[Article] dScribe - Templates Editor

I just finished another article for the project dScribe. This time I am talking about the Templates Editor.

How to define the structure to accept our content, and also the requirements for the code.

I have now a new version of dScribe in GotDotnet space. For the moment, because some readers asked me a Database with some examples, and because I don't have a lot of free time, I am going to publish the current database I use as a working base.

You need to attach the database using SQL 2000 and Enterprise Manager to attach the dScribe database.

As usual I need your comments, and your help to make this tool a successful adventure !

Next writuing will be about the Editor role and the Sections Editing. Create a Section, apply a Template, edit the Content in each Section, etc...

Extract :

Templates Editor

Introduction

Today we are going to see a big part of this CMS the Template Editor.
I will explain the overall architecture, and we’ll have a look at the details

Note: To help you understanding where we are in the project, this diagram will be a milestone for each article past or future. The yellow color indicates where the current article refers to in the workflow.

Page architecture

To define this architecture I like the idea of the Russian dolls. You open the doll, and you find another smaller, and again you open it and you find another much smaller.
dScribe use this analogy with the Pages.
The first doll in dScribe is the Page, the second one would be the Section, the third one the Element, and the final one the Content.

* Static means for example a Navigation bar, a dropdown menu not linked to dScribe.

In dScribe language, the Page is also called a Template.

Now that we have these definitions in mind we need to have a tool to do these tasks:

1.      Add/Edit the Templates.

2.      Edit the HTML code for the Sections per template.

3.      Create the Elements

4.      Create a list of Items for each element

5.      For each Item select type of content (Link, Headline, Article, etc…)

6.      For each Item edit an HTML code (optional)

(At the moment I wrote this article I don’t have yet a screen to add/update/delete the Pages, this will be done in a future release, but of course you can create one yourself, it’s quite easy because it’s linked to the management of the table Pages in dScribe Database. So I supposed that you have already few pages entered int eh Pages table)