PT News v1.3 Install

Back to PT News

IMPORTANT: v1.3 of this application requires ADF 2.5 or greater and CommonSpot 10.5.2 or 10.6.1 or greater. 

Download

Download the PT News Application from the Community Site or from the SVN Repository.

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

Site Configuration

The PT News Application is built with the ADF. The ADF 2.5 or greater must be installed in the site to run the PT News, follow the ADF Installation instructions.

• Make sure the ADF 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 (located in your site's /_cs_apps/ directory) in a text editor. Locate the Load the ADF Application into application space comment in the file. Add (or uncomment) the following command under the comment section:

loadApp("ptNews");

• Reset the ADF for the server and site.

App Configuration

The PT News Application uses an XML file to manage the site specific configurations.

Follow the steps to add and update the site configuration:

1. Locate the /_cs_apps directory in your site. If a /_cs_apps/config/ directory does not exists, then create the directory.
2. Copy the config file from the app directory "/ADF/apps/pt_news/site_files/_cs_apps/config/ptNews.xml" and paste into the site "/_cs_apps/config/" directory.

Reset the ADF for the server and site.

Import Custom Elements

The PT News Application has several Custom Components defined within CommonSpot. The components have been exported and are available in the PT News's "exported-objects" folder located at the root of the PT News application directory (e.g. /ADF/apps/pt_news/exported-objects/)

Optional: You may want to create a new category within the CommonSpot Element Gallery for 'PT News Elements'.

To import these objects, you will need to be an administrator for your site. If you are not a site administrator, consult your Server administrator for more information.

Import

Import Custom Elements in this order:

1. News Article
2. News Category

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.

Example: The News Article custom element contains one use of the General Chooser field type, if the General Chooser field type is already installed on the site then the import process will attempt to import another General Chooser but with a new name such as "General Chooser_import_1250003208472." To resolve this issue, open the custom element and assign the field type (General Chooser_import_1250003208472) to the field type with the simple name General Chooser. Note that when you assign the existing general chooser you will need to click on the "properties" tab and enter "newsCategoryGC" as the bean name. After reassigning the field type, delete the new imported field from the list of custom field types.

Subsite

The subsite for the news article 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 news subsite under the site root.

Templates

News Article Template

The News Article Template is the template that all the news article pages are created from. To construct your News ArticleTemplate complete the following steps.

1. Create a CommonSpot page called 'News Article Template' from the Base Plus One template (or other template) in the '/news/' subsite.
2. Place the 'News Article' Custom Element on this page.
3. Submit Page and then Save as Template.
4. Remember to submit the template for public use.

News Landing Page

Setup a News Landing page to provide a listing of the news articles. This also contains a feature to list the categories with links to filter the landing page based on the category filter.

1. Create a new page with the name "index" and title "News" in the "/news/" subsite. You can create the page from the News Article template or from the Base Plus One Template.
   1. If using the CommonSpot search, uncheck the "Full Text and Search Element Results" option.
2. In the main container, add the "News Article" custom element (if the Base+1 was used).
   1. Name this element "AllNewsArticleListing".
   2. Edit the "Render Mode" and set the filter for the following criteria:
      1. News Article.Publication Date - "Less Than Or Equal" - Current Date
      2. Sort Order: Publication Date DESCENDING
   3. Change the Custom Render Handler or Display Template to the following:
      1. Listing with Category Links and Pagination - Displays listing of news article records with links for the categories and pagination.
3. In the main container, add another "News Article" custom element.
   1. Name this element "newsArticlesCategoryFiltered".
   2. Edit the "Render Mode" and set the filter for the following criteria:
      1. News Article.Publication Date - "Less Than Or Equal" - Current Date
      2. AND
      3. News Article.Categories - "Contains" - {request.params.categoryid} *(expression)
      4. Sort Order: Publication Date DESCENDING
   3. Change the Custom Render Handler or Display Template to the following:
      1. Listing with Category Links and Pagination - Displays listing of news article records with links for the categories and pagination.
4. On the main container, edit the "Layout" properties and make the following updates:
   1. Enable scheduling for elements = Checked
   2. Limit the number of displayed elements to = Checked, and set the value to "1".
5. On the main container, edit the "Criteria" properties and make the following updates:
   1. Move the "newsArticlesCategoryFiltered" element to the top of the order.
   2. Edit the "newsArticlesCategoryFiltered" element "Edit Scheduling Properties..." and set the following filters:
      1. Variable Comparison:
         1. Variable: request.params.categoryid
         2. Operator: neq
6. Submit the elements and publish the page.
7. Get the CommonSpot Page ID for this page (view the source for the page and search for "var jsPageID" and this is the page ID value).
   1. Update the App Config "/_cs_apps/config/ptNews.xml" file. Edit the "news_listing_pageID" tag with the CommonSpot Page ID for the landing page.
8. Reset the ADF for the server and site.

News Category Listing

The News Category listing is a module to display the list of News Categories. The category will display with links to filter the News Landing page based on the category.

This module was designed for a left or right side column of the page. For the steps below, we are going to setup the module in the side column on the News Landing page.

1. Locate and work on the News Landing page.
2. In the side column, add the "News Category" element into this container.
3. Set the Render Mode filter for the following:
   1. News Category.isActive - "Equals" - "1"
   2. Sort Order = Name ASCENDING
4. Submit the elements and publish the page.

News Archive

The News Archive page will provide an archive listing page with the filter criteria for month and year.

1. Create a new page with the name and title "News Archives" (this page can be created from the Base Plus One template).
   1. If using the CommonSpot search, uncheck the "Full Text and Search Element Results" option.
2. Add a custom script into the main container of the page.
   1. Set the custom to the explicit path for the following:
      1. /ADF/apps/pt_news/customcf/archive.cfm
3. Add the "News Article" element below the custom script element.
   1. Edit the "Render Mode" and set the filter for the following criteria:
      1. News Article.Publication Date - "Greater Than Or Equal" - {request.params.newsFilterStartDate} *expression
      2. AND
      3. News Article.Publication Date - "Less Than Or Equal" - {request.params.newsFilterStartDate} *expression
      4. Sort Order: Publication Date ASCENDING
   2. Change the Custom Render Handler or Display Template to the following:
      1. Complex Listing - Displays listing of news article records with links for the categories and pagination.
4. Submit the elements and publish the page.

Reset the ADF

Reset the ADF for the server and site.