[opencms-dev] Beginner completely lost

Tue Sep 1 23:41:13 CEST 2009

Thanks Paul, that is lot more helpful than smart-asses' passages.

2009/9/1 Paul-Inge Flakstad <flakstad at npolar.no>

> Just some notes on your specific issues here:
>
> I don't use projects other than the standard Online and Offline one. I
> almost never use the Online project for anything (I prefer having another
> browser window open, where I'm not logged into OpenCms.) I'm sure there
> exists a need for projects, but I have yet to encounter that need. What I do
> when creating a site, is I add it in a few simple steps. Those steps are
> described around the web, but basically it goes like this:
>
> (Below I'm assuming you're using Tomcat and Apache. I'm also assuming that
> you've stripped away :8080 and /opencms/opencms from the OpenCms' URI - if
> you need info on how to do that, please see http://tinyurl.com/mdtedg)
>
> 1.) Create a "site-folder" under /sites/:
> Select "/" from the "Site" dropdown, and then create a new folder inside
> the "/sites/" folder, so that it has the URI "/sites/mysite/".
>
> 2.) Edit the opencms-system.xml to map your domain name to the new folder
> (or: add a "site" to OpenCms):
> <sites>
>      <workplace-server>http://localhost</workplace-server>
>      <default-uri>/sites/default/</default-uri>
>        <site server="http://www.mysite.com" uri="/sites/mysite/"/><!--
> LINE ADDED IN THIS STEP -->
> </sites>
>
> 3.) Add the site name as an alias in the relevant VirtualHost section of
> Apache's config file:
> ServerAlias www.mysite.com
>
> 4.) Make sure your DNS has the correct mapping of the domain name.
>
> 5.) Restart Tomcat and Apache.
>
> 6.) Check that your new site is now present in the "Site" dropdown in
> OpenCms' workplace explorer, and that you're able to access files in your
> new site folder by using the domain name you entered.
>
>
> About the fiddling-around-with-xml-config-files issue: yes, this is a
> downside to OpenCms. It most definitively is. And it is a bit overwhelming
> at first glance - I remember that part vividly. However, you'll typically be
> editing only very limited parts of these files. This means you'll become
> familiar with them (or at least their relevant sections) pretty fast.
> Hopefully, somebody will write a tool that allows for a more user-friendly
> way of editing the settings in these files, but until that happens, don't be
> alarmed by the fact that you'll have to edit them manually. There's really
> no need to. ;-)
>
>
> So, the short version of my advice is: forget about projects other than
> Offline/Online, stick to creating new sites instead of new projects. And
> don't worry about having to edit xml files manually.
>
> Good luck with OpenCms! :D
>
> Cheers,
> Paul
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: opencms-dev-bounces at opencms.org
> > [mailto:opencms-dev-bounces at opencms.org] On Behalf Of Gregor Schneider
> > Sent: 1. september 2009 16:57
> > To: The OpenCms mailing list
> > Subject: Re: [opencms-dev] Beginner completely lost
> >
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > Shi,
> >
> > On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 3:10 PM, Shi Yusen<shiys at langhua.cn> wrote:
> > > I remembered there was a PPT on OpenCms's struture which
> > made OpenCms
> > > quite easy to understand. The main concept is something like this:
> > >
> > > 1. an HTTP request to servlet container such as Tomcat;
> > > 2. The servlet container forwards the request to OpenCms;
> > > 3. In OpenCms servlet, enter org.opencms.main.OpenCms first;
> > > 4. org.opencms.main.OpenCms produces an CmsObject instance;
> > > 5. The CmsObject instance contains the resource to visit
> > and security
> > > who visits;
> > > 6. If the user has permissions to visit, using the loader of the
> > > resource to load it to the response; if not, error in response.
> > > 7. You can extend resource, loader, user, group, permission.
> > >
> >
> > What you've pointed out above is almost common to any CMS, and this is
> > not the point why I'm completely lost.
> >
> > What's really puzzling me is:
> >
> > - - Project:
> >
> > Offline / Online - so far understood. However, if I create a website
> > from scratch, first thought would be to create a new project. But I
> > couldn't find any source how this could be achieved. In one of the
> > more helpfull tutorials, the editor writes
> >
> > <quote>
> >      Projects - Like I said above, is either Online, Offline, or some
> > subset of Offline.  Basically, as far as I can tell, these are a way
> >      to organize folders in the VFS that you use for different
> > purposes.  For a website, you might define a project containing all
> > the
> >      relevant directories from the VFS.  Then, if you choose that
> > project, you will see just those folders and files.
> > </quote>
> >
> > So does that mean, a new project is always part of the
> > Offline-Project?
> > And when I create a new project, all files from the Offline-project
> > are shown in the explorer - are they part of the new project or not?
> >
> > I rather feel that what I'm understanding as a "project", in OpenCMS
> > it's more what they call a "Module" - strange way of thinking,
> > though..
> >
> > Not to menation that this tutorial is referring to version 6, meaning
> > it's quite outdated.
> >
> > Next, quoting from "OpenCms 7 Development":
> >
> > <quote>
> >     Registering the Content Type
> >     To register the schema file with OpenCms, we need to add an entry
> > into the module database. Modules are defined in an XML
> >     configuration database maintained by OpenCms. For most items, we
> > want to let OpenCms manage the contents of this file by
> >     using the Administrative interface, as no interface has been
> > provided for adding new content types. We thus have to edit the
> >     OpenCms module database file directly. The module database file
> > can be found at:
> >     <opencms_install>/WEB-INF/config/opencms-modules.xml
> >     Let's edit this file and....
> > </quote>
> >
> > Meaning, I'll have to fiddle around with xml- and property-files on
> > the serverside each time I'm creating a new module which I personally
> > feel a bit anachronistic.
> >
> > Anyway, today I've sent a mail to Alkacon asking for the
> > 1-day-inhouse-evaluation-workshop ASAP from which I hope to get some
> > insights and hopefully a simple site with a new template up & running.
> >
> > As you can see, I'm not to ditch OpenCMS since I like the
> > following points:
> >
> > - - it's Java
> > - - it's OpenSource
> >
> > But what I really, really recommend to the OpenCMS-developers is to
> > create a tutorial form dummies "How to setup a website from scratch".
> > I figure that other companies which are not willing / able to spend
> > money for an Evaluation Workshop but having time / budget-pressure,
> > might ditch OpenCMS instantly and might move to some PHP-solution
> > which might give quick results but less security.
> >
> > To all the guys contributing to this thread:
> >
> > Thanks for all your recommendations and hints, I really appreciate
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> > Gregor
> > - --
> > just because your paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after you...
> > gpgp-fp: 79A84FA526807026795E4209D3B3FE028B3170B2
> > gpgp-key available
> > @ http://pgpkeys.pca.dfn.de:11371
> > @ http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/
> > skype:rc46fi
> >
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