Channel Configuration
- Matthew Wagner
This topic explains how to adjust the settings for an XperienCentral channel. In XperienCentral, navigate to Configuration > Channel Configuration. If your XperienCentral project contains multiple channels, you can select the channel to configure from the "Select Channel" drop-down list at the top of the Channel Configuration panel. Most changes you make to the channel configuration will become available after a browser refresh. Some configuration changes require a restart of XperienCentral (the web server).
See the Setup Tool for information on configuring all other global XperienCentral settings.
In This Topic
General
On the "General" tab you can configure general settings for a channel. Refer to the table below for information on the properties that are available here.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Title | The name of the channel. In XperienCentral versions R42 and higher, the title of the channel also appears on the Login page. See Customizing the Login Page for complete information. |
| Workflow — Default workflow repository model | Specifies the workflow to use for the content of the channel. This does not apply to items in the Content Repository |
| Design Template configuration — Default Design Template | Specifies the default design template to use when creating new content for the channel. |
| Design Template configuration — Default style | Specifies the default style to use for new content for the channel. |
| Default meta keywords | Specifies the meta keywords that apply to all content in the channel. These keywords will be indexed by search engines. |
| Options — Use another language if language is not available | If a language version of a content item that is not available is requested by a visitor, this setting specifies whether XperienCentral uses one of the other available languages for fallback. For information on configuring fallback languages, see Language Labels. |
| Content Repository settings — Maximum search results when searching for items | When searching for tags assigned to items in the Content Repository, you can limit the number of results returned by entering a value in this field. |
| External URL check — Results will be sent to | XperienCentral regularly tests hyperlinks to external URLs. If an external link test fails three times in a row, a list of the broken link(s) will be sent to the e-mail address you specify in this field. |
Functionalities
On the "Functionalities" tab, you can enable and disable XperienCentral components and configure additional universal settings for the channel.
Components
All components that are available in the XperienCentral channel are listed next to "Components". When you disable a component, it will not be available to any user of XperienCentral after the change has been applied. To enable a component, select the checkbox next to it and click [Apply]. To disable a component, clear the checkbox next to it and click [Apply]. For some components, a restart of XperienCentral is required when you enable or disable them. Otherwise, a browser refresh will enable the component.
Additional
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Links outside this channel are allowed | Specifies whether hyperlinks within this channel can link to outside channels/URLs. |
| Publish pages in multiple languages | Specifies whether the current channel supports the publishing of pages in multiple languages. If multiple languages are supported, you can switch between the supported language versions using the Language drop-down in the sidebar headers or using the Language Widget in XperienCentral versions R31 and lower. |
Settings Rich Text Buttons
Use the checkboxes in this section to enable and disable the formatting options available for entering rich text in the Editor.
Available Content Types
Select the content types that may be created in this XperienCentral channel. The available content types consist of those that come standard with XperienCentral as well as those that are specific to your project.
Special Pages
In XperienCentral, special pages are pages that are used for a specific purpose. They are available sitewide, for example for redirects, link errors, a sitemap and so forth. Unlike "normal" pages that usually are available in your website's navigation, special pages can be defined and used to display specific content types. The default special pages in XperienCentral are described in the table below.
| Special Page | Description |
|---|---|
| Default Content Repository page | The default page to use to display content items from the Content Repository. An article will display on its "Display on" page if one is specifically defined for it. You can only define one "Default Content Repository page". |
| Error page | The page a website visitor will be redirected to if an error condition is encountered. Typically this page contains content that explains that an error has occurred and what steps the visitor should take to solve the problem. You can only define one "Error page". |
| Home page | Due to a known issue, GX Software recommends that you do not use this special page type. This option is no longer available in XperienCentral versions 10.21.1 and higher. |
| Article display on page | When one or more pages are defined, they can be used as the "Display on" page for an article in a Content Overview or Dynamic Content Overview element. You can also select the "display on" page for an article by navigating to its properties. If you define more than one page, the one with the ranking "1" will be the default option for the "Display on" page in an article's properties and the other pages will be available from the drop-down list. Note for XperienCentral versions R27 and higher If your website contains multiple language versions of content items, GX Software recommends that you create a separate "Display on" page for each supported language. See Working with Language Versions in XperienCentral for general information about maintaining multiple language versions of a channel. |
| Download display on page | When one or more pages are defined, they can be used as the "Display on" page for the download in a Dynamic Content Overview element. Often the "Down display on page is used for editing downloads on a specific page with a special design template. See Working with Language Versions in XperienCentral for general information about maintaining multiple language versions of a channel. Note for XperienCentral versions R27 and higher If your website contains multiple language versions of content items, GX Software recommends that you create a separate "Display on" page for each supported language. See Working with Language Versions in XperienCentral for general information about maintaining multiple language versions of a channel. |
| Image display on page | When one or more pages are defined, they can be used as the "Display on" page for an image in a Dynamic Content Overview element. Often the "Image display on page" is used for editing images on a specific page with a special design template. Note for XperienCentral versions R27 and higher If your website contains multiple language versions of content items, GX Software recommends that you create a separate "Display on" page for each supported language. See Working with Language Versions in XperienCentral for general information about maintaining multiple language versions of a channel. |
| Multimedia display on page | When one or more pages are defined, they can be selected used as the "Display on" page for a multimedia content item in a Dynamic Content Overview element, Note for XperienCentral versions R27 and higher If your website contains multiple language versions of content items, GX Software recommends that you create a separate "Display on" page for each supported language. See Working with Language Versions in XperienCentral for general information about maintaining multiple language versions of a channel. |
| Login page | The page to use in the following circumstances:
You can only define one "Login page". |
| Browser doesn't support cookies page | The page to display if the website visitor attempts to navigate to a page that requires the use of cookies while cookies are disabled in the browser they are using. You can only define one "Browser doesn't support cookies page". |
| Page Section edit page | Specifies the page to use when the user is editing a page section. You can only define one "Page section edit page". |
| Portlet page | The page to use when linking to a third party website via a portal. Generally, the portlet page makes use of a special layout that is designed to work well with the third party website. You can only define one "Portlet page". |
| RSS Feed page | When one or more pages are defined, they can be used as the "Display on" page for an RSS feed in the RSS feed content element. |
| Search-result page | The page to use to display the results from a Search content element. If in the Search content element you specify that you do not want to display the results directly underneath the search box and a "Search-result page" is defined, it will be used to display the results. You can only define one "Search-result page". |
| Sitemap | The page to use to display your website's sitemap. You can only define one "Sitemap page". |
| Sitewide pages | Specify the pages that can appear in more than place on your website, for example a "Contact" page, "Help" page or a sitemap. |
| Database pagetype index page | The page on which content from a database will be displayed. You can only define one "Database pagetype index page". |
Defining a Page
To define a page for the page types listed above, follow these steps:
- Click [Search] next to the page type.
- Use the Advanced Search panel to locate the page you want to define,
- Click the page in the "Results" pane.
- Click [Select]. The page is added as a special page.
Defining Multiple Pages
For some of the "Display on" pages, you can define more than one page. When you define more than one page, they appear in a list below the special page. Each page is assigned a ranking "1", "2" and so forth. For all special pages except that for articles, the special page with the ranking "1" is used for that content item type. To change the order of the special pages, select new numbers from the drop-down lists and then click [Apply] in order to change the ranking order.
Removing a Special Page
To remove a special page, follow these steps:
- Select the "Delete" checkbox next to the special page you want to remove.
- Click [Apply], The special page is removed.
Creating a New Special Page Type
In XperienCentral, you can add new special pages. These can be used in conjunction with a design template in order to render content in a special way, for example for mobile devices or limited screen resolutions. To create a new special page type, follow these steps:
- Click the "Add special page" icon:
- Enter a description for the special page type in the "Description" field.
- Enter the value for the special page type in the "Value" field. The value is used internally by XperienCentral to identify the special page type.
- Select "Multiple pages possible" if you want to be able to assign more than one page to the new special page type. For example:
- Click [Adjust] and then [Close].
- Click [Add special page type]. The new special page type will now be available and you can assign one or more pages to it. For example:
Sharing/Accepting
When your XperienCentral installation contains multiple channels, the tab entitled "Sharing/Accepting" is also available. See Sharing Content for complete information on the functionality contained here.