Drag and drop: placing modules and publishing objects

Summary

Function

To create new areas with contentXXL, you can place entire server-based ASP.NET function modules within the browser directly on the web site WYSIWYG via drag & drop into content areas. These components contain already the functionality of the target content area, i.e. the structure and behaviour.

All you have to do now is to enter a few settings concerning functionality, design, and co-operation with other modules - that's it. You have immediate access to all functions of the placed modules and you only have to fill them with the respective objects such as news or documents.

Your benefit

Details "Drag & Drop"

Reach your goal quickly in only 4 steps:

1. Dividing a page into content areas using templates

Use page templates to define content areas. These are those parts of a page which can later take in the function modules. A page can have several content areas, e.g. single- or multiple columns for articles, a navigation area on the left, a margin on the right for additional information, and a banner area at the top of the site. Areas which are not filled with content or which are not needed in certain views are not shown automatically. A theme concept is available for the realisation of a colour coding system. Thus you can create a uniform but very flexible page layout. In general, you need only a few page templates for your entire web site.

2. Placing function modules via drag & drop into the content areas

The content areas are not simply filled with unstructured texts and pictures or with lists and checkboxes. contentXXL offers complete function modules for pre-defined contents such as news, contacts or a calendar. Seen from a technically point of view, these are server-based ASP.NET controls. These function modules realise within the content areas exactly the data structure and functionality you need, e.g. a list of articles or documents, a forum or even a registration. You can place these modules empty or already filled with objects within the browser directly on the site via drag & drop. If you use a module on several sites, place it directly into the page template.

3. Creating the function modules via templates

The placed function modules are already linked with pre-defined templates. While working, you can see what the new site looks like. Of course you can always choose a different template or you can even create a new template yourself. First, there are templates for the module as a whole (theme box). Here you define if your module will have e.g. a frame and how the title will be shown. There are more templates for the display of the content which define how the objects are presented in the different views, e.g. as a list, detailed view or print preview.

4. Creating new objects, publishing and releasing them in modules

The function modules you placed can be empty or already filled with content. A HTML module can e.g. already contain a quote by one of your clients because you already used it on another page. Or you can place an entire news area which you have already made available to another user group on another page. However, these are not mere copies: if you change the content only once, this change is visible on all sites where you use this module.
When you place an empty module, you have to fill it with objects next. Objects are e.g. a single news item in a news module, single documents in a document module or, as in our illustration, a single link. These objects exist independently of the module. If needed, they are published in the one desired module or in different modules at different times.
This offers you numerous possibilities: a news item can be published at once for a few days in a module on the home page, then for a few weeks in several modules for different subjects, and subsequently in the archive module for an indefinite period. You can already pre-define this process when you create the object and never bother about it anymore.
If you are satisfied with your work and you have the respective access rights, you can release changes made yourself at once. Otherwise you present the changes to a user with the respective access rights for release.

Sounds complicated?

Just think of a bookshelf: this represents our page template. The modules are drawers. They take in the content, i.e. the objects.

In just 4 steps, you can create a new content area in only a few minutes. If you just want to add content, i.e. publish new texts or documents, then simply follow step 4.