Metadata is information about a content item, such as its title and language. Ektron provides extensive and flexible support for metadata, which it uses in both standard and innovative ways.
You define metadata in the Workarea at Settings > Configuration > Metadata Definitions, but you assign metadata in the Content area.
Prerequisite: Only members of the Administrator user group and those defined in the Manage Members for Role: Metadata-Admin screen can view, add, or edit metadata definitions. See Also: Using the Roles Screens
<title>
identifies the content in the screen title, favorites list, and browser history. Creating and Deploying a Title Tag Definition
Best Practices
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Use the Add Metadata Definition screen to define metadata (such as keywords and title). You can define as many instances of metadata as you wish. If your site supports multiple languages, you create metadata definitions for each supported language.
To add a metadata definition:
IMPORTANT: After creating a definition, you must assign it to folders whose content should use the definition through the folder’s properties.
If you create a metadata definition, assign it to a folder, then users insert metadata information into their content, the collected information takes on the characteristics of the metadata definition. For example, if the metadata is title and its type is HTML tag, this is how it appears in the Web page’s source code.
<title>CMS Developer</title>
If you later change its type to Meta, the following effects occur:
<title>CMS Developer</title>
.<meta name="title" content="CMS developer">
.NOTE: For background information about metadata, see http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/global.html#edef-META.
Copied from www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_5.html:
The META element is an extensible container for use in identifying specialized document meta-information. Meta-information has 2 main functions:
Copied from www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_5.html.
The title should identify the contents of the document in a global context. A browser may display the title of a document in a history list or as a label for the window displaying the document.
Title
as the metadata name. (Do not include spaces.) content="document management web content management content management cms"
Searchable metadata allows content to be found by a search phrase that you add to the content’s metadata. The content is typically found by either a Web site search or a Workarea search. For example, each document stored in the Document Management functionality has a unique part number.
NOTE: When metadata is set up, the system administrator determines whether it is “publicly viewable.” If it is, the search field appears on the search screen that site visitors use along with the search screen in the Ektron Workarea. If the data is not publicly viewable, it can be found only through a Workarea search.
NOTE: Regardless of whether this is checked, this metadata value can be found using the Workarea’s Search Content Folder screen. Only logged-in users can access the Workarea.
ShowExtendedSearch
property of the Search Server Control to true. This value enables the Web site search to find searchable metadata.You can set up a Web page so that whenever the source content item appears, the related information appears next to it by associating the following types of content with a content item.
For example, your Web site sells motorcycle helmets. On a page that shows a particular helmet, the left column lists a collection of motorcycle drivers who wear that helmet. Another example might show the profile of a user when a certain content item appears.
Related content lets you connect a content item with several types of related content (see list above), and is associated with a content item, not a Web form. For example, you can display a library image of the company logo on a page whenever content in a certain folder appears. For content in a different folder, a different logo could appear.
NOTE: This capability is similar to the MetadataList Server control except that MetadataList shows a link to every content item with a selected term in the keywords or title. Also, a MetadataList is associated with a Web form (.aspx page), not a content item.
For more information, go to http://localhost/cms400developer/developer/default.aspx
and read the Metadata > Meta Associations description.
IMPORTANT: If you are using Collection Selector type, only users with permission to work with collections can select a collection. Also, if you are using Image, Hyperlink or File Selector type, only users with permission at least read-only Library permissions can select a library item. See Also: Managing Folder Permissions.
You can change the style of a searchable property type of metadata. For example, you create a definition to collect Part Number. Originally, the style is text, but you later decide its style should be number.
When you change the style of searchable property type metadata, Ektron attempts to maintain any data stored in content blocks that use the definition. For example, if the data style was number and you change it to text, the number stored for that metadata definition is converted to text and maintained in all content that uses it. However, sometimes Ektron cannot maintain the data when you change the style. For example, if you change a metadata definition style from number to date, Ektron cannot convert those styles, in which case any data stored in metadata definitions is lost.
The following table shows the conversion scenarios and how Ektron handles each one. It indicates whether data is maintained after you convert from a data style in the left column to a style to its right.
|
Text |
Number |
Date |
Boolean |
Single Select |
Multiple Select |
Text |
- |
OK |
OK |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Number |
OK |
- |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Date |
OK |
NO |
- |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Boolean |
OK |
NO |
NO |
- |
NO |
NO |
Single Select |
OK |
NO |
NO |
NO |
- |
OK |
Multiple Select |
OK |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
- |
When you change the style of a metadata definition, the screen lets you either use existing data if possible or use the default value. Following these choices is a field that lets you define a default value. If you want to simply replace any existing data, select Use default value and enter the new value in the Default field. If the data is convertible and you want to maintain existing data if possible, select Use existing data if possible, else default. Then, enter a default value below. If the existing data cannot be maintained, the default value replaces it.
After you create a metadata definition, assign it to folders whose content will use it. On each folder’s properties screen, you determine which metadata definitions can be used. The section of the folder properties screen used to assign metadata appears below. Only metadata definitions whose Assigned box is checked can be completed by users working with content in the folder.
You can determine that a metadata value must be inserted before content can be saved (see the Required checkboxes in the illustration above). This occurs both when new content is added and existing content is edited. If you set a kind of metadata to be required, its label is red and includes an asterisk (*) on the Metadata tab of the Edit Content screen.
NOTE: If a default value is defined for a required metadata field, the default value is used when the user saves the content. In this case, the user is not prompted to enter a value because the default value is sufficient.
Each folder can inherit metadata fields from its parent folder or have a unique set of them. The information includes the kinds of metadata that are assigned and which of those are required. For example, you could assign the top folder (Content) all metadata definitions, while you assign the Contacts folder (directly below it) none. On every folder property’s Metadata tab, use the Inherit Parent Configuration check box to determine if metadata definitions are the same as the parent folder or unique. By default, Inherit Parent Configuration is checked, meaning that the folders inherits its metadata definition from the parent folder. When you uncheck Inherit Parent Configuration, you can change the settings as desired. All inherited values appear by default (that is, Assigned and Required boxes are either checked or unchecked).
When a user creates or updates content, the user can define its metadata within the assignments specified for its folder. Default metadata values are applied without user intervention. To enter or edit content’s metadata:
NOTE: You may only edit metadata of content that is published, checked in, or checked out by you.
Content tags apply terms by which you want users to find content when the terms are not actually contained in the content. The search can find content using the tags.
Default content tags appear on the Metadata tab of every content item. Check any tag that you want to apply to a content item. You can also create a new tag and apply it to a content item. You cannot reapply that tag to other content. The following example shows Farm, Silo, and Combine added to the content tags.
You can assign an image to any content item’s metadata from a standard field that is available to every content item; it is not a definition in the Metadata fields. Use the Image field to identify an image that can be retrieved by Ektron Markup Language’s (EkML) [$Image]
and [$ImageThumbnail]
variables. See Also: Controlling Output with Ektron Markup Language.
An example of using Image data is a list summary that includes a photo of every item on the list. For example, your site promotes a soccer team and the list summary shows every player on the team. To the left of each player’s name is a thumbnail of his image.
The Metadata server control lets you add the metadata from content blocks to a Web page. This lets developers add metadata quickly without having to type it in. You can add metadata from a single content block, multiple content blocks, or dynamically pass a content ID from a URL.
With the MetaData server control, you add metadata from content blocks to your Web page. By comparison, the MetaDataList server control lets you create a list of content blocks to display on your site, based on the Metadata in each content block.See Also: Adding Content to a Web Page with the MetadataList Server Control.
The following are Ektron-specific server control properties. You can find information about native .NET properties such as font, height, width and border style in Visual Studio® help.
Indicates if you are logged into the CMS Explorer and can use it to browse to content, collections, and so on. See Also: Browsing Your Ektron Site Using CMS Explorer.
The number of seconds that the server control’s data is cached. The default is 0 (zero). For example, if you want to cache the data for 5 minutes, set to 300. See Also: Caching with Server Controls.
Enter the ID of the content block whose metadata is added to the page. If you don’t know the ID number of the content block, use the CMS Explorer to browse to it. See Also: Browsing Your Ektron Site Using CMS Explorer. If you want to add metadata from several content blocks, set this property to 0 (zero) and use the DefaultItemList
property to identify them.
A bracket-separated list of content block IDs whose metadata added to the page. This list is used only if the DefaultContentID
property is set to 0 (zero). For example:
In the ID list, you can specify metadata definitions to exclude for each content block. To exclude a metadata definition, insert a semicolon after the ID and enter the metadata definition. For example,
In the above example, the control will:
Title
metadata definition for content block 10Title
and Description
metadata definitions for content block 23Note the following criteria for metadata definitions that may be excluded:
By default, Fill occurs during the Page_Init event. Set to false if you want to postpone the fill-action until later. In this case, Fill is automatically called during the Page Render event. You might do this if you need to set or change a property on the control in code-behind and have it render with your changes shown.
Gets or sets the QueryString parameter to read a content ID dynamically.
When enabled, this property automatically creates 7 of the Simple Dublin Core metadata fields from standard Ektron system properties. The default is false.
The 7 fields and how they are associated with the Ektron properties is explained in Applying Simple Dublin Core Metadata
Hides or displays the output of the control in design time and run time.
Set a language for viewing content; shows results in design-time (in Visual Studio) and at run-time (in a browser).
Suppresses the output of the span/div tags around the control.
Lets a developer specify a server control’s tag.
<cms:MetaData id="MetaData1" runat="server" DefaultContentID="12"></cms:MetaData>
Or, if you are using multiple content block IDs in the DefaultItemList
, the following HTML is created.
<cms:metadata id="MetaData1" runat="server" DefaultItemList="[12,7,4]"></cms:metadata>
<body>
tag to the <head>
tag.<head>
tag, you see meta tags from the content block added to the page, as shown in the following image.Use the MetadataList server control to create lists based on Keyword Names and Keyword Values contained within the metadata of content. The list can display the information as a list of hyperlinks. You can choose, based on properties you set, to display the summary and how to order the display. For general information Metadata, see Working with Metadata.
NOTE: On a PageBuilder page, you can insert a metadata list using the MetaDataList widget. See Also: Widget Reference
The following are Ektron-specific server control properties. You can find information about native .NET properties such as font, height, width and border style in Visual Studio® help.
Indicates if you are logged into the CMS Explorer and can use it to browse to content, collections, and so on. See Also: Browsing Your Ektron Site Using CMS Explorer.
The number of seconds that the server control’s data is cached. The default is 0 (zero). For example, if you want to cache the data for 5 minutes, set to 300. See Also: Caching with Server Controls.
WARNING! If the EnablePaging
property is set to True, the CacheInterval
property is disabled.
Select a type of content for this control. Choices are:
Determines how the information on the page appears
WARNING! If you specify an external file, do not store this file in the Workarea folder. If you store this file in the Workarea folder, the file will be lost when you upgrade.
If you enter a valid EkML file at the MarkupLanguage property, the Displayxslt property value is ignored.
By default, Fill occurs during the Page_Init event. Set to false if you want to postpone the fill-action until later. In this case, Fill is automatically called during the Page Render event. You might do this if you need to set or change a property on the control in code-behind and have it render with your changes shown.
This property, in conjunction with the MaxNumber property, lets site visitors view an unlimited number of items while controlling the amount of screen space. The MaxNumber property limits the number of items displayed. If you set this property to True, and the number of items exceeds MaxNumber, navigation aids appear below the last item, allowing the visitor to go to the next screen. See example below.
So, for example, if specified metadata is found in 9 items and the MaxResults
property is set to 3, the screen displays only the first 3 items. When the site visitor clicks [Next], the visitor sees items 4, 5 and 6, and so on.
WARNING! If the EnablePaging
property is set to True, the CacheInterval
property is disabled.
Determines whether the KeyWordValue needs to match the metadata value exactly. For example, if “site” is the KeyWordValue, the title of a content block is “Welcome to the site” and ExactPhrase is set to True, you would not see the content block in the metadata list. This is because “site” does not equal “Welcome to the site”.
The folder ID from which content is retrieved. At the Recursive
property, you determine if content in this folder’s subfolders is also retrieved.
Set this property to True if you want the following information for each content in the list. Returns Content View Count, Content Rating, Content Rating Average. Create your own XSLT styles to display this data. This property only provides reliable data when the Business Analytics Feature is on. Business Analytics.
Set to True if you want to display the content (html body) for all content to appear on this metadata list. For example, you want to display content inside a Web server control such as a GridView.
Hides or displays the output of the control in design time and run time.
Choose whether to display icons next to the metadata list’s links.
NOTE: This property only works when ecmSummary or ecmTeaser are used in the DisplayXslt
property. When the [$ImageIcon]
variable is used in an EkML file and that file is assigned to the MarkupLanguage
property, this property acts as True.
KeyWordName represents a metadata definition, that is, the container for the KeyWordValues. Examples of a KeyWordName are Keywords and Title. If you are authenticated, you can click the ellipsis button and select from a list of existing metadata definitions. For information on creating metadata definitions, see Adding a Metadata Definition.
Enter the values associated with the KeyWordName. Only content whose metadata (defined at the KeyWordName
property) matches this value appears on the metadata list. Examples of a KeyWordValue are “home; page; company.” To view an illustration of the relationship between KeyWordName and KeyWordValues, see Adding Content to a Web Page with the MetadataList Server Control.
NOTE: The character that separates multiple items is defined at the KeyWordValueSeparator
property. At the KeyWordValueMatchAll
property, you determine if all metadata definition values must match or any one of them.
This property is only used if you enter more than one keyword value. If you do, and only want content to appear on the metadata list if all values entered at the KeyWordValue field match its metadata values, enter True. If metadata can appear on the list as long as any value defined at the KeyWordValue field matches the selected metadata value for a content item, enter False.
Example:
KeyWordValue for Title (assigned for this server control): home; page; company. Metadata values for a content item’s Title metadata definition field: software; ektron; company.
KeyWordValueMatchAll =true
, content does not appear on metadata list because some items do not match.KeyWordValueMatchAll = false
, content item appears on metadata list because one item (company) matches.Enter the character used to separate the list of keyword values. An example is a semicolon(;).
Set a language for viewing content; shows results in design-time (in Visual Studio) and at run-time (in a browser).
Determines the type of window that appears when you click a link in the server control.
Identify the template markup file that controls the display of the server control. For example, mymarkup.ekml
. If the EkML file is located in the same folder as the Web form containing the server control, just enter its name. Otherwise, the path to the file can be relative or absolute. See also: Controlling Output with Ektron Markup Language
See Also: metadatalist.ekml
NOTE: If you enter a valid EkML file at the MarkupLanguage property, the Displayxslt property value is ignored. If the EkML file contains the [$ImageIcon]
variable, the IncludeIcons
property acts as True.
Enter the maximum number of items to appear in the initial display of this server control. To set no maximum, enter zero (0). To let site visitors view more than the maximum but limit the amount of space being occupied, enter the maximum number of results per page here. Then, set the EnablePaging
property to true.
If you do and more than the number of MaxResults
are available, navigation aids appear below the last item to help the site visitor view additional items. See example below.
The order of the list to be returned.
Whether to search sub-folders of the identified root folder. The starting folder is identified in the FolderID
property.
Choose the order direction of the list, Ascending or Descending.
This property is set to false
because Ajax uses <div>
tags to rewrite the region around the tag. You cannot change the value to true
.
Lets a developer specify a server control’s tag.
Retrieving the XML structure of XML content allows for greater control over developing XSLs. The following is an example of how to retrieve the XML structure:
KeyWordName
and KeyWordValue
properties.TextMode
property to MultiLine.NOTE: You should set the width of the text box to at least 400px.
Textbox1.Text = Metadata1.XmlDoc.InnerXml
For an additional example, see the MetadatList XML page on the Developer samples page. It is located at:
In a browser:
http://siteroot/CMS400Developer/Developer/MetaDataList/MetadataListXML.aspx
In the source code:
siteroot/CMS400Developer/Developer/MetaDataList/MetadataListXML.aspx and MetadataListXML.aspx.vb
After you create a metadata definition, assign it to folders whose content will use it. On each folder’s properties screen, you determine which metadata definitions can be used. The section of the folder properties screen used to assign metadata appears below. Only metadata definitions whose Assigned box is checked can be completed by users working with content in the folder.
You can determine that a metadata value must be inserted before content can be saved (see the Required checkboxes in the illustration above). This occurs both when new content is added and existing content is edited. If you set a kind of metadata to be required, its label is red and includes an asterisk (*) on the Metadata tab of the Edit Content screen.
NOTE: If a default value is defined for a required metadata field, the default value is used when the user saves the content. In this case, the user is not prompted to enter a value because the default value is sufficient.
Each folder can inherit metadata fields from its parent folder or have a unique set of them. The information includes the kinds of metadata that are assigned and which of those are required. For example, you could assign the top folder (Content) all metadata definitions, while you assign the Contacts folder (directly below it) none. On every folder property’s Metadata tab, use the Inherit Parent Configuration check box to determine if metadata definitions are the same as the parent folder or unique. By default, Inherit Parent Configuration is checked, meaning that the folders inherits its metadata definition from the parent folder. When you uncheck Inherit Parent Configuration, you can change the settings as desired. All inherited values appear by default (that is, Assigned and Required boxes are either checked or unchecked).
Simple Dublin Core is a set of fifteen standard names for metadata fields designed to cover the most useful items of information on a document. From the Dublin Core site FAQ: “Dublin Core metadata provides card catalog-like definitions for defining the properties of objects for Web-based resource discovery systems.” For more information, refer to the Usage Guide: http://www.dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/.
To generate Dublin Core metadata, set the GenerateDublinCore
property to True. This creates 7 of the fifteen Dublin Core metadata fields. These fields are automatically filled with the information from the equivalent Ektron property. The following list shows the 7 fields and their Ektron equivalent. For more information on the Metadata Server Control, see Adding Content to a Web Page with the Metadata Server Control.
To fully comply with the Simple Dublin Core metadata element set, the administrator must create the remaining 8 Dublin Core fields as standard Ektron Metadata definitions and apply them to all Ektron folders. Next, Ektron users complete the appropriate values for each content block.
IMPORTANT: When creating the Dublin Core metadata fields in the Metadata section of the Workarea, you do not need to create the first 7 fields in the table above. In addition, the names of the fields you create must match the names in the following list. For example, in the name field, enter “DC.subject”. The DC identifies the metadata as Dublin Core metadata.
These descriptions are from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative site. For a more detailed description, visit http://www.dublincore.org.