ERP5 Web is simple yet powerful Web 2.0/3.0 publication system which allows you
to build a rich website application in short time. It's designed to serve any
ERP5 object within a custom web design/layout over the web. The system supports
structuring, translation and versioning of controlled content with an easy to
use web interface.
Table of Contents
Steps¶
The main building blocks of the system are as follow:
-
Web Site - web site instance. In one ERP5 site there can be multiple
such instances which allows serving multiple websites.
-
Web Section - represents a section of a web site. In one web site we
can have unlimited number of section. Each one can be configured (through
its Predicate tab) to aggregate any ERP5 content available.
-
Web Page - represents basic static HTML based web page which can be
created/edited using built in FCKEditor
The main technical concepts introduced by ERP5 Web are as follow:
-
widget - they define dynamic user interface components of a Web
page such as search boxes, list of sections, ads, login area, etc.
-
- layout
- they can be used to change the appearance (ex. number of
columns, colors, styles) and the choice of widgets in a Web Site or any Web
Section of a website. There are two kinds of layouts: container layout (to
display the list of contents in a Web Section) and content layout (to
display a given content in the context of a Web Section).
-
URL processing - erp5_web provides different methods to configure
and extend URL processing. This includes generation of permanent URLs,
mapping between URLs and documents, generation of breadcrums, etc.
Installation¶
The following list of business templates and their dependencies needs to be
installed: erp5_base, erp5_web, erp5_dms. For business template installation
guide see HowToInstallBusinessTemplates
Additionally you have to install Portal Transforms tool to make viewing Web
Pages work. Please see How to use portal transforms.
How to create Web Site structure¶
Once you have installed all required business templates you can create your website by:
- creating Web Site instance using standard ERP5 web interface.
- create some Web Sections using its default new web management interface.
- set default Web Page for a Web Sections and eventually edit its predicate settings so each section can aggregate and show other ERP5 content.
- add some static Web Pages for your Web Site.
How to customize your Web Site¶
The way a Web Site is rendered depends on the prefered layout settings plus the
CSS files used.
There are two types of layouts you can specify for every ERP5 Web Site or contained
Web Section : container (used when showing container itself) and content (used when
showing contained item). Each layout has can have arbitrary 'Page Template'
which will be used to render it. Each 'Page Template' can include different
set of CSS files used to visualize site's elements.
In order to customize your web site you need to find which ERP5 forms are used
for layout and customize them accordingly. If you want to change not only your
site's structure but appearance you should change used CSS files.
Rule: By customizing layout forms you define your site's structure,
by customizing used CSS files you define how your site is going to look like.
For a general guide to ERP5 Forms (layouts) see HowToCreateNewForms
Another way to heavily customize your specific web section is to define a WebSite_setSkin
script in root of web section. This script will be called dynamically at every request
and in it it's possible to change the current portal skin.
Document publication life cycle¶
The way a Web Document is managed in Web Site depends entirely on its associated
list of workflows. The main workflow used in a ERP5 Web Site is document_publication_workflow
which defines the general set of states and transition as well security settings.
It's available at erp5/portal_workflow/document_publication_workflow. Configuring
an workflows is an advanced topic and its covered in appropriate document.
Translation and Versioning of Web Documents¶
Each Document in a Web Site has the following attributes that make it possible
to support translation and versioning of web documents:
- reference - a string identifying document
- version - document's version
- language - document's language
The combination of these three attributes is unique into the system. They are
used internally so that in an website we are sure that user will get the
translated and most recent document.
The criteria for selecting right document are:
- user's preferred language - combination of document's version and state
Note: In the context of ERP5 Web a document can be Web Page,
File, Image and so on. So all rules for selecting the right document applies to
them accordingly.
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