Web Framework Tour

Now that the web framework is running, here's a brief exposure of some of the major default functionality. Development is facilitated by the many features of the web framework, and so initial familiarity is a good thing.

Tools

Each page contains a header which is produced from the site theme. The standard theme contains a logo, menu and tools. The tools are located in the top right and, for the administrator, contains the following The HTML delivered by the web framework is typically created through an XSL transformation of input XML. The XML behind each page and service request is different, and the XSL (in a .page file within the html directory) formats the input XML to deliver the result HTML. The XML used in construction of the current page can be viewed by clicking the XML tool link (or using the Alt-Shift-X shortcut). This tool is quite useful when developing pages. More information on XSL can be found in the XSL tutorial and more info on .page specifics (XSL as used by the web framework) can be found in the page tutorial.

The web framework has the ability to do in-application development, and the Tools Design link opens the current page in the page editor.

Menu

The default menu for the administrator contains only an Administration menu item. The submenu items of Adminstration include menu, development, security and services.

menu provides functionality to manipulate the menu, including adding, changing and reordering of menu and submenu items. By using the menu, you don't have to worry about maintaining cross-page menu-ing, as you would with static html pages. The presentation of the menu (and everything else) can be changed by modifying the theme.

development is accessor for maintaining the application within the browser. Through the development pages it is possible to add and edit pages, html, css and javascript within the browser. Typical development is done within a traditional editor or IDE, but in page editing can be quite nice for quick fixes or if site development is done remotely.

security provides management of users, groups, roles and permissions. Security is a central aspect of the web framework, and the administrator can create users and delegate permissions as required. More detailed information about the security API can be found in the security tutorial.

services lists all the available services that make up the application. Services are like groupings of functionality, and may be access either locally (ie during page construction) or remotely. The services tie in directly to the security, so that only functionality that is permissible may be accessed. More information about services can be found in the Creating Services tutorial.