Installing JCMS 6 and Getting Started

1. Installation

JCMS 6 is a Web application that runs on a J2EE application server. It can operate in many environments, but for the purposes of this article we will suppose you are using an OpenSource Tomcat 5.5 application server running on Windows. If you intend to install JCMS in a different environment, consult the Installation and Operation Manual.

1.1 Installing Java

Before installing Tomcat, start by installing the Java runtime environment, also called J2SE SDK (Software Development Kit). J2SDK for Windows is available from Sun. JCMS 6 requires J2SE SDK 5.0. It can also run on J2SE SDK 6.0 although it is not certified for this version.

Download the Java SE Development Kit (JDK) 5.0 from the following site (take care not to confuse it with Java EE 5 SDK nor JRE 5.0):
http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index_jdk5.jsp

Install it by running the downloaded application.

Once the installation is terminated, the environment variable JAVA_HOME must be declared. To do this, access the properties of the "My Computer" icon (right-click > Properties). Select the Advanced tab then click the "Environment Variables" button then "New" and input the path where J2SDK has been installed (generally in C:\).

Declaring the JAVA_HOME environment variable.

1.2 Installing Tomcat 5.5.25

If you choose the Tomcat 5.5 Application Server to run JCMS 6.0, you should install the version 5.5.25. The versions 5.5.26 and 5.5.27 have a bug in their cookie management which prevents correct operation of JCMS authentication.

Download Tomcat 5.5.25 from:

http://archive.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-5/v5.5.25/bin/apache-tomcat-5.5.25.zip

Decompress the content of the archive in C:\. The apache-tomcat-5.5.25 folder is created.

UTF-8 Encoding

To correctly support UTF-8 encoding, edit the file server.xml and add the attribute URIEncoding="UTF-8" in the <Connector> tag whose port attribute is 8080:

<!-- Define a non-SSL Coyote HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8080 -->

<Connector port="8080"

           maxThreads="150" minSpareThreads="25" maxSpareThreads="75"

           enableLookups="false" redirectPort="8443" acceptCount="100"

           debug="0" connectionTimeout="20000" 

           disableUploadTimeout="true"

           URIEncoding="UTF-8" /> 

Adding tools.jar

To enable JCMS 6.0 to generate and compile the type classes, the tools.jar library (which contains the javac compiler) must be added to Tomcat.

The tools.jar library can be copied from the folder %JAVA_HOME%\lib into the folder C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.25\common\lib\.

1.3 Installing JCMS 6

Download the most recent version of JCMS 6.

JCMS comes in the form of a WAR (Web ARchive) file containing a compressed file tree structure in Zip format.

Create a folder named "jcms" in C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.27\webapps\.

Rename the downloaded file by making its extension ".zip" and unzip its content into this "jcms" folder.

Content of the JCMS Webapp

2. Starting Tomcat

Start Tomcat by opening the folder C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.27\bin\ then double-clicking the file startup.bat. A window appears displaying scrolling lines. When the line "INFO: Server startup in … ms" appears, this indicates that Tomcat has started correctly.

When you have finished your JCMS learning session, you can stop Tomcat by double-clicking the file shutdown.bat.

3. Your first steps with JCMS

To access the JCMS default home page, type the following URL in your browser (the first access to this page can take several minutes): http://localhost:8080/jcms/

The JCMS home page.

3.1 Publishing a first document

To prepare publications you must first be authenticated. JCMS is pre-configured with an Administrator account; you can add other users later. In the "Identification" portlet enter the identifier "admin" and the password "admin" then click "Login". The page is redisplayed with new icons allowing you to use the site.

In the "News" (SmallNews) portlet in the right-hand column, click the icon. An input form "SmallNews Editor" appears in a new window:

Inputting your first content.

Enter the "Title" and "Content" fields then click Save. The window disappears and the title of your first document appears in the News (SmallNews) portlet list. Click the title to display it in the central part of the page:

Display of your new content item.

Continue by creating content in other portlets.

3.2 Adding a Portlet

We will now add a new portlet to the portal. JCMS proposes many standard types of portlet, for example the RSS portlet used to display the RSS feeds available on many websites. We will integrate the feed from the newspaper "Herald Tribune": (http://www.iht.com/rss/frontpage.xml)

Click the icon to switch to portal editing mode. The page is refreshed and each portlet appears with its manipulation interface:

Editing the portal.

To insert a portlet under another portlet use the contextual menu of construction portlets. Click the icon on the portlet "Left Column".

Portlet contextual menu.

Choose "Add a portlet". The portlet selection interface appears in a new window:

Portlet selection interface.

Choose the RSS Portlet type then click the icon . The portlet editing interface appears in a new window.

Creating an RSS Portlet.

Enter the portlet title (Herald Tribune) and its source (http://www.iht.com/rss/frontpage.xml).

The tabs in the bottom panel determine the display appearance of the RSS feed. Click the skins tab then choose the skin "Jalios Simple Skin 2" with the CSS "JSS - Red". Confirm by clicking Save. The window closes and the portlet title then appears in the portlet selection interface. Select this portlet by clicking the radio button in front of the the title; the selection window closes and the RSS portlet is now inserted in the portal. Finally, click the icon to quit portal editing mode.

The "Herald Tribune" RSS Feed inserted in the portal.

To reorganize a portal page, you can either use the contextual menu to shift a portlet within the same column, or use the drag'n drop functionality to move portlets within the page.

Moving a portlet by drag'n drop.

3.3 Accessing the workspace

Click the icon to access the default workspace.

JCMS workspaces are used by contributors to create and edit publications (Contents menu), circulate publications in workflows (Workflow menu), define and organize categories to structure publication filing and browsing (Categories menu), and much more.

A contributors' workspace

3.4 The Admin Area

Click the icon to access the "Admin Area" reserved for technical administrators. It comprises three parts:

• Functional Administration: create user accounts, manage groups, workspaces, workflows, etc.;

• Technical Administration: supervision and operating tools;

• Development: definition of data structures, development tools

The Admin Area.

3.5 Installing a plugin

In the Admin Area, click Plugin Manager to open the plugin management interface.

The Plugin Manager interface.

Download the plugin SquareSkin from the JaliosXperience site. This plugin supplies a new set of skins for JCMS portlets.

Select the SquareSkin plugin on the interface and click Upload a Plugin to deploy it.

Installing the "SquareSkin" plugin.

To initialize and use the plugin, the site must first be restarted.

Initializing the "SquareSkin" plugin.

New templates are now available. Quit the Admin Area and go to the Home Page by clicking the icon , then click the icon to switch to portal editing mode. Click the icon of the Query Article portlet and assign a SquareSkin type template to it.

Assigning a SquareSkin template to a portlet.

The Query Article portlet now reappears with its new skin:

Portlet displayed using the new "SquareSkin" template.

3.6 Creating a new type

In the Admin Area, click Content Types to open the types editing interface:

Interface used to manage content types.

Enter the name Album. Click Add this type to open the interface used to define its properties.

"Album" type management interface.

Enter "Author" in the Label field and choose "Text Field" in the Editor listbox. Click Add this field.

Enter "Photo" in the Label field and "Image" in the Editor listbox. Click Add this field.

Building the Album content type.

Save and Restart JCMS to automatically generate the resources associated with the new type (JSP templates and Java classes).

Click the icon to access the workspace. Open the Admin menu:

The Functional Admin Area.

Click Content Types, make the new content type available for contribution (by choosing Enabled), then save:

Making a new type usable in a workspace.

The Album content type is now available for contributions.

New "Album" type available in the workspace.

3.7 Creating a workflow

Click the icon to access the Admin Area. Click Workflow Models to display the list of existing workflows:

Workflow management interface.

Enter "Album Workflow" in the Label field and "Publish Workflow" in the Type listbox. Click Add.

Edit the new workflow:

Creating a new workflow.

By default, JCMS automatically creates the states Draft, Scheduled, Published, Expired and Archived.

Add a new state to the workflow by entering "To be validated" in the Label field. Set PStatus to -50. Add the new state.

Adding a new document state to a workflow.

Open the Roles tab and create the new roles Author and Second-checker.

Adding a new role to a workflow.

Open the Transitions tab than define the transitions between the different states in the workflow by selecting the roles that must intervene and the start and end states corresponding to the interventions. The workflow model automatically updates.

Defining transitions within a workflow.

Save the workflow.

Now assign it to the Album content type (click the icon to access the workspace, then choose Admin/Content Types):

Assigning a workflow to a content type.

The Album content type is now available for contributions, and publications of this type will be subject to the Album Workflow.

3.8 To go farther with JCMS

You have successfully taken your first steps with JCMS. You can continue to explore the functional richness of JCMS in several ways:

1. Try the online demonstration on demo.jalios.com.

2. Consult the articles on the new features of versions 6, 5.7, 5.6, 5.5 et 5.0.

3. Consult the JCMS User Manual.

4. Consult the JCMS Installation and Operation Manual.

5. Participate in our training sessions.

6. Contact us.

JCMS Demonstration Site