Controlling the behavior of authoring tools components

Authoring tools components rendered in a web content viewer enable you to create, read, edit, delete, approve, or reject content items directly in the web content viewer, instead of requiring you to navigate to the Web Content Manager authoring portlet to perform the same action. The web content viewer either launches a pop-up window that opens from the current page or redirects the user to another portal page containing the authoring portlet.

We can specify which behavior to use in the authoring tools element design. Typically placeholder tags are used to display authoring tools elements. The value of the format attribute of the placeholder tag determines what kind of URL is created to perform an authoring task:

format="tag"

The placeholder is rendered as a URL that opens a pop-up window containing the authoring portlet.

format="url"

The placeholder is rendered as a URL that redirects the user to another portal page used by the web content viewer for inline editing.

Authoring tasks performed in the web content viewer are accomplished through a special instance of the authoring portlet that is reserved specifically for these tasks and is installed on a page that is hidden from the page navigation available to typical users. We can customize the authoring experience for these tasks by configuring the reserved authoring portlet and the page used to display it.

Use authoring tools components when launching a pop-up window

When using a pop-up window to perform an authoring task, the pop-up window opens on the portal page and can be moved within the boundaries of the browser window while still showing the portal page. After completing the task triggered by the authoring tools element, the pop-up window closes automatically, and the portal page refreshes, updating the view in the web content viewer. We can cancel the authoring task by clicking the close icon in the pop-up window's title bar. When cancelling the task, no web content information is saved, unless you explicitly save changes before manually closing the window.

The default value of the format attribute for a placeholder tag is tag, so to use pop-up windows for inline editing, it is not necessary to specify a value for the format attribute. Either of the following design examples creates a URL that opens a pop-up window for authoring tasks:

<Placeholder tag="namelink"/>
<Placeholder tag="namelink" format="tag"/>

<a href="<Placeholder tag="href"/>">
  <Placeholder tag="name"/>
</a>
<a href="<Placeholder tag="href" format="tag"/>">
  <Placeholder tag="name"/>
</a>

It is not possible to launch the pop-up window in a separate browser window by adding target="_blank" to the HTML anchor tag in the design.

Use authoring tools components when navigating to another page

Instead of performing tasks from authoring tools elements in a pop-up window on the current page, we can perform authoring tasks by navigating to a hidden portal page containing a web content viewer containing the reserved authoring portlet. Clicking a link for an authoring tools element automatically redirects you to the other page, but after you complete the authoring task, manually navigate back to the original page. If the page with the reserved authoring portlet was opened in a new browser window or tab, close the window or tab and manually refresh the original page to see any changes.

To redirect users to another page for authoring tasks, specify a value of url for the format attribute in the placeholder tag in the authoring tools element design. Either of the following design examples creates a URL that redirects users to another portal page for authoring tasks:

<Placeholder tag="namelink" format="url"/>

<a href="<Placeholder tag="href" format="url"/>">
  <Placeholder tag="name"/>
</a>
<a href="<Placeholder tag="href" format="url"/>" target="_blank">
  <Placeholder tag="name"/>
</a>

We can open the portal page in a separate browser window by adding target="_blank" to the HTML anchor tag in the design.

Parent: Work with authoring tools components in the web content viewer

Related:

Configure the reserved authoring portlet

Set service configuration properties

Related reference:

Defining authoring tools