Adding Applications to Content Station 9

The functionality of Content Station is driven by the available Applications. Each Application can be seen as a tool with which a specific task can be performed.

Content Station comes with a default set of Applications (such as Search, Upload, Planning), but you can also add additional Applications.

Type of Applications that can be added

The type of Applications that can be added fall into the following categories:

• Elvis 4 and Elvis 5
• Web sites
• Enterprise Server instances
• The Enterprise Report application
• Links to applications installed on the system
• Links to applications made with Adobe Flex

Tip: Adding an Application to Content Station makes it readily available and saves you from having to look for it outside of Content Station.

Where to find added Applications

As is the case for the default Applications, added Applications can be accessed from the Applications pane on the Home page or from the Tab menu.

Figure: Applications are shown in the Applications pane (A) on the Home page.

Added Applications appear with the following icons on the Home page:

Default icon for Web sites, Enterprise Server instances or the Enterprise My Reporting Application. Instead of this icon, it is also possible to use a custom icon.

External Applications are represented by their own icon or a custom icon, such as the icon for InDesign CS6 shown here.

Defining Applications

Applications are added by defining them between the <Apps> </Apps> tags of the WWSettings.xml file.

Important: Make sure to validate the WWSettings.xml file for correct content. See Validating the WWSettings.xml file.

<Apps>
<App name="WoodWing.com" url="http://www.woodwing.com" icon="{SERVER_URL}config/images/appicons/woodwing.png" external="true"/>
</Apps>

Elvis 4 and Elvis 5

Adding Elvis 4 or Elvis 5 to Content Station enables you to search and manage all content that is stored within that environment and easily add content from Elvis to Enterprise through drag-and-drop.

For more information, see Integrating Elvis 4 in Content Station 9.

Web sites

Web sites should be added by using the following syntax:

<App name="application name" url="URL" icon="{SERVER_URL config/images/appicons/woodwing.png" external="true" or "false">

• App name is the name that appears with the icon on the Home page and as the name in the Tabs menu
• url is the path to Enterprise Server. The following wildcard is used (filled in automatically by Content Station):

{SERVER_URL} The path to the current instance of Enterprise Server

• icon is the path to a custom icon stored on the server. When not defined, the default icon is used.

• external indicates whether the Web site should be opened within Content Station (value is set to "false" or the value is left out) or in the default Web browser on the system (when the value is set to "true).

The following video shows the process of adding a Web site as an Application. Two Web sites are added, each with different settings:

Enterprise Server instances

Note: Adding an Enterprise Server instance provides access to the Maintenance pages for configuring the Server. A log-in with administrator rights is required to log in.)

For adding an Application that links to the instance of Enterprise Server to which Content Station is currently connected, the following syntax should be used:

<App name="name" url={SERVER_URL}index.php?ticket={SESSION_ID} icon="{SERVER_URL}config/images/appicons/woodwing.png" external="true" or "false"/>

• App name is the name that appears with the icon on the Home page and as the name in the Tabs menu
• url is the path to Enterprise Server. The following wildcards are used (filled in automatically by Content Station):
• {SERVER_URL} The path to the current instance of Enterprise Server
• {SESSION_ID} The current ticket
• icon is the path to a custom icon stored on the server. When not defined, the default icon is used.

• external indicates whether the Web site should be opened within Content Station (value is set to "false" or the value is left out) or in the default Web browser on the system (when the value is set to "true).

The Enterprise My Reporting Application

The My Reporting instance is the default reporting application that is shipped with Enterprise Server.

Note: For information, see Working with reports in Content Station 9.

The syntax for adding this Application is as follows:

<App name="name" url={SERVER_URL}/server/apps/report.php?ticket={SESSION_ID} icon="{SERVER_URL}config/images/appicons/woodwing.png" external="true" or "false"/>

• App name is the name that appears with the icon on the Home page and as the name in the Tabs menu
• url is the path to Enterprise Server. The following wildcards are used (filled in automatically by Content Station):
• {SERVER_URL} The path to the current server
• {SESSION_ID} The current ticket
• icon is the path to a custom icon stored on the server. When not defined, the default icon is used.

• external indicates whether the report should be opened within Content Station (value is set to "false" or the value is left out) or in the default Web browser on the system (when the value is set to "true).

Installed applications

Any application that is installed on the system can be added to Content Station as a shortcut to access that application.

Note: Opening installed applications this way requires Enterprise Agent to be running.

The following syntax is used:

<App name="name" location="application path" parameters="-nologin{USERNAME}" icon="{SERVER_URL}application path icon/">

• App name is the name that appears with the icon on the Home page and as the name in the Tabs menu
• location is the full path to the application, (On Mac OS, this needs to go down to the Contents folder, see example below)
• parameters are values used for accessing Enterprise Server:
• {USERNAME} is the username for the user as defined on the system (filled in automatically)
• icon is the path to a custom icon stored on the server. When not defined, the default icon is used.
• {SERVER_URL} is the path to Enterprise Server (filled in automatically)
• Application path icon is the path to the icon to appear for the application in the Application pane.

Applications created with Adobe Flex

In the context of Content Station, the definition of a Flex application is any real application that can also run without Content Station and which runs in its own application domain.

Note: In practice, such applications will probably always be Flex applications (as an extension of the mx.Application), but they can also be build up from pure actionscript (without the Flex framework) or be a exported from an .fla file in Flash.

Restrictions

The following restrictions exist when using Flex applications inside Content Station:

• They cannot access most stage properties, methods, and events.
• They cannot get mouse and keyboard events from other Security Domains.
• They cannot perform drag-and-drop operations to or from Content Station when in sandbox mode.
• Dialog boxes are clipped at the boundaries of the application.
• If the application uses any of the AIR API’s it will not run in Content Station Web.

Rules to follow

When working with Flex applications in Content Station, follow these rules:

• Flex applications must be build as a SWF file.
• Data sharing between Content Station and the Flex application requires marshaling.
• Flex applications loaded from a http location can only run in sandbox mode, except when installed through the Server plug-in (as opposed to a manual installation, see Installation).
• The Flex application should check whether the correct runtime is installed.
• The Application Descriptor file (loaded by Content Station on startup) should note the AIR SDK used or “none” if there is no AIR dependency.

General notes

• Flex applications use the Content Station application folder as the base path.
• Use the API to retrieve the module base path. This path can be used to resolve paths to other files that the Flex application may need.
• Flex applications can be configured to load in their own Security Domain (sandboxed).
• A Flex application can have multiple instances running at the same time. This can be defined during installation.
• Content Station AIR has a minimum size of 960x600 pixels for showing the application in its own tab, leaving a minimum size for the application of 783x474 pixels. For larger screen sizes take into account that Content Station uses 187 pixels in width and 88 pixels in height around the application tab. Applications can use the canvas of this tab to lay out their user interface elements.

Sandboxed vs. Non-Sandboxed Mode

We advise to use sandboxed mode because this ensures the maximum amount of compatibility and it offers the most consistent configuration between Mac OS and Windows.

In sandboxed mode the Flex application is completely separated from Content Station. In none-sandboxed mode the use of Flex applications can be problematic when using RPC in combination with proxy servers. The only exception which requires the use of the none-sandboxed mode is if you need to use AIR functions.

Application Descriptor file

Every Flex application should have its own Application Descriptor file containing the following descriptions:

• Name. Name of the application
• File. Name of the SWF file
• Sandbox usage. True or false
• AIR SDK version. For example: “1.5.2” or “none”
• Flex SDK version. For example: “3.4.1.”

Note: For more information about the Application Descriptor file, see the template in the module samples.

<ApplicationDescriptor>

<!-- The name of the application or module -->
<name>Flex Application</name>

<!-- The full name of the file that is called upon -->
<file>FlexApplication.swf</file>

<!-- Deprecated set to 3.4.1, The version of the Flex SDK (example: 3.3 or 3.4) -->
<flexSDK>3.4.1</flexSDK>

<!--Deprecated set to none or 1.5.2 , The version of the Air SDK-->
<airSDK>none</airSDK>

<!-- sandbox is a true/false variable which indicates the security domain.
If it is set to true, the application runs in its own security domain,
if it is set to false, the application is loaded in a sibling application domain -->
<sandbox>true</sandbox>

</ApplicationDescriptor>

Installation

Installation can be done in the following ways:

<ApplicationDescriptor>
        <swf>application.swf</swf>
        <assets>
                <asset>assets/test1.swf</asset>
                <asset>test2.png</asset>
        </assets>
        <ApplicationIcon>ApplicationAppIcon.png</ApplicationIcon>
        <TabIcon>ApplicationTabIcon.png</TabIcon>
        <AllowMultipleInstances>false</AllowMultipleInstances>
</ApplicationDescriptor>

<Apps>
<App name="My Application" applicationDescriptor="/Applications/BrowserApplication/applicationDescriptor.xml" icon="/Applications/BrowserApplication/MyApp_32x32.png" allowmultipleinstances="true"/>
</Apps>

<Apps>
<App name="My Application" applicationDescriptor="{SERVER_URL}/config/plugins/BrowserApplication/applicationDescriptor.xml" icon="{SERVER_URL}config/plugins/BrowserApplication/images/MyApp_32x32.png" allowmultipleinstances="true"/>
</Apps>

<Apps>
<App name="My Application" applicationDescriptor="file://Users/someone/modules/applicationDescriptor.xml" icon="file://Users/someone/tempIcon.png" allowmultipleinstances="true"/>
</Apps>

<Apps>
<App name="My Application" applicationDescriptor="app://Application/MyApp/ApplicationDescriptor.xml" icon="file://Users/someone/tempIcon.png" allowmultipleinstances="true"/>
</Apps>

<Apps>
<App name="My Application" applicationDescriptor="file://C:/Program Files/modules/applicationDescriptor.xml" icon="file://C:/Program Files/modules/tempIcon.png" allowmultipleinstances="true"/>
</Apps>

<Apps>
<App name="My Application" applicationDescriptor="app:/MyApp/ApplicationDescriptor.xml" icon="file://C:/Program Files/modules/tempIcon.png" allowmultipleinstances="true"/>
</Apps>

<Apps>
<App name="My Application" applicationDescriptor="http://MyServer/modules/applicationDescriptor.xml" icon="http://MyServer/modules/tempIcon.png" allowmultipleinstances="true"/>
</Apps>

<Apps>
<App name="My Application" applicationDescriptor="../config/modules/applicationDescriptor.xml" icon="../config/modules/tempIcon.png" allowmultipleinstances="true"/>
</Apps>

<cross-domain-policy>
       <allow-access-from domain="*" to-ports="*" />
</cross-domain-policy>