want to hide.

  2. Click [ Hide/Show content ] on the Action bar to hide the node.

    A confirmation message, which notifies that the node has been hidden, will appear.

Show a node

To show a hidden node, click [ Hide/Show content ] again.

This function is used to manage node publication.

  1. Select a node (on the left or right pane) which you want to manage its publication.

  2. Click [ Manage Publications ] on the Action bar.

    The Manage Publication form appears.

    The Revision tab displays some basic information and the current state of the selected node.

  3. Click magnifying glass to view the content of the node or click [ Restore Version ] to restore a version (refer to the Manage versions section for information about versioning).

  4. Select the History tab to view the publications history of the node.

  5. Click Save to accept your changes.

    Note

    See the Publication process section to understand more Manage Publication.

You can use this function to create relations between nodes.

  1. Select the node you want to add a relation to.

  2. Click [ Manage Relations ] on the Action bar.

    The Add Relation form appears.

  3. Select the Select Relation tab to see a list of other documents.

  4. Click green tick that corresponds to the documents related to the document selected in the Step 1.

    Documents linked to the original via a relation will be listed in the Relation List tab.

Note

Relations can only be added to document and uploaded file node types.

A node cannot have a relation to itself.

  1. Select a node that has links to related documents.

  2. Click the [ Manage Relations ] button on the Action bar.

  3. Select the Relation List tab to view relations of the selected node.

  4. Click trash can corresponding to the relation you want to remove.

  5. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

    The related document will be removed from the list.

  1. Select a node that has links to related documents.

  2. Click the relation button on the Filter bar.

    All nodes related to the selected node will be displayed in the left pane.

  3. Click the name of the related node to view the document.

  1. Select a node to add a version to.

  2. Click [ Manage Relations ] on the Action bar.

    The following message will appear.

  3. Click Activate to enable a version for the node.

  4. Right-click the selected node and select CheckIn from the drop-down menu.

  5. Click [ Manage Versions ] again to open the Version Info window.

    The node selected in Step 1 has been added as the Base version..

  6. Right-click the node again and select CheckOut to obtain a version of this node.

Note

No actions (copying/cutting/renaming) can be taken on a node in the Check In status. You must check it out before you can perform any actions on it.

If you want to add more versions to a node, right-click the selected node above and select CheckIn and then CheckOut.

Add a label

  1. Select a versioned node.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ] on the Action bar.

  3. Click plus icon on the Version Info window to show the Add Label field under the version list.

  4. Enter a value into the Label field.

    The label must be unique without containing any special characters, such as @, #, $.

  5. Click Save to submit the new label.

Remove a label

  1. Select a versioned node which has at least one label.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ] on the Action bar.

  3. Click minus on the Version Info window to show the Remove Label field under the versions list.

  4. Select the label you want to remove from the drop-down menu.

  5. Click the Remove button to remove the selected label.

  1. Select a versioned node.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ].

  3. Click magnifying glass to see the current versions of the selected node.

Note

Version viewing is not supported on folder nodes.

If you click magnifying glass while the selected node is a folder, a message will appear.

  1. Select a node which has at least two versions stored.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ].

  3. Select the version that you want to restore as the base version.

  4. Click "Restore Version" to restore the selected version.

  1. Select a node which has at least two versions.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ].

  3. Click trash can corresponding to the version you want to delete.

    A confirmation message will appear.

  4. Click OK to delete the version.

Note

You cannot delete a base version.

This function is used to add multiple languages to a document. Each document can be displayed in many languages.

  1. Select a document that you want to add languages.

  2. Click [ Add/Edit localized contents ] on the Action bar.

    The Multi Language form will appear.

    The View Language tab contains a list of all languages. The default language for the document will be automatically populated.

  3. Select the Add Language tab. This tab will be displayed differently, depending on which file you selected. However, the area where you can add languages to a document is the same. The below illustration shows the Add Language tab for a Sample node file:

  4. Select a language you want to add from the Language drop-down list.

    If the selected language has not been added to the current document, the content field will be blank.

    Select the Set Default checkbox if you want to set your selected language as a default language.

  5. Click Save to be returned to the View Language tab. Your selected language is now added to the Language field.

    You can view this document in your newly added language by selecting that language from the Language drop-down list, then click the View button.

View the languages list of a document

  1. Select a document that you want to view the languages list, then click the Relation button on the Filter bar:

  2. The list of language (and all related documents) will be displayed on the left pane.

    You can view the document in the new language by clicking the corresponding link in Languages List.

    For more details about Relations, refer to the Views relations section.

Note

You cannot add multiple languages to a File Plan document.

When a document is a sub-node of File Plan, you also cannot add language to it.

You can overload a thumbnail image for a folder. Overloading allows a folder to be represented by a thumbnail image, rather than a folder icon (see the Thumbnail view section).

  1. Select the folder you wish to overload with a thumbnail image.

  2. Click [ Overload thumbnail ] on the Action bar.

    The Add Thumbnail Image form appears.

  3. Click the Browse... button to select the image which will be used as the display icon for the selected folder.

  4. Click Save to accept your changes. The node will be stored in an exo:thumbnails folder.

If you want to publish one created content but not obtaining the 'Publish' right, you must send a request for approving your content.

  1. Select the content that you want to send the request for publishing it.

  2. Click the Request Approval button on the Action bar.

    The content is displayed at the bottom of the Sites Explorer of the people who have the right to approve contents.

When a content is created by users, it is possible to approve the publication if there is an approval request. To approve a content, do the followings:

  1. Select a content that needs approving.

  2. Click the Approve Content button on the Action bar and the content is ready to be published.

    Note

    The Approve Content button is only visible for users who have the right to approve contents.

    By default, this button is not displayed on the Action bar.

    Enable this function by selecting --> Content --> Content Administration --> Content Presentation --> Manage Views. See the Manage views section to know how to add the Approve Content button to the tabs on the Action bar in Sites Explorer .

After the content is approved, it can be published by people who have the "Publish" permission.

  1. Select a content that you want to publish.

  2. Click the Publish Content button on the Action bar. The content will be published as the schedule that you set up.

    Note

    The Publish Content button is only visible for users who have the "Publish" right.

    By default, the button is not displayed on the Action bar.

    Enable this function by selecting --> Content --> Content Administration --> Content Presentation --> Manage Views. See the Manage views section to know how to add the Publish Content button to the tabs on the Action bar in Sites Explorer.

This function enables you to show or hide all the drives in Sites Explorer.

To show drives, click [ Show/Hide Drives ] on the Action bar.

To hide drives, click [ Show/Hide Drives ] again.

This function allows you to view document nodes in a tree structure.

Show the JCR Structure

  1. Select a document.

  2. Click [ Show/Hide Like JCR Structure ] on the Action bar.

Hide the JCR Structure

  1. Select a document which is showing the JCR structure.

  2. Click [ Show/Hide Like JCR Structure ] again.

A tag is a keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information (a picture, a geographic map, a blog entry, a video clip, and more). Each tag describes one item and enables the keyword-based classification and search of information.

Add a new tag to a document

  1. Select a document to which you want to add tags.

  2. Click [ Tagging this document ] on the Action bar. The Tag Manager will be displayed.

    Details:

    FieldDescription
    Tag NamesThe tag names that users want to add tags to documents.
    Tag ScopesClassify the tags. There are four tag types: private, public, group, and site. Currently, the two first types are activated ("Private" means that a user who creates tags can view and edit tags; "Public" means that all users can view and edit tags).
    Linked TagsList all tags of a document after the Add Tags button has been clicked.

  3. Input a value into the Tag Names field. Several tags can be added to a document at a time. To do that, input all tag names in the Tag Names field and separate by commas.

  4. Select a value for the Tag Scopes field.

  5. Click Add Tags to accept, or Close to quit. Only you can see this tag in this document.

  6. Click trash can to delete tags.

Remove tags from a document

  1. Select a document with tags that you want to delete the tags.

  2. Click [ Tagging this document ] on the Action bar to open the Tag Manager form.

  3. Click trash can corresponding to the tags you want to delete.

  4. Click OK in the confirmation message to delete the tags.

This function allows you to upload a file from your device. All file types can be uploaded. Special characters (! @ $ % & [ ]) are not allowed.

  1. Select the folder that you want to upload a file into from the left/right pane.

  2. Click [ Upload ] on the Action bar to open the Upload File form.

  3. Browse and select a file on your device by clicking the Browse... button. The selected file name will be displayed in the Select File field.

    If you want to upload multiple files at the same time, click plus to open more Upload File forms.

    Click trash can to close a Upload File form.

    To change the uploaded file, click trash can in the Select File field and select Browse... again to select another one.

  4. Optionally, type a name in the Name field which is not required. Special characters (! @ $ % & [ ]) are not allowed in this field. If not, the name of the uploaded file will be kept as original. new name in

  5. You can click plus next to the Categories List field to select categories to which you want to add this file.

    i. Select a category in the left pane to open its child nodes in the right pane.

    ii. Click green tick corresponding to a child node that you want.

    Note

    You can add more categories to a file by clicking plus again to open the Add Categories form.

    Click trash can to delete a category in Upload File form.

    You also manage categories which have been added to files by using the Manage Categories function. See the Manage categories section.

  6. Complete uploading file by clicking Save.

    After being saved, the main information of the uploaded file will be displayed.

  7. Optionally, click pencil to see more details about its external metadata information. The List External Metadata tab will be enabled and you can do some actions in this tab.

    • Click pencil corresponding metadata that you want to edit.

    • Click Add metadata to add more metadata to the uploaded file. Then, tick the checkbox, and click Add.

      The new metadata are displayed in the List External Metadata tab.

  8. Click Close to quit the Upload File form.

    After being uploaded, the tree is displayed in the left pane.

Note

The size of the uploaded file depends on the size limit of the uploaded file that you set up in the 'Edit' mode of Sites Explorer. If your file size exceeds the limit, the alert message will appear.

This function allows you to view metadata attached to File nodes, Podcast nodes, File Plan child nodes and uploaded file nodes (nt:file nodes).

  1. Select an appropriate node (nt:file).

  2. Click [ View Metadatas ]. The View Metadata form appears.

  3. Click the Add/Edit button at the bottom of the View Metadata form to add metadata.

  4. Complete the desired fields in the Add/Edit Properties form. Click plus to add further metadata.

  5. Click Save to accept the new metadata values.

This function allows you to view the detailed information of a node.

  1. Select a node that you want to view its detailed information.

  2. Click [ View Node Types ] to view detailed information about the selected node.

  3. Click the tabs at the top of the form to view categorized information.

This function allows an administrator to manage the permissions for nodes.

  1. Select a node.

  2. Click [ View Permissions ]. The Permission Management form appears.

By opening the Permission Management form, you can perform the following actions:

Add permissions

  1. Add permission for specific users

    i. Click "Select user" next to the User Or Group field.

    ii. Click green tick next to the users to whom you want to grant permissions.

  2. Select users from a specific group

    Or;

  3. Search for a user

    i. Select an information parameter (Username, First Name, Last Name, Email) from the drop-down menu in the other field at the top of the page and enter information into the textbox.

    ii. Click magnifying glass to search for users matching with your selected information.

  4. Add permissions based on memberships

    i. Click "Select membership" next to the User Or Group field.

    The Select Membership form will appear that allows you to select users by membership.

    ii. Select a group on the left pane, and membership types on the right.

  5. Add all users/groups with read access

    Click "Select everyone" next to the User Or Group field.

  6. Select the permission you want to grant the selected users or groups by ticking the corresponding checkboxes beside rights you want to add.

  7. Click Save to accept your changes. The new permissions will appear in the permissions table above.

Edit permissions

  1. Select the permission of a user or a group in the table of list permissions.

  2. Click pencil.

  3. Change the permissions as desired.

  4. Click Save to accept your changed permissions.

Delete permissions

  1. Select the permission of a user or a group in the table of list permissions.

  2. Click trash can.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to remove the permission.

This function allows users to review all the properties and values of a node. It can also be used to add values to a node.

  1. Select the node you want to review or add values to.

  2. Click [ View Node Properties ] to show the Properties Management form.

    This form has two tabs:

    Properties

    This tab displays all properties and values for the selected node.

    Add New Property

    This tab contains fields to add new properties to the selected node.

  3. Select the Add New Property tab to add new properties to the selected node.

  4. Select the namespace for the property.

  5. Enter a name for the new property in the Name field.

  6. Select the property type from the Type drop-down menu.

  7. Enter a value for the property in the Value field.

    To add multiple new values, click plus and repeat the above steps.

    To remove a value, click trash can.

  8. Click Save to accept your new values, or Reset to clear all modified fields.

After you have made changes on new properties, you will be returned to the Properties tab. The newly added values will be displayed.

In this form, you can edit a property by clicking pencil, or delete it by clicking trash can.

This function shows/hides documents related to a selected node.

This function is used to vote for a document.

Note

You cannot vote for a File Plan document.

  1. Open the document you want to vote for.

  2. Click [ Vote for document ] on the Action bar.

    The Vote Document form will appear.

  3. Rate the document by clicking the appropriate star level.

After a vote has been added, the rating will appear at the bottom of the document:

By using this function, whenever any change is made on the document, a notification message will be sent to your email address. To receive that email, you must configure in your mail server.

Watch a document

Select the document you want to watch and click eye.

The Watch Document form will appear. Click the Watch button to finish.

Stop watching a document

Select the document and click eye.

A message will appear to confirm the action.

This section represents actions on folders and documents through the right-click menu (Adding to favorites, copying, cutting, pasting, adding Symlink, locking/unlocking, viewing/renaming/downloading document, and allowing edition and copying URL to clipboard) and other actions (dragging and dropping folders or documents).

Depending on the actions on folders or documents, the right-click menu (drop-down menu) is different.

The actions in the right-click menu for documents:

The actions in the right-click menu for folders:

This function helps users easily add nodes (documents, folders or files) as favorite.

  1. Right-click a node you want to add as a favorite.

  2. Click [ Add to favorite ] from the drop-down menu.

A symlink of your favorite nodes (folders, documents, files) will be created in the Favorite folder.

This function is used to make a copy of a node (including sub-nodes) to other places.

There are two ways to cut/copy & paste the node:

The first way

  1. Right-click the node, then select Copy or Cut from the drop-down menu.

  2. Right-click a destination node that you want to be the parent node of the copied/cut node, then select Paste from the drop-down menu. Note that the Paste function is enabled in the menu only after selecting the Copy/Cut action.

    The copied/cut folder (and its sub-folders) will be pasted into the new selected path.

The second way

  1. Right-click the node and select Copy/Cut from the drop-down menu.

  2. Select the destination node that you want to be the parent node of the copied node.

  3. Select the Clipboard icon on the Filter bar.

    The Clipboard window will appear.

  4. Click clipboard in the clipboard window to paste the copied/cut node into the selected destination node in Step 3.

Note

You only can take the Copy action if you have this right on the source node.

You only can take the Paste action if you have the right on the destination node.

If the destination node has the same name with the copied node, after being pasted, an index will be added to the name of the pasted node, for example Live and Live[2].

You cannot copy a content folder into a document folder.

After taking the Copy action, you can take the Paste action on different nodes before taking another Copy action.

To edit a document, refer to the Edit a web content section.

This function helps you remove folders/documents from their locations easily. Do the same steps as in the Delete a web content section.

Note

You can only take the Delete action if you have the right on a node.

If the deleted node contains sub-nodes, these sub-nodes will be deleted, too.

This function allows you to move folders/documents from a current location to another one by using the drag and drop feature.

  1. Hover your cursor over folders/documents in the right pane, or hold the Ctrl or Shift key to select multiple folders/documents at once until the cursor changes to a pointing hand.

  2. Press the left-mouse button and drag the selected folders/documents.

  3. Drop them into another folder in either the right or left pane by releasing the left-mouse button. The "dragged" folders/documents will be relocated to the destination folder.

This function is to avoid changes on specific folders/documents and actions by others, during a specific time.

Lock folders/documents

Just right-click a folder/document (on either the right or left window pane) and select Lock from the drop-down menu. The selected folder/document will be locked.

Note

Only users with appropriate rights can lock folders/documents.

After being locked, other users can only view the folders/documents.

The lock will be kept as current for a session only. If the locking user signs out, the node will be unlocked.

Other users can copy the locked node (by using the Copy/Paste functions outlined above); however, the original node cannot be removed or altered.

If no action is taken on a locked node within 30 minutes, the lock will be automatically removed.

Unlock folders/documents

To unlock the locked folder/document, right-click it and select Unlock from the drop-down menu. The folder/document will then be unlocked and other users can take actions on it.

This function is used to change the folder/document name.

  1. Right-click a folder/document that you want to rename, then select Rename from the drop-down menu.

    The Rename form will appear.

  2. Input a new name in the Name field. You can also change the its title by entering a new one in the Title field.

  3. Click Save to accept your changes.

A symlink embedded into a node allows you to quickly access the node even if you are in other nodes.

WebDAV enables users to access files, folders, and read/write documents over the web. Thanks to its benefits of easy, quick and flexible manipulations and time-saving, WebDAV is used to view nodes.

  1. Select the path of node you want to view WebDAV or open that folder from the left/right pane.

  2. Right-click the node and select Download And Allow Edition from the drop-down menu.

  3. With each type of node, the form to view in WebDAV will be different:

eXo Platform supports you to view all information of a document, such as name, title, creator, and publication state of the document.

The View Document item is visible in the drop-down menu when you right-click a document. This function allows you to view the document on another tab with the link containing the document path.

The Copy URL To Clipboard enables you to copy the WebDAV URL of a selected folder or a document. You then can view it with the WebDAV view on a browser.

  1. Right-click a folder/document, and select Copy URL To Clipboard.

  2. Paste the URL on another tab.

    You can view the folders of the node you copied its URL or download documents to your computer. You also view other nodes by clicking ... above the current folder to go up the root node as below.

Tags are easily managed by editing or deleting them with the Tag Manager.

Edit a tag

  1. Click Tag Cloud on the Filter bar, then click tag at the upper-right corner of the tags pane.

    The Edit Tag form will appear.

  2. Click pencil that corresponds to the tag you want to edit.

  3. Edit the tag to your desires.

  4. Click Save to accept your changes.

Delete a tag

  1. Do Step 1 from the procedure above.

  2. Click trash can.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to delete the tag.

Use your created tags

  1. Click tag.

    You will see all existing tags which are listed and classified by private or public tags.

    Depending on the popularity of tag, the display of each tag will be different from others by: font-size, font-weight, color, font-family, text-decoration. For example, when a tag is added to over 10 documents, it will be displayed in red color, size:20px, bold. This can also be configured in the Manage Tag tab.

  2. Each tag is similar to a link which lists all documents that it is added. To display the documents list in the right pane, click a tag name.

This page is used to manage all workspaces, drives, node types, metadata, templates, queries, and more. Only administrators can access the Content Administration page.

This page enables you to access:

The Manage Tags function enables you to manage tag styles. The tag styles will change, depending on the number of documents in a tag.

Go to Categories & Tags --> Manage Tags.

Add a tag style

  1. Click the Add Style button. The Edit Tag Style Configuration form will appear.

    Details:

    FieldDescription
    Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field means that it is required to input values.
    Style Name Give the tag name which cannot be edited.
    Document Range Give the number of document assigned to a tag.
    HTML Style Include font-size, font-weight, color, font-family, text-decoration.

  2. Input values in the fields: Style Name, Document Range, HTML Style.

  3. Click Update to accept adding a new tag style.

Note

The format of valid range must be: a..b where 'a', 'b' are positive integers. You can use * instead of 'b' to indicate it is unlimited. For example, 0..2 (means 0-2 documents assigned to a tag), 10..* (means at least 10 documents assigned to a tag).

The 'HTML style' textbox cannot be empty. You can change values of font-size, font–weight, color, font-family, and text-decoration.

The Tag Manager tab enables you to edit the existing tags.

Edit an existing tag

  1. Click the pen icon corresponding to the tag name which you want to edit in the Action column to edit the tag style configuration. The Edit Tag Style Configuration form appears which is similar to that of adding a tag style.

  2. Change values in the fields, including Document Range and HTML Style, except Style Name.

  3. Click Update to save new changes.

To delete one tag style, simply click the corresponding Delete icon and select OK in the confirmation to accept your deletion.

The Tag Permission Manager tab helps you set permissions regarding to editing and deleting public tags.

Set Permission To Tag Management

  1. Click "Select user" beside the Memberships field to select memberships to add a permission to those memberships. The Select Membership form will appear.

  2. Select a group on the left and the corresponding membership on the right. The selected membership will appear in the Memberships field.

  3. Click Save to accept adding a permission for the membership to the Memberships column.

    You can also delete memberships that have permissions by clicking regarding to that membership, then click OK in the confirmation message.

A category can be understood as a classification practice and science. It is used to sort documents, aiming at facilitating searches. The category management includes adding, editing and deleting a category tree.

Go to Categories & Tags --> Manage Categories.

  1. Click the Add Category Tree button to add a new category. The Add Category Tree form will appear.

  2. Enter the category tree name in the Name field which is required.

  3. Select the workspace you want to work with.

  4. Select the home path by clicking . The Select Home Path form will appear.

  5. Click Reset if you want to reset values that have just been selected or Next to select permissions for a category tree.

    i. Click "Select user" to select a user or "Select memberships" to select memberships or "Select everyone" to select everyone to set permissions. The user or membership that you have just selected will be displayed in the User or Group field.

    ii. Check at least one of these below options to set rights for the selected user to membership:

    FieldDescription
    Read Right Select the Read right or not.
    Add Note Right Select the Add Node right or not.
    Set Property Right Select the Set Property right or not.
    Remove Right Select the Remove right or not.

  6. Click Save to save all values, or Reset to change values that have just been set. After clicking Save, click Next to go to the next step.

  7. Enter the name for an action of the category tree in the Name field which is required.

  8. Select values for Lifecycle, Node Types, Target Workspace, Target Path, Affected Node Types which are required.

  9. Click Save to save all values, then select Next to go to the next step.

Note

Do not input some special characters into the Name field, such as: !,@,#,$,%,&,*,(,).

Do not add a category which has the same name and level with existing taxonomies in a node.

The category name must contain less than 30 characters.

  1. Click pencil corresponding to the category tree you want to edit.

  2. Click plus in the Add column to add more category trees. The Edit Category Tree form will appear.

  3. Enter a category name in the Category Name field which is required.

  4. Click Save to save the category name.

  5. Click Previous to return to the previous steps.

  6. Click Save to save all changes, or Previous or Next if you want to edit more.

Note

You can delete a category by clicking corresponding to the category that you want to delete. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

You cannot delete categories that have been referenced.

When creating a node in eXo Platform, you must set its properties. Thus, each node needs to have a form to enter data for their properties (called the Dialog template), and display the existing values (called the View template). The template management allows users to view, delete and modify the predefined templates or to add a new template.

Add a new template

  1. Click Content Presentation --> Manage Templates.

  2. Click the Add button in the Manage Templates form to open the Template Form.

  3. Select the template type from the Name drop-down menu.

  4. Specify a name for the template in the Label field. It is required.

  5. Select the is Document Template checkbox if you want your created template to become a template for a document.

  6. Click next to the Permission field to open the Select Permission dialog. It is required.

  7. Optionally, select the Dialog tab and enter the value in the Dialog Content field.

  8. Optionally, select the View tab and enter the value in the View Content field.

  9. Optionally, select the CSS tab and enter the value in the CSS Content field.

  10. Click Save to create the template.

Edit a template

  1. Click Content Presentation --> Manage Templates.

  2. Click in the Action column, corresponding to the template you want to edit.

  3. Make changes on the values of each tab, including:

    Note

    You cannot delete the default dialog. You must create a new one before you can delete the current default dialog.

Delete a template

  1. Click trash can corresponding to the template you want to remove in the Manage Templates page.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Metadata is generally defined as "data about data". Metadata is information which describes, or supplements the central data. In the Manage Metadata tab, you can manage nodes in the metadata format in the eXo Platform system. The metadata may be considered as information used to describe the data. When data are provided to end-users, the metadata allows users to understand about information in more details. All metadata nodes can combine with other nodes to create a new node (add mix).

View metadata

  1. Click Content Presentation --> Manage Metadata.

  2. Click corresponding to the metadata you want to view.

    The Metadata Information form will open.

Edit metadata

  1. Click in the Template's Actions column, corresponding to the metadata you want to edit.

    The Edit Metadata's Template form will open.

  2. Change the required properties of the metadata.

    Note

    You cannot edit the metadata name.

  3. Click Apply to save all metadata changes.

Delete metadata

  1. Click corresponding to the metadata you want to delete.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The Manage View function is used to control view ways of a user. It has two tabs: View and ECM Templates

To open the Manage View function, click Content Presentation --> Manage View. The Manage View form displays.

In this tab, you can add, edit, delete, and preview views.

Add a view

  1. Click the Add View button located at the bottom of the Manage View form.

    The Add View form will open.

  2. Specify the view name in the Name field that must be unique, and only contains standard alphanumeric characters. It is required.

  3. Set permissions for the view by clicking the plus icon. It is required.

  4. Click the Templates field and select a template from the drop-down menu for this view.

  5. Click the Add Tab button to create a functional tab on this view. It is required.

    i. Enter the name for the tab in the Name field.

    ii. Specify functions to add to the tab.

    iii. Click Save to finish creating a tab;

    Or click Reset to clear the Tab form;

    Or click Back to return to the View Form tab of the Add View form.

    The newly created tab is displayed on the Tabs field.

  6. Click Save to apply all settings and close the form.

Edit a View

  1. Click in the Action column, corresponding to the view you want to edit.

  2. Edit the view properties.

    Note

    You cannot change the view name.

    If you select the Enable Version checkbox, this view automatically increases to one version after you click Save. It is displayed at the Base Version column in the View tab.

    If the dialog has at least two versions, in the View tab, it displays the Restore button. You can use Restore to roll back to the previous View.

  3. Optionally, click the Add Tab button to open the Tab Form tab that allows you to add more Tabs to the View.

  4. Optionally, click an added Tab to add or remove functions on it. Note that you cannot change the tab name.

  5. Click Save to apply all changes in the View tab.

Delete a view

  1. Click corresponding to the view you want to delete in the Manage View page.

  2. Click OK to delete the view in the confirmation message.

    Note

    You cannot delete a view which is in use.

Preview a view

  1. Click in the Action column of the view you want to preview.

    The View form will open.

  2. Click Close to exit the View form.

Add a new ECM Template

  1. Select the ECM Templates tab.

  2. Click the Add button to open the Add ECM Template form.

  3. Input the content of the template in the Content field.

  4. Input a name for the template in the Name field.

  5. Select a type for the template in the Template Type field.

  6. Click Save to accept adding a new template, or Reset to change values.

Edit a template

  1. Click next to the template you want to edit.

  2. Change the current template's properties.

  3. Click Save to accept all changes.

    Note

    You cannot edit the template name.

    If you tick the Enable Version checkbox, this template will automatically increase to 1 version after you have clicked Save. It is displayed at the Base Version column in the ECMS Template tab.

    If the template has at least two versions, in the Edit ECM Template form, it displays the Restore button that allows restoring the template version.

Delete a template

  1. Click corresponding with the template you want to delete. A confirmation message will appear.

  2. Click OK to accept deleting this template.

The function supports you to manage drives in the Sites Explorer. It allows adding, editing and deleting drives.

Go to Content Presentation --> Manage Drives.

  1. Click the Add Drive button in the Manage Drives page to open the Add Drive form.

  2. Input a name for the new drive in the Name field that is required.

  3. Select a workspace for the drive from the drop-down menu by clicking the Workspace entry.

  4. Select the home path for the drive by clicking plus beside the Home Path entry.

  5. Browse an icon for the workspace by clicking plus beside the Workspace Icon entry.

    Select an icon by clicking green tick corresponding to your desired icon file.

  6. Select permissions for groups that have access rights to this drive by clicking plus beside the Permissions entry.

  7. Select or deselect the various checkboxes to hide or show the drive elements respectively.

    Show Referenced Document

    Allow viewing preference documents.

    Show Non-document Nodes

    Allow viewing non-documents.

    Show Sidebar

    Allow showing the sidebar.

    Show Hidden Node

    Allow showing the hidden nodes.

  8. Select the document type that will be created in this drive.

    exo:jsFolder

    Unstructured folder

    Only nt:unstructured folders can be created in this drive.

    exo:webFolder

    exo:linkFolder

    exo:cssFolder

    Folder

    Only nt:folder folders can be created in this drive.

  9. Select the Apply Views tab and select the view types you want to be available in the drive.

  10. Click Save to complete creating the new drive, or Refresh to clear the form.

  1. Click pencil corresponding to the drive you want to edit. The Edit Drive form will appear.

  2. Edit the properties as required.

  3. Click Save to commit the changes.

Note

The drive name cannot be edited in this form.

  1. Click trash can that corresponds to the drive you want to delete.

  2. Click OK to delete the drive in the confirmation message.

The namespace is a prefix in the node type name. It enables you to create node types without fearing any conflict with existing node types. The registry helps you manage the namespaces used in the system.

Select Content Types --> Namespace Registry to open the Namespace Registry form.

Register a namespace

  1. Click the Register button on the Namespace Registry form to register a new namespace.

  2. Enter the value for the Namespace Prefix field that is required.

  3. Enter the value for the URI field which must be unique and required.

    Note

    The namespace must not contain special characters, such as !,@,#,$,%,&,*,(,).

This function is used to control all node types in eXo Platform.

  1. Click that corresponds to the node to be reviewed. The View Node Type Information form will appear.

  2. Click Close to exit this form.

Add a node type

  1. Open the Add/Edit Node Type Definitions form by clicking the Add button on the Manage Node Type page.

  2. Select a namespace for the node.

  3. Enter a name in the Node Type Name field. This field is mandatory and its value must be unique.

    Note

    The name must not contain special characters, such as !,@,#,$,%,&,*,(,).

  4. Select a value for the Is Mixin Type field.

  5. Select a value for the Orderable Child Nodes field.

  6. Enter a value for the Primary Item Name field.

  7. Super Types: Click the plus icon to add more parent types.

  8. Property Definitions: List all definition names of the Property tab.

  9. Child Node Definitions: List all definition names of the Child Node tab.

  10. Click Save to accept adding a new node type, or Save as Draft to save this node type as draft.

Export Node Types

  1. Open the Export Node Types form by clicking the Export button at the bottom of the Manage Node Type page.

  2. Click Uncheck all if you do not want to export all node types. After clicking Uncheck all, this button becomes the Check all button.

  3. Select nodes that you want to export by ticking the checkboxes.

  4. Click the Export button in this form.

  5. Select the location in your device to save the exported node.

    Note

    You must select at least 1 node type to be exported. If you do not want to export the node, click Cancel to quit this pop-up.

Import Node Types

  1. Open the Import Node Type From XML File form by clicking the Import button at the bottom of the Manage Node Type page.

  2. Click the Browse... button to upload a file.

    Note

    You must upload an XML file. This file is in the node type's format.

  3. Click the Upload button.

    Note

    If you want to upload another file, click to delete the file which has just been uploaded, then upload other files.

  4. Tick the checkboxes corresponding to the nodes that you want to import.

  5. Click the Import button to complete importing a node type.

The function enables you to manage queries. It allows adding, editing and deleting queries.

Go to Advanced Configuration --> Manage Queries.

Add a new query

  1. Open the Add Query form by clicking the Add Query button in the Manage Queries page.

  2. Enter a query name into the Query Name field.

  3. Select the query type from the drop-down Query Type menu.

  4. Enter the statement for the query that must be unique.

  5. Check or uncheck the Enable Cache Results option. If you tick this checkbox, for the first time you use this query to search, the result will be cached. For the second time you search using this query, it will show the cached results. After 45 minutes, the cache will be removed.

    For example, you have the query Test with statement //element (*, nt:file). In the File Explorer, you have a nt:file document named File1. When you execute the query Test, only document File1 will be shown. After that, create a nt:file document named File2 and execute query Test, only document File2 document will be listed. After 45 minutes, the cache will be removed. When you execute the query Test, the documents File1 and File2 will be listed.

  6. Select permissions for a group that can use this query by clicking green plus.

  7. Click Save to finish adding a new query.

Edit a query

  1. Click pencil corresponding to the query you want to edit. The Edit Query form will appear.

  2. Edit the properties of the selected query.

  3. Click Save to accept all changes.

Delete a query

  1. Click trash can corresponding to the query you want to delete. A confirmation message will appear.

  2. Click OK to accept deleting this query, or Cancel to discard this action.

The function enables users to manage all script codes in the eXo Platform and Browser Content system.

Go to Advanced Configuration --> Manage Scripts.

Add a new script in ECM

  1. Click the Add button in the Manage Script page to open the Add/Edit Script form.

  2. Enter a value for the Script Content field.

  3. Enter a script name for the Script Name field.

  4. Click Save to accept adding the new script.

Edit an ECM script

  1. In the ECM Scripts tab, click pencil corresponding to the script that you want to edit. The Add/Edit script form will appear.

  2. Edit the properties in this form.

  3. Click Save to save all changes.

Delete an ECM script

  1. In the ECM Scripts tab, click trash can on the script that you want to delete. A confirmation message will appear.

  2. Click OK to accept your deletion, or Cancel to discard this action.

This function allows you to manage all action nodes in the eXo Platform.

  1. Select Advanced Configuration --> Create Action Type.

  2. Click the Add button to open the Action Type form.

  3. Select the action type.

  4. Input a name for the action.

  5. Check/uncheck the is Action Move option. The action will have exo:move property or not.

  6. Select an "execute" for the Execute field.

  7. Click plus next to Variables field to add more values for the action.

    Click trash can to delete a value.

  8. Click Save to accept adding a new action type.

All locked nodes are listed and managed by administrators in the Content Administration page. There are two ways that help administrators lock nodes: unlock nodes in the right-click menu in Sites Explorer or unlock nodes in the Content Administration page.

Unlock a node

  1. Select Advanced Configuration --> Manage Locks on the Manage ECM Main Functions pane on the left. The locked nodes will be listed on the right pane.

  2. In the Locked Node tab on the right pane, administrators can unlock nodes by clicking open lock corresponding to nodes which need to be unlocked. The unlocked nodes will disappear from the locked nodes list.

    Administrators can manage and add the unlock permission for another group and users in the Manage Lock tab.

  3. Select the group on the Select Group pane and the corresponding membership on the Select Membership pane. The selected group will be listed in the Groups Or Users column. However, administrators can also click plus if you want to allow any users to unlock nodes.

  4. In case you, as an administrator, want to remove the "Unlock" permission of groups, click trash can corresponding to the group to remove them form the "Unlock" permission list, except the group *:/platform/administrator and root.

When you access a site, by default, the site contents are in the published mode and you cannot edit them.

However, each site in eXo Platform has the Edit mode which enables you to edit all contents of the current site. When hovering your cursor over contents, you can see edit icons which enable you to quickly edit these contents. You can take advantage of this feature to submit contents to a page.

To turn on the Edit mode, hover your cursor over Edit on the Administration bar, then select Content from the drop-down menu.

For Single Content Viewer (SCV), you can see the current state of the content, the Edit Content icon and Preferences icon.

For Content List Viewer (CLV), you can see the current state of the content, the Edit Content icon, the Preferences icon, the Add Content icon and the Manage Content icon.

By using the InContext Editing feature, the process of editing a page becomes more intuitive. This feature allows you to edit content "in context" without using the WYSIWYG editor, and the new content will automatically override old one.

To use InContext Editing, turn on the Edit Mode.

Adding a new content by using InContext Editing is enabled for the Content List Viewer (CLV).

  1. Turn on the Edit Mode, then hover your cursor over the CLV to which you want to add a new content.

  2. Click on the CLV.

    You will be redirected to the Sites Explorer with a list of content templates for you to select.

  3. Click one template for your content. Each template has an Info bar on the top of the template.

    Details:

    FieldDescription
    Change Content Type Select another content types.
    Save Save the content without closing the content form.
    Save & Close Save the content and close the content form.
    Close Close the content form without saving the content.
    Switch on/off the full-screen mode.

  4. Fill all the fields in the form. See the Add a document section to know how to create the different content types.

  5. Click Save or Save & Close to save the document.

Note

The folder, where a document is saved, is the path you have selected in the Preferences section.

You can edit any contents on the homepage for SCV and CLV with InContext Editing. However, for CLV, you only can edit each content in it.

  1. Turn on the Edit mode by hovering your cursor over Edit on the Administration bar, then selecting Content.

  2. Hover your cursor over the content you want to edit, and click pencil at the right corner. You will be directed to Sites Explorer with the document form for you to edit.

  3. Make changes on the content, then click Save or Save & Close to accept your changes.

  4. Click green reverse arrow to return to the site. In the Edit mode, your new content will be in the "Draft" state with its visible modifications.

  5. Click , or on the Action bar to publish your edited content. Your content is now in the "Published" state.

Note

You cannot see the edited content in the draft state when you turn off the Edit mode.

With InContext Editing, you can easily manage a Content List Viewer on the homepage. You can add a new content in the CLV, edit, delete an existing content or copy/cut/paste to another CLV and take more actions in the right-click menu.

Manage content in the CLV

  1. Turn on the Edit mode.

  2. Hover your cursor over the CLV which you want to manage on the homepage, and click .

    You will be directed to the Sites Explorer page.

  3. To add a new document to the CLV, click Add Content on the Action bar and do the same steps as in the Add Content section.

    To take other actions on a specific content in the CLV, right-click it to open a drop-down menu. For more details, see the Actions on folders and documents section.

Preferences enable you to edit contents in the Single Content Viewer (SCV) and the Content List Viewer (CLV), reset the display of the contents in SCV and CLV and publish contents.

Content Detail Preferences

To edit the Single Content Viewer, do as follows:

  1. Turn on the Edit mode.

  2. Select of a Single Content Viewer.

    The Content Detail Preferences dialog appears.

    Details:

    Field Description
    Content Selection Select the path of the content that you want to show by clicking blue plus .
    Display Settings Configure the visibility of Title, Date and Option bar.

    • Show Title: Select this checkbox to display the title of the content.

    • Show Date: Select this checkbox to display the date of the content publication.

    • Show Option Bar: Select this checkbox to display the Option bar which is used to show the print link.

    Print Settings

    • Show in Page: The content is shown in the page.

    • with: Parameters contain the content path.

    Advanced link: When clicking this link, the Advanced pane will be shown with two parts.

    • Dynamic Navigation: Allow you to get a parameter to configure the portlet by URL. It means that the URL containing the content path can be dynamically changed.

      • Disable: By default, if the property is set as "Disable", the Advanced pane is closed by default. It means the single content will be opened by an URL containing the Content Path.

      • Enable: This portlet is configured with the provided parameter ("content-id" by default) and the content.

      • By: This parameter is the key in the URL to let SCV know which really is the path in the current URL. It is editable when the Contextual Content is set to "Enable".

    • Contents Visibility: Allow you to use a cache shared between users to get contents. If you want to get contents, which are displayed in CLV or SCV, from one cache, select Restricted by Authentication. If not, select Restricted by User Roles.


    Note

    Hover your cursor over question mark to see a quick help for each section.

  3. Click next to the Content Path to select another content. The Select Content dialog appears.

  4. Select a folder on the left pane, and content in the folder on the right pane. The selected content will be displayed in the Content Path field.

  5. Tick the checkboxes, including Show Title, Show Date and Show Option Bar, if you want to display the content title, the publication date and the print button like the illustration below.

    i. In the Print Setting part, click magnifying glass to open the UIPageselector dialog. You will see Printviewer.

    ii. Click the Print button. The content is opened in the print viewer page.

  6. Click Save to save all your changes.

Content List Preferences

To edit the Content List Viewer, do as follows:

  1. Turn on the Edit mode.

  2. Select the Preferences icon of a Content List Viewer.

    The Content List Preferences dialog appears.

    Details:

    Field Description
    Contents Selection

    Mode: This mode is to select web content for the list viewer. There are two modes:

    • By Folder: This mode allows you to select a content folder in the Folder Path field.

    • By Contents: This mode allows you to select by the content in a specific folder in Folder Path field.

    Folder Path: The path to a location of a folder that contains the content.

    Order by: Sort content in the List Viewer by Title, Date Created or Date Modified in ascending or descending order.

    Display Settings

    Header: The title of all contents that are listed in the List Viewer.

    Template: The template which is used to view the content list.

    Paginator: The template which is used to view each content in the list.

    Items per Page: The number of items which will be displayed per page.

    The following options which can be shown or hidden by ticking or unticking checkboxes respectively.

    • Show Title: Title of each published web content/document.

    • Show Header: Header of each published web content/document.

    • Show Refresh: The Refresh button at the left bottom of the page.

    • Show Image: The illustration of each published web content/document.

    • Show Date: The created date of each published web content/document.

    • Show More Link: The Read more link to read all the content of a web content and/or document.

    • Show Summary: The summary of each web content/document.

    • Show Link: The link of web content/document.

    • Show RSS Link: The RSS link of all contents of a web content/document.

    Advanced link

    Dynamic Navigation

    • Disable: The single content will be opened by an URL containing the Content Path.

    • Enable: This portlet is configured with the provided parameter (content-id by default).

    • By: This parameter is the key in the URL to let CLV know which really is the path in the current URL.

    • Show in Page: A single content in CLV will be shown in a selected page. You can select any page but should take one with a Content Detail Portlet. The "Dynamic Navigation" is enabled in the Content Detail Portlet that interprets the URL and shows a single content.

    • With: This parameter is the key in the URL to let SCV know which really is the path in the current URL.

    Contents Visibility: Allow you to use a cache shared between users to get contents. If you want to get contents, which are displayed in CLV or SCV, from one cache, select Restricted by Authentication. If not, select Restricted by User Roles.


  3. Browse the documents or web content of an available site by clicking blue plus next to the Folder Path field.

  4. If you select the By Folder mode, select an available site on the left, then select a folder that contains contents (documents and/or web content) on the right by clicking the folder.

    If you select the By Contents mode, select an available folder from the left pane, all content in this folder will be listed on the right pane. Click a content on the right that you want to add to the content list. There will be a message, informing that you have successfully added it to the Content List. The selected content will be listed in the Content List.

  5. Enter a header for the content list in the Header field if you want.

  6. Select a template to display the content list in the template list.

  7. Tick/Untick your desired options.

  8. Click Save to accept your changes.

The Inline Editing mode allows you to edit directly on the page without going to a separate one. By using this mode, you can edit the text in the same location in such an intuitive and convenient manner.

To do the inline editing, do as follows:

  1. Turn on the Edit mode on the Administration bar.

  2. Hover your cursor over the area you want to edit. The editable area will be highlighted.

  3. Double-click the area until the Edit area is shown as below.

    In case the hovered area is in the Rich Text format, the Edit area will be displayed with the CKEditor as below. (See more information about CKEditor here.)

  4. Make changes on your selected area, then click to accept,

    or to discard changes.

  • After you have made changes on your content, it is only in the Draft state.

  • Click to publish the content. Now, your edited content in the Published state.

When using CKEditor to write/edit a document, you can also:

Insert a portal link

  1. Click to open the Insert Portal Link form.

  2. Enter the title of the portal in the Title field.

  3. Enter the portal URL manually, or you can also click Get portal link to open a page containing all the portals in the same server, then select one that you want.

  4. Click Preview to view the portal.

  5. Click Save to accept inserting the portal to the document.

Insert a content link

  1. Click to open a page.

  2. Click the plus before the document name or click directly the document name on the left pane to show the contents in the right pane or click to upload a file from your local device.

  3. Click a content that you want to insert to the document.

After a new content has been created, it is saved as draft and you can easily to publish it on your site. The publication process consists of four steps:

Request for Approval --> Approval --> Stage --> Publish

In case you want to publish your content without having the "Approve" or "Publish" right, you first need to send your request for approval.

In case you have the right to approve or publish a content, you can yourself publish it with the Stage step immediately.

In eXo Platform, you can create new contents in any folders or directly in a CLV with Incontext Editing. However, to facilitate the content management, categories are usually used to sort and organize documents that makes your desired searches more quickly. Also, creating contents inside a category helps you manage and publish them effectively.

After creating a document, you should categorize it by adding it to a category. Otherwise, documents should be created right in a category and links to those documents will be automatically created in the category. In eXo Platform, categories are stored in JCR.

This section will show you how to create a content in a category.

  1. Hover your cursor over --> Content --> Sites Explorer on the Administration bar.

    For example, select the acme-category drive as the following illustration.

  2. Click the Add Content button to create a new content. See the Add a document section to know how to add a new content. The new content is a Symlink. To view the content, simply click the Symlink.

Web content is a key resource which is used for a site. Other resources make a site more dynamic and animated by using layout, color, font, and more. This section focuses on how to manage a web content in a specific site.

Note

Only users who have the right to access the Sites Management drive can do it.

This function is used to add a new web content to a specific site.

  1. Go to the Sites Management drive, then select a site to which you want to add a web content.

  2. Select the web contents folder on the left.

    Note

    In this step, you also can add a new web content into another folders (documents and media folders) of a site but you are recommended to select the web contents folder because:

    Managing web content of a site becomes more easily.

    You only may add a new web content in this folder so that you do not need to select a web content document in the list of document types. It makes adding a new web content more flexibly.

  3. Click [ Add Document ] on the Action bar to open a list of content templates.

  4. Select a template to present the web content by clicking one.

  5. Enter values in the fields of the Add New Document form.

  6. Click Save or Save & Close to save the content or Close to quit the Add New Document form.

Tabs in the Add New Document form

The Main Content tab

Field Description
Title The title of a webcontent.
Name The name of the webcontent that you want to add new.
Language The language of the webcontent. At present, eXo Platform 3.5 supports two languages: English and French.
Main Content The main content that you want to display when publishing this webcontent.

The Illustration tab allows you to upload an illustration that makes the site's content more attractive.

Details:

Field Description
Illustration Image The path to an image that you want to upload into a site. This image will be used like an illustration of that site.
Summary You can give a short description about the webcontent because it will be displayed with the illustration image when the webcontent is listed. The main content will be shown when it is selected to be viewed.

Upload an image

  1. Browse a list of images on your local device by clicking the Browse... button, then select a specific location.

  2. Select an image in the list to upload.

The Advanced tab includes two parts: CSS Data and JS Data.

Details:

Field Description
CSS Data Contain the CSS definition to present data in a webcontent. You can optionally enter CSS data into this field to specify the style.
JS Data Contain the JS content to make the webcontent more dynamic after being published. You can optionally enter the JS content in this field.

This function is used to edit a webcontent in a specific drive of an existing site.

  1. Go into the folder of a site which contains the webcontent that you want to edit.

  2. Select the webcontent by double-clicking it on the left tree or on the right pane. The detailed information of webcontent will be viewed on the right pane.

  3. Click [ Edit Document ] on the Action bar to show the form to edit the selected webcontent. This form is similar to that of creating a new document.

  4. Make changes on current values in the fields of this form.

  5. Complete editing the selected webcontent by clicking Save or Save & Close.

Note

When you click Edit Document, the webcontent will be auto-locked for your editing. After finishing, the content is back to the unlock status. You can manage "Locks" in the Unlock a node section.

This function is used to remove a webcontent from the webcontent folder in a specific site's drive.

  1. Right-click the name of the webcontent that you want to delete, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

  2. Click OK to accept your deletion in the confirmation message.

This function helps you publish a webcontent that you have added to webcontent folder in Sites Explorer.

See the Publication process section to know how to publish a webcontent.

After the content is published, all users who have the right to access that position can view the published web content as a page on the Navigation bar.

This function is used to set up your browsing preferences.

  1. Click sprocket on the right side of the Sites Explorer portlet.

    The Preferences window will appear.

    Details:

    Field Description
    Sort by Sort nodes in the nodes list by Alphabetic, Type, Created Date, or Modified Date
    Show Sidebar Display/Hide the sidebar.
    Enable Drag & Drop Enable/Disable the "drag and drop" action.
    Nodes Per Page This number of nodes displayed per page.
    Show Non-document Nodes Display/Hide nodes that are non–documents.
    Show Referenced Documents Display/Hide referenced documents.
    Show Hidden Nodes Display/Hide hidden nodes.
    Query Type This query type.
    Enable DMS Structure Display/Hide nodes in a document the tree structure.

  2. Configure the preferences as required and click Save to set them;

    Or click Close to quit without submitting changes.

There are three ways to search an existing node:

With the quick search, you can directly type a search term in the search field. All documents, whose keywords are matched with the search term, are retrieved and listed in the Search results form.

  1. Enter a keyword into the search text box.

  2. Click magnifying glass to perform the search.

    Or press Enter.

    The search results will be displayed in the right pane.

    The search results are empty if no document contains the search string.

  3. Click magnifying glass to view the content containing the keyword.

    Or click preview to go to the node that contains the search result.

Perform an advanced search

  1. Click "Saved Search" on the Filter bar.

  2. Then click magnifying glass to open the Advanced Search form.

The tabs in this form offer different search functions:

Use the Search by Name tab to search nodes by name as follows:

  1. Enter the exact name you wish to search in the Content Name field.

  2. Click Search.

    Results will return with the message “No result found” if there is no node with the entered name.

    Results will be returned in the Search Results tab if the requested name is found.

This search enables you to search with more constraints to limit the returned results.

Extra search constraints are entered in the Advanced Search tab of the Advanced Search form.

The Current location field is not editable. It shows the path selected to search.

  1. Enter search terms in the A word of phrase in content field.

  2. Select the Operator.

  3. Click Show/hide constraints form to add more constraints.

    A further constraint options window will appear.

    Details:

    ItemDescription
    1You can add more than one constraint with either of two operators (AND and OR).
    2Add a constraint to search by a property with specific values.
    3Add a constraint to search by a property that contains one of the word in the specific string.
    4Add a constraint to search by a property that does not contain the specific string.
    5Add a constraint to search by a duration of date (created, modified).
    6Add a constraint to search by a document type, including File, Article, Podcast, Sample node, File Plan, Kofax).
    7Add a constraint to search by categories.
    Add a document type.
    Add a category.

  4. Select the constraint operator (AND/OR).

  5. Add the required constraints using one of the following methods:

  6. Click Add to add any/all activated constraints.

    The constraints will be converted to an SQL query and displayed in the search form.

    Remove unnecessary constraints with the trash can icon.

  7. Click Search to launch the search. Results will be displayed in the Search Results tab.

  8. Click Save and put a name for this search configuration if you want to save it to use at another time.

Add a constraint for exact values

  1. Check the box that corresponds to the constraint you want.

  2. Enter the property you want to locate or click "Add property" .

    A list of possible properties appears.

  3. Select a property from the list and click Add. The selected property will populate Property field.

  4. Define the property value to search for by entering a value into the Contain Exactly field or click the Find exactly icon.

    The Filter Form will appear.

    All pre-existing values for the property you selected will appear.

Add a constraint including or excluding values

  1. Check the box corresponding to the Contain or Not Contain constraint, as appropriate.

  2. Enter the required property in the Property field or click Add Property (refer to Step 2 in the Add a constraint for exact values section for more information).

  3. Enter the required values in the Contain or Not Contain fields.

Add a constraint by date

  1. Click the check box beside the field with the drop-down menu (below the Property entries).

  2. Define the search condition from the drop-down list (CREATED/MODIFIED).

  3. Click in the From field.

    A small calendar will appear.

    Select the date you want to use as a constraint.

  4. Repeat the above steps for the To field.

    The selected dates will populate the From and To fields in the Add constraint form.

Add a constraint by document type

  1. Click the checkbox beside the Document Type field.

  2. Enter the document type you want to search for or click "Add node type" to open a list of document types:

  3. Click the checkbox of the document type you want and click Save.

    The selected document type will populate the Document Type field.

Add a constraint by category

  1. Click the checkbox beside the Category field.

  2. Enter the category you want to search for or click "Add category" for a list of categories:

  3. Click green tick that corresponds to the category you want.

    The selected category will populate the Category field.

You need a knowledge of the structure of query statements to configure a search using the parameters on the New Query tab.

  1. Enter a unique name for this query in the Name field.

  2. Select a query type from the drop-down menu: SQL or xPath.

  3. Enter a query statement.

  4. Click Search to perform the search and display the results in the Search Results tab.

    Or click Save to save the search query to the Saved Query tab.

    Or click Cancel to quit.

This tab lists all saved search queries (that you have access rights to use).

Do the followings to perform a search with saved queries:

  1. Click magnifying glass on the sidebar to see the list of existing queries.

    A query list will appear. It contains the sections, including All Articles, Created Documents, CreatedDocumentDayBefore and allArticles.

  2. Launch, modify or delete the queries as required (see the Search by creating a new query section for more information).

  3. Filter results with the entries in the All Items and/or By Type panes on the left of the tab. Items matching the selections will appear in the right pane.

  4. Click the required document or folder name to view or download them.

WebDAV is an abbreviation of Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning. It is used to publish and manage files and directories on a remote server. It also enables users to perform these functions on a website.

WebDAV provides the following features:

Locking

This feature prevents two or more collaborators from overwriting shared files.

Site Manipulation

WebDAV supports the "copy" and "move" actions and the creation of collections (file system directories).

Name Space Management

This function enables copying and moving webpages within a server's namespace.

With WebDAV, you can manage content efficiently with the following actions:

To use WebDAV in eXo Platform, you first need to have the Internet or Intranet connected. Next, you can follow one of the two following ways:

The first way

You need to connect to the WebDAV server. For example, for Windows XP, do the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the My Network Places on your local device. You will see all shared files and folders:

  2. Click the Add a network place link on the left to open the Add Network Place Wizard.

  3. Click Next to select a network location:

  4. Select Choose another network location to create a shortcut.

  5. Enter an address into the Internet or network address field.

    For example, the address of the demonstration site Acme is http://localhost:8080/portal/rest/private/jcr/repository/collaboration/sites/content/live/acme.

  6. Click Next. After a few seconds, a folder named acme on localhost appears in the My Network Places directory.

    Each site managed by WebDAV appears as a folder in this location.

  7. Take actions on the content in this folder to administrate the site content remotely.

The second way

This way can be done through Sites Management.

  1. Hover your cursor over on the Administration bar, then select Content --> Sites Explorer from the drop-down menu.

  2. Click the Drives button, then select Sites Management.

    You will see all sites listed in the left sidebar.

  3. Right-click the site you want to view with WebDAV and select the Download and Allow Edition item in the menu.

    The selected site will be shown in WebDAV.

    In this view, you can access documents in the directories that are linked to the web server.

You will see all default folders of a site when accessing it via WebDAV. Manipulating content through WebDAV is the same as working on it in local folders. This means you can copy/paste files, list folders, rename, and more, in system directories.

This function enables you to copy web content, such as an .html file, from your local device to a web content folder of a site.

  1. Access a site via WebDAV (refer to the How to use WebDAV in eXo Platform? section), then go to a web content folder of the site.

  2. Copy the web content on your local system into this folder.

    The copied file will be converted to web content that is viewable by WebDAV automatically. The content is converted to a directory containing CSS, documents, js and media.

After a new content is added, it can be viewed as a folder in WebDAV or as a page content using a web browser.

This function enables site administrators to delete web content files separately or in batches.

  1. Navigate to the folder that contains the content you want to remove.

  2. Right-click the content files or directories (hold the Ctrl key to select multiple files at once), and select Delete from the drop-down menu.

    The selected files will be removed from the site.

The Fast Content Creator portlet in eXo Platform enables you to quickly create and save a new document with only one template in a specific location without accessing Sites Explorer. This helps you save a lot of time when creating a new document.

There are two modes in Fast Content Creator: Content Creator and Standard Content Creator.

The Standard Content Creator mode allows you to add an action to your document. When Configuring Fast Content Creator, the Edit Mode tab has the Actions part that allows you to add an action to the document and view actions added to the document.

To add an action to a document, click Add or plus to open the Add Action form. Do the same steps in the Add an action section.

To use the Fast Content Creator portlet, you need to add it to a specific page first by dragging and dropping Content Creator or Standard Content Creator from Page Editor --> Applications --> Forms to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

In eXo Platform, the Fast Content Creator is applied in the Question? portlet with the Content Creator mode by default. Thus, in this guide, you are instructed how to configure the Fast Content Creator by editing the Question? portlet as an example.

  1. Open the Question? page.

  2. Hover your cursor over Edit --> Page, then click Layout on the Administration bar.

    The edit page appear.

  3. Hover your cursor over the portlet, then click pencil to edit the portlet.

    The form with the Edit Mode tab appears.

    Details:

    Field Description
    Location to Save Select the location to save documents or messages.
    Select Template Select a template for the document. There are different input fields corresponding to each selected template.
    Custom Save Button Change the label for the "Save" button.
    Custom Save Message Change the content of custom message that informs you have just saved a document.
    Redirect Allow you to redirect the path in the Redirect Path field.
    Redirect Path Show a path to which you will be directed after clicking OK in the confirmation message.

  4. Select a specific location to save documents.

    i. Click magnifying glass to open the Select Location form.

    ii. Select the parent node on the left pane and click green tick in the Add column to select the child node on the right pane. After being selected, this location will be displayed on the Location to Save field. Created documents will be saved in this location.

  5. Select a template which is used to create a new document.

  6. Change the label for the Custom Save button, and the content for Custom Save Message.

  7. Tick the Redirect checkbox if you want to redirect to the path in the Redirect Path field after clicking OK in the confirmation message.

  8. Click Save to finish the configuration of Fast Content Creator. Then, click OK in the notification message to accept your changes.

  9. Click Close to quit the form to edit the configuration of Fast Content Creator.

  1. Go to your newly created page.

  2. Fill values in all the fields in the page.

  3. Click Save to accept creating the new document. A message appears to let you know that the document is created successfully at the location selected in the Location to Save field.

After creating a new document by Fast Content Creator, you can view it as follows:

  1. Go to Sites Explorer.

  2. Select the drive and the path that you established in the configuration of Fast Content Creator. You will see this document.

The Contents By Query portlet allows you to collect and display data throughout a workspace instead of selecting items by a folder or by contents.

To use this portlet, first you need to add the Contents By Query portlet to a specific page as follows:

  1. Drag and drop the Contents By Query portlet from the Page Editor --> Applications --> Contents to the main pane. You can do this step while creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

  2. Edit the Contents By Query portlet by hovering your cursor over it, then click pencil to edit the portlet.

    The form with the Edit Mode tab appears.

  3. Enter a valid query into the by query field to get data that you want to display.

  4. Select a workspace where you want to get data.

  5. Click Save to complete adding the Contents By Query portlet.

  6. Click pencil to quit the Page Editor page and see the displayed data.

Note

To learn more about fields in the Edit Mode tab, refer to Content List Preferences.

Note

The Form Builder portlet is deprecated in eXo Platform. It remains fully supported for eXo customers, however it will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

The Form Builder portlet allows users to create and edit the template of document types. Documents are stored in the so-called node; therefore, the term "node" and node types are often applied.

To use this porlet, you need to add it to a specific page first by dragging and dropping Form Generator Portlet from Page Editor --> Applications --> Form Generator Portlet to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

Create a content template

  1. Open the Form Builder portlet.

  2. Enter the template name into the Name field which is required.

  3. Enter a brief description about the template.

  4. Click the Form Builder tab that allows you to set properties for the template. Available components are displayed on the left pane.

  5. Click the desired components on the left pane. The selected components will be displayed on the right pane.

  6. Click up arrow corresponding to the component to move this component up; or click down arrow to move the component down.

  7. Click pencil corresponding to the component to edit properties of that component. The form to edit properties appears like the illustration below:

    Details:

    Field Description
    Field Label The label of the field.
    Width The width of the field width.
    [ Rules: ] If the checkbox is marked, the asterisk (red asterix) will appear beside the textbox, indicating that it is required to enter values in this field.
    Height The height of the field.
    Default Value Display the default value.
    Guidelines for User Display instructions about this component.

    After editing the properties of the components, the components look like the below illustration.

    • To delete the component, click trash can corresponding to the component.

    • Click pencil again to hide the form to edit the properties.

  8. Click Save to accept creating a new template, or Reset to edit this template again before saving.

Category Navigation Portlet and Parameterized Content List Viewer portlets get rid of long URLs when you view a content and enable users to see published documents or web contents in specific categories in one page. Thanks to the symbolic link, no matter where the object physically resides, the database can retrieve it. In addition, the relations amongst shortcuts can be managed. Now, you can view documents or web content in the Parameterized Content List Viewer easily.

Access the Category Navigation portlet

  1. Go to News on the Navigation bar.

  2. Select a category that you want to view on the left. The selected category will be shown on the right (only documents or web content published are shown).

Edit Mode of the Category Navigation Portlet

Administrators can edit the Category Navigation portlet as follows:

  1. Open News page on the Navigation bar.

  2. Hover your cursor over Edit --> Page --> Layout

    The page for you to edit the Category Navigation portlet will appear.

  3. Click pencil to open a form with the Edit Mode tab, allowing you to edit the portlet.

  4. Click plus icon to select the folder path which restores contents you want do display.

  5. Edit some fields in the Display Settings part as you want. See more details in the the section called “Preferences” section.

  6. Click the Advanced link to set up some properties for the portlet. See more details here.

  7. Click Save to accept saving the configuration for the Category Navigation portlet.

  8. Click Close to quit the form.

  9. Click on the Page Editor form to finish editing the Category Navigation portlet.

Note

In the Edit Mode tab, some options are disabled.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) allows you to improve the visibility of your webpages and web content in the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Live) via the search results. The higher your website position is in the search engine results page, the more visitors access it. Therefore, it is very important for you to maximize your webpages and contents' position in the search engines.

In eXo Platform, the SEO Management feature is featured to meet this target. By using SEO Management, you can easily manage SEO data of web pages and web content and optimize your website for search engines.

Manage the SEO data

  1. Open a page or a content that you want to edit the SEO data.

  2. Open the SEO Management form by hovering your cursor over Edit --> Page --> SEO on the Administration bar.

    Depending on your SEO management for a page or a content, the content of the SEO Management form will be different.

    Details:

    FieldDescription
    DescriptionThe description of your page/content. This description will be seen in the results list of search engines.
    KeywordsBy using these keywords, other users can find out your page/content via search engines.
    RobotsSearch engines can access the whole directories on a website, or individual pages, or individual links on a page and list your page/content or not, it depends on your options:

    • INDEX: Allow search engines to index your page/content on the search engine results page.

    • NOINDEX: Restrict search engines from indexing your page/content on the search engine results page. Use this option if you want to keep your page private.

    • FOLLOW: Allow search engines to follow links from your page to find other pages.

    • NOFOLLOW: Restrict search engines from following links from your page to find other pages. Use this option if you want to prevent spam links in comments of blogs, forums and others.

    SitemapAllow you to see pages of the sites in the tree-like structure.
    FrequencyShow how often pages are updated on the site. Also, setting your frequency levels tells the search engines which pages should be crawled over other pages. The frequency levels include: Always, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly and Never. If you set "Never" for the frequency level, meaning that this page never gets updated, so search engines will move onto other pages that get updated more frequently.
    PriorityAllow search engines to search the page with the higher priority level first. The acceptable value in this field is from 0 to 1. In which, 0 is the lowest priority level and 1 is the highest.

  3. Fill out all the fields in the form.

  4. Click Save to finish creating SEO data.

Note

means that the SEO information is empty.

means that the SEO information has been updated but some information are not filled out yet.

means that the SEO Management form is filled out with the full SEO information.

means that the SEO Management feature is disabled.

Users can easily print any content in a site by following these steps:

  1. Click Read more to read all the content of a document or of an article in a site.

  2. Click the Print button. The Print Preview page will be displayed on another tab.

  3. Click Print to print the content of this page, or Close to close this tab without printing.

eXo Platform provides the Newsletters service, aiming at helping users quickly get the updated newsletters from a website.

Note

The Newsletter portlet is deprecated in eXo Platform. It remains fully supported for eXo customers, however it will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

With Newsletters, you can instantly get newsletters from your email to update the last information about categories and subscriptions.

Subscribe your email to get newsletters from eXo Service.

  1. Go to Newsletters on the Navigation bar. The Newsletters page will appear.

  2. Enter your email address in the Your Email field.

  3. Select the checkbox corresponding to the subscription that you want to get newsletters.

  4. Click Subscribe. A message informing that you have just subscribed to the selected newsletter will appear.

  5. Click OK in the confirmation message. You can reselect the subscription that you want or do not want to receive newsletters by re-selecting the checkbox in the Check to subscribe column.

  6. Click Change your subscriptions to update your changes.

  7. Click Forget this email if you want to unsubscribe from newsletters.

Note

The Newsletter Manager portlet is deprecated in eXo Platform. It remains fully supported for eXo customers, however it will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

eXo Platform facilitates administrators to easily and quickly manage newsletters.

To use this portlet, you first need to add it to a specific page by dragging and dropping Newsletter Manager from Page Editor to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

Note

In eXo Platform, the Newsletter Manager portlet is put in Page Editor --> Applications --> Newsletter.

Access the page with the Newsletter Manager portlet to open the newsletter page.

This section shows you how to manage categories in a Newsletter page, including:

  1. Click New Category on the Action bar of the Newsletter page. The Create New Category form will appear.

    Details:

    Field Description
    Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field means that it is required to enter values into that field.
    Name The name of a category.
    Title The title of a category.
    Description A brief description of the category.
    Moderator Select users/groups who have rights to manage this category.
    Save Accept the addition of a new category.
    Cancel Quit the category form without adding a category.

  2. Input values into fields.

    1. i. Select a moderator for a category by clicking "Select user" next to the Moderator field to select a user. The User Selector form will appear.

    2. ii. Click "Select membership" to select users in a specific group. The Group selector window will appear.

  1. Select a category that you want to edit.

  2. Click Administration --> Edit Category from the drop-down menu.

    The Create New Category form appears.

  3. Change the values in the Title and Description fields as required.

    Note

    The category name cannot be changed.

  4. Click Save to save all changes.

  1. Select a category that you want to edit.

  2. Click Administration, then select Delete Category from the drop-down menu.

  3. Click OK to delete the category.

Administrators can manage users accounts and activities with actions, such as editing, banning, removing bans, or deleting.

  1. Select a category that you want to edit.

  2. Select Administration --> Manage Users from the drop-down menu.

    The Manage Users form will appear.

    Details:

    Field Description
    Email The email address of user who has subscribed this subscription.
    Banned

    This field has two values:

    False

    The user is allowed to get email.

    True

    The user is not allowed to get email.

    Ban this user from receiving emails.
    Remove a ban on a user.
    Delete the user.

  3. Click Close to close the form.

Administrators can add more subscriptions to any category via two ways as follows:

The first way

  1. Click New Subscription on the Action bar.

    The Create New Subscription form will appear.

    Details:

    Field Description
    Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field means that it is required to enter values into that field.
    Category The category which contains this subscription.
    Name The name of the subscription.
    Title The title of the subscription.
    Description The brief description about the subscription.
    Redactor Select users/groups who have rights to manage this subscription.

  2. Click the Category field and select a category from the drop-down menu.

  3. Enter the rest of their values in the form.

  4. Click Save to create the new subscription.

The second way

  1. Click directly the category to which you want to add a new subscription.

  2. Click New Subscription on the Action bar.

    The Create New Subscription form pops up.

  3. Do the same steps (3, 4) as stated in the first way.

  • Administrators can create newsletters for each subscription.

  • These Newsletters can be opened, edited, deleted or converted to a template for reuse.

Details:

Element Description
Shoes The name of the subscription.
Fashion Shoes The brief description about the subscription.
Letter The list of all letters of this subscription.
Date The date and time when creating this newsletter.
Status There are three types of status: draft, awaiting and sent.
Moderation This button allows you to take actions on your selected newsletter.

Administrators can easily view the content of a newsletter as follows:

  1. Open the subscription containing the letter you want to open by clicking it or checking the corresponding box and then selecting Administration --> Open.

  2. Directly click the newsletter;

    Or, select the checkbox corresponding to your desired newsletter, then click Administration --> Open.

    The View Newsletter's Content form pops up.

  3. Click Close to exit.

  1. Select the newsletter you want to edit by ticking the relevant checkbox in a specific subscription.

  2. Click [ Moderation ], then select Edit from the drop-down menu.

    The Newsletter Entry pops up.

  3. Change the values in the fields that you want to edit: Template, Send Date, Category, Subscription.

  4. Click the Update a Newsletter's info button.

  5. Change values in the Title and Main Content fields.

  6. Click Save to save as draft, or click Send.

Administrator can delete obsolete newsletters.

  1. In a specific subscription, select the newsletter you want to delete by ticking the corresponding checkbox.

  2. Click [ Moderation ], then select Delete in the menu.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The administrator can reuse the template of the frequently used newsletter template.

  1. Select the newsletter that you want to create as a template.

  2. Click [ Moderation ], then select Convert As Template from the drop-down menu. For the next time when you create a newsletter, this template will be listed in the Template field in the Newsletter Entry form.

Each subscription consists of many newsletters. In eXo Platform, you can easily create newsletters by following these steps.

Create a newsletter

  1. Select a subscription where you want to create a newsletter.

  2. Click [ New Letter ] on the Action bar. The Newsletter Entry form appears.

    Details:

    Field Description
    Template The template for your newsletter form. Basic Template is set by default.
    Send Date The date and time to send the newsletter.
    Category The category contains this newsletter.
    Subscription The subscription contains this newsletter.
    Update Sending Parameters This button allows you to update information about this newsletter.

  3. Click the Template field to select the template for the newsletter.

  4. Click the Send Date field. The calendar will appear, allowing you to select the date and time when you want to send the newsletter.

  5. Click the Category and Subscription to select the category and the subscription in the list.

  6. Click the Update Sending Parameters button to update information about this newsletter. A message pops up and informs you that you have updated information successfully.

  7. Input a title of a newsletter into the Title field.

  8. Create a content for a newsletter by inputting information into the Main Content textbox.

  9. Click Save to save this newsletter as draft, or click Send to send this newsletter.

Note

Two portlets, including Workflow Controller and Workflow Administration, are deprecated in eXo Platform. They remain fully supported for eXo customers, however they will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

Workflow is the movement of documents and/or tasks through a work process. More specifically, workflow is the operational aspect of a work procedure: how tasks are structured, who performs them, what their relative order is, how they are synchronized, how information flows to support the tasks and how tasks are being tracked. As the dimension of time is considered in Workflow, Workflow considers "throughput" as a distinct measure. Workflow problems can be modeled and analyzed using graph-based formalisms like Petri nets.

eXo Platform supports two default processes that are used to request tasks from users:

Holiday process: This process is used to request a task related to your holiday. If you want to have a holiday in a time interval, you should use this process.

Pay raise process: This process is used when you want to propose raising your pay.

To perform these processes, you need to add the Workflow Controller portlet to a specific page by dragging and dropping it from Page Editor --> Applications --> Workflow --> Workflow Controller to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

This process is used to request a task related to your holiday. If you want to have a holiday in a time interval, you should use this process.

1. Select the BP Definition Controller tab to bring up the process list.

2. Open the Task Management form by clicking in accordance with a holiday process that you want to request a task as below.

In which:

In this form, you need to set a time interval in the Start and End field by moving your cursor to each field and then click each field to open the Calendar pop-up.

3. Submit your task by clicking the Submit button. After being submitted, this task will be sent to members of *:/organization/management/executive-board group for waiting to be approved/disapproved or refused.

If you are a member of *:/organization/management/executive-board group, you have a responsibility to evaluate received tasks. To take this action, do as follows:

1. Open the Workflow Controller portlet. If there are tasks pending to be evaluated, you will see the task list in Task Controller tab.

2. Click the Manage function in the Action column that corresponds to a task that you want to evaluate. The Task Management form will appear.

You can see the following dialog for more details about this process.

3. Do one of the following actions.

i. Click the Approve button on the Task Management form. Automatically, this task will be sent to members of *:/organization/management/human-resources to read it.

Thus, if you are a member of *:/organization/management/human-resources group, you have responsibility to read the approved tasks as below.

ii. Select the Manage function in the Action column to open the Task Management form.

iii. Click the Read button to accept reading the task.

This process is used when you want to propose raising your pay.

1. Select the BP Definition Controller tab to bring up process list.

2. Open the Task Management form by clicking that corresponds to a pay raise process which you want to request a task.

In which:

4. Enter values for fields in this form.

5. Submit this task by clicking the Submit button.

This task will be sent to members in *:/organization/management/executive-board group to manage it.

If you are a member of *:/organization/management/executive-board group, you have a responsibility to evaluate received tasks. To do this action, do as follows:

1. Go to the Workflow Controller page. If there are tasks pending to be evaluated, you will see the tasks list in the Task Controller tab.

2. Click the Manage function in the Action column that corresponds to a task which you want to evaluate. The Task Management form will appear.

3. Select one of the followings.

i. Input the number that the creator wants in the Grant field.

ii. Click the Grant button. Automatically, this task will be sent to members of *:/organization/management/human-resources to read it.

Thus, if you are a member of the *:/organization/management/human-resources group, you have responsibility to read the approved tasks in the Task Controller tab by *:/organization/management/executive-board as below.

iii. Select the Manage function in the Action column to open the Task Management form.

iv. Click Finish it to accept reading the task.

Besides two default process supported by system, administrators also can upload a new process as follows:

1. Add the Workflow Administration portlet to a specific page by dragging and dropping it from Page Editor --> Applications --> Workflow --> Workflow Administration to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

2. Open the Workflow Administration portlet.

3. Click Upload Process to open the Upload Process form.

4. Enter a name for the uploaded process in the Name field.

5. Click the Browse button to select the location which contains the configuration of a new process, and double-click to upload it.

6. Click Save to save the uploaded process.

This function is used to help administrators keep track of process details as follows:

1. Open the Workflow Administration portlet.

2. Click to view requested process list from users as below.

Note

The completed processes are listed in the Completed tab.

To remove all completed processes from the list in the Completed tab, click the Flush All button, then click OK in the confirmation message.

3. Click corresponding to your desired process to view its details (including all actions from different users on this task). The List Tasks of Instance form will appear.

To delete a process from the requested process list in the Process Detail form, click corresponding to that process.