Concept & Features

Datasite Overview
    For content managers
    For designers
    Optional Plugin Modules
    For administrators

Content Management in the Datasite
    Pages Module
    Page Editing
    Data Module

Concept & Features

The Netcera Datasite is a feature-rich, powerful program that runs on our server rather than on your computer. As such, it's accessible from any browser and you never need to upgrade it - we are constantly making improvements that appear when you next log on.

The Datasite is designed as a number of primary "modules" - sets of related functions - along with a plug-in architecture that allows us to add other modules as we create them and as you need them. You can think of any of these modules as nested "containers" designed to manage or display content in certain ways - you can place either content (text, code, images, or files) or "tags" for other modules (for example, you can place a form tag within a page field and place a page field tag within a page template).

Tags are little bits of code enclosed within HTML comment markers, like <!-- field:Title --> that you can make with the Datasite's Tag Maker, which is conveniently located as needed at the bottom of appropriate Datasite screens. Select the item you want from a drop-down menu, copy the tag, place it where you want it...voila! You've just inserted a form, a page link, a photo gallery, or one of an unlimited number of custom "Web applications" we can create for you. Tag Maker items are different for different Datasite modules - in the Page Edit module, they include page links, images, file links, forms, Global Variables, and plugins tags.

Datasite Overview

Each Datasite website is actually two sites in one - a public (Live) site that you cannot directly edit, and a Staging site that can only be viewed by people who know the URL. All edits take place in the Staging site and do not appear on the Live site until you publish it.

The Datasite is designed to work for three types of people - content managers with little technical knowledge, designers who want to have a great deal of power and flexibility while still maintaining good ease of use, and site managers who want to be able to control the website and have access to information.

For content managers, the Datasite contains four editing modules:

• The Page Edit module is relatively self-explanatory - each page on the site is represented by a form that allows you to edit what appears on the page, including placing tags from other modules. Click on the page name to edit the content, and click on one of the icons on the main page (covered below) to manage that page.
• The Data module can include databases of information submitted from a website form or submitted by content managers, and along with various plugin modules can be used to display information with great flexibility in the layout. Data can be searched in a number of ways, and can be used as design elements. Examples of applications created by combining the Data and Plugin modules include catalogs, shopping carts, navigation bars, link lists, FAQ's, search engines, complex membership applications, support/trouble ticket systems, online communities, etc.
• The Images module is for uploading, renaming, and deleting images, as well as setting the "alt" text that is displayed when you place your mous over the image, when placed with the Tag Maker.
• The Files module is for uploading, renaming, and deleting files, as well as setting the text that is displayed in a link created with the Tag Maker.

For designers, there are five modules plus the optional plugin modules:

• Global Variables (GV) module - Global Variables are a convenient way of placing preformatted text or HTML in multiple places using the Tag Maker, that can then be edited in one place. For example, you might insert the code for the email address of a person who holds a position that changes regularly. Rather than editing every page that contains that person's email address, you could edit it in one place.
• Arrays/Forms module - The Arrays module governs all forms, including standard forms and registration forms, login forms, and password reminder forms for access to password-protected pages. Standard and registration forms can submit to the database, send confirmation emails and notification emails, and can be used to enter data that will create a new Datasite page. In addition, Arrays include a special "form" called a Publishable Arrray (PA), which is used to manage entries in the Data module. PA data differs from form data, in that it is part of the publishing system. A content manager can enter records in the Data module and display the results on the Staging website for approval, then publish the records individually or all at once.
• Setup, which incorporates the Page Templates module and Form Templates module. Page templates contain the underlying code that does not change between pages. Each page is assigned a page template, and you can change the look of the page quickly by changing the template. Similarly, form templates contain the underlying code for website forms - how each field is laid out, where the buttons are and how they look.
• The Authentication module, which doesn't have a button but can be accessed either from the Navigation slideout menu or the Arrays module. This module is for management of authentication realms, groups and users.

Optional Plugin Modules greatly increase the power of the Datasite. Like building blocks, they can be used with each other and the standard Datasite modules to construct complex Web applications.

• Shopping Cart module - When combined with the Arrays, Data, Administration, and Data View plugins, can be used to set up a flexible shopping cart function. The Shopping Cart affords the ability to add an item to the shopping cart, and a complete checkout system including a powerful shipping/tax calculation engine. The shopping cart submits to the secure Datasite database. The shopping cart can submit to a real-time merchant account for instant processing, or for companies that already have a credit card merchant account, who won't be processing many charges a day, and don't want to go through the expense of getting an online merchant account and gateway software, the order can be emailed to them and they can get any secure data (credit card information) directly from the Datasite.
• Data View module - This module is for setting up layouts to display data from the Data module. It is extremely flexible -- a Data View can contain unlimited layouts for the same data and for individual records. Also, each Data View layout includes layouts for the Single View (displaying one record as a page, for example a catalog where you click on an item to see more information), as well as for an empty list and "no records found" in a search. Data View lists can have multiple rows and columns, and can be paginated (X many items per page with numbered links to other pages).
• Data Search module - The Search module allows flexible, extremely fast searching of Array data. Searches can be conducted in any of four ways - from a search form that is constructed in the module and placed with a tag, by clicking on a link, from an authenticated user's registration information, or by defining a constant embedded in the search that always displays a particular subset of the data. Searches can be "single" searches, where each new search submission starts from scratch, or "multiple" searches, where each search submission acts on the previous search results - a search of a subset. What data will be searched is set only by field name, so it is possible to search many data arrays at once if they have fields of the same name, or you can add other fields to the same search field.
• Data Management module - This module allows users to edit their own records, those that they submitted in a form while logged in. They can create, edit and delete records if the administrator gives permission, and each of these can be set to "moderated" so that an administrator may approve the change before it goes live. Users can also upload images and files, and these can be displayed within the Data Management layouts, as well as with the Data View layouts.
• Data Administration module - Allows administrators to manage Data Management submissions, and includes viewing by status (all changed records, created records, updated records, deleted records, and all records), and each record can be edited, deleted, approved, or rolled back to the previous state.
  
• Users/Groups Management module - Administrators can define any user as an admin for any group(s), and then they can manage users. Users can be removed from a group, disabled indefinitely, or set as an administrator.
• Groups Membership - Used to create buttons or links that your members can use to sign up or off of a group or groups.

For administrators, the Admin screen contains four modules:

• Publish/Revert module - For publishing the contents and changes in the Staging site to the Live site, or reverting the Staging site to the state of the last time the site was published
• Domain/Subdomain module - For creation, management and deletion of domains (yoursite.com) and subdomains (whatever.yoursite.com), including aliases. This includes what Datasite page the domain is pointed to.
• Email Management module - For creation, management and deletion of email domains and email accounts, including forwarding accounts and autoresponders
• Site Statistics module - Comprehensive site statistics by the day, week, month or calendar year.

Content Management in the Datasite

Now let's cover the basic use of the Datasite by content managers.

Pages Module

The main Pages Module screen, which you see when you enter the Datasite, shows you a list of all pages on the site - it is hierarchical, so you may need to click the red + icons to the left of the page name to view branches, or click the red + in the top right corner to view all pages. You can then click the - to hide some or all nested pages. The hierarchy extends to the website, meaning that if you have a page named FAQ nested under the page Support, the URL for that page would be http://www.yoursite.com/Support/FAQ/.

You can use the mail Pages module screen to manage pages. Clicking on the page name will allow you to edit the page content. The icons on the right side of the list of page names are used to manage the page in the following ways:

 View (magenta magnifier) - shows a preview of that page on the Staging site in a new browser window, so that you can view your edits before publishing. There is a similar icon on all Page Edit pages.

 Page Properties (turquoise page icon with magnifier - this icon is used throughout the Datasite as a Properties icon) - Here you set a number of the page's properties, including the page name used in the URL and links (for example, www.mysite.com/PageName), the page name that shows in the description on the Main screen, and the Link Name that appears in any page links created with the Tag Maker (for example, you could enter "Click here to go to Page Name"). Here you also select the page template (the underlying look of the page) and whether this is the main (or index) page -- the page which appears when people first access your site from your domain name. By selecting the External Directory template, you can create directories that you can access through FTP or the External Pages module. You can also disable a page from here, which prevents it from being viewed even if someone has the URL.

 Password Protection (gold lock) allows you to password protect pages or branches, once you have set up an authentication system.

 Move Page icon (green up/down arrow) - click this icon, then the icon of any other page in order to nest the first page under the other. This way you can both organize the display on the Main screen, and set the hierarchy of your site. You can also click the Move Page icon in the upper right as the target, to bring the page to the top of the hierarchy. As mentioned above, nesting a page nests it on the site, as well.

 Add Page icon (yellow plus sign) - Clicking this icon will allow you to create a new page nested under the page whose + icon you clicked, or at the top of the hierarchy if you click the upper right + icon. The Page Properties screen is then displayed.

 Delete Page/Delete Branch (X icon) - allows you to delete either the single page or that page along with all pages nested underneath it. If you click on this icon for a page that has pages nested under it and choose to only delete that page, all pages below it are moved up one level in the hierarchy.

Page Editing

The primary Datasite module for interacting with your site is the Page Edit. Everything that is not contained in the page template must go into the Page Edit for each page. Accessing the Page Edit for a page is as simple as clicking on it's name in the Main screen. Once there, you will see a form that reflects the page template assigned to that page (we'll talk about page templates more in the Templates/Setup section).

There are four types of fields that can be part of a page edit - a single-line text field, a multi-line textarea, a drop-down menu for selecting images or files, and a checkbox field which can be set up to insert different text or HTML into the page when checked or unchecked.

For users of Windows and Internet Explorer, the textarea can be set as a built-in HTML editor, allowing word processor-like formatting, table creation and formatting, text and image-based links, and image insertion/alignment, along with an unlimited undo/redo feature. In the near future, we hope to be making a built-in editor available for other browsers/platforms.

All of these fields can have default names, or they can have their name (and hence their label) customized to reflect their content. The order in which they appear on the page can also be easily changed in the Page Templates module. Once you have made changes you can save them by clicking on the Save button, and then click the View icon to view the resulting page in a separate browser window. Or simply click Save & Exit to return to the Main screen.

Data Module

You can edit data in the Data Module by clicking on the Data button at the top or bottom (or selecting Data Module in the Navigation slideout menu), then clicking on the name of the data array you want to edit. (The type of array is displayed as an icon - PA for Publishable Array, FRM for regular forms, and REG for registration forms.) Clicking on the data array name brings you to the Data List page. Here you can view and edit database records for that array.

If you are looking at form data, you will see a drop-down menu containing Staging Site and Live Site at the top of the page. You can set which data you are looking at by selecting it in the drop-down menu and clicking Show/Update. You can also change the number of records displayed per page by changing the default entry of 25 and clicking the Show/Update button.

Below this are buttons for various functions. The important ones for us are the Delete Selected and Delete All buttons. Obviously, the Delete All button would delete all records. If you check the checkbox to the left of several records and click Delete Selected, you can delete those records.

Below this is the table displaying the data. You can perform a search on any field by entering a search term into the text field at the top of that field column and clicking the Show/Update button.

You can view and edit a record by clicking on the blue page icon with the purple magnifier (Properties). This brings you to a page that displays all the field contents of that record, which you can edit and then save.

For further information on the Datasite and it's functions, you may view the Datasite help system at http://help.netcera.com.