This document discusses the use of configuration blocks, block choosers, indexing, and XSLT in Cascade CMS to provide flexible templating and customization across sites. Key points: - Configuration blocks allow bundling of blocks for site-specific information, separating configuration from content formatting. Block choosers in DEFAULT allow reusable blocks. - Indexing gathers information from configuration blocks to make it available globally via the STORAGE region. This includes both absolute and relative indexing. - XSLT formats are used to process the indexed information and distribute it within templates and regions. Library templates in XSLT facilitate reusable code. - Features like bricks, WYSIWYG blocks,

1. BLOCK CHOOSERS,
CONFIGURATION BLOCKS,
METADATA SETS, INDEXING, AND
XSLT
Presented by
Wing Ming Chan, Sep 16, 2013
Upstate Medical University
chanw@upstate.edu
1

2. TOPICS
 Objectives of the design
 Template with no regions for site-specific
information
 Configuration set vs. configuration block
 Block choosers in DEFAULT and configuration
blocks
 Indexing
 XSLT formats
 Formats for regions
 Template format
 Xalan component (if time allows)
 Metadata sets 2

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE DESIGN
 Avoid having too many site-specific components
and assets: templates, configuration sets, content
types, metadata sets, formats, index blocks
 Separating the two functions of a configuration:
 Controlling file format, output and publishing
 Bundling blocks in regions for a site
 Using blocks without regions
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4. THREE TYPES OF INFORMATION
ON A PAGE
 Global
 Site-specific
 Page-specific
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5. GLOBAL INFORMATION
 Global navigation
 Logo
 Search
 Breadcrumb
 Footer (partially)
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6. SITE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION
 Site title (text or image)
 Menu bar
 Left column
 Right column
 Footer contact
information
 Footer fourth
column
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7. PAGE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION
 DEFAULT
 Page-specific left/right columns
 Other regions in the center column
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8. GLOBAL TEMPLATE
(WITHOUT A LOT OF REGIONS)
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9. CONFIGURATION VS.
CONFIGURATION BLOCK
 Global configuration
 Regions defined for global information and page-
specific information
 Control file output, file extensions, publishing
 No regions defined for site-specific information
 Site-specific configuration blocks
 Replace regions in configurations for sites
 Block bundling
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10. CUSTOMIZABLE GLOBAL
CONFIGURATIONS
 Customizable regions for specific sites/pages
 The entire header replaceable
 Left column (one single region)
 Right column (one single region)
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11. BLOCK CHOOSERS IN DEFAULT
 Allowing blocks in DEFAULT
 Main reason: when switching content type, only
data in DEFAULT is kept
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12. DATA DEFINITION FOR DEFAULT
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13. CONFIGURATION BLOCK I
 A data definition block
 Containing multiple block choosers and other UI
fields
 Not plugged into any region (typical use)
 Existing in and belonging to a specific site
 To be indexed
 Global index block
 Global format processing the information gathered
and stored in STORAGE
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14. CONFIGURATION BLOCK II
 Containing site-specific/page-specific information
 Site title
 Menu bar
 Theme
 Local stylesheet
 JavaScript library
 Footer contact information
 Blocks in left/right columns
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15. CONFIGURATION BLOCK III
 Four of them:
 _site-info
 _footer-contact
 _left-column
 _right-column
 In Base Folder or any indexable sub-folders
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16. _SITE-INFO
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17. DATA DEFINITIONS OF
CONFIGURATION BLOCKS
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18. CONFIGURATION BLOCKS
IN A SITE AND A FOLDER
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19. TWO TYPES OF INDEXING
 Absolute indexing
 Tied with a folder
 Belonging to a site
 Block existing in a site, not reusable by other sites
 Example: dropdown menu bar
 Relative indexing
 Starts from the calling page
 Exists in global area
 Block existing in _common, reusable by all sites
 Examples: tabbed menu bar, breadcrumb, left menu
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20. INDEXING CONFIGURATION
BLOCKS I
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21. INDEXING CONFIGURATION
BLOCKS II
 Relative indexing
 The index block is plugged into a region named
STORAGE in the global configuration
 Picking up information stored in the four
configuration blocks in a site
 Blocks chosen: some global, some site-specific
(local)
 Global: global menu bar, left menu, theme, global
bricks
 Local: local menu bar, JavaScript, local stylesheet,
local bricks
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22. FORMATTING THE INFORMATION
 Using XSLT
 Configuration blocks are sorted using number of
ancestor folders in descending order
 Closest configuration block takes precedence
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23. THE FORMAT
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24. DISTRIBUTING INFORMATION IN
STORAGE
 Template-level formats written in XSLT
 Grab information from named div's and send it to
named div's
 Clean up STORAGE
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25. TEMPLATE FORMAT
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26. WHY THE STORAGE REGION AND
TEMPLATE-LEVEL FORMATS?
 Global and local blocks made available to the entire site
 Information made available to all regions on the page
 Requires template-level formats
 Moving information from a div in STORAGE to any div
on the page
 Cleaning up all junks (STORAGE, unwanted div’s, etc.)
 Applications
 Bricks
 Blocks in WYSIWYG’s
 Injecting code into <head> at the page level
 Wrapping up an entire newsletter in a block
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27. GLOBAL METADATA SETS I
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28. GLOBAL METADATA SETS II
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29. OTHER USES OF CONFIGURATION
BLOCKS
 Page-specific left/right column
 Not to be indexed (hidden in non-indexable
folder)
 Directly plugged into regions (LEFT COLUMN or
RIGHT COLUMN) at the page level
 Used with formats
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30. USES OF DATA DEFINITION BLOCKS
 Four different ways of using a data definition
block (with respect to four different formats)
 In a configuration block to be indexed
 In a configuration block to be plugged into a region at
the page level (customizable configuration)
 Plugged into a region at the page level, used with a
format
 Chosen in a block chooser in DEFAULT
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31. WHY XSLT?
 Same processing code in four different formats
 Centralized library code
 Use call-template everywhere
 Support of Xalan components if programming
logic needed
 Use of template-level formats
 As of Cascade 7.6, Velocity code library is
possible; what about template-level format?
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32. IDENTIFYING BLOCKS
INSIDE CONFIGURATION BLOCKS
 Each block has a unique identifier
 Text blocks: unique names
 Data definition blocks: hidden type identifiers
 Index blocks: unique names
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33. BLOCK DATA DEFINITION
33

34. PROCESSING BLOCKS IN FORMATS
 Named templates paired with blocks
 Hosting formats: switch-board code
 Call named templates in different hosting
formats
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35. XSLT LIBRARIES
 Named templates in library files
 Namespaces
 Using XPath with names and attributes
 Using context nodes
 Where named templates are used
 In DEFAULT format
 In the STORAGE region
 In customized left/right column regions
 In other regions in center column
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36. SWITCH-BOARD CODE
36

37. LIBRARY PROCESSING CODE
37

38. TRICKS ABOUT CONTEXT NODE I
 The parent node of system-data-structure is
content
 By selecting content when calling apply-
templates, the content node is passed in as the
context node
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39. TRICKS ABOUT CONTEXT NODE II
 Within the context, system-data-structure can be
referred to directly
 In left-right-column-processing, the template
that matches system-data-structure just sits
there, waiting to be used
 There are no calls to templates that match bare
system-data-structure
 This eliminates accidental matching of system-
data-structure somewhere in the library
 Whenever a match of system-data-structure is
needed, prefix it with an XPath
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40. KNOWN ISSUES RELATED TO
INDEXING
 Cyclic indexing
 At one point, blocks were used to generate items in
left menu
 Index block left-menu indexing pages, folders,
references, external links, and blocks (including
configuration blocks)
 Configuration block _left-column contains left-menu
 Index cache
 Menu highlighting not updated instantly
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41. BRICKS I
 Bricks blocks: data definition blocks, which can
be either global or site-specific
 Chosen in _site-info
 Information available in STORAGE, no special
treatment needed
 String replacement in template format
 Brick values available anywhere on a page
(DEFAULT, right column, left column, header,
footer, etc.)
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42. BRICKS II
42

43. BRICKS III
43

44. BRICKS IV
 Adding code to site-block-indexing (used by
STORAGE) so that the information is made
available in STORAGE
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45. BRICKS V
 Adding a library file: bricks-processing
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46. BRICKS VI
 New code in template format:
46

47. BRICKS VII
 A page with a brick:
47

48. BLICKS, BROCKS, OR BIW’S I
 A block that can be inserted into a WYSIWYG
 Something between a brick and a block
 Block choosers in _site-info, all assigned a fixed
set of id’s
 Block info made available in STORAGE
 In WYSIWYG, insert div’s with matching id’s
 Template formats distribute info in STORAGE to
these div’s
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49. BLICKS, BROCKS, OR BIW’S II
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50. BLICKS, BROCKS, OR BIW’S III
50

51. PROBLEM
 The div element is invisible in the WYSIWYG
 Dummy content can be added to the div (a string
or an image); the content will be removed by the
template formats
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52. SOLUTION I
 An id can be entered directly into the WYSIWYG,
wrapped by <p></p> tags
 Assign a pre-defined class to the p element
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53. SOLUTION II
 Create the div element with the id in the format
for DEFAULT
 Assign appropriate classes to the div or wrapping
div
53

54. INJECTING STYLE
INTO HEAD AT PAGE LEVEL I
 Add a div (id=“show-page-style”) in <head> in the
template
 Choose a block containing style information in
_site-info
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55. INJECTING STYLE
INTO HEAD AT PAGE LEVEL II
 On the page:
 The format for DEFAULT turns the p into a div:
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56. INJECTING STYLE
INTO HEAD AT PAGE LEVEL III
 The template formats match the page name in
the block and the page name on the page, and
inserts the style rules into <head>
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57. INJECTING STYLE
INTO HEAD AT PAGE LEVEL IV
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58. USING STORAGE:
THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION
 There is no reason why the region STORAGE cannot
be associated with a mega block, containing multiple
block choosers
 site-block-indexing can be just one of the blocks
available to STORAGE
 Global blocks can also be chosen by the mega block;
then global blocks can be replaced at site level (no
difference between global and local any more)
 Besides DEFAULT, there will be only one region,
namely STORAGE, in an entire template
 Only XSLT formats make sense in this setup, unless
we are ready for a huge Velocity format
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59. QUESTIONS?
 Email: chanw@upstate.edu
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