Start page / Template development / ContentCreator / Restrictions

Restrictions in ContentCreator

At the time of writing (06-2014), the following restrictions/discrepancies apply in ContentCreator 5.1:

General

“New window” projects: When a new window is opened, no ContentCreator bar is available inside it.
ContentCreator preview: The preview may not be up to date, e.g. if changes have been made to the templates. In this case, an up-to-date preview can be requested manually.
Release: ContentCreator does not support projects unless they function on the basis of releases (i.e. it does not support projects known as “auto-release projects”, ServerManager, “Options” area, “Use release” option deactivated).
Actions on page objects: Unlike in SiteArchitect, the editor is largely unaware of the divisions between the individual stores in ContentCreator. As a result, editors see the page, page reference, referenced media, and datasets for a preview page as a single unit. In SiteArchitect, by contrast, these object types can be edited individually in the stores.
Actions that do not relate to individual elements (e.g. a section or a medium) are performed in the context of the preview page. These include, for instance, element state and workflow indicator plug-ins as well as the scripts and tool bar plug-ins that are launched via the “Actions” menu (refer also to the Menu entries page). Such actions can access the element on which the preview page is based, as can the WebeditUiAgent Developer API object. In most cases, this takes the form of a page reference, but the situation is different for
pages that output exactly one dataset. Here, the dataset is taken into account instead of the page reference for actions that can be performed for the preview page in ContentCreator. This means, for example, that a workflow started via the page state would affect the underlying dataset. However, in the case of pages with multiple datasets, the underlying page reference would be taken into account by default.
Default values: ContentCreator only supports the use of default values to a very limited extent.
In FirstSpirit SiteArchitect, a (non-persistent) default value can be entered for an input component in the form area of the template. The SiteArchitect editor sees these default values when he or she opens the form and the relevant input component is highlighted in color. The editor can then decide whether he or she wants to accept the default value (default value is made persistent), overwrite it with another value, or retain it (default value is non-persistent).
Note: When a form is opened with the default values in ContentCreator for the first time, these (non-persistent) default values are initially displayed. Then, when the form is saved, the default values are immediately stored persistently. In ContentCreator, there is no way to reset values to their defaults once they have been saved within the input component. Nor is it possible to disable the save function in advance.
Tree display: Unlike FirstSpirit SiteArchitect, ContentCreator does not allow content to be displayed in a tree structure. Among other things, this means that you cannot move any objects, e.g. move media from one folder to another (exception: page references and menu levels from the Site Store), and cannot create, delete, or rename any folders (exception: folders in the Site Store/menu levels).
It is not possible to enter any reference names, as these are automatically generated and assigned by the system.
In order to create sections on empty pages, a project-specific solution is required, e.g. the use of an appropriate icon FS_BUTTON).
Popular web browsers differ to varying degrees in terms of how they work and what functions they offer due to the implementation differences between them. In principle, FirstSpirit ContentCreator can be used with any of the browsers supported. However, some special or alternative functions are not provided by all the supported browsers, e.g. it is not possible to drag & drop files into ContentCreator in the case of Microsoft Internet Explorer.
In ContentCreator, navigation takes place directly in the preview. However, it does not allow users to follow links to remote projects in the preview.
Furthermore, the following functions (which are provided by SiteArchitect) are not available in ContentCreator:
- Import of MS Word documents
- Project home page
- Input of manual version comments
There are no plans at all for the following to be introduced in ContentCreator:
- Changes in the Template Store (i.e. ContentCreator CANNOT be used to edit templates, workflows, and schemata of any kind.)
- Support for variables in the Site Store
- Resolutions in the Media Store
- Support for permission assignment
- Editing of document groups (read access is still possible, though)

Stores

Objects from the following stores cannot be edited in ContentCreator; however, they are still displayed and can be selected via input components (e.g. FS_REFERENCE):

Template Store (incl. page, section, format, and link templates; scripts; database schemata; and workflows)

The following objects are not displayed in ContentCreator:

Project and user settings (Global Settings)

Store	Restrictions
Page Store	It is not possible to create sections based on table templates ("content projection"). Instead, these must be created in SiteArchitect.
Data Store	It is not possible to create data sources. In other words, a data source must have already been created with SiteArchitect before datasets can be selected from the data source.
Data Store	The data source concept in ContentCreator is fundamentally different from the one used in SiteArchitect; for example: Data sources are never displayed in table format by default as they are in SiteArchitect. The search, filter, and sorting options differ.
Media Store	Only language-independent media can be uploaded and edited.
Site Store	There is no way of accessing structure variables, i.e. it is not possible to set, change, or delete any structure variables in ContentCreator.

Input components

The following input components are not supported in ContentCreator:

Input component	Replacement
CMS_INPUT_CONTENTAREALIST	FS_LIST (INLINE type)
CMS_INPUT_CONTENTLIST	FS_LIST (DATABASE type)
CMS_INPUT_FILE	FS_REFERENCE
CMS_INPUT_LINKLIST	FS_LIST (INLINE type)
CMS_INPUT_OBJECTCHOOSER	FS_DATASET
CMS_INPUT_PAGEREF	FS_REFERENCE
CMS_INPUT_PICTURE	FS_REFERENCE
CMS_INPUT_SECTIONLIST	FS_LIST (PAGE type)
CMS_INPUT_TABLIST	FS_LIST (DATABASE type)

Restrictions/Discrepancies:

Input component	Restriction
CMS_INPUT_DATE	Manual input not possible (allowInput parameter)
CMS_INPUT_DATE	The w, W, D, and F formatting symbols format parameter) are not supported in ContentCreator. It is the client language that determines the language values displayed (z, M, E). This language is set via the start page.
CMS_INPUT_DOM	Only generic link editors are supported. This means that "static" and custom link editors cannot be used.
CMS_INPUT_DOM	No length restriction (maxCharacters parameter).
CMS_INPUT_DOMTABLE	No cell formatting supported (format templates are still possible, but no cell-specific attributes are allowed)
CMS_INPUT_IMAGEMAP	Only rectangular border objects can be created.
FS_DATASET	This input component cannot be used to delete any datasets (allowDelete parameter); all it allows you to do is remove the reference to a dataset.
FS_LIST	ContentCreator does not offer as many FS_LIST functions as SiteArchitect, e.g. as regards the available design options and the fact that no embedded forms can be displayed.
FS_REFERENCE	The imagePreview parameter does not do anything in ContentCreator. A thumbnail is always displayed. Unlike SiteArchitect, ContentCreator allows new pages to be created in FS_REFERENCE (depending on the configuration).

Print version | Page start