Managing users and user groups
NOTE: Only members of the Administrators User Group and those defined in the Manage Members for Role: User Admin screen can view, add, or edit users and user groups.
Users are people who administer the website, create content, or publish content. Without users, the website would be blank. In Ektron, you can add, edit, and delete users to and from the application through the Settings folder in the Workarea.
Every Ektron user belongs to a User Group. When you create a user, the user is added to the Everyone group by default. User groups are used when creating permissions and a workflowA core element of Ektron, workflow lets you set up a sequence of approvers who control the publication of content to your website. for content folders. User groups can be departments in your company (Human Resources, Sales, Engineering) or indicate a user’s role (Publishers, Administrators, Editors, and so on).
All user and user group information is accessible from the Workarea.
To access the user folder in Ektron, go to Workarea > Settings > Users. The View Users screen appears. From this screen, you can add, edit, and delete users.
To access the user group folder in Ektron, go to Workarea > Settings > User Groups. The View User Groups screen appears. From this screen, you can add, edit, and delete user groups.
IMPORTANT: This chapter only applies to systems that do not use Active Directory Integration. If your system uses the Active Directory Integration Feature, see Using Active Directory with Ektron to learn about user management functions. If your system uses LDAPLightweight Directory Access Protocol; permits access to distributed information. Authentication, see Using LDAP with Ektron.
Before you can assign a user to a user group, you must add the user to the system.
NOTE: To learn about the lock and unlock buttons ( ), see Account Locked. The buttons provide a shortcut to that field for users with a check in the box to the left of their name.
—Editable by a non-administrator user. Non-admin users can edit their own profiles only, and only fields indicated.
NOTE: The Display Name cannot be blank.
The drop-down list is derived from the Language Settings screen, available from the Settings > Configuration folder.
Do not confuse the system language with the user’s ability to create and edit foreign editions of content. This field does not prevent a user from working with multiple language content.
See also: Working with multi-language content.
NOTE: If the selected language is not English, French or German, it is only supported after you download the Ektron Language Support Program from Ektron and translate the website.
NOTE: If the Enable Sending of System Notification Email box on the Application Setup screen is checked, and the Check to prevent workflow and task emails being sent to this user box on this screen is not checked, you must supply an email address.
ek_EditControlWin
(for Windows computers) or ek_EditControlMac
(for Macintosh computers) property to UserPreferred
, in which case you may choose an editor.Insert a Web path to the image. For example: http://www.example.com/smileyface.gif
. Alternatively, you can click Upload to browse to a file on your network.
NOTE: The field appears only if the Enable Sending of System Notification Email box on the Application Setup screen is checked.
NOTE: Using the ActivityStream Widget on a PageBuilder Pageexplains how this setting affects other users' ability to see your activities.
NOTE: Contact Ektron Sales for pricing of adding more users to your license.
NOTE: If you are using Active Directory to edit a user, see Adding and maintaining user information.
—Editable by a non-administrator user. Non-admin users can edit their own profiles only, and only fields indicated.
NOTE: The Display Name cannot be blank.
The drop-down list is derived from the Language Settings screen, available from the Settings > Configuration folder.
Do not confuse the system language with the user’s ability to create and edit foreign editions of content. This field does not prevent a user from working with multiple language content.
See also: Working with multi-language content
NOTE: If the selected language is not English, French or German, it is only supported after you download the Ektron Language Support Program from Ektron and translate the website.
NOTE: If the Enable Sending of System Notification Email box on the Application Setup screen is checked, and the Check to prevent workflow and task emails being sent to this user box on this screen is not checked, you must supply an email address.
ek_EditControlWin
(for Windows computers) or ek_EditControlMac
(for Macintosh computers) property to UserPreferred
, in which case you may choose an editor.Insert a Web path to the image. For example: http://www.example.com/smileyface.gif
. Alternatively, you can click Upload to browse to a file on your network.
By default, an avatar's maximum size is 200 kilobytes, and its height and width are reduced 125 pixels, preserving the aspect ratio.
NOTE: The field appears only if the Enable Sending of System Notification Email box on the Application Setup screen is checked.
NOTE: If you disable Notifications, the Activities tab (which lets the user pick Notifications to receive and send) disappears.
For Developers: Ektron has created a UserGroupPreferences user control. If you add the control to a community group’s profile page, users can specify notification preferences for individual groups. This control is installed with Ektron and is located in siteroot\Workarea\Notifications\Controls
.
This field displays the user's alias if community aliasing is set for users. See also: Types of URL aliasing.
NOTE: If you are using Active Directory to delete a user, see Maintaining AD user information.
IMPORTANT: You cannot delete a user who is applied to any workflow. If you need to immediately disable a user, edit the user and check the Account Locked box. See also: Approving content for publication.
NOTE: Only certain users are allowed to delete Ektron users. See Auditing changes.
To delete a user from Ektron:
WARNING! When a user is deleted, that action is permanent. The process cannot be undone.
NOTE: If you are using Active Directory to assign a user to a user group, see Importing a user’s AD group information to Ektron.
When you create a user group, no user is initially assigned to it. To add a user to a user group:
NOTE: If you are using Active Directory to remove a user from a group, see Maintaining AD user group information.
Removing a user from a user group does not delete the user from Ektron. Also, you cannot remove users from the Everyone group.
NOTE: If you are using Active Directory to manage user groups, see Setting up Active Directory integration mode.
Every Ektron user belongs to at least one User Group. User groups are used when creating permissions and
NOTE: If you are using Active Directory to create a new user group, see Importing AD user group information .
When editing a User Group, you can only change its name.
NOTE: You cannot edit the default Administrators and Everyone user groups.
NOTE: If you are using Active Directory to delete a user group, see Maintaining AD user group information.
When you do not need a User Group anymore, you can delete it from the system.
NOTE: You cannot delete the Administrator and Everyone groups.
IMPORTANT: You cannot delete a user group that is applied to any workflow. See also: Approving content for publication
NOTE: If you are using Active Directory to assign a user to a user group, see Importing a user’s AD group information to Ektron.
When you create a user group, no user is initially assigned to it. To add a user to a user group:
NOTE: If you are using Active Directory to remove a user from a group, see Maintaining AD user group information.
Removing a user from a user group does not delete the user from Ektron. Also, you cannot remove users from the Everyone group.
Prerequisite
Only Administrators Group members can work with Custom User Properties.
Custom User Properties let you create custom fields that collect user information beyond the standard Ektron properties. Examples include employee ID, phone number, start date, position, department, and IP address. Once created, custom properties appear on the User Properties and Membership User Properties screens on the Custom tab, and on the Membership server controlA server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified..
IMPORTANT: Custom properties are required fields, which means that a user must complete them in order to create a new or edit an existing user.
Use the View Custom Properties screen (Settings > Configuration > Custom Properties) to create custom properties for users and membership users. From the View Custom Properties screen, you can:
NOTE: Title and Label are the same field. On some screens the word Title is used, on others the word Label is used.
Use a SelectList field to present the user completing the User Information or Membership User Properties screen with a list of choices.
When you create a custom user property and specify its type to be Select List, the screen changes, allowing you to add, change, or remove list entries.
To add an item to the list, enter its text in the Text field, then click Add . Added items then appear in the larger box on the left. You can then:
You can use the first list item to prompt the user to make a selection instead of being a valid response. For example, the first list item may say Select from a list of choices. To do this, check the First item is not a valid selection for example, “[Select]” check box.
If this option is selected, the field has an asterisk (*) next to it (indicating it is required) on the User Information and Membership User Properties screens. The user completing the screen must choose any selection other than the first item. If he tries to file the screen without choosing a different item, the following error message appears: Please fill in all required fields (*)
Use a MultiSelectList field to present the user completing the User Information or Membership User Properties screen with a list of choices. The user can choose as many responses as appropriate.
Selected items are indicated by a blue background.
When you create a custom user property and specify its type to be MultiSelect List, the screen changes.
For information about completing the screen, see Completing a SelectList field entry.
mm/dd/yyyy
. Use with String and Date.[email protected]
.nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn
nnn-nn-nnnn
. (String)nnnnn
Numeric) or 9 digits (String)separated by a dash after the fifth (nnnnn-nnnn
).NOTE: If you use the Numeric Type, you cannot have a dash or space when using a 9 digit Zip Code
nnn-nnn-nnnn
.xnx nxn
) alpha or numeric characters (String) with a space after the first 3 characters.HH:MM.
Hours and Minutes 09:30HH:MM:SS.
Hours, Minutes and Seconds 09:30:45HH:MM:SS.mm
. Hours, Minutes, Seconds and milliseconds 09:30:45.002nnn nnn nnn
). (String)This field is automatically included on the User or Member profile Custom Tab to let the profile owner edit events on a Web calendar. When this is checked, it cannot be unchecked. For more information about Web Calendar, see Adding system calendar events.
This field is automatically included on the User or Member profile Custom tab. It lets the profile owner determine which other users can see the owner's community activities. For example, Using the ActivityStream widget on a PageBuilder page explains how this setting affects other users' ability to see your activities.
The Private Profile field value also determines if a user's profile is visible on a forum. See also: Managing a discussion board on your website.
When a Micro-message server control is placed on a page in TimeLine mode, micro-messages only appear for users whose Private Profile setting is set to Public.
The Time Zone property field is a special field used by the Web Calendar feature.
Select the time zone of the User or Member here. When they are logged in, appointment times will show in this time zone. For more information, See also: Adding system calendar events.
Click a custom user property’s title to display the Edit Custom Property Screen. From here, you can edit and delete a custom property or create a version in a non-default language.
When you save changes to a custom user property, the changes affect all users and membership users. These changes also affect any other language versions of the custom user properties that exist.
NOTE: You cannot edit the Type field. If you need to change the type, you must delete the custom user property and create a new one.
WARNING! If you delete a custom user property, it is removed from all users and membership users. Information that was collected for that property is lost. Also, all language versions of the property are deleted.
Use this procedure to change the sequence of user properties on the User and Membership User Custom Properties screens.
Like content, custom user properties have a language attribute. This is useful if you have users or membership users that only use a specific language. It can also be used if you want a custom user property to appear in the language in which the user is signed in.
Unless a language other than English is defined for a custom user property, the property defaults to the English version. For example, if you have 2 properties called Birthday and Phone Number in English and you can translate the French version of Birthday to Anniversaire, when you view the properties in French, you see the English version of Phone Number and the French version of Birthday.
When creating a custom user property, it must be created in English then translated to the desired language. This is done by editing the property, changing languages, filling out the Translate Custom Property Label screen, and saving the property.
WARNING! All custom user properties in languages other than English are tied to the English version of the property. If you delete the English version of the property, all other language versions are deleted also. However, you can remove a non-English language version of a custom property without deleting the English version. See Removing a non-English custom user property title.
To translate the Title/Label of a property into French.
Removing a non-English version of a custom user property title does not remove the English version of the property.
WARNING! Do not click the delete button on the Edit Custom Property screen. This action deletes the English version of the custom user property. If you click the delete button, you lose all information collected by the property and all language versions of the property.
Ektron contains an Administrators User Group. Any member of that group automatically has full administrator privileges. The Roles feature lets you assign limited or specific administrator privileges to users who do not require full administrator privileges. For example, you can let certain users create, redirect, or remove tasks but deny them other privileges normally granted to administrators.
The Permissions screen lets you control which users can manage a folder’s properties, its content, library items, and create or edit collectionA list of Ektron content links for display on a Web page.s. (See also: Managing folder and content permissions) Together, the Roles feature and the Permissions screen enable you to assign administrative privileges to users who are not members of the Administrators group.
Best Practice
When creating new user groups to use with roles, assign names as a mnemonic aid for the role, especially for folder-specific rules. For example, the Marketing Folder Admins user group could be used for all role members who administer the marketing folder.
Administrator privileges include access to the screens that appear when you select Settings > Configuration.
Administrators can also
Use the Roles screens to assign limited administrator privileges. To access the Roles screens, go to Workarea > Settings > Roles > Built-In > Folder Specific or System-Wide.
NOTE: In the Roles screens, you can select users or groups. However, you cannot select the Administrators group, because that group already has full permissions.
To view all roles assigned to any user, go to Workarea > Settings > Users. Then, select a user and click the Roles tab.
When setting up users and groups for administrative access over folders, keep these guidelines in mind.
View and edit folder properties. These users can update properties, permissions, the
Move or copy content. An Ektron best practice is to create a User Group for this purpose, then assign the group to this role. You should not assign the role to individual users. After assigning the User Group here, go to the folders whose content these users will be allowed to move or copy, and assign to that User Group at least Read Only and Traverse permissions. See also: Managing folder and content permissions and Moving or copying content.
Perform all URL Aliasing functions. See Creating user-friendly URLs with aliasing.
Perform all functions related to URL Aliasing except viewing and editing the URL Aliasing Setting screen and Editing aliasing rules.
Can view:
Create or edit business rules and rule sets. See Creating business rules for your website.
Create, edit and delete collectionA list of Ektron content links for display on a Web page.s and menus via the Content tab.
NOTE: To manage permissions for creating collections via the folder’s New > Collection or New> Menu option, use folder permissions. See also: Managing folder and content permissions
See Working with collections and Creating menus for your website.
Create, edit and delete collectionA list of Ektron content links for display on a Web page.s via the Content tab.
NOTE: To manage permissions for creating collections via the folder’s New > Collection option, use folder permissions. See also: Managing folder and content permissions
If approval is required for a collectionA list of Ektron content links for display on a Web page., approve changes to it, including the deletion of a collection. See Setting up collection approval .
Use the eCommerceAs of Ektron version 9.10, Ektron has discontinued new development on its eCommerce module. If you have a license to eCommerce, you will continue to receive support, but if you need to upgrade, contact your account manager for options. feature from the Workarea. See Conducting eCommerce.
Perform the following community activities:
See Sending notifications to a community.
Create, edit and delete and manage all community groups. These users have the same privileges as the group Administrator and members of the Administrators group. See Managing community groups.
Create and manage community groups. A user with this role can only manage community groups she or he has created. See Managing community groups.
Create and manage DXH connections via the Workarea > Settings > Digital Experience Hub > Connect to DXH screen.
Import and update DXH content into Ektron folders.
Create and edit PageBuilder Master Layouts. See Creating a PageBuilder master layout.
Create, edit and delete menus.
See alsoCreating menus for your website
Manage membership users and membership user groups. Member admin role members cannot work with Ektron users. Users assigned to this role can create, edit, and delete membership users and groups through the following screen.
See also: Membership users and groups; Membership groups
Approve pending comments or delete existing comments on a message board. See Who can moderate message board
View, create and edit metadata definitions. See Working with Metadata.
Perform multivariate testing. Setting up a multivariate experiment.
Create and edit Synonym Sets, Suggested Results, Integrated Search Mappings, and the Search Status screen. See Providing suggested results, Using synonym sets, Including external files in a search.
Create and edit Smart FormAn Ektron-defined Web page that contains XML (hidden from the end user) to display content, and receive, verify, and save user input.s. See Working with Smart Forms.
Access the Workarea > Settings > Configuration > Synchronization screen, which lets the user perform all synchronization activities, such as:
See Synchronizing servers using eSync.
See Synchronizing Servers Using eSync.
Create tasks. See Creating a task assigned to content .
Delete tasks. See Deleting a task.
Redirect tasks. See Assigning and managing tasks.
Create and manage taxonomies. See Organizing content with taxonomies .
View, create, update, and delete system templates. See Working with templates.
Change the translation status of content. See Marking translation statuses.
Create, view, edit, and delete users and user groups. See Managing users and user groups.
Use the Language Xport feature, which copies content into XLIFF files that can be submitted to a translation agency. Can change the translation status of content. See Exporting content to XLIFF and Marking translation statuses.
Update widgets and edit their title, label, and parameters.
The custom permissions role lets your Web developer create a site page, and then extend or restrict access to that page’s content (or areas with a page) to users assigned to a custom role.
Items you could show and hide could be as simple as a content block. But they could be more complicated, such as displaying buttons and fields for one user group, and something completely different for another.
Custom roles have no effect inside the Workarea.
The API provides 2 methods that determine if the current user is logged in, and if he is a member of the Administrators group. The methods let you test customizable roles with conditions outside the standard Is-Logged-In /Is-Admin tests.
GetRolePermissionSystem(RoleName
As String, nUserId As Long)
is a Boolean value indicating if the user belongs to the system-wide custom role.GetRolePermissionFolder(RoleName
As String, nFolderId As Long, nUserId As Long)
is a Boolean value indicating if the user belongs to the custom role for the given folder.