Web content associations

Web content associations map portal pages to the site structure in the IBM Web Content Manager system. We can define a default content association and multiple other associations, used for dynamic page resolution. For each page, there is also a system content association that maps the page to its corresponding portal page site area in the Portal Site library.

Each web content association consists of a reference to a portal page and a reference to a site area in a web content library. When a page contains a web content association, web content viewers added to the page can automatically render the content provided by the associated site area. In addition, a web content page template containing an association can create copies of associated content when you create a page using the template.

When multiple associations are defined for the same web content page, one of those associations is identified as the default content association. When creating a page, a system content association is automatically created to the corresponding portal page site area in the Portal Site library. This system content association is designated as the default association, but we can change that setting later as needed.

The default content association has several uses:

• When we add a web content viewer to the page without configuring the viewer to reference content, it renders the content indicated by the default association.

• When creating a page from a web content page template, the default content association of the page template indicates the site area to be copied during page instantiation.

• If we are building a friendly URL to content on the page, the default association indicates the path to the rendered content. This content path fragment is appended to the friendly URL of the current page to generate the complete friendly URL.

All content associations for a page are used for dynamic page resolution. The portal uses dynamic page resolution to determine the best matching page for rendering a specific content item.

We can also configure each web content association to enable or disable page-based access control when rendering content from the mapped site area. With this feature, users who are authorized to view the page are also assumed to have view access for content under the associated site area.

Web content associations are managed by the content mapping service of the portal. We can manipulate web content associations with the following methods:

• The page properties available from the Manage Pages portlet.
• The Page Associations window in the site toolbar.
• XML configuration interface
• Portal Scripting Interface
• REST API for content associations
• Public Java API for the content mapping service

Page context and user context

The content associations of a page can define the initial web content context of the page. This context is used for rendering when users first access a page. The context of the page can change when users interact with the content on the page. Each web content viewer on the page can be configured with an explicit context that overrides the rendering page context. The context of the portlet can also change if it is configured to receive links. When users click a link within the viewer that is configured to broadcast its links, the page context is updated. This new context is maintained until users click another link on this page or until users start a new session. When users start a new session, the original page context is used.

Parent:

Get started with delivering web content on a portal page

Related:

Enable page-based access control for web content pages
Content associations reference
XML configuration interface and content associations
Portal Scripting Interface and content associations
REST API and content associations Java API for Content Mapping Service