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Entities with several business units, channels, brands, and extranets often want to centrally manage all their outlets and initiatives from one application or platform. XperienCentral is designed to manage multiple channels and handle multi-channel publishing. It is possible to set up new channels without installing additional hardware and/or software. Every channel has its own page structure and its own Workspace environment. The added value of multiple channels is the possibility to share and reuse information across those channels. Content Repository items that have been created in one channel can be reused in another channel. It is possible to specify exactly which functionality and content can be shared between which channels.

This topic describes how to set up extra channels and how to share information between these channels as well as some additional functionality. Some of the tasks have to be performed by a system administrator and/or application manager due to some core configuration changes. This topic describes both local and development environments. A multiple channel setup for production environments can be configured in a similar way, but it does require extra configuration changes to the web server(s) and possibly other software. Procedures for production environments are described in the Linux and Windows installation topics for production environments.

Before creating a new channel, stop XperienCentral (the web server).

In This Topic

Generate New Hostnames

To create a second channel, two new hostnames are required: the hostname for the public channel and the hostname for the Workspacer environment. In this document www.mysecondsite.com and cms.mysecondsite.com will be used as examples.

Add the new hostnames to your "hosts" file (C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts on Windows computers) and point them to 127.0.0.1. For example:

127.0.0.1    www.mysecondsite.com
127.0.0.1    cms.mysecondsite.com

 If you use a proxy server, add excludes for these hostnames in the proxy configuration of your browsers.

Request an Updated configuration.xml from GX Software

The configuration.xml is a file with a license key that also contains the valid hostnames for your installation. To create a new channel, a new configuration.xml containing the two new hostnames is required: Send an e‑mail to developersupport@gxsoftware.com or contact your GX Software consultant in order to obtain a new configuration.xml. If you send an e-mail, do not forget to include the two new required hostnames

Update your configuration.xml

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Create a New Channel in XperienCentral

To create the new channel in XperienCentral, follow these steps:

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Step 1: Name the New Channel

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Configure the following fields:

Step 2 of 4: Configuration Settings for the New Channel

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Configure the following fields:

Step 3 of 4: Create the New Channel

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In step 3 you have to confirm that you want to create a new channel. Click [Create channel]. This operation could take a few moments. The new channel with one page, the homepage, has been created. You can now log in to the channel by accessing the URL by its new hostname (+port number) followed by /web/edit. Following the example in this topic, that URL is http://cms.mysecondsite.com:8080/web/edit.

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Extending the Folder Structure (Optional)

The configuration of the new channel can be extended or altered to allow separate files or presentations.

Separating Presentations

When managing multiple channels, it might be necessary to share common resources and (parts of) the presentation. In order to realize this, the following conditions must be met:

• There must be a central folder for the shared files and presentations.
• Besides the central folder, each channel also has its own folders for private files and presentations.

The following is an example of a folder structure in a presentation plugin:

<WCB JSP folder>/common/page/
                       /pagepart/
                       /element/
                       /etc
              /channel1/page/
                       /pagepart
                       /element
                       /etc
              /channel2/page/
                       /pagepart
                       /element
                       /etc

In order to be able to use this subdivision, you need to modify your configuration in the Setup Tool. On the General tab, navigate to the section "website_settings (x)" where x is the name of the channel you want to configure.

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The descriptor directories are listed in a specific sequence. This sequence also indicates which JSPs are used if there are other JSPs with the same name. For example, if there is a page.jsp in the common directory and there is a page.jsp in the channel1 directory, then the page.jsp from the channel1 directory will be used.

The static files can be placed in a similar way as the JSPs:

…/presentationtype/static/common/images/
                                /stylesheets/
                                /scripts/
                                /…

…/presentationtype/static/channel1/images/
                                  /stylesheets/
                                  /scripts/
                                  /…

…/presentationtype/static/channel2/images/
                                  /stylesheets/
                                  /scripts/
                                  /…

Finally, the uploaded files can be placed in separate folders. In this way, the first channel can use the standard upload and upload_mm folders. Uploads for the second and subsequent channels can be placed in a separate folder below the main folder. For example:

backend/
/upload/                  for the first web initiative
/upload_mm/               for the first web initiative
/mysecondsite/upload/     for the second web initiative
/upload_mm/               for the second web initiative

These paths can be set for each channel using the following settings:

• file_upload_directory and file_upload_url (for normal uploads)
• file_upload_mm_directory and file_upload_mm_url (for Content Repository uploads)

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Sharing Content

For organizations with several channels and multiple publication channels (multi-channel publishing) it is often essential to be able to manage content from a central location and to re-use it on multiple places. This means not only content but also web users, forms etc. In a default installation with more than one channel, all content is strictly separated. Content sharing is not done automatically, so if you want to do this some settings have to be changed. Most of these changes involve assigning different read/write permissions for different channels. Editors of the various channels must explicitly allow one another to read content and to re-use content. By explicitly specifying to read per channel, everything can be set up in a safe and flexible manner.

An important feature of shared content is that shared content can only be read on another channel. For example, when an article is created in channel A then it can be displayed on channel B, but it can never be modified on channel B. This ensures that the rights of the author remain with the author. When different editors are allowed to edit content on different channels, their user accounts have to be shared as well. Editor X on channel A must be shared and granted permission to work on channel B as well.

Sharing and Accepting

In order to share content between channel A and channel B the configuration has to be changed to be able to expose (share) the content of one channel with another as well as to receive (accept) content from another channel. Sharing content is configured in three steps. For each channel, specify the following:

1. Which content types are available for sharing.
2. Which content should be shared with which other channel(s).
3. Which content should be accepted from other channel(s).

In this example, we will configure two channels so that articles from the Content repository are shared between channel A and channel B, and editors on both channel A and B are able to add new articles and to use each other’s articles on their channel.

Step 1

Which content types are available for sharing is set up in Configuration > Channel Configuration on the [Functionalities] tab under "Shared model types". In order to share the Content Repository, select it in the list. For example:

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Click [Apply]. The Content Repository is now shared in channel A. For example:

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Repeat this step for channel B.

Steps 2 and 3

Sharing and accepting are configured in Configuration > Channel Configuration on the [Sharing/Accepting] tab:

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On this tab you have the following fields:

In order to share the Content Repository in this example:

1. Channel A has to share the Content Repository with channel B
2. channel A has to accept the Content Repository from channel B
3. channel B has to share the Content Repository with channel A
4. channel B has to accept the Content Repository from channel A

When this is completed the configuration looks like this:

Channel A

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Channel B

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Model Types

Below is a list of all model types that can be shared. When there are no comments for a model type the individual items of a model type can be shared. For example, with the queries you can choose on a query level which queries are shared or not.

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Multiple Channels versus Language Switch

For organizations that publish content in multiple languages you can either use multiple channels or use the language switch functionality available in the Language widget. The pros and cons of both approaches are described in the table below.

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Language Switch

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Extra Channels

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The site structure for all language versions of the channel is the same. Not all pages have to be translated or published.

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Each channel has its own site structure.

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Authorization per language is not possible. An editor can edit pages and page sections in all the available languages.

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Authorization is fully adjustable per channel. Each channel has its own edit environment.

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All languages use the same presentation.

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There are many ways to separate the design or share parts of the design between several channels.

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No additional license required to use multiple languages.

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An additional license is required for each extra channel.

For a straightforward one-to-one translation of a channel and when the content is translated by the same group of editors, the natural choice would be the language switch. In cases where extra functionality is required or authorization is required for each language, then you probably want to set up a separate channel and to use sharing and accepting to share content 

The external application functionality uses filters to integrate content from external sources. These filters perform tasks such as stripping away superfluous HTML from the source and replacing HTML tags with others in order to make it suitable to be displayed in XperienCentral using your design template,

There are four predefined filters for external applications in XperienCentral. Each is described in this section. To add a filter to an external application, select if from the drop-down list on the Filters tab. For example:

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The filter is added to the external application. For example:

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Define the properties for the filter. See the applicable section below for complete information. The order in which the

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WmInclude Filter

The WmInclude filter is the filter most often used to integrate external applications. Define the following properties for the WMInclude filter:

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WMReplacementsFilter

The WMReplacements filter is used to replace or remove strings from the integrated external application. This makes it possible to modify the retrieved content in order to make it suitable for display in your own design template. The default replacements cover most of the common modifications that need to be performed on retrieved content. You can also create custom replacements that apply to your specific project.

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IncludeFileFilter

This filter displays the content from the specified file. This is useful for situations where the source for content is a file on disk as opposed to an external application. Enter the fully qualified path to the file including its extension. For example:

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XSLFilter

This filter converts XML to HTML so it can be rendered in XperienCentral.

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Creating a Custom Filter

If the standard filters available in XperienCentral do not provide the functionality you need in order to integrate an external application, you can create a custom filter using the Integration API. When the custom filter is created, you can add it to the external application configuration.

For complete information on implementing a custom filter, please contact your GX XperienCentral consultant.

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