Content Management Server

The Content Management Server is the main component of the CMS Fiona. It serves as an editorial system which is also used to maintain content. The Content Management Server is often also called "Content Manager". The server can be operated conveniently with a browser via the separate HTML user interface (HTML GUI). The HTML GUI is a web application and communicates with the Content Manager via the XML-based protocol CRUL. For previewing dynamically generated pages, a suitable websever can be integrated.

The content is maintained in a folder hierarchy. Analogous to directories with their subdirectories and files, a folder is a CMS file that can have files in it such as documents or images or further folders. The hierarchy formed by the folders - the file tree - is called the folder hierarchy.

By the so called export the files in the folder hierarchy are converted into web pages, i. e. to files in the file system. During this process the hierarchy is preserved so that the result of a complete export is your complete website.

When files are exported, layout files (also called "layouts") you have created are used. They are special files, which are not exported but contain instructions, which control the export of the files. To a certain extent, a layout file forms the frame within which folders and documents are exported. In this way, layouts can give the created web documents a consistent appearance. They allow you to reuse content and to define the layout of your complete site at a few central places.

The Content Manager can export your file hierarchy, or sections of it, to a directory. The documents which are generated during this process can then be transferred to the live system using, for example, a script. They are not subject to any change until they are updated after the next export. The following figure illustrates this.

Using this export method, the folder hierarchy or a subtree of it is exported as a whole. For larger websites or greater performance demands, the Template Engine provides an optimized method which is based on caching and precomputing (incremental export).

Next to the Content Management Server, our optional Search Server can be used on the editorial system for indexing and searching content using a great variety of search criteria. The Search Server can also be used on the live system, even independently of the Template Engine, if required.

The Content Management Server uses a database to store most of user and administrative data.