Defining File Formats

To create a new file format, click on the button New either in the File Formats section or on the view page of the file format. The form Configuration Management - File Formats - Create is displayed:

Here you can determine the properties of the new file format. Whether the files of this format are to be marked as new on the live server by default when they are committed or released can only be set by editing the file format (see also Editing and Deleting File Formats) after it has been created.

The form consists of several areas which are described in the following.

General Properties

You determine the general properties of the file format in the uppermost section of the form.

Active

Using this option, you determine whether the user is allowed to create files based on this format. Use this option when a file format is to be available and disable it when the file format is not to be used, but may not be deleted because files exist that are based on this format.

Name

Enter the name of the new file format in this entry field. The name cannot be subsequently changed.

Title

Enter here the title of the file format in the language in which you configured your personal preferences. You can also enter the title of the file format in other languages by switching to the Configuration Management - File Formats - Multilingual Titles form via the Other Languages button.

Enter the title in the respective language in the corresponding entry field and confirm your input with OK.

If no title is available in the language the user configured in his or her personal preferences, the Content Management Server displays the name of the file format. The languages (and therefore the determinable language-specific titles) are dependent on the installation.

Type

In this section of the form, you determine the type of files created on the basis of this file format.

Determine the file type by selecting the corresponding option. The selected file type determines the type of all files based on this format and cannot be subsequently changed.

Fields

In this section of the form, you can select the fields of the new file format.

Fields

Here you select the custom version fields assigned to the draft versions of all files based on this file format.

A new file format initially has no custom version fields assigned to it. You can assign fields to a file format by clicking on the Add button to find the field on the field selection page with the aid of the search function. The Content Manager moves the name of the selected field to the list of fields when you click on the name of the field in the corresponding list item of the search result. Repeat the procedure until you have moved all the desired custom fields to the Selected Fields list.

If would like to remove fields from the Selected Fields list, select them in the list and then click on the Remove button. The selected custom fields are then removed from the Selected Fields list. The properties (e.g. the presets) of these fields and of the built-in ones can be edited via the main page of the file format.

File Creation Options and Workflow

In this area of the form you can bind the use of the file format to a global permission. Furthermore, for file formats of the Folder type you can define valid formats for subfiles and the creation check for subfiles as well as set a workflow for the subsequent files of this format:

Global Create Permissions

Here, by selecting the corresponding option, you can determine which global permission a user needs to be able to create files based on this file format. If no global creation permission is set, all users may use this file format, provided that in the folder containing the file they possess the file-specific permission to create subfiles.

Constraints

If you click on the Constraints button, a form opens in which you can set valid subfile formats - exclusively for file formats using the file type Folder - and enter the Tcl code as the creation check for subfiles.

Workflow

Here you can assign a workflow to a file format. If you select the not preset option in the selection field, the files based on this format have no workflow. By selecting the preset from the folder containing the file option, you determine that files which are created on the basis of this file format are to run through the same workflow as the folder containing them.

If you would like to assign your own workflow to the file format, select the preset with this value option. Enter the name of the workflow in the entry field. Alternatively, you can click on the Browse button to switch to the selection page for workflows. You can limit the search from the start by entering a part of a workflow’s name in the entry field and afterwards clicking on the Search button. On the selection page you can start a new search at any time to find the desired workflow. Then click on the name of the workflow in the corresponding list item to move it to the input field.

You can create and edit workflows in the Workflows section of the Configuration area.

Other Options

Other options for file formats are grouped together in this area of the form. Here you can set several checks and functions. Furthermore, you can determine the valid file name extensions as well as the available editors for the main content of files of this format:

Version settings

Here you can define the valid file name extensions for files of the format concerned. You also have the possibility here to determine the editors to be available as main content editors on the Content Navigator page of a file of this format. To do this, click on the Version Settings button.

Checks and Functions

If you would like to define checks and functions for the file format, click on the corresponding button to switch to the Configuration Management - File Formats - Checks and Functions form.

Confirm your input for the new file format with OK to move to the view page of the new file format.