How Content Station 9 determines which article template to use

Any article that is created in Content Station needs to be based on an article template. Because multiple templates can be made available, Content Station needs to determine which one to use.

It does this by checking where in Content Station the request for creating a new article is made (listed in the order in which it is checked):

1. From within a Dossier

Examples By clicking the Create Article button By clicking the Create New Text Component button in a Publish Form

2. Outside of a Dossier

Examples By clicking New Article in the Applications pane the Home page By choosing File > New > Article while not having a Dossier opened

When the request is made from within the Dossier, the following locations are checked for any suitable article templates (listed in the order in which they are checked):

1. The Dossier where the request is made from
2. All Brands that the user has access to

When the request is made outside of a Dossier, the following location is checked for any suitable article templates:

• All Brands that the user has access to

What is a suitable article template?

When an article template is found, Content Station checks the following properties to see if those of the found article template match those of the context (Dossier or Brand):

• Brand
• Publication Channel
• Category

It does this in the following order and combination:

1. Brand, Publication Channel and Category of the Dossier
2. Brand, Publication Channel of the Dossier
3. Brand, Publication Channel and Category of the context
4. Brand and Publication Channel of the context
5. Brand and Category of the context
6. Brand of the context

In other words:

If the request to create a new article is made from within a Dossier, that Dossier is checked for the presence of any article templates.

If an article template is present, Content Station first checks if the Brand, Publication Channel and Category properties of the article template are set to the same values as the values of the Brand, Publication Channel and Category properties of the Dossier.

If this is the case then that article template is used.

If this is not the case, Content Station checks if the Brand and Publication Channel properties of the article template are set to the same values of the Brand and Publication Channel properties of the Dossier.

If this is the case then that article template is used.

If this is not the case or when no article templates where present in the Dossier to begin with, then Content Station checks if any article templates outside of the Dossier exist.

If a template is found outside of the Dossier, the same types of checks are made to see if any combination of Brand, Publication Channel and Category of the article template as listed above match those of the Dossier. If a match is found, that article template is used.

The scenario where the request to create a new article template is made outside of a Dossier is somewhat different because no context exists that can be used to match the properties of the article template with.

In these scenarios, any template that belongs to any Brand that the user has access to is returned.

In case of multiple available templates

In scenarios where more than one template is available, all these templates are shown to the user. The user will then have to choose which of the templates to use.

In case no templates are available

When no templates are available, a message is shown. No article can be created until at least one suitable template is available.

Diagram

The following figure shows the workflow in the form of a diagram.

Example scenarios

Consider the following configuration:

Enterprise Server setup

#	Brand	Publication Channel	Category
1	WW News	Print, Facebook	News, Sport
2	xTreme	Print, Facebook	News, Sport

Article templates

#	Template name	Assigned Brand	Publication Channel	Assigned Category
1	ww-news-print-news-default	WW News	Print	News
2	ww-news-print-sport-default	WW News	Print	Sport
3	ww-news-print-sport-football	WW News	Print	Sport
4	ww-news-facebook-default	WW News	Facebook	Facebook
5	ww-news-facebook-default2	WW News	Facebook	Facebook

Scenario #1

Context: A Dossier is opened that is assigned to Brand 'WW News' and Category 'News' and its content is viewed by having the Dossier Content selected. The Dossier does not contain any article templates.

Action: The Create Article button is clicked.

Result: Content Station looks for any article templates in the Dossier that are assigned to Brand 'WW News' and Category 'News'. No article template is available in the Dossier so article templates elsewhere in the system are referenced. Article template #1 'ww-news-print-news-default' is the only one in the system with a corresponding Brand and Category. Therefore that template is used.

Scenario #2

Context: A Publication Channel of type 'Print' is viewed that is assigned to Brand 'WW News' and Category 'Sport'. The Dossier does not contain any article templates.

Action: The Create Article button is clicked.

Result: Content Station looks for any article templates in the Dossier that are assigned to Brand 'WW News', Publication Channel 'Print' and Category 'Sport'. No article template is available in the Dossier so article templates elsewhere in the system are referenced. Two article templates exist which have the same Brand, Publication Channel and Category combination: #2 'ww-news-print-sport-default' and #3 'ww-news-print-sport-football'. A window appears showing these 2 templates from which the user has to make a choice.

Scenario #3

Context: A Publication Channel of type 'Print' is viewed that is assigned to Brand 'WW News' and Category 'Sport'. The Dossier contains the article template 'ww-news-print-sport-default' which is also assigned to the same Brand/Publication Channel/Category combination as the Dossier.

Action: The Create Article button is clicked.

Result: Content Station looks for any article templates that are assigned to Brand 'WW News', Publication Channel 'Print' and Category 'Sport'. Because the article template that is present in the Dossier matches the Brand/Publication Channel/Category combination of the Dossier, that article template is used.

Note:This scenario is similar to scenario #2, but now with an article template added to the Dossier itself. Even though 2 article templates exist n the system with a matching Brand/Publication Channel/Category combination, the one in the Dossier is preferred over the other one. The user is therefore not asked to choose between the 2 available templates.

Scenario #4

Context: A Publish Form is opened that is set up for a Publication Channel of type 'Facebook' which is assigned to Brand 'WW News' and Category 'Sport'. The Dossier does not contain any article templates.

Action: The 'Create New Text Component' button is clicked.

Result: Content Station looks for any article templates in the Dossier that are assigned to Brand 'WW News', Publication Channel 'Facebook' and Category 'Sport'. No article template is available in the Dossier so article templates elsewhere in the system are referenced. No article templates exist that have the same Brand, Publication Channel and Category combination as the Dossier. The next best match is the combination of Brand and Publication Channel, for which 2 templates exist: #4 'ww-news-facebook-default' and #5 'ww-news-facebook-default2'. A window appears showing these 2 templates from which the user has to make a choice.

Scenario #5

Context: The Home page of Content Station is viewed.

Action: The 'Create New Article ' button is clicked.

Result: A window appears showing all templates of all Brands to which the user has access. The user has to choose the template to use.