Abstract:
A method and apparatus for managing content allowing construction of a content management system without providing a predetermined content schema or content type, whereby control objects provide data in property elements and a content query is constructed to select content fragments from a content repository. A content selection can be easily changed by changing a property of a control object without need for corresponding changes in other parts of the system. The system may span multiple web sites, services, or desktop applications, and can be implemented in a multitenant cloud based environment.

Description:
COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
       [0001]    A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The current invention relates generally to managing content for use with portals and other content delivery mechanisms and more particularly to processing content items in a content management system. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    Content management systems (CMS) allow publishing information on a web site. A typical web site includes multiple pages each containing multiple content items usually defined as field types, such as images, links, and blocks of text. 
         [0006]    A CMS typically uses content schemas also known as content types to refer to a group of field types used on similarly looking web pages usually defined as page templates. Content types are used in a set of rules determining how the web site content is stored in a content repository and how it is displayed on web pages. Said set of rules defines relations between content types, field types and page templates. 
         [0007]    However, in cases when there is need to perform significant changes in the page template, for example to add new or remove existing field type, this approach requires making changes in more than one place, for example changing page template, changing content type definition, and replacing a content type stored in content repository with the modified one. This makes the process time consuming, prone to errors, and requires a person who is skilled in management of the particular type of CMS. 
         [0008]    To establish a list of actions that a particular user is allowed to perform on a particular page a set of user permissions is defined, usually grouped in a set of user groups stored in a directory service or a database. CMS defines a set of permission rules associating a particular set of permissions with a page template, web page or a group of pages. Such set of rules is stored in a content repository and used at runtime to allow or disallow a content management or viewing operation to a user. 
         [0009]    Such approach creates rigid relationships between the web site, said permission rules, content types, field types and page templates. Such rigid relationships further complicate the process of making changes in the way the content is displayed on the web site, and also make it difficult to use CMS in multitenant cloud environment when one CMS must serve plurality of web sites owned by different tenants. 
         [0010]    Also, binding field types to content types or content schemas makes it difficult to share portions of page content, for example a subset of field types, between multiple pages of the web site or between different web sites. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for handling content in a content management system comprising a content repository configured to store a plurality of content elements, one or more page templates, wherein each said page template includes one or more control objects, a request builder, and an item selector configured to select a group of content elements from content repository. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  illustrates a computing environment and CMS, according to an example embodiment of the invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  illustrates an apparatus for managing content in an example embodiment of the invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating the handling of content data in an example embodiment of the invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  illustrates a method for managing content in an example embodiment of the invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a data diagram illustrating database fields and relationships in an example embodiment of the invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating objects and relationships in an example embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0018]    The invention is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. References to embodiments in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one. While specific implementations are discussed, it is understood that this is done for illustrative purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations may be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. 
         [0019]    In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough description of the invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention. 
         [0020]    Although a diagram may depict components as logically separate, such depiction is merely for illustrative purposes. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the components portrayed can be combined or divided into separate software, firmware and/or hardware components. Furthermore, it will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that such components, regardless of how they are combined or divided, can execute on the same computing device or can be distributed among different computing devices connected by one or more networks or other suitable communication means. 
         [0021]    In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for handling content in a content management system. 
         [0022]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram that illustrates a client/server view of a computing environment, according to one embodiment of the invention. As shown, computing environment includes client computer system  102  communicating with a server system  100  over a network  108 . The computer systems  100  and  102  are included to be representative of existing computer systems, e.g., desktop computers, server computers, laptop computers, tablet computers and the like. However, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any particular computing system, application, device, or network architecture and instead, may be adapted to take advantage of new computing systems and platforms as they become available. Additionally, those skilled in the art will recognize that the illustration of computer systems  100  and  102  are simplified to highlight aspects of the present invention and that computing systems and networks typically include a variety of additional elements not shown in  FIG. 1 . Server system  100  may be connected to more than one client system. Additionally, server system  100  may be representative of systems built from one or more computer systems. For example, server system  100  may be represented by a server farm including plurality of web servers, database servers, application servers, network devices, and network connections. Network  108  represents any kind of data communications network, including both wired and wireless networks. Accordingly, network  108  is representative of both local and wide area networks, including the Internet. Additionally, those skilled in the art will recognize that the computer systems  100  and  102  may be represented by one or more software or hardware modules in a single computer system, communicating through internal network, software simulated network, or directly without a network connection. 
         [0023]    As shown, client computer system  102  includes a web browser application  110  displays content received from server system  100 . The web browser application  110  is included to be representative of existing applications or hardware implementations capable of displaying content and is not limited to any particular application or hardware implementation, or method of content encoding and transmission. 
         [0024]    Illustratively, server system  100  includes a content management system (CMS)  104  and a content repository  106 . In one embodiment, CMS  104  may be configured to provide services for managing content, including but not limited to services for creating and editing content, retrieving content from content repository  106 , and saving content into content repository  106 . 
         [0025]    Illustratively, content repository  106  includes a data storage  112 . The data storage  112  is included to be representative of existing storage systems, e.g., relational or non-relational databases, flat file databases, local or distributed file systems, spreadsheets, cloud based storage services, and may be based on any storage technology, such as RAID, NAS, SAN, or JBOD, may involve multiple storage nodes, including spanning multiple geographically separated sites, may consist of a service running on a computing resource that manages storage and archival media. 
         [0026]      FIG. 2  illustrates an apparatus for managing content in an example embodiment of the invention. 
         [0027]    CMS  104  includes one or more page templates  202  wherein each of such page templates  102  defining elements of layout of one or more content pages which eventually are displayed by the web browser application  110 . The page template  202  is included to be representative of existing content rendering techniques typically involving a mixture of standard Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and a scripting language or combination of languages used for the dynamic creation of some portion of the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) web pages using syntax for a particular programming language or framework. Examples of different programming frameworks include: Java Server Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages (ASP), ASP.NET, Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), etc. The programming frameworks are designed to allow programmers to develop dynamic content pages that may act as part of an application, including implementation of business logic and interactions with databases and other modules. Additionally, those skilled in the art will recognize that the page template  202  may involve a rendering technique based on other programming and markup languages and frameworks, such as XML, XSLT, XAML, Windows Forms, etc. 
         [0028]    In one embodiment of the invention page template  202  is an ASP.NET page employing existing technique for content rendering wherein a file with .aspx extension provides a combination of HTML code and ASP.NET controls, and a file with .aspx.cs extension provides C# code for business logic and interactions with other components. 
         [0029]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , in one embodiment of the invention there are control objects  204 ,  208 , 214 , and  222  included in the page template  202  following known rules for particular type of the programming framework and language used for creating the page template  202 . Each said control object logically corresponds to a user interface element and is responsible for performing a functionality of the user interface element and for displaying a content element. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the page template  202  may include zero or more said control objects, and that said control objects may be included in the page template  202  directly or indirectly through a hierarchy of parent elements. In one embodiment of the invention control objects  204 ,  208 , 214 , and  222  are ASP.NET server-side controls compiled and collected into a server control class library within the server system  100 . 
         [0030]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the control objects  204 ,  208 , 214 , and  222  include property elements correspondingly  206 ,  210 ,  216 , and  224  specifying a name value pair used in a query identifying content elements stored in the content repository  106 . In one embodiment of the invention each property element  206 ,  210 ,  216 , and  224  is a property of ASP.NET server-side control correspondingly  204 ,  208 , 214 , and  222  wherein the property name is FieldName. 
         [0031]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the control objects  208 ,  222  include property elements correspondingly  212 ,  226  specifying a name value pair used in a query determining user permissions and permitted actions with respect to corresponding control object and corresponding content item. In one embodiment of the invention each property element  212 ,  226  is a property of ASP.NET server-side control correspondingly  208 ,  222  wherein the property name is PermissionContext. 
         [0032]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the control objects  214 ,  222  include property elements correspondingly  218 ,  228  specifying a list of parameter names. In one embodiment of the invention each property element  218 ,  228  is a property of ASP.NET server-side control correspondingly  214 ,  222  wherein the property name is Parameters. For example, property element  218  in the control object  214  specifies a list of parameter names containing single parameter name “Category”, and property element  228  in the control object  222  specifies a list of parameter names containing two parameter names: “ProductID” and “Category”, while control object  208  does not include a property element specifying a list of parameter names. 
         [0033]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the control objects  214 ,  222  include property elements correspondingly  220 ,  230  specifying a name value pair used in a query identifying content elements stored in the content repository  106 . In one embodiment of the invention each property element  220 ,  230  is a property of ASP.NET server-side control correspondingly  214 ,  222  wherein the property name is Scope. 
         [0034]    Those skilled in the art will recognize that the property elements  206 ,  210 ,  212 ,  216 ,  218 ,  220 ,  224 ,  226 ,  228 ,  230  are included to be representative of a technique of associating a name value pair with a control object following known rules for particular type of the programming framework and language used for creating the page template  202 , and also that property names are specified here for illustrating purposes only and can be replaced with other property names allowed in the programming framework and language. 
         [0035]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the content management system  104  includes request builder  232  which collects property elements data, environment data, metadata, and request parameters, and sends collected information to content repository  106 . 
         [0036]    Content repository  106  contains zero or more content elements. Each content element represents a fragment of content, for example a text, picture, hyperlink, etc. Each content element has a metadata associated with it and is stored in the data storage  112 . In one embodiment of the invention content repository  106  contains content elements  234 ,  242 . Associated metadata is being represented by name value pairs correspondingly  236 ,  238 ,  240 , and  244 ,  246 ,  248 ,  250 . Those skilled in the art will recognize that the content elements and associated metadata may be stored in a number of data structures, including, for example, one or more database tables, flat lists, linked lists, trees, and the like. 
         [0037]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating the handling of content data in one embodiment of the invention. 
         [0038]    A request property  304  is included to be representative of a content page identifier which uniquely identifies a content page among content pages served by the server system  100 . In one embodiment of the invention the request property  304  is a uniform resource locator (URL), for example 
         [0000]    http://example.com/default.aspx?productID=1&amp;x=2 
         [0039]    A page template identifier  306  is included to be representative of a page template identifier which uniquely identifies page template  202  among all page templates included in the CMS  104 . In one embodiment of the invention the page template identifier  306  is a string calculated by the request builder  232  by eliminating such parts of the page URL like protocol, host, and query string, which for previous URL example would produce page template identifier value 
         [0000]    /default.aspx 
         [0040]    A control object  312  is similar to control objects  204 ,  208 , 214 , and  222  and represents another example of property elements that may be included in a control object. In this example a property element  310  is similar to property elements  206 ,  210 ,  216 , and  224  and has property name FieldName and value “Field?”. Also in this example a property element  314  in the control object  312  specifies a list of parameter names containing single parameter name: “productID”. 
         [0041]    A parameter identifier  308  represents an example of a parameter name value pair used in a query identifying content elements stored in the content repository  106 . In this example the name value pair has been calculated by extracting query string value “?productID=1&amp;x=2” from the request property  304 , matching query string parameters with the list of parameter names specified in the property element  314 , and discarding non-matching parameters, which in this example produces name value pair “productID=1”. 
         [0042]    A default values list  316  includes default values to be used instead of values specified in a property element in cases when a control object does not have said property element. As shown in  FIG. 3  the control object  312  does not have a property element with name “PermissionContext”, that is why the value for corresponding name value pair is taken from the default values list  316 . In this example the default values list  316  specifies value “Default” for a property name “PermissionContext”. 
         [0043]    A security context module  322  retrieves current user identifier and a list of user groups with which this user is associated. Permissions module  320  includes permissions configuration data which allows calculating a set of permissions for specified user groups and available permission contexts. 
         [0044]    The information collected by the request builder  232  is included in a content request  350  and the content request  350  is sent to an item selector  334  included in the content repository  106 . 
         [0045]    A content element  346  is similar to content elements  234 ,  242  and represents another example of metadata that may be associated with a content fragment stored in the data storage  112 . 
         [0046]    The content element  346  includes metadata element  336  to specify page template identifier value, metadata element  337  to specify parameters name value pairs, metadata element  338  to specify field name value, metadata element  340  to specify list of permission context names, content item value element  342  to store data describing a content fragment, and metadata element  344  to specify version of the content fragment. 
         [0047]      FIG. 4  illustrates method steps for managing content in an example embodiment of the invention. 
         [0048]    At step  402  a page template is provided and one or more control objects are included into the page template and property elements of each control object are populated with values identifying: 
         [0049]    a name of corresponding content element, e.g., FieldName=Field1; 
         [0050]    a list of parameter names to be extracted from content page identifier, e.g., if a content page identifier is a URL and has value http://example.com/default.aspx?category=toys&amp;productID=1&amp;x=2, then a property element specified as Parameters=category,productID is used as an instruction to extract following two name value pairs from the content page identifier: category=toys,productID=1; 
         [0051]    a list of permission context names providing reference to a set of permissions configured for different user groups, e.g., if a configuration file specifies that a user group “Editors” in a permission context “Marketing” has permissions “Edit” then a user assigned to the user group “Editors” will be granted permissions “Edit” for control objects having permission context name “Marketing” listed in said list of permission context names; 
         [0052]    a scope identifier, which if provided extends the query selecting content elements from content repository, one example of such extension is: if a property element specifies Scope=Footer then the query disregards current page template identifier and uses value “Footer” in its place during selection of content elements; 
         [0053]    other property elements that may modify user interface or behavior of the control object or modify query selecting content elements from content repository. 
         [0054]    At step  404  a data including property elements data is collected from control objects included in the page template. 
         [0055]    At step  406  a page request data is obtained, one example of such data is a data including page template identifier, content page URL, and web site identifier. 
         [0056]    At step  408  a permissions data is collected, one example of such data is a data including current user identifier or name, a list of user groups to which the user is assigned, a permission configuration data specifying relationships between user groups, permission context names, and permissions or allowed actions. 
         [0057]    At step  410  a content management operation is determined, examples of such operations may include: “Read published content”, “Read latest drafts”, “Check out”, “Save”, “Publish”. 
         [0058]    At step  412  a request to perform the content management operation is built and sent to content repository. Examples of the request include an XML document, a URL-encoded list of data items, etc. 
         [0059]    At step  414  a query is executed to select requested content elements. One example of such query is a SQL query selecting records from a relational database. In one embodiment of the invention a content element is selected when all of the following conditions are true: 
         [0060]    there is a match between FieldName value submitted in the request and FieldName value found in corresponding metadata element associated with said content element; 
         [0061]    there is a match between PageID value submitted in the request and PageID value found in corresponding metadata element associated with said content element and the Scope value is not provided by corresponding control object; 
         [0062]    there is a match between parameters name value pairs submitted in the request and corresponding parameters name value pairs found in corresponding metadata element associated with said content element; 
         [0063]    the content management operation determined at step  410  is allowed for the permission context found in corresponding metadata element associated with said content element according to the permissions data collected at step  408 ; 
         [0064]    a version data found in corresponding metadata element associated with said content element is allowed for retrieval by the content management operation determined at step  410 . 
         [0065]    At step  416  a data including selected content elements and associated metadata is returned to requesting module and converted to a format that may be displayed to the user. 
         [0066]      FIG. 5  is a data diagram illustrating one example of database fields and relationships used to store content elements in a data storage which includes relational database. In this example, the data is stored in two database tables Fields  502 , and FieldVersions  504 . 
         [0067]    As shown in  FIG. 5  the Fields table  502  has identity column FieldID and stores following metadata elements: 
         [0068]    SiteID—an identifier which allows splitting the CMS in plurality of separate parts while re-using the same content page identifiers and FieldName values for different parts; 
         [0069]    PageKey—holding content page identifiers; 
         [0070]    FieldName—holding one of the values used in the query selecting content elements from the content repository; 
         [0071]    FieldType—specifying type of user interface used to display content fragment; 
         [0072]    PermissionContext—holding value used in a query determining user permissions and permitted actions; 
         [0073]    Created—holding date and time when the content element was first created; 
         [0074]    CreatedBy—holding user identifier of the user who created the content element. 
         [0075]    As shown in  FIG. 5  the FieldVersions table  504  has identity column FieldVersionID, references FieldID column from table  502 , and stores following metadata elements: 
         [0076]    VaryByParamsKey—holding parameters name value pairs in URL-encoded format; 
         [0077]    VaryByParamsKeyHash—holding binary hash of the VaryByParamsKey value to allow case-sensitive search in a case-insensitive database; 
         [0078]    Culture—holding a string describing a language of the content element in multilingual CMS and representing an example of additional metadata element used in the query selecting content elements; 
         [0079]    Version—holding a string describing version of the content element as version number or identifier; 
         [0080]    Value—holding a content fragment in a format determined by the FieldType metadata element; 
         [0081]    SearchValue—holding the content fragment in a textual format facilitating text-based search for the content element; 
         [0082]    Created—holding date and time when this version of the content element was first created; 
         [0083]    CreatedBy—holding user identifier of the user who created this version of the content element. 
         [0084]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating control objects class hierarchy in an example embodiment of the invention, wherein class ControlObjectBase  404  inherits ASP.NET WebControl class  602 . In this example StringControlObject class  608  represents a control object displaying simple text content element. StringControlObject class  608  extends class  604  with validation properties DefaultValue, IsRequired, and MaximumLength, and has string property Value that holds the content fragment. 
         [0085]    The invention can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of them. The invention can be implemented as a computer program product, i.e., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier, e.g., in a machine-readable storage device or in a propagated signal, for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus, e.g., a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple computers. A computer program can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. 
         [0086]    Method steps of the invention can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing a computer program to perform functions of the invention by operating on input data and generating output. 
         [0087]    The computing system can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other. 
         [0088]    The invention has been described in terms of particular embodiments. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. For example, the steps of the invention can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results.