Permissions for Working with Aliasing

Members of the Administrators group or those assigned to the Alias-Admin Role have full permissions to work with aliasing. They can

• Turn aliasing on and off
• View manual aliases
• Activate or deactivate manual aliases
• Change the primary alias
• Create automatic aliases
• Create RegEx aliases
• Create Community Aliases

To give users a limited ability to work with aliasing, assign them the Alias-Edit role. These users can only

• view and assign a manual alias to content
• view secondary aliases assigned to content

Hierarchy Rules for URL Aliases

When URL Alias names are identical but set as Manual or Automatic (and so on), then alias hierarchy rules are applied in the following order.

1. Template Name (.aspx)
2. Manual Alias
3. Automatic Alias
4. RegEx Alias
5. Community Alias

For example, a template exists called help.aspx. If an administrator decides that new content should have a manual alias called help.aspx, then the template still displays: a template takes priority over the manual content alias. (You may change the alias settings to override the template.)

As another example, assume someone created a manual alias called help.aspx. Later, someone decides to turn on Community Group Aliasing and add the community group called help with an aspx extension. In this case, the manual alias content appears because it takes priority over Community Alias.

Where Aliasing Cannot Be Applied

WARNING! After you enable Aliasing, relative links embedded in your Web pages that are not preceded by a slash (/) may demonstrate symptoms such as runtime error notifications, broken images (you see a red X where the image should be), or missing text styling. The following Ektron Knowledge Base article analyzes this problem and presents solutions: http://dev.ektron.com/kb_article.aspx?id=19254.

Aliasing cannot be applied to the following areas of Ektron.

• images
• content in root folder (cannot be automatically aliased, although you can alias it manually and by taxonomy)
• forums (discussion boards) (links within forum posts can be aliased)
• forms/polls/surveys—the form is aliased but the postback screen is not (for a workaround, see Tip/Trick: Url Rewriting with ASP.NET)
• a link to an HTML form
• eCommerce—items in a Shopping Cart control use an alias unless you assign an .aspx page in the control’s TemplateProduct property. If you assign a page, it is used in the product’s URL, not the alias.
• If you enable .asp as an extension, the alias does not appear when a site visitor hovers the cursor over an asset. Instead, the actual file name appears. See Also:
  • If a site visitor hovers the cursor over HTML content, the alias does appear.
• The alias does not appear when a site visitor viewing an RSS page hovers the cursor over an asset. Instead, the actual file name appears.
• content links within the Directory server control. If a template is assigned to a taxonomy, the template takes precedence over an alias for content found by a Directory server control.
   

  

Manual Fields

• Enabled—Check this box to enable manual aliasing. See Also: Manual Aliasing.
• Caching—Check this box to improve your server’s performance. It minimizes the number of database hits by placing all manual aliasing information in your server’s memory.

  NOTE: A developer might want to uncheck this box while developing a site, to make sure that everything is coming out of the database.

• Cache Size—If you checked the Manual Caching box, enter the maximum number of manual aliases that your server will cache. By default, this is set to 1000.

  An alias is cached whenever anyone uses it. It remains in the cache for the number of seconds set in the Cache Duration field.

  If more than this number of aliases needs to be added to the cache, Ektron makes room for new ones by removing aliases that have been in the cache for the longest time. If you increase the number, it is possible that your performance will improve. But at some point, the size of the cache may degrade your server’s performance. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .

• Cache Duration (Seconds)—Enter the number of seconds for which any alias is retained in the server’s cache. After this number of seconds has passed, the alias is flushed from the cache. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .Clearing the Manual Alias Cache

  NOTE: If your Ektron supports multi-site configurations, this setting only affects the site to which you are logged on. To set a cache duration for other sites, sign in to each site’s Workarea > Settings > Url Aliasing > Settings, then set its cache duration values.

Automatic Fields

• Enabled—Check this box to enable automatic aliasing. See Also: Automatic URL Aliasing.
• Caching—Check this box to improve your server’s performance. It minimizes the number of database hits by placing the most frequently used automatic aliases in your server’s memory.
• You set the number of cached automatic aliases at the Automatic Alias Cache Size field.
• Cache Size—If you checked the Automatic Caching box, enter the maximum number of automatic aliases that your server will cache. By default, this is set to 1000.

  An alias is cached whenever anyone uses it. It remains in the cache for the number of seconds set in the Cache Duration field.

  If more than this number of aliases needs to be added to the cache, Ektron makes room for new ones by removing aliases that have been in the cache for the longest time. If you increase the number, it is possible that your performance will improve. But at some point, the size of the cache may degrade your server’s performance. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .

• Cache Duration (Seconds)—Enter the number of seconds for which any alias is retained in the server’s cache. After this number of seconds has passed, the alias is flushed from the cache. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .Clearing the Manual Alias Cache

RegEx Fields

• Enabled—Check this box to enable the RegEx feature. See Also: Using RegEx Expressions.
• Caching—Check this box to improve your server’s performance. It minimizes the number of database hits by placing the most frequently used RegEx aliases in your server’s memory. You set the number of cached aliases at the RegEx Cache Size field.
• Cache Size—If you checked the RegEx Caching box, enter the maximum number of RegEx aliases that your server will cache. By default, this is set to 1000.

  An alias is cached whenever anyone uses it. It remains in the cache for the number of seconds set in the Cache Duration field.

  If more than this number of aliases needs to be added to the cache, Ektron makes room for new ones by removing aliases that have been in the cache for the longest time. If you increase the number, it is possible that your performance will improve. But at some point, the size of the cache may degrade your server’s performance. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .

• Cache Duration (Seconds)—Enter the number of seconds for which any alias is retained in the server’s cache. After this number of seconds has passed, the alias is flushed from the cache. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .

Community Fields

• Enabled—Check this box to enable Community aliasing. Community URL Aliasing.
• Caching—Check this box to improve your server’s performance. It minimizes the number of database hits by placing the most frequently used Community aliases in your server’s memory. You set the number of cached automatic aliases at the Automatic Alias Cache Size field.
• Cache Size—If you checked the Automatic Caching box, enter the maximum number of Community aliases that your server will cache. By default, this is set to 1000.

  An alias is cached whenever anyone uses it. It remains in the cache for the number of seconds set in the Cache Duration field.

  If more than this number of aliases needs to be added to the cache, Ektron makes room for new ones by removing aliases that have been in the cache for the longest time. If you increase the number, it is possible that your performance will improve. But at some point, the size of the cache may degrade your server’s performance. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .

• Cache Duration (Seconds)—Enter the number of seconds for which any alias is retained in the server’s cache. After this number of seconds has passed, the alias is flushed from the cache. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .

Other Fields

• Extension—Enter file extensions of pages for which aliases can be created. Begin each extension with a period (.), and separate them with a comma (,). If you are editing this screen and delete an extension, aliases that use it are immediately disabled. By default, Ektron supplies the following extensions.
  • .aspx
  • / (the slash is actually the lack of an extension at the end of a page’s name)

  The values in this field appear as drop-downs in the Add a New Manual Alias and Add a New Automatic Alias screens.

  

  

  See Also: Defining Unusual File Extensions Used in Aliasing  

• Override Template—A template and an alias can have the same name, for example, www.example.com/dynamic.aspx. If this happens, and a site visitor types such an address into the browser, this check box determines if the template page or the alias appears. If this box is checked, the alias appears instead of the template.

  NOTE: The template must be defined within the Workarea Settings > Template Configuration screen.

• Disable Language Awareness—Use this check box to determine what happens under the following conditions:
  1. A site visitor browses to content using an alias.
  2. The site visitor changes the site language.

  If this box is checked—If the content exists in the new language, it appears. If not the content appears in the original language. If this box is unchecked—Site visitor sees a 404 error. For example, if the box is checked and a site visitor browses to content using an alias...

  • Content ID 33 exists in both English and Spanish. Site visitor views this content in English then switches the site language to Spanish. The Spanish version of content ID 33 appears.
  • (Assume English is the default language). Content ID does not exist in German. Site visitor views this content in English then switches the site language to German. The English content appears.
• Query String Action—Use this field to set up a rule to handle an alias’s query string parameters. You can set one rule for your entire site (via this field), and separate ones that override the system-wide rule for specific manual aliases (using the Manual Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen). 4 options are available.
  —Options—

  • None—If an aliased URL has a query string, it is ignored. Any query string on the target URL is used.
  • Resolve matched parameters within alias—Ektron tries to resolve matching parameters (it is case sensitive). If a match is found, the alias’s query string parameter takes precedence. Example:

    alias’s query string parameter:
    http://www.example.com/Contact.aspx?id=84
    Target: http://www.example.com/aboutus.aspx?id=35&UserId=10
    Result: http://www.example.com/aboutus.aspx?id=84&UserId=10

    (id=35 is replaced by id=84 since it matched the query string parameter. UserId=10 was not affected because it did not match the alias query string parameter.)

  • Replace all parameters within alias—Ektron replaces all of a target’s query parameters with the alias’ s query parameter. Example:

    alias’s query string parameter: 
    http://www.ektron.com/Contact.aspx?id=84
    Target: http://www.ektron.com/aboutus.aspx?id=35&Userid=1
    Result: http://www.ektron.com/aboutus.aspx?id=84

    (The target parameters id=35&Userid=1 are replaced by the alias parameter id=84)

  • Append parameters to alias—Ektron appends the alias’s parameters to the target URL. Example:

    Alias: http://www.ektron.com/Contact.aspx?id=84&lang=1033
    Target: http://www.ektron.com/aboutus.aspx?id=35&Userid=1
    Result: http://www.ektron.com/aboutus.aspx?id=35&Userid=1 & id=84&lang=1033

    (The parameter from the alias is appended to the target)

Quicklink Cache Fields

• Enabled—Check this box to enable caching of URL strings not aliased. The effect of this setting is better performance on page requests by eliminating a read to the database for Quicklinks not Aliased..
• Cache Size—If you checked the Non-Alias enabled box, enter the maximum number of non-aliased URLs that your server will cache. By default, this is set to 1000.

  An non-alias URL is cached whenever anyone uses it. It remains in the cache for the number of seconds set in the Cache Duration field.

  If more than this number of non-aliased Urls needs to be added to the cache, Ektron makes room for new ones by removing old ones that have been in the cache for the longest time. If you increase the number, it is possible that your performance will improve. But at some point, the size of the cache may degrade your server’s performance. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .

• Cache Duration (Seconds)—Enter the number of seconds for which any non-aliased URL is retained in the server’s cache. After this number of seconds has passed, it is flushed from the cache. See Also: Clearing the Manual Alias Cache .

  NOTE: If your Ektron supports multi-site configurations, this setting only affects the site to which you are logged on. To set a cache duration for other sites, sign in to each site’s Workarea > Settings > Url Aliasing > Settings, then set its cache duration values.

Restrictions on Extensions

If your server runs IIS7 or higher, the following restrictions apply.

This section explains how IIS7 handles Web page extensions other than .aspx. There are 2 scenarios.

• Some of your site’s pages have non-.aspx extensions. So, IIS7 needs to handle requests for those pages.
  If Your Site Has non-aspx pages...

  In the Handler Mappings list, move non-aspx extensions (for example, .asp, .php, .cfm) above ek* because extensions below ek* are handled by aliasing.

  1. Open IIS7.
  2. Right click your Web site.
  3. Click Handler Mappings.
  4. Click View Ordered List.
  5. Move non-aspx extensions used on your site above ek*. For example, if your site uses .asp pages, move ASPclassic above ek*.

     NOTE: After you do this, you cannot use these extensions as part of an alias. So, do not enter them into the Extension field of the URL Aliasing Configuration screen.

     

     

• Your site previously had non-.aspx pages but no longer does. You want to set up aliases for these pages, so site visitors’ bookmarks will still work.
  Set up aliases for non-aspx pages

  Set up Aliases for non-aspx Pages

  To use extensions other than .aspx for aliasing Web pages:

  1. Open IIS7.
  2. Right click your Web site.
  3. Click Handler Mappings.
  4. Click View Ordered List.
  5. On the Handler Mappings screen, move non-aspx extensions that you want to alias below ek*. For example, if your site uses .asp pages, move ASPclassic below ek*.
  6. Enter the extensions in the Extension field of the URL Aliasing Configuration screen. See Also: Configuring URL Aliasing

Activating Custom Extensions (IIS6 Only)

IMPORTANT: Only use this section if you are using IIS6. If you are using IIS7 or higher, you can ignore this section.

By default, Ektron supplies the following extensions.

• .aspx
• / (the slash is actually the lack of an extension at the end of a page’s name)

To enable other extensions:

1. Choose Workarea > Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Settings.
2. Enter the new extension into the Extension field and click Save.
3. If Wildcard Mapping in IIS is turned on, you are done.

   If Wildcard Mapping in IIS is turned off, you must enter the new extension into IIS. To do this, go to the Windows Start button > Administrative Tools > IIS manager.

4. Open the Web Sites folder, right click your Web site then choose Properties.
5. Click the Home Directory tab.
6. Click Configuration.
7. Scroll down to and double click the .aspx extension.
    

   

8. Copy the path to aspnet_isapi.dll. (The path is found in the Executable field.)
    

   

9. On the Application Configuration window, click Add. The Add/Edit Application Extension Mapping screen appears.
10. In the Executable field, paste the path to aspnet_isapi.dll (which you copied in Step 8).
11. In the Extension field, enter the extension that you are activating.
     

    

12. Uncheck the Verify that file exists checkbox.
13. Click OK.

Clearing the Manual Alias Cache

Each aliasing type has Cache Size and Cache Duration fields, which let you determine conditions that automatically clear each cache. However, you can manually clear a specific cache at any time. For example, to clear the Manual Cache:

WARNING! If your Ektron supports multi-site configurations, you must sign in to each site’s Workarea, then manually clear its cache.

1. Click the appropriate Settings > URL Aliasing screen. For example, to clear the Manual Aliasing cache, click Settings > URL Aliasing > Manual.

   

2. Click Clear Cache ().

Clearing the Cache for All URL Aliases

WARNING! If your Ektron supports multi-site configurations, you must sign in to each site’s Workarea, then manually clear its cache.

1. Click Settings > URL Aliasing >Settings.

   

2. Click Clear Cache () to clear the cache for all URL aliases.

Setting Default Documents for URLs

You can set the default document file (for example, default.aspx) for client requests of a Web site that did not specify a document name. For example,www.example.com/jobs. If the default document is default.aspx, this URL resolves to www.example.com/jobs/default.aspx.

NOTE: The concept of default document is explained in the following Microsoft KB article: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/dc6eb1b4-9028-4308-9935-52b64edfad36.mspx.

The ek_DefaultPage element determines your Web site’s default document whether you are using URL Aliasing or not. Identify one or more default documents in the siteroot/web.config file’s ek_DefaultPage element.

If a site visitor enters an address without a page name, Ektron refers to ek_DefaultPage’s values. For example, the first page is default.aspx. If found, that page displays. If not, it looks for the second page listed, and so on.

If no pages are found or a page is not specified in ek_DefaultPage, what happens next depends on your server's IIS version.

• IIS version 6—if ek_DefaultPage is blank in web.config, default documents listed in IIS6 are used. If ek_DefaultPage has one or more pages but none of them exists on the server, a Page not Found (404) message appears.
• IIS version 7—Page not found message appears in browser. Because Ektron assumes responsibility for letting you define the default document, default documents specified in IIS 7 are ignored.

Viewing a Manual Alias

1. Choose Workarea > Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Manual.
2. On Manual Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen, click the alias you want to view. The alias information appears.

Assigning a Manual URL Alias to Content

You can assign aliases manually in the following ways.

• Page Name Maintenance screen

  Administrators and users assigned to the Alias-admin role can create or update any number of primary and secondary aliases. See Adding/Editing a Manual Alias via the Page Name Maintenance Screen.

• Alias tab of the Vew Content screen in the Workarea

  Users with permission to edit content can create or update a primary alias. (The Alias tab displays secondary aliases but does not let users change them.) See Adding a Manual Alias via the Alias Tab.

Adding/Editing a Manual Alias via the Page Name Maintenance Screen

Prerequisites

• Manual aliasing is enabled.
• You are a member of the Administrators group or assigned the Alias-admin role

To add a manual alias via the Page Name Maintenance screen:

1. Choose Workarea > Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Manual. The Manual Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen appears.
    

   

   —Button descriptions—

   • Add a New Alias—Add manual alias.
     • If Creating a New Alias
       • Check the Active checkbox if you want this alias to be active.
     • If Editing an Existing Alias
       • If this is not the primary alias, you can check or uncheck the Active checkbox. Only active aliases can be entered into the browser address field to display the assigned content.
       • If this is the primary alias, you cannot uncheck it. To inactivate a primary alias, first assign another alias to be the primary. Then, make this alias inactive. Alternatively, you can delete a primary alias.
   • —Manually clear cache. See Also: .
   • —Delete manual alias. See Also: Removing a Manual Alias via the Page Name Maintenance Screen.

   —Field descriptions—

   • Primary—If you assign more than one manual alias to content, this field designates the primary one. If you only assign one, it is the primary by default.

     The primary alias appears in the browser when a user hovers the cursor over a link, such as within a ListSummary or a collection. It also appears in the browser address field after the content is selected. See . If a user clicks a content block’s Alias tab, he can only see and edit the primary manual alias. See Also: Adding a Manual Alias via the Alias Tab.

   • Active—Indicates if this alias is active.
   • Language—The alias’s language flag.
   • Alias—The alias (that is, the page name) that site visitors can enter as part of the URL into a browser to see the associated content.
   • Original Link—The content template and variable being aliased
   • Content ID—The ID number of the content assigned to the alias.
2. To creating a new alias, click Add a New Alias and skip to Step 7.
3. To edit a manual alias, use the language selector to choose its language.
4. If your Ektron version supports multi-site configurations, use the Site drop-down to choose the site.
5. Click the alias you want to edit. The View Alias screen appears.

   NOTE: If there are many aliases, use the search to find one. You can filter by alias name, Content ID, and so on.

6. Click Edit. The Add/Edit Manual Alias screen appears.
    

   

7. Check the Primary box if you want this to be the primary alias. If another alias is the primary when you check this box, the other alias is no longer the primary.
8. In the Alias field, enter the alias name. It cannot include the following characters: (comma), (space), \, <, >, “, :, |. Also, it must be unique within the site and language.

   To the right of Alias Name is a pull-down menu of valid extensions. Select 1 to apply to this alias. Extensions are defined on the URL Aliasing Configuration screen.

9. Click Select to choose content. The QuickLink Select window appears.

   NOTE: Only content in the language chosen on the Page Name Maintenance screen appears.

10. Browse through the folder structure and select the content to which you are assigning the alias.

    NOTE: A folder’s content appears below its subfolder list. You may have to scroll down to see the content.

11. Fill in the Title and Quick Link fields using information from the selected content. If more than 1 quicklink is assigned to it, select the 1 to which you are assigning the alias.
12. Use the Query String Action field to set up a rule to handle an alias’s query string parameters. You can set one rule for your entire site (via this field), and separate ones that override the system-wide rule for specific manual aliases. 4 options are available.
    —Options—

    • None—If an aliased URL has a query string, it is ignored. Any query string on the target URL is used.
    • Resolve matched parameters within alias—Ektron tries to resolve matching parameters (it is case sensitive). If a match is found, the alias’s query string parameter takes precedence. Example:

      alias’s query string parameter:
      http://www.example.com/Contact.aspx?id=84
      Target: http://www.example.com/aboutus.aspx?id=35&UserId=10
      Result: http://www.example.com/aboutus.aspx?id=84&UserId=10

      (id=35 is replaced by id=84 since it matched the query string parameter. UserId=10 was not affected because it did not match the alias query string parameter.)

    • Replace all parameters within alias—Ektron replaces all of a target’s query parameters with the alias’ s query parameter. Example:

      alias’s query string parameter: 
      http://www.ektron.com/Contact.aspx?id=84
      Target: http://www.ektron.com/aboutus.aspx?id=35&Userid=1
      Result: http://www.ektron.com/aboutus.aspx?id=84

      (The target parameters id=35&Userid=1 are replaced by the alias parameter id=84)

    • Append parameters to alias—Ektron appends the alias’s parameters to the target URL. Example:

      Alias: http://www.ektron.com/Contact.aspx?id=84&lang=1033
      Target: http://www.ektron.com/aboutus.aspx?id=35&Userid=1
      Result: http://www.ektron.com/aboutus.aspx?id=35&Userid=1 & id=84&lang=1033

      (The parameter from the alias is appended to the target)

13. Enter the Additional Variables. These are used as query string parameters that can track how visitors arrived at the aliased page. You might use these in marketing campaigns to analyze the source of an aliased page’s visitors. For example, the Additional Variables field has ?gclid=CO7gs_L0_ZICFRkTIgodBgV9CQ. Your Web site's analytics software can track the source of the query through the variable.

    NOTE: Within the page load event that returns the query string parameters, use the Request.RawURL() property instead of request.querystring.

14. Click Save.

Adding a Manual Alias via the Alias Tab

After you enable manual aliasing, every content block includes an Alias tab. You can use that tab to view and update the content’s primary alias.

NOTE: If you insert/update an alias via the Alias tab, it is available only after the content is published. Also, a content's folder may require its content to have a manual alias. If so, you must add a manual alias before you can add new or editing existing content.

Prerequisites

• Manual aliasing is enabled.
• You are a member of the Administrators group or assigned to the Alias-edit Role.

To add a manual URL alias via the Alias tab:

1. In the Workarea, choose Content.
2. Navigate to and click the content you want to work with.
3. Click Edit. The Edit Content screen appears.
    

   

4. Click the Alias tab.
5. In the Primary Alias Name field, enter the primary alias name. The name cannot include the following characters: (comma), (space), \, <, >, “, :, |. Also, it must be unique within this site and language.
6. To the right of Primary Alias Name is a pull-down of valid extensions. Select one to apply to this manual alias. Extensions are set up in the URL Aliasing Configuration screen’s Extension field. See Also:
7. Save and publish the content.

Removing a Manual Alias via the Page Name Maintenance Screen

Using the Page Name Maintenance Screen, you can delete the primary and any secondary manual aliases.

WARNING! If you want to delete a primary manual alias while secondary aliases exist, you must first designate one of the secondary aliases as the primary. You can only delete the primary alias if no secondary aliases exist.

To remove a manual alias via the Page Name Maintenance Screen:

1. Go to Workarea > Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Manual.
2. On Manual Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen, click Delete an Alias ().
3. Check the box next to all aliases you want to remove.
4. Click Delete Aliases.
5. Click OK to confirm.

Removing a Manual Alias via the Alias Tab

Using a content block’s Alias tab, you can delete a primary manual alias only if no secondary aliases exist. If secondary aliases exist and you want to delete or replace the primary alias, you must use the Manual Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen.

You can neither see nor delete secondary manual aliases from the Alias tab.

NOTE: If you delete an alias via the Alias tab, the change only goes live after the content is published.

To remove the primary manual alias by editing the associated content block:

1. Browse to the content block associated with the alias.
2. Click Edit.
3. Click the Alias tab.
4. Delete or replace the value in the Primary Alias Name field.
5. Click Save, Check in, or Publish.

Automatic Alias Pattern

Automatic alias pattern combines the following elements—separated by a slash (/)—in the following order.

1. site root
2. folder or taxonomy path.
   • Spaces are replaced by the Replacement Character (specified on the Add/Edit Alias screen).
   • By default, a taxonomy path has taxonomy nodes from the top to the level at which content is assigned. For example:www.example.com/Medical_Conditions/Kidney_Disease/.
   • By default, a folder path has all folders from the top-level to the folder that contains the content. Here is an example: www.example.com/CMS400Developer/CMS400Demo/About_Us/Company_Profile/Board_of_Directors.aspx.

     NOTE: You can use the Customize Alias Path field to determine which path components appear in the pattern. See Also: Customize Alias Path—By default, the automatic alias pattern displays folders or taxonomy levels from the top to the level you select. You can use this field to control which folders/taxonomy levels appear in the pattern. For example, your Alias Root is based on the following folder path: /CMS400Demo/About Us/Careers. Using this field, you can choose any of the following to indicate the folder or taxonomy path in the automatic alias pattern.

3. content name source

   Spaces are replaced by the Replacement Character specified on the Add/Edit Alias screen.

4. extension

Examples:

Folder-based automatic alias

www.example.com/CMS400Demo/About_Us/Company_Profile/Awards_and_Honors/ 
www.example.com/CMS400Demo/About_Us/Company_Profile/12548/ 
www.example.com/CMS400Demo/About_Us/Company_Profile/12584/1033

Taxonomy-based automatic alias

www.example.com/cms400/MapCategory/Restaurant/Chinese/You_You_Japanese_Bistro/

NOTE: Ektron lets users create content with the same title in different folders. If an automatic alias based on a taxonomy is created, and the same taxonomy node is applied to 2 content items with the same title, both items will have the same automatic alias. To avoid this problem, do not allow users to assign the same name to more than one content item.

Viewing an Automatic Alias Assigned to a Content Item

To view the automatic alias assigned to a specific content item, navigate to and view the content. Then, click the Alias tab. A primary manual alias appears near the top, followed by all automatic aliases.

Setting up Automatic Aliasing

After enabling automatic URL aliasing, you can create a configuration, which lets you

• identify the content source (that is, a taxonomy or a folder)
• choose elements of the aliasing pattern
• preview sample original and aliased URLs

A configuration must have a unique combination of Source Type, Alias Root, Alias Format, and Extension. For example:

• Source Type = taxonomy
• Alias Root = the taxonomy named Products
• Alias Format = Content title
• Extension

You cannot create a configuration whose values match an existing one.

To create an automatic alias configuration:

1. Choose Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Automatic.
2. If you are creating an alias based on taxonomy, select its language from the language drop-down. If you creating an alias based on folder, go to Step 3.

   NOTE: On the Auto Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen, a folder-based alias’ Lang column shows a United Nations flag (). This indicates that folders are language-neutral.

3. Click Add a New Alias to access the Add a New Alias screen.
    

   

   • Active—Check to apply this configuration to content. If you do, the aliases are applied when you save the screen. If you uncheck this box, automatic aliases set up via this configuration are deleted from the associated content.
   • Source Type—Choose taxonomy or folder.
   • Alias Root—Navigate to and choose a taxonomy or folder to which you want to assign an automatic alias.
     • If you choose a taxonomy, the automatic alias is applied to all content assigned to it and its child nodes. Furthermore, if your Ektron supports multi-site configurations, the automatic alias applies to content in all sites. This is because taxonomy is site independent.

       NOTE: If the language selector was set to All on the Auto Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen, and you chose Taxonomy as the Source Type, No Taxonomy appears here. This indicates that you must return to the Auto Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen and select a language before you can select a taxonomy as the Alias Root.

     • If you choose folder, the automatic alias applies to content in that folder and its subfolders. The taxonomy or folder is part of the automatic alias pattern. See Also: Automatic Alias Pattern
   • Alias Format—Use this field to help construct the automatic alias pattern. Choose 1 of the following items to identify the content within the alias. See Also: Automatic Alias Pattern
     • ContentTitle—Example: Sample Content Block
     • ContentID—Example: 30
     • ContentIDandLanguage—Example:30/1033
   • Extension—Use this field to help construct the automatic alias pattern. Choose an extension from the list to identify the end of the aliased URL. Extensions are defined in theExtension field of the URL Aliasing Configuration screen.See Also: Automatic Alias Pattern; Automatic URL Aliasing
   • Replacement Character—Enter the character that replaces prohibited characters in content titles when they appear within an automatic alias. Examples of prohibited characters are a space and question mark (?). So, for example, if the content title is About Us, and you enter an underscore (_) here, the aliased version of the title is About_Us.

     You cannot enter one of the following as the replacement character: [, \ / < > (Space): |? '] # * &%

     NOTE: If you're using IISdmin (Microsoft Vista or Server 2008), and specify a plus sign (+), you get this error: HTTP Error 404.11 Not Found The request filtering module is configured to deny a request that contains a double escape sequence. For a solution, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942076/en-us.

   • Source QueryString Param—Enter the query string parameter for this alias. For example, if the alias uses a taxonomy, you could entertaxid. Here is an example of the parameter in a URL: http://localhost/eIntranetv2/Blogs.aspx?id=238&blogid=115&taxId=28

     WARNING! Do not enter id here because that will clash with the content id.

     Do not enter more than one parameter.

   • Customize Alias Path—By default, the automatic alias pattern displays folders or taxonomy levels from the top to the level you select. You can use this field to control which folders/taxonomy levels appear in the pattern. For example, your Alias Root is based on the following folder path: /CMS400Demo/About Us/Careers. Using this field, you can choose any of the following to indicate the folder or taxonomy path in the automatic alias pattern.
   • Preview Alias—This area of the screen displays...
     • a sample Original URL
     • an aliased example of that URL, based on the information entered on the screen

     To see any content item’s fully aliased URL, navigate to it and click its Alias tab.

Editing an Automatic Alias Configuration

To view or edit an automatic alias configuration, choose Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Automatic screen.

NOTE: Use the screen’s language selector to find taxonomy-based configurations of a selected language.

From the Auto Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen, click the alias configuration that you want to view.

To edit an automatic alias, view it then click Edit.

Deactivating an Automatic Aliasing Configuration

When you temporarily deactivate an automatic alias configuration, automatic aliases created by that configuration are removed from all content to which they are applied. The configuration is saved, so you can reactive it.

1. Choose Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Automatic.
2. Click the alias that you want to deactivate.
3. Click Edit.
4. Uncheck the Active checkbox.
5. Click Save.

Deleting an Automatic Aliasing Configuration

When you delete an automatic aliasing configuration, automatic aliases are removed from content to which they are applied.

1. Choose Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Automatic.
2. Click Delete.
3. Check each configuration that you want to delete.
4. Click Delete Aliases. A confirmation message appears.
5. Click OK.

Viewing a RegEx Expression

1. Choose Workarea > Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > RegEx.
2. Click the expression whose information you want to view.

Creating/Editing a RegEx Expression

1. Find a site page (such as a blog) whose query string parameters let users guess similar pages using a pattern. For example:

   http://ecmintranet/blogs.aspx?blogmonth=3&blogyear=2013

2. Choose Workarea >Settings > Configuration > Url Aliasing > RegEx.
3. Click Add a Regular Expression.
4. Give your expression a name.
5. Click Expression Library.
6. Find and click an Expression Map similar to the page you found in Step 1. To continue the example, choose:

   PageName.aspx?year=$1 & month=$2

   The Expression and Example URL field values fill in, using information from the Expression Map.

7. As needed, adjust the values in the Expression map or the RegEx expression to match your page name. For example, change PageName to blogs, and delete Default.aspx. See Also: http://regexlib.com/

   To continue the example, change the Expression Map field so that it looks like this.

    

   

   —Field descriptions—

   • Active—Check this box to activate the expression. If the expression is active, site visitors can enter an aliased URL to access a page on your site. For example, they can enter www.example/com/blogs/2013/03/41 to access a blog page even though the actual URL is www.example/com/blogs/blogs.aspx?blogmonth=3&blogyear=2013&blogid=4
   • Expression Name—Assign an easily recognizable name to this regular expression. It appears on the RegEx Aliased Page Name Maintenance screen to help users identify it.
   • Expression—Enter a RegEx expression that will replace the variables (for example, $1, $2, and so on.) in the Expression map. If you want to insert a question mark into the Expression, you must precede it with a backslash (\).
   • Expression Map—Enter a map of original URL elements. The map lets you replace query string parameters with variables, such as $1, $2, and so on. As a result, a site visitor can identify other pages that use this pattern by changing the variable values. You can click Expression Library to view sample RegEx expression maps. To copy any map that resembles your page pattern, click it then modify it.
   • Example URL—Displays an example of Web page that follows this pattern.
   • Priority—Assign a priority to this expression from the following choices. 
     • high (assign to the most frequently-used expressions)
     • medium
     • low
     • none

     This field enhances the aliasing feature's response time—it first tries to match a site visitor’s entry with high priority expressions, then medium, then low.

   • Requested URL—Enter a user-friendly pattern that site visitors can insert to access pages on your site. This pattern replaces the query string component of a URL. For example, blogs/2013/03/41.
   • Transform button—After completing all fields on the screen except Resulting URL, use this button to check the validity of the Expression, Expression Map and Requested URL fields.
   • Resulting URL—Values appear in this field after you click the Transform button. It uses the Expression and Expression Map values to translate a Requested URL (one a site visitor enters) to a Resulting URL (the page’s query string parameter).
8. Click Transform to verify that the Resulting URL matches the original page pattern. If it does not, check all steps, especially the Expression field.

Deleting a RegEx Expression

1. Choose Workarea > Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > RegEx.
2. Click Delete ().
3. Check the box next to the expression you want to delete.
4. Click Delete Regular Expressions.

Viewing/Editing Community URL Alias Configuration

1. Choose Workarea > Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Community screen.
2. Click the Alias Path name that you want to view or edit.
    

   

3. Click Edit to change the configuration.

Enabling/Disabling a Community URL Alias

1. Choose Workarea > Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Settings.
    

   

2. Click Edit.
3. Check the box to enable, or uncheck it to disable, Community.
4. Click Save.

Setting up a Community Alias

After enabling Community Aliasing, you can set up several community aliases. For each alias, you can

• set the Community Aliasing type to be User or Group
• create a custom path for the URL string

To configure a Community Alias:

1. Choose Workarea > Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Community.
2. Click Add a New Alias to access the screen.
    

   

   —Field descriptions—

   • Active—Check this box to enable this configuration. When you save this page, the aliases are immediately applied. If you uncheck this box, this alias is not active on the Web site.
   • Primary—If more than one Alias exists, checking this box makes this alias the one used in Quicklinks.
   • Alias Path—Enter text to appear in the URL before the name of the User or Group. For example, if you enter people, the URL to a user named John would be: http://<sitename>/people/john.

   • Extension—Use this field to help construct the automatic alias. Choose an extension from the list to identify the end of the URL. Default choices are /, .aspx, .htm. Extensions are defined in the Extension field of the URL Aliasing Configuration screen.

     See Also: Automatic Alias Pattern; Automatic URL Aliasing

   • Replacement Character—Enter a character to replace prohibited characters in content titles when they appear within an automatic alias. Examples of prohibited characters are a space and question mark (?). For example, if the content title is About Us, and you enter an underscore (_), the aliased title is About_Us. You cannot enter these for the replacement character: [, \ / < > (Space): |? '] # * &%

     NOTE: If you're using IISAdmin (Microsoft Vista or Server 2008), and specify a plus sign (+), you get this error: HTTP Error 404.11 Not Found The request filtering module is configured to deny a request that contains a double escape sequence. For a solution, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942076/en-us.

   • Source QueryString Param—Enter the query string parameter for this alias. For example, if the alias uses a taxonomy, you could enter taxid. Here is an example of the parameter in a URL: http://localhost/eIntranetv2/Blogs.aspx?id=238&blogid=115&taxId=281admin

     WARNING! Do not enter id here because that will clash with the content id.

     Do not enter more than one parameter.

   • Link Example Preview—This area of the screen displays
     • a sample Original URL
     • an aliased example of that URL, based on the information entered on the screen

     To see any content item’s fully aliased URL, navigate to it and click its Alias tab.

Deactivating a Community URL Alias

When you temporarily deactivate a Community URL alias, Community aliases are removed from all users or groups to which they are applied. The configuration is saved, so you can reactive.

IMPORTANT: You cannot deactivate a Primary Alias if secondary aliases exist. First set the another alias to primary, then deactivate the alias that used to be primary.

1. Open the Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Community screen.
2. Click the Alias Path that you want to deactivate.
3. Click Edit.
4. Uncheck the Active checkbox.
5. Click Save.

Deleting a Community URL Alias

Follow these steps to delete an Automatic Aliasing Configuration. When you do, automatic aliases are removed from all content to which they are applied.

IMPORTANT: You cannot delete a Primary Alias if secondary aliases exists. First, set the another alias to primary, then delete the alias that used to be primary.

1. Open the Settings > Configuration > URL Aliasing > Community screen.
2. Click Delete ().
3. Check each configuration that you want to delete.
4. Click Delete Aliases. A confirmation message appears.
5. Click OK.

Troubleshooting Community URL Aliases

If you do not see the community alias when you hover over or click a link to a community group or user, check the following.

• The alias is set to Active. See Setting up a Community Alias
• The alias is the primary alias. See Setting up a Community Alias.
• The server control that displays the link does not use the TemplateUserProfile setting. If it does, that value takes precedence over the URL alias. For one server control example, see ActivityStream Server Control.
• If using eSync, refresh the cache after a database sync.

Notification Messages Use Community URL Aliases

Activity streams, SMS, and email notification messages that include links to users or community groups use the community URL alias in their links. If you want to show the template alias, use the proper token in the message. For example, to use the alias for the SubjectUser, use the @SubjectUser.TemplateAlias@ token in your message. See Also: Working with Tokens.

Appearance of Community Aliases in User and Group Profiles

If you enable a user-based community alias, all Ektron and community users display their alias name on their profile's Profile Links tab.

Similarly, if you enable a group-based community alias, community groups display their alias name on the profile's Links tab.

Creating Site Aliases

Prerequisite:  Multi-site is enabled.

NOTE: You cannot apply an alias to the root Web site. For example, you cannot alias www.example.com with www.example2.com. However, you can alias anything below the root folder. On multi-site environments, you can apply an alias to a folder on the root site, or to a folder on other sites, but not both. For example, you can have the alias content.aspx applied to a root-folder, but then the content.aspx alias cannot be used on a site-folder at the same time. However, if you apply content.aspx to site1-folder, you can also apply content.aspx to site2-folder.

1. Open the site folder for which you want to create aliases. (Site folders have a globe icon, like this: ).
2. Click View > Properties.
3. Click Edit Properties.
4. Click the Site Alias tab.
   

   

5. Enter the alias into the Alias Name field.

   NOTE: The alias cannot end with a slash (/).

   From now on, if a site visitor enters the alias into a browser address field, he is redirected to the site URL (set on the folder properties tab’s Production Domain field).

   

   

6. Add each site alias as an IIS host. To learn how do this for your server, please consult IIS help.

Editing a Site Alias

1. Open the site folder for which you want to create aliases. (Site folders have an icon, like this: ).
2. Click View > Properties.
3. Click Edit Properties.
4. Click the Site Alias tab.
5. Click the alias that you want to edit. When you do, it is highlighted and appears in the Name field.
6. Change the alias text.
7. Click Save.
8. Click Update.

Deleting a Site Alias

1. Open the site folder for which you want to create aliases. (Site folders have a globe icon, like this: ).
2. Click View > Properties.
3. Click Edit Properties.
4. Click the Site Alias tab.
5. Click the alias that you want to edit. When you do, it is highlighted and appears in the Name field.d.
6. Click Delete (). The alias is deleted.

Assigning an Alias to Multi-Language Content

If Ektron has several foreign-language versions of content that share an ID, you can alias only one of them and check the URL Aliasing Configuration screen’s Disable Language Awareness checkbox. Then, when a site visitor selects a language in which to view your site and enters the alias, Ektron displays the aliased content in the selected language.

If you prefer, you can assign a different alias to each language version of content. To do this, select the content, language, go to the Alias tab, and assign a language-specific alias. For example, your English home page’s alias is default, while your Spanish alias is defecto.

 

Also, alias names must be unique only within a language. So, for example, you cannot have 2 aliases named Ektronwithin U.S. English content. But, you can have 2 two aliases namedEktron if one is applied to U.S. English content, and the other applies to Spanish content.

Aliasing with 64-bit Windows 2008 Server

To use aliasing on a 64-bit server running Windows 2008:

1. Install classic ASP onto the server. It is not installed by default. See Also: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753918.aspx
2. Open your siteroot/web.config file.
3. Find this tag:

   <add name="ek*" path="*" verb="GET,HEAD,POST" 
     type="Ektron.ASM.EkHttpDavHandler.EkDavHttpHandlerFactory" 
     modules="ManagedPipelineHandler" scriptProcessor="" 
     resourceType="Unspecified" requireAccess="Script" preCondition="" />

4. Add the following ASP handler above the ek handler shown above.

   <add name="ASPClassic" path="*.asp" verb="GET,HEAD,POST" 
     modules="IsapiModule" scriptProcessor="%windir%\system32\inetsrv\asp.dll" resourceType="File" />