PT Blog Version 4.5 Install

Back to PT Blogs

IMPORTANT: v4.5 of this application requires ADF 2.5 or greater and CommonSpot 10.5.2 or 10.6.1 or greater. 

Download

Download the Blog Application from the Community Site Project or from the SVN Repository.

Extract the zip files into the following directory: /ADF/apps/pt_blog/

Site Configuration

• Make sure the ADF 2.5 or greater is setup and running on the site. If the ADF is not setup, then follow the instructions for ADF Installation.
• Open the sites 'ADF.cfc' ( See Site Configuration (ADF.cfc) for more info) file in a text editor. Locate the Load the ADF Application into application space comment in the file. Add the following command under the comment section:

loadApp("ptBlog2");

• Reset the ADF for the server and site.

Import Custom Elements

Create a "PT Blog Elements" category and import all portions of each component in the order listed.

Import Custom Element:

1. Blog2 (Blog2-Custom-Element.zip)
2. Posts2 (Posts2-Custom-Element.zip)
3. Comments2 (Comments2-Custom-Element.zip)
4. Blog2 Feature Data (Blog2-Feature-Data-Custom-Element.zip)
5. PTBlog2 Configuration (PTBlog2-Configuration-Custom-Element.zip)

Import Metadata:

1. Blogs2 (Blogs2-Metadata-Form.zip)

Verify Imports

The imported components' render handlers and custom field types must be verified. During the import process, the render handler and custom field types paths may have been changed to reflect the current site's path.

Review and update these paths to reference the ADF path. In most cases, this will just require to be unlocked and a change in the path from the site name to 'ADF'. Check the paths for the custom field types that were imported with the custom elements by unlocking them and fixing the explicit paths to point to "/ADF/extensions/".

If the custom elements that are imported contain custom field types that are already in the site, the naming convention for the custom field type will be unique. To resolve this, unlock the field types and elements, and reassign the element field type to the pre-existing field type.

Subsites

It is highly recommended that a specific Blog Web Admin subsite be created to house the Blog App management pages. This allows security to be set to only allow access to administrators and the appropriate Blog contributors.

Your site may already have a webadmin subsite. Follow the steps below to add a blogs subsite under your webadmin subsites.

Web Admin

1. Create a new subsite under the site root called webadmin.
2. Create a new subsite under webadmin called blogs.
3. Configure the /webadmin/blogs/ subsite Content Security to give 'No Rights' to 'Anonymous Users' and 'Authenticated Users'.
4. Configure the /webadmin/blogs/ subsite Content Security to give permissions to the group of administrators who will manage the Blogs.

Blogs

The subsite for the blog pages must be created manually. This subsite is custom to your implementation and can be any subsite within the site. If you don't have a specific subsite then create a Blogs subsite under the site root.

Templates

Blog Post Template

The Blog Post Template is the template from which all the blog post pages are created. To construct your Blog Post Template complete the following steps.

1. Create a CommonSpot page called 'Blog Post Template' from the Base Plus One template. (The subsite for this is not critical but it is a good idea to create this page in a subsite that has been created for the Blogs.)
2. Place the Posts2 Custom Element on this page.
3. Click Render Mode in the element interface.
   1. Select Display existing element data (content reuse) on the Rendering Mode tab.
   2. Select the Filter tab.
      1. Select Filter Type to Show subset of records.
      2. Select the field drop-down as the PostID field.
      3. Select the operator as Equals.
      4. Click the '...' button to open the ColdFusion expression window.
      5. Enter the text request.page.metadata.blogs2.postID as the expression and check the force cache checkbox. Click OK and then check the box to Ignore ColdFusion error, then click OK.
      6. Click OK on the render mode window.
      7. Ignore the error message for 'Error: Error evaluating a user-defined expression'.
4. Click More in the element interface. Then the Custom Render Handlers menu option, and choose the Main Display Render Handler. (You may see an error on this page with the Render Handler. That is OK at this point.)
5. Submit Page and then Save as Template.
6. Remember to submit the template for public use.
7. Go to the CommonSpot Site Administration and bind the Blogs2 metadata form to this new Blog Post Template.

Landing Page Template

1. Create a CommonSpot page called 'Blog Landing Template' from the Base Plus One template. (The subsite for this is not critical but it is a good idea to create this page in a subsite that has been created for the Blogs.)
2. Add the "Posts2" custom element to the page.
3. Set the render mode for the following:
   1. Rendering Mode: "Display existing element data (content reuse)" and "Render results dynamically based on a filter, or display all records.".
   2. Filter:
      1. Filter: Subset of records
      2. Post2.blogID Equals {request.page.metadata.blogs2.blogID} (this is a ColdFusion expression)
         1. Make sure to check "Force Cache".
         2. Sort Order: "Date Posted" and "Descending"
      3. Save Render Mode
   3. Ignore the error message for "Error evaluating a user-defined expresssion".
4. Change the custom render handler to "Home Page Display".
5. Publish the page.
6. Save the page as a template and submit the template for public use.
7. Go to the Site Administrator and metadata forms. Add a new binding for the "Blogs2" form to the "Blog Landing" template.

CCAPI Configuration

The Blog Application uses the ADF CCAPI to populate blog post records. This needs to be configured for the site and blog app.

Follow the steps to setup the CCAPI Config file for the site if this is not done. Once this is completed, follow the steps below to setup the CCAPI config for the Blog App. Make sure to update the wsVars section with the correct URL's and username/password.

1. Create a new page called 'ccapiBlog' under the root subsite and from the base plus one template. When creating the page, disable the standard metadata 'Include In' fields for 'Page Indexes' and 'Full Text and Search Element Results'. This page may already exist within your site, if it does, then continue to the next steps.
2. Add the 'Posts2' element to the page.
   1. Select the 'Posts2' element indicator and go to 'more...'. Select 'Name' from the menu.
   2. In the Element Name field, enter the text 'ccapiPosts2Element'.
3. Add the 'Comments2' element to the page.
   1. Select the 'Comments2' element indicator and go to 'more...'. Select 'Name' from the menu.
   2. In the Element Name field, enter the text 'ccapiComments2Element'.
4. Add the 'Blog2 Feature Data' element to the page.
   1. Select the 'Blog2 Feature Data' element indicator and go to 'more...'. Select 'Name' from the menu.
   2. In the Element Name field, enter the text 'ccapiBlog2FeatureData'.
5. Add the 'Blog2' element to the page.
   1. Select the 'Blog2' element indicator and go to 'more...'. Select 'Name' from the menu.
   2. In the Element Name field, enter the text 'ccapiBlog2'.
6. Publish this page and put in read mode.
7. Edit the 'ccapi.cfm' file (it may be ccapi.xml) for the site and add the following xml block into the <elements> section:

<BlogPost>
  <pageID>#####</pageID>
  <subsiteID>##</subsiteID>
  <elementType>custom</elementType>
  <controlName>ccapiPosts2Element</controlName>
</BlogPost>
<Comments>
  <pageID>#####</pageID>
  <subsiteID>##</subsiteID>
  <elementType>custom</elementType>
  <controlName>ccapiComments2Element</controlName>
</Comments>
<BlogFeatureData>
  <pageID>#####</pageID>
  <subsiteID>##</subsiteID>
  <elementType>custom</elementType>
  <controlName>ccapiBlog2FeatureData</controlName>
</BlogFeatureData>
<Blog>
  <pageID>#####</pageID>
  <subsiteID>##</subsiteID>
  <elementType>custom</elementType>
  <controlName>ccapiBlog2</controlName>
</Blog>

1. To populate the <pageID> and <subsiteID> tags, view the source code for the 'ccapiBlog' page that was just created.
2. Identify the following line in the source code and enter this numeric value into the <subsiteID> tag:

var jsSubSiteID = ##;

1. Identify the following line in the source code and enter this numeric value into the <pageID> tag:

var jsPageID = ####;

Reset the ADF for the server and site.

ProxyWhitelist Updates

A security feature within the ADF prevents unauthorized methods from being called. The Blog Application requires certain methods to be authorized by updating the proxyWhiteList.xml file located within your site's _cs_apps/config directory. If there is no proxyWhiteList.xml file located within that directory, you may copy the file from /ADF/apps/pt_blog/components into the _cs_apps/config directory and then reset the ADF. If there is already a proxyWhiteList.xml file located in your config directory, then add the following lines to it:

<blogForms>renderPostForm,renderDeleteForm,renderBlogForm,renderBlogDeleteForm</blogForms>
<commentsService>handleCommentsSubmit,getDashboardData</commentsService>
<PostService>syncPost,createPostPage</PostService>
<blogService>handleBlogUpdate</blogService>
<blogsUserGroupsGC>controller</blogsUserGroupsGC>

The above must be placed between the beginning and ending SETTINGS tags. After adding the above lines, reset the ADF.

Create Blog Management Page

This page will be used to manage the blogs for the site.

1. Create page from the Base Plus One template called "Blog Manager" in the /webadmin/blogs/ subsite.
2. Place Custom Script on the page
3. Select the "/ADF/apps/pt_blog/customcf/all_blogs_manager.cfm" script.
4. Define a View for the Datasheet Element for this page - call it "All Blogs"
5. Leave the View Source as the Default: Form Result/Custom Element Sheet
6. Select the "Blog2" Custom Element and select the following columns: blogID, Name, SubsiteURL, DateCreated, and Active.
7. Edit the datasheet columns.
   1. Edit the blogID column, change the render handler to:
      1. /ADF/apps/pt_blog/datasheet-modules/blog_edit_delete.cfm
      2. Change the header text to "Edit/Delete".
8. Edit the datasheet layout
   1. Set default sorting to "Name" field.
   2. Set Results Per Page to "50".
   3. Uncheck "Show Alphabet Characters for Filtering"
   4. Uncheck "Allow JavaScript data sorting"
9. Publish the Blogs Management page.

App Configuration Page

Build the Blog App Configuration Page that will be used to manage the ptBlog2 Configuration custom element.

1. Create a new page called 'Configuration Manager' in the /webadmin/blogs/ subsite from the webadmin template.
2. In the main content of the page, add a Custom Script element.
3. Enter the explicit module path for:
   • /ADF/apps/pt_blog/customcf/manage_configuration_header.cfm
4. Publish the page.

Create App Configuration Record

After the new App Configuration page has been created:

1. Go to the Blog App Configuration Manager and click the "Edit Configuration" button.
2. When the configuration form opens, go to the Blog Configuration tab, then update the following fields with values:
   1. Blog Configuration URL:: {browse to your newly created Blog App Configuration page}
   2. Blog Landing Template: {select the Landing Page Template created above}
3. Then click "Submit".

Reset the ADF for the server and site.

Note: You will be creating the Blog Dashboard page in the steps below. Once the Blog Dashboard has bee created you will come back to the App Configuration and update Blog Dashboard URL field by selecting the newly created dashboard page.

Create Blog Dashboard Page

This page will be used to manage the blog post and comments for each blog. Each Blog will share this Dashboard Page.

1. Create page from the Base Plus One template called "Blog Dashboard" in the /webadmin/blogs/ subsite.
2. Place Custom Script on the page
3. Enter the explicit path for the following custom script:
   1. /ADF/apps/pt_blog/customcf/blog_dashboard.cfm
4. Define a View for the Datasheet Element called "All Blog Posts"
   1. Leave the View Source as the Default: Form Result/Custom Element Sheet
   2. Select the "Posts2" Custom Element and select the following columns: PostID, PostPageID, Title, Created By, and Date Posted.
   3. On the Datasheet, click on the "Filter" and apply the following filter: Field = "Posts2.BlogID"; Operator = "equals"; Value = "request.blogMgr.blogid" (note: use the Expression button)
5. Edit the datasheet columns.
   1. Edit the PostID column, change the render handler to:
      1. /ADF/apps/pt_blog/datasheet-modules/lightbox_edit_delete_post.cfm
      2. Change the header text to "Edit/Delete/Comments".
   2. Edit the PostPageID column, change the render handler to:
      1. /ADF/apps/pt_blog/datasheet-modules/post_page_url.cfm
      2. Change the header text to "View Post Page".
   3. Edit the CreatedBy column, change the render handler to:
      1. /ADF/extensions/datasheet-modules/1.0/userID-to-name.cfm
   4. Edit the DatePosted column, make the following settings:
      1. Format Mask: Date/Time
      2. Date/Time Format: 07/24/00
6. Edit the datasheet layout
   1. Set default sorting to "Title" field.
   2. Set Results Per Page to "50".
   3. Uncheck "Show Alphabet Characters for Filtering"
   4. Uncheck "Allow JavaScript data sorting"
   5. Click "Save"
7. Submit and publish the page.

Create Blog Feature Data Management Page

This page will be used to manage the blog feature data records for the site.

1. Create page from the Base Plus One template called "Blog Feature Data" in the /webadmin/blogs/ subsite.
2. Add a Datasheet element into the page.
   1. Define a View for the Datasheet Element called "Blog Feature Data"
   2. Leave the View Source as the Default: Form Result/Custom Element Sheet
   3. Select the "Blog2 Feature Data" Custom Element and select the following columns: BlogID, FeatureType, FeatureCSPageID, and Date Approved.
3. Add a new action column for "delete".
   1. Change the Header text to "Delete".
   2. Change the Column text to "Delete".
   3. Change the Window Target Name to "Delete".
   4. Select the "delete-form-data.cfm" Action Module.
   5. Click "Save".
4. Close the the Datasheet View Column dialog
5. Publish the page.

Update Blog Configuration Record

Go to the Blogs Management Page and select the Edit App Configuration link. In the form, select the CommonSpot pages that were created in the previous steps.

• For Blog Tags Configuration see: PT Tags Integration

Reset the ADF for the server and site.

Additional Features

• PT Tags Integration
• Auto Create Blog Landing Page
• Enable/Disable the Date Subsite Mask
• Blog RSS Feeds