Core Content Only

When oracle released the 10.1.3.3.3+ site studio product they delivered a new contributor application along with new data file formats. Inside these data files the structure has changed from previous versions. Here is an example of the new format:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><wcm:root xmlns:wcm="http://www.stellent.com/wcm-data/ns/8.0.0" version="8.0.0.0"> <wcm:element name="HeaderImage">  <img border="0" alt="Wide Image" src="[!--$ssWeblayoutUrl('groups/public/documents/web_assets/wideimage.gif')--]" /> </wcm:element></wcm:root>

As you can see a near full path is embedded in the xml file. In this case if I were to change the security group of this image from public to secure the page using this data file would render with a missing image. The same is also true of the doc type and/or account. What can we do about this?

The documentation mentions that the function ssWeblayoutUrl() is able to work with the dDocName: This script extension is used to determine the full web address of a file from either the path or dDocName. This is most typically used for paths to images in data files.

Great. It turns out that through the use of a configuration variable added to config.cfg or through the admin server under general configuration week in control what gets embedded in data files. Note: this is available in build 251 or higher.

SSWeblayoutUrlUsesDocNames=true

On a related note, check out another blog post starring ssWeblayoutUrl over at Web Monkey Magic.

http://webmonkeymagic.blogspot.com/2008/09/surprise-ssweblayouturl.html

Perhaps the context is Site Studio. Perhaps the context is a JSP (Java Server Page) checked into Content Server. Regardless, you will eventually begin to wonder "What is this ServerBean thing?" and "What can I do with it?" I often get asked about the existence of documentation on ServerBean, and it has recently been pointed out to me that this is covered in Bex Huff's book The Definitive Guide to Stellent Content Server Development (which is pretty darn good, so get it if you don't have it).

That said, there is some information I can present here about the ServerBean class starting with the signatures of the public methods. I've sprinkled sparse notes among the methods that may or may not be of use. The simplest description of ServerBean is a shortcut class for performing actions like manipulating the local data, executing services, reading enviornment variables and executing IdocScript.

class ServerBean{   // Constructor   // NOTE: A single, no argument constructor is supplied and you    // must use the init method to initialize   ServerBean()

   // After the constructor you must initialize with this method   void init(ServletRequest servletrequest)

   // Remaining Methods ////////////////////////////////////////////

   void addOptionList(String s, Vector v)   void addResultSet(String s, ServerResultSet serverresultset)

   // Remaining methods in alphabetical order   String evalIdcScp(String s) throws ContentServerException

   // If the flag is true it means you have already wrapped the String    // in <$> offsets   String evalIdcScp(String s, boolean flag)throws ContentServerException   String evalResInc(String s) throws ContentServerException

   // This is the long hand version of evalIdcScp, just use    // evalIdcScp to save some processing   String evaluateIdocScript(String s)throws ContentServerException   String evaluateResourceInclude(String s) throws ContentServerException   void executeService()throws ContentServerException   Object getCachedObject(String s)   ServerResultSet getCurrentActiveResultSet()   Properties getEnvironment()   String getEnvironmentValue(String s)   String getLocal(String s)   Properties getLocalData()   Vector getOptionList(String s)   Enumeration getOptionLists()   ServerResultSet getResultSet(String s)   Enumeration getResultSetList()   void parseExecuteService(String s) throws ContentServerException   void parseExecuteService(String s, char c, char c1)throws ContentServerException   void putLocal(String s, String s1)   void removeLocal(String s)   ServerResultSet removeResultSet(String s)   void setCachedObject(String s, Object obj)   void setEnvironment(Properties p)   void setEnvironmentValue(String s, String s1)   void setLocalData(Properties p)}

If you have not had a chance to check out the latest iteration of the Web Content Management offering from Oracle you are missing out. From a development point of view this is the most flexible version yet, and from the developer perspective it is certainly the most full of promise. There are at least three features of this release that can via for a compelling reason to upgrade.

Some of you may have heard of the new Ephox based editor. That is pretty neat, but I going to side step that and save it for another post. No, the more compelling storyline and the first of the three most interesting points is the part that wraps the editor. Very nearly everything but the Site Studio Designer is now web based (or more importantly component based). This means we can create components and override/enhance almost anything. Should we? I guess that depends on your level of daring-do. This also means you could swap out Ephox if you didn't like it for something like FCK Editor.

The second feature I find most interesting is the new data file structure. This is a major leap forward towards true content reusability. Data files can now be used in more than one place on the site. Even if the regions are named differently. In fact, if you wanted you could use the same data file in multiple content regions on the same page.

Finally, one of the big improvements I like most as a developer is really tied to one of the latest Core updates for content server which adds JSON support. Many of you already knew that you can use IsJava=1, or IsSoap=1 in the url to get the underlying data stream for the page to display in various (HDA/XML) formats. Now you can get that data in JSON format as well. This can make AJAX integration with content server simpler and perhaps less expensive. Somewhat tied to this is the new console window. When you are in contributor mode sometime try pressing CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-C all at once and check out the window that pops up. Some nifty stuff in there.

Online Documentation (Version 10.1.3.3.0)

1. Release Notes
2. Install Guide
3. Administration

Online Blogs & References

1. Understanding SSPU by John Sims
2. Fixing FTP with SSPU by John Sims
3. Useful SSPU Logging from Web Monkey Magic

Now that have all these tools hanging on our belt and you have went to these various places and learned all about SSPU (you did right?) what exactly do I have to add? During some recent publishing we ran into a problem where Cascading Style Sheets and parts of HTML pages were getting replaced when they should not have. An example of the improper transformation might look like:

background: url(/original/path/coolpic.gif)

into

background url(/sspu/translated/path/coolpic.gif)

The difference is fairly subtle, the colon is getting dropped. Bad, bad. Several other issues exist but are all similar in nature. Luckily, patch p51051816 exists. I have been unable to find the patch on METALINK at this point but one Service Request later and they shipped it right out. The patch itself is very simple to apply, and the readme.txt details out the six step process.

Oh, and yes the patch did fix the problem!