Mura 10: Managing Content

Collections

Collections are essentially indexes of Mura CMS content items based on pre-defined search criteria and/or filters.

For example, Mura CMS can create an index of content items which have been flagged as "Featured" and categorized as "Domestic News" where the content resides under either the Blog or News sections of your site. You can control the maximum number of items you wish to display and more.

You can also choose to broadcast Collections as RSS feeds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS), making it easy for visitors, or even other web sites, to consume information from your site and bring visitors back for details.

In addition to creating Collections of Mura content items, Mura CMS can also consume external RSS feeds and display pieces of that information on your site using the Collection Module, and Remote Feed as the Content Source.

Content Collections

A Local Index is essentially a collection of content which has been indexed and aggregated from either the entire site, or specified areas of the site, based on desired filter criteria. Once created, these Local Indexes can be used as a Collection Module in one or more areas of the site.

The built-in, customizable Collection Module displays a listing of content items which typically include the title, associated image, summary text, official release date, author, and a hyperlink to the full version of the page.

Mura CMS also gives you the ability to publish a Local Index as a RSS feed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS) to syndicate content automatically.

Collections are managed via the back-end administration area of Mura CMS. From the admin navigation menu, select Collections to view the Collections screen.

How to Create a Local Index

  1. From the Collections screen, click the Add Local Index button.
  2. The Create Local Index screen should appear. Take a look at the default settings. These are the default "filters" that control which content items get indexed.
    • Basic Tab
      • Name (required)
        • Enter a name for the Collection.
      • Sections Pulled From
        • You may optionally select zero, one, or more section(s) to narrow down where you want content items to be searched for. If you leave this blank, Mura CMS will automatically search the entire site. Follow the steps below to apply one or more section(s) to the Local Index:
          • Click the "Select Section" button to review a search box.
          • Enter your desired section title (e.g., "News"), then click the spyglass button.
          • Results will be displayed below the search box. Click the plus sign next to the section you would like to include in the Local Index. Once you click the plus sign icon, the selected section should then appear under the Section area.
          • If you select the wrong section, click the trash can icon to remove it.
          • Repeat these steps for each section you would like to include in the Local Index.
      • Sort By
        You can sort your Local Index by a variety of fields, or explicitly "Do Not Apply Sort".
        • Last Update
        • Official Release Date
        • Start Date/Time (e.g., Calendar)
        • Navigation Title
        • Long Title
        • Rating
        • Created
        • Local Manual Order
        • Random
        • Do Not Apply Sort
      • Sort Direction
        • Once you choose your Sort By option, you can choose to sort the Local Index by Ascending or Descending.
      • Max Items
        • Limit the number of content items returned by making a selection here.
      • Items Per Page
        • Limit the number of content items to be displayed on the page at a time. If more content items are returned than the number selected here, pagination will display.
      • Include features only?
        • If Yes, Mura will only include content items where the "Feature in this section" field has been enabled.
        • If No (default), Mura will ignore this field.
      • Include navigation items only?
        • If Yes, Mura will only include content items where the "Include in Site Navigation" field has been enabled.
        • If No (default), Mura will ignore this field.
      • Include items that have been excluded from site search?
        • If Yes, Mura will include items that have "Exclude from Site Search" enabled on the Publishing tab.
        • If No (default), Mura will not include items that have "Exclude from Site Search" enabled on the Publishing tab.
      • Lock name?
        • If Yes, Mura will prevent the "Name" of the Collection from being changed, rendering the field as a read-only field. This is useful for developers who reference the specific Collection via code.
        • If No (default), the "Name" of the Collection is editable.
    • Categories Tab
      • Category Filters
        • Select any desired categories you wish content items to match in order to be included in the Collection.
      • Match All Selected Category Filters
        • If Yes, then content items must be categorized as all selected/applied Category Filters to be included in the Collection.
        • If No, then content items can be categorized as any of the selected/applied Category Filters to be included in the Collection.
    • Advanced Filters Tab
      • Choose Advanced Filters
        • This section allows you to apply filters based on various form fields, including custom attributes created using Class Extensions. You can then filter based on a number of options pertaining to that field and criteria. For example, whether or not a field such as Credits "Contains" a particular value, as shown in the example above.
    • RSS Tab
      Most information on this tab is used by experienced developers and/or site administrators.
      • Description
        • Text entered here will be included in the description node of the XML file automatically created by Mura CMS so RSS parsers can display the information to their users.
      • Allow HTML in item descriptions?
        • If Yes, HTML will be allowed in the item descriptions.
        • If No, HTML will not be allowed in the item descriptions, and will be parsed out when being broadcast.
      • Is this a Public Feed?
        • If Yes, a link to the collection's RSS feed can be included in the layout templates by your developers.
        • If No, a public link will not be generated.
      • Version
        • Select your desired format to broadcast the RSS feed in. Options include RSS 2.0, and RSS 0.920.
      • Language
        • You may choose to enter a specific language and country code to be included in the RSS feed.
      • Access: Restrict Access to Specific Site Member Group(s)?
        • If enabled, you can choose which group(s) you wish to allow access.
  3. Once you have applied all of your desired filters and criteria, click Add to save the new Local Index.
  4. Your Local Index should appear in the list of available Local Indexes.
  5. Whenever you create or edit a Local Index, you should click the three-dot menu to the left of your Local Index, and select View RSS and examine the results.
  6. Depending on your browser's capabilities, you should be able to view either an XML output or nicely formatted output of the Local Index displaying the content items which match your desired filters.
  7. If you don't see any items listed, it doesn't mean you did anything wrong, it only means there are no content items which match all of the selected filters you've applied when creating/editing your Local Index.

RSS Feeds

An RSS Feed is an automated collection of content from an external website. This works by using an external website's RSS feed. You can also choose to import the content directly into Mura, and then make modifications to the content items as you wish.

How to Create an RSS Feed

  1. From the Collections screen, click the Add RSS Feed button.
  2. The Create RSS Feed screen should appear.
    • Basic Tab
      • Name (required)
        • Enter a name for the Collection.
      • URL (required)
      • Is this Feed Active?
        • If Yes, the feed will appear as an option for content managers when creating Collection display objects.
        • If No, the feed will not appear as an option for content managers when creating Collection display objects.
      • Is this a Public Feed?
        • If Yes, a link to the RSS feed can be included in the layout templates by your developers.
        • If No, a public link will not be generated.
      • Max Items
        • Select the default number of items you wish to consume/import.
      • Version
        • In order to properly consume the content, it's extremely helpful to indicate the external RSS feed's version/format. Options include RSS 0.920, RSS 2.0, and Atom.
    • Categories Tab
      • Category Filters
        • Select any desired categories you wish content items to match in order to be included in the Collection.
    • Import Location Tab
      • Import Location
        • You may optionally choose to import the external content items into your own website. Select the desired section of the site you wish the content items to be imported to.
      • Auto Import
        • If Yes, Mura will periodically check the external feed for new content items and import them if found.
        • If No, Mura will not import new content items automatically. If you wish to import new content items, you can select the three-dot menu of the Remote Feed, and select "Import" when you wish to do so.
  3. Click the Add button when finished to save the new Remote Feed.
  4. Your Remote Feed should appear in the list of available Remote Feeds.
  5. Whenever you create or edit a Remote Feed, you should click the three-dot menu to the left of your Remote Feed, and select View Feed and examine the results.
  6. Depending on your browser's capabilities, you should be able to view either an XML output or nicely formatted output of the Remote Feed displaying the content items which match your settings.
  7. If you don't see any items listed, you may want to verify your settings are entered correctly, and that content items match your desired categories, if selected.

 

Components

Components are reusable content objects that can be shared across multiple pages or sections within your site. For example, maybe you have an announcement you want to share across your website such as "Closed for Holidays." Without components, you would most likely have to contact a developer, then give the developer a listing of areas you want the notice to appear. However, in this scenario, you most likely would not be able to edit the content of the notice or control whether or not it is on display, etc.

Utilizing components shifts that control back to the content manager. You could create a notice, and choose which page(s) and/or section(s) of the site you would like it to appear, all using a single interface. This means that although the content may span several pages or sections of the site, you can simply edit the component once and it will update all instances throughout the entire site.

Another function of components is to use them as content templates so that non-technical users can recreate a visual style for a specific type of content without having to start from scratch.

How to Create a Component

  1. From the back-end administration area, go to the Content section, select the Tree View tab, then select the Components button.
  2. Click the three-dotted menu beside Components and select Add Content.

  3. The Select Content Type dialog window should appear.

    • Component

      • The Component option is the most common selection used. Using this option will take you to the Create Component screen, as identified in the next step.

    • Folder

      • The Folder option is available so that you can create groupings of Components. This is useful for grouping components logically and also for keeping components used by similar groups of users together so you only need to set permissions on the Folder, versus having to modify permissions for each and every component.

  4. The Create Component screen should appear.

    • Basic Tab

      • Title (required)

        • Enter a title for the component.

      • Content

        • Enter your desired content/body.

      • Where would you like to use this Component?

        • Content

          • If enabled, the component will appear on the CKEditor's "Insert Component" options list when editing Content.

        • Components

          • If enabled, the component will appear on the CKEditor's "Insert Component" option list when editing Components.

        • Forms

          • If enabled, the component will appear on the CKEditor's "Insert Component" option list when editing Forms.

    • Publishing Tab

      • Display

        • This field controls whether or not the component will be visible to users via the public, front-end view of your site.

        • Yes

          • If Yes, then the component will be visible to users via the public, front-end view of your site.

        • No

          • If No, the component will not be visible to users via the public, front-end view of your site.

        • Per Schedule

          • You may specify a schedule for the component to display, including the frequency of the display such as daily, weekly, monthly, etc. and when the component should stop displaying, if ever.

      • Content Parent

        • You may use this field to move a component to be grouped under another component or Folder of components. See the Selecting New Parent section for more details and instructions.

      • Notify For Review

        • When enabled, Send to and Message fields will appear.
        • Send to
          • You may select one or more users to receive an email notification after saving or publishing the component. To select more than one person, use <CTRL> + click (on a PC) or <CMD> + click (on a Mac).
        • Message
          • Text entered here will accompany a link to view the component in the email notification.
      • Add Notes

        • This field allows you to enter informational notes which can be shared amongst content managers, without it appearing anywhere on the public, front-end view of the site.

    • Categories Tab

      • The Categories tab is where you manage a component's Categories. To learn more about Categories, including how to create/manage categories, and categorize content, visit the Categories section.

    • Tags Tab

      • The Tags tab is where you manage a component's Tags. Visit the Tags section to learn more about Mura Tags.

    • Advanced Tab

      • Content ID
        • This is a unique identifier of the component and typically used by developers.
      • Layout Template

        • You may optionally apply a layout template to your component by selecting it from the list of available options.

      • Locking

        • Mura offers the ability to "lock" components so they will not be accidentally deleted by content managers.

        • Lock Node

          • If enabled, content managers will not be able to delete the component.

  5. After completing the form, select your desired publishing option to save your component.
  6. To add the component to a page or section of your site, please visit the Text Module section.

Forms

Forms allow you to collect information from visitors to your website for various purposes. For example, you could create a "Contact Us" form, or a form to collect data when someone wants to attend an event you might be hosting. In addition to collecting and storing form data, Mura can also send email notifications to your desired email address(es).

How to Create/Edit a Form

  1. From the back-end administration area, go to the Content section, select the Tree View tab, then select the Forms button.
  2. Click the three-dotted menu beside Forms and select Add Content.
  3. The Select Content Type dialog window should appear.
    • Form
      • The Form option is the most common selection used. Using this option will offer you the ability to create a form using a special user interface, specifically designed with form creation in mind.
    • Simple Form
      • The Simple Form option is typically used by developers so they have a way to include their own custom designed form, and yet allow the data to be collected and managed by Mura.
    • Folder
      • The Folder option is available so that you can create groupings of Forms. This is useful for grouping forms logically and also for keeping forms used by similar groups of users together so you only need to set permissions on the Folder, versus having to modify permissions for each and every form.
  4. The Create Form screen should appear.
    • Basic Tab
      • Title (required)
        • Enter a title for the form.
      • Content
        • Toolbar
          • This is where the actual content of the form is created. Across the top of the Content User Interface (UI) is a toolbar which allows you to add/create form elements. To rearrange form elements, simply click, drag, and then drop to your desired order.
          • Form Button
            • You may optionally click the "Form" button to enter specific information used when the form data is emailed to any addresses listed under "Send data to email address". You can also change the label of the Submit button, if desired here.
          • Section Button
            • If you select the "Section" button, it will create a grouping for form fields to belong to. Any fields listed directly below it will appear in that section. For developers, this merely creates a HTML "fieldset" element. Click on the "New Section" element itself to reveal options in the main window.
            • Any text entered in the Label field will automatically update the information elsewhere. For example, if you enter "Your Information" into the Label field, "Your Information" will also appear at the top of the section, and in the column of form fields.
          • Text Field
            • The Text Field is a commonly used form field used to collect simple data such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, etc.
            • Click the "New Text Field" element itself in the left column to reveal options in the main window. Any text you enter in the Label field will automatically update the name and other attributes just as it did in the previous "Section" button. This feature applies to all other form field types as well.
              • Basic Tab
                • Label
                  • Data entered here will appear with the form field so end-users know what to enter into the form field.
                • Name
                  • This field is primarily for developers, and the text here will become the "name" attribute of the form field itself.
                • Value
                  • You may enter a default value to be displayed when the form renders.
              • Advanced Tab
                • Size
                  • Primarily used by developers, data entered here will be used for the form field's "size" attribute.
                • CSS ID
                  • Primarily used by developers, data entered here will be used for the "ID" attribute of the form field.
                • CSS Class
                  • Primarily used by developers, you may enter a CSS class to be applied to the "class" attribute of the form field.
                • Wrapper Class
                  • Primarily used by developers, you may enter a CSS class to be applied to the container in which the form field is placed within.
                • Placeholder
                  • Data entered here will appear inside the form field, but is only "temporary" and will not be used if the form is submitted. For developers, this is the "placeholder" attribute of the form field.
                • Tool Tip
                  • Data entered here will be applied to the "title" attribute of the form field.
              • Validation Tab
                • Validation Type
                  • None
                    • No validation will be applied to the form field.
                  • Numeric
                    • Validates the data entered in the form field is numeric. If it does not validate, an error message will be displayed.
                  • Date
                    • Validates the data entered in the form field is a valid date format. If it does not validate, an error message will be displayed.
                  • Email
                    • Validates the data entered in the form field is a valid email address format. It does not verify whether or not the email address actually exists. If it does not validate, an error message will be displayed.
                  • Regex
                    • This field is reserved for experienced developers. Enter a JavaScript regular expression that should be invoked when validating the form field here. If it does not validate, an error message will be displayed.
                • Validation Regex
                  • If the Validation Type is set to "Regex", enter a JavaScript regular express to be used here.
                • Validate Message
                  • Text entered here will be displayed to end-users if the form field is required, or does not pass validation rules.
                • Required?
                  • If enabled, the Validate Message will be displayed to end-users who do not complete the form field.
          • Text Area
            • The Text Area form field represents a multi-line plain-text editing control.
          • Hidden Field
            • The Hidden form field does not show on the page. This field is typically used by developers to capture additional, or dynamic data such as the name of the page the form is being used on.
          • Radio Button Group
            • The Radio Button Group is a listing of many choices, where end-users may only select one.
              • Source Tab
                • Source Select Menu
                  • Create New
                    • Selecting Create New, and clicking the "Update" button will create a new List tab.
                    • For each option, enter a Label to be displayed to the end-user, and a Value to be stored in the database to indicate which option the user selected.
                    • To indicate a default selection, click the radio button next to your desired default row.
                  • Custom Display Object
                    • Primarily used by developers, you may enter the name of a Custom Display Object to use as the source for options.
                  • Custom Object
                    • Primarily used by developers, you may enter the name of a Custom Object to use as the source for options. Code example >
                  • Remote Source
                    • Primarily used by developers, you may enter a Remote Source to use as the source for options. Code example >
          • Checkboxes
            • A Checkbox allows you to select a single value for submission in a form (or not).
              • Source Tab
                • See the Source Tab section in the Radio Button Groups section above.
          • Dropdown Menu
            • The Dropdown Menu allows you to create a select menu of options for end-users pick from.
              • Source Tab
                • See the Source Tab section in the Radio Button Groups section above.
          • File Upload Field
            • The File Upload Field creates a form field to enable end-users the ability to attach files to their form submission.
              Note: Allowing the general public to upload files to your website may introduce a security risk. Please consult an experienced and qualified developer before using this feature.
          • Block of Static Text
            • The Block of Static Text button allows you to add text within the form itself. This is especially useful when you need to add instructions within the form.
          • Nested Form
            • The Nest Form button enables you to nest another Mura form within the form itself. This is useful when you have multiple forms that may contain duplicate information to be collected such as First Name, Last Name, Email, etc. You could create a separate form with only those fields, and then insert the form into the other forms requiring that data.
        • Page
          • In the far left column of the Content UI, you can create and/or delete additional "pages" of form fields. This is useful for long forms, and when you wish to display only a subset of form fields to your end-users to reduce the anxiety of completing a long form all at once.
          • Click the Plus sign to add a new page.
          • To delete a page, select the page you wish to delete, then click the circle with an "x" in the middle of it to remove the page.
      • Confirmation Message
        • Text entered here will appear for users after they successfully complete and submit the form. This is a great place to add information such as your organization's phone number, business hours, etc.
      • Send data to email address (Separate multiple email addresses by comma)
        • Enter a comma-delimited list of email addresses of where you would like email notifications sent to. Many organizations use a group email address of some kind for this field such as sales@yourdomain.com instead of entering individual's email addresses here.
    • Publishing Tab
      • Display
        • This field controls whether or not the form will be visible to users via the public, front-end view of your site.

        • Yes

          • If Yes, then the form will be visible to users via the public, front-end view of your site.

        • No

          • If No, the form will not be visible to users via the public, front-end view of your site.

        • Per Schedule

          • You may specify a schedule for the form to display, including the frequency of the display such as daily, weekly, monthly, etc. and when the form should stop displaying, if ever.

      • Content Parent

        • You may use this field to move a form to be grouped under another form or Folder of forms. See the Selecting New Parent section for more details and instructions.

      • Notify For Review

        • When enabled, Send to and Message fields will appear.
        • Send to
          • You may select one or more users to receive an email notification after saving or publishing the form. To select more than one person, use <CTRL> + click (on a PC) or <CMD> + click (on a Mac).
        • Message
          • Text entered here will accompany a link to view the form in the email notification.
      • Add Notes

        • This field allows you to enter informational notes which can be shared amongst content managers, without it appearing anywhere on the public, front-end view of the site.

    • Categories Tab
      • The Categories tab is where you manage a form's Categories. To learn more about Categories, including how to create/manage categories, and categorize content, visit the Categories section.

    • Tags Tab
      • The Tags tab is where you manage a forms's Tags. Visit the Tags section to learn more about Mura Tags.

    • Advanced Tab
      • Content ID
        • This is a unique identifier of the form and typically used by developers.
      • Caching
        • Mura uses "caching" to store data in memory, so future requests for that data can be served faster.
        • Exclude from Site Cache
          • If enabled, Mura will not include the form in Mura's data cache.
      • Locking
        • Mura offers the ability to "lock" forms so they will not be accidentally deleted by content managers.
        • Lock Node
          • If enabled, content managers will not be able to delete the form.
  5. After completing the form, select your desired publishing option to save your form.
  6. To add the form to a page or section of your site, please visit the Form Module section.

Managing Form Data

Whenever a Mura-created form has been submitted, the information is captured and stored in Mura's database. With Mura, you can view form data, and even export the data for archival purposes and/or to import it into a third-party system such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

How to View and/or Download Form Data

  1. From the back-end administration area, go to Content, select the Tree View tab, click the Forms button.
  2. Click the three-dot menu next to the row of the form you wish to view/download data for, and select Form Data.
  3. Or,  select the form you wish to view/download data for.
    1. Then, click the Form Data button.
  4. You should see the Form Data Screen.
  5. From the Form Data screen, you can see the Total Records Available at the top of the screen.
  6. By default, the From field is pre-populated with the oldest form submission stored in the database, and the To field is pre-populated with the most recent form submission stored in the database. You may change these to your desired time range to limit the results to be returned.
  7. You can also choose which form field you would like to sort the results by and the sort direction.
  8. You may also perform a Keyword Search of form submissions by specific form fields.
  9. To view the data on the screen, click the View Data button.
  10. The form data results should now appear on the screen.
    1. You can edit and/or view more details of each result by clicking the three-dot menu and selecting Edit.
    2. From the form detail screen, you can make edits to your desired form fields, then Update or even Delete the form entry entirely.
  11. To download for results, from the Form Data screen, click the Download button.
    1. You should be prompted to save the file. The data will be exported as a .CSV (comm-separated values) file. This makes it easy to open in popular spreadsheet software programs, and even import the data into a third-party system such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool.
  12. You can also choose which form fields to display and/or export. To do so, click the Edit Display button at the top of the Form Data screen.
  13. You should now see a screen with a number of configuration options. Under the Available Fields menu, you can select a field you wish to display, then click the double right arrows pointing to the Summary Display Fields, or if you wish to modify the display of the "form detail" screen, you can select the double right arrows under the Detail Display Fields. To remove a form field from the display, simply click the form item in the display, and then click the double left arrows and it will be removed. You can also control the order of the display fields by selecting a field, and then clicking the Up or Down button, as desired. If you leave the Summary Display Fields empty or blank, by default, Mura will display and/or export all form fields.
  14. Once you've made your desired changes, click Update to save the new displays.
  15. Next time you either View Data or Download, you will only see the form fields selected, plus the default "Date/Time Entered" form field, which is created by Mura for all form entries.

Publishing Options

Mura content managers have a number of publishing options, covered in the Basic Publishing section.
The following section covers content version history, versions comparison, audit trails, the exporting and importing of content.

Version History

Each time a content item is saved, a new version of that content is created. If the content item was published, the previously published version is archived. Each version of the content is available for preview, editing, and publishing through the Version History menu.

To access Version History for content, you can follow these steps:

  1. From the Tree View or List View tabs, click on the three-dotted menu located next to the content item you wish to view.
  2. This should reveal a menu of options to select from.
  3. Or, from the "Edit Content" screen, click the Actions button to reveal a menu of options.
  4. Select the Version History option from the menu of options.
  5. Or, from the front-end editing view, select the Version History icon button from the front-end toolbar.
  6. The Version History screen should appear.
  7. From the Version History screen, select the three-dot menu next to a specific version of content to Edit, Preview, Delete, or view the Audit Trail.
  8. From the Version History screen, you can also click the Actions button to reveal options to Clear Version History, Delete the content item altogether, and edit the Permissions of the content item.

Compare Versions

With Mura CMS, you can compare different versions of a content item, to visually see what has changed to various fields. You can compare versions of content from either the Version History screen, or the Audit Trail screen. Follow the steps below to compare different versions of a content item.

  1. On both the Version History and Audit Trail screens, there are two columns of radio buttons located under a Compare button.
  2. Select a radio button in one column to indicate the version you want to compare to, and another radio button in the other column to indicate the version you wish to compare from. It really doesn't matter which column you select for either one, as long as the radio buttons in each column are selecting different content versions, Mura will be able to display the differences between the two selected versions.
  3. Next, click the Compare button above the two columns of radio buttons.
  4. The Version History Comparison: Code & Attribute Diff screen should now appear, revealing which fields have been changed. The newer version of content will be highlighted in light-green and underlined, while old information will be highlighted in pink with a strikethrough.

Roll Back to a Prior Version

Using the Version History feature of Mura CMS, you can roll back content items to a prior version quickly and easily.

How to Roll Back to a Prior Version

  1. Go to the Version History screen of the content item you wish to roll back.
  2. Select the specific version of the content item you wish to re-publish.
  3. At this point, you can optionally choose to make any desired to edits to the content item.
  4. When ready, select your desired publishing option (e.g., Publish, Save to Change Set, etc.)
  5. You have now created a brand new version of the content item, and successfully rolled back to a prior version. Please keep in mind Mura will still maintain the original version of the content item you wished to roll back to, as well as the newly published content item, as you could have made some additional changes prior to publishing it.

Audit Trail

An Audit Trail reveals the individual history of each specific version of content. While similar in nature to the Version History, the primary difference is that content managers can determine which version was used as its source. To view an Audit Trail, go to the Version History of your desired content item, and follow the steps below.

  1. From the Version History screen, select the three-dot menu icon next to the content version you wish to investigate.
  2. A menu of options should appear, including an option labelled Audit Trail.
  3. If you hover (don't click!) over the Audit Trail label, the specific version of content you're hovering over will be highlighted, as well as the versions that it derived from. In the example below, hovering over Audit Trail of the most recent draft reveals the version from 02/10/2017 was used as its source, and the version before that was used at its source, and so on.
  4. If you click on the Audit Trail menu option, you should be taken to the Audit Trail screen, revealing the specific history of that particular version of content you're currently working with, thus eliminating any unrelated versions from view.

Export Content

Mura CMS offers the capability to export content from your website. You can choose to export your entire site, a section of your site, or even just a page. This is useful for creating a simple backup of a small section of your site, or if you want to move/copy a section of your website to a completely different Mura CMS website.

How to Export Content

  1. Log in to the back-end administration area of the website.
  2. Select the content item representing either the page or section you wish to export, and edit the content item.
  3. From the Edit Content screen, click the Actions button, and select Export.
  4. If the content item you've selected has any children (sub-pages, files, etc.), you should be presented with the Export Content screen. If you're exporting a single content item without children, this screen will not appear.
    1. You may choose to export either the Children Only, or This Content Item and Children. When making your selection, you may wish to consider how you will be using the content you are exporting. For example, if you want to include the "News" landing page in addition to its children, then select "This Content Item and Children."
    2. Once you've made your selection, click Export Content.
    3. From the Alert dialog window, click Yes to confirm your selection.
  5. Once Mura CMS bundles the content together for you, a prompt to save the export file as a .ZIP document will appear. You can choose to save it wherever you wish.
  6. The exported file is now ready for archival and/or ready to be imported into another Mura CMS site.

Import Content

Mura CMS offers the ability to import content that has been exported from Mura CMS, quickly and easily. Please review the steps from the Export Content section before proceeding.

How to Import Content

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select a content item to edit, where you would like to import the new content. For example, if you would like to import the entire "News" section, you could choose to edit the "Home" page.
  2. From the Edit Content screen, go to Actions > Import.
  3. You should be taken to the Import Content screen.
  4. Click Choose File or Browse to select the Mura CMS created/exported .ZIP file you wish to import.
  5. Select your desired Content Status for the imported content.
    • Published
      • The content will be visible by users visiting the front-end, public facing view of your website.
    • Draft
      • The content will not display on the front-end, public facing view of your website.
    • Save to Change Set
      • When you select Save to Change Set, the Change Set Name field will appear. Simply enter your desired Change Set Name.
  6. Click Import.
  7. Once completed, the imported content should now appear.

    Managing Comments

    Mura offers a convenient way for content managers to collect comments from visitors to their site on various pages and sections of your site. However, the more popular your site and content become, the more comments will begin pouring in.

    The Comments Manager is the place to go to manage comments submitted on your site. If your organization does not allow comments to be posted without approval, you'll be able to approve or unapprove comments. In addition to that, you can delete comments and even flag comments as spam. These actions can also be done in bulk, meaning that you can delete or approve multiple comments at once. This is extremely useful for those times a spammer or bot targets your site and manages to get several comments submitted, in spite of the safeguards to combat them.

    Just in case you're wondering, even though Mura includes some anti-spam measures, and your development team may have even tweaked some of those settings, spam can, and will get through.

    To learn how to enable and/or disable the Comment Manager, force comments to go through an approval process, or apply permission to the Comments Manager, please visit the Comments Permissions section.

    How to Manage Comments via the Front-End, Public Facing Side of Your Site

    1. Navigate to a content item where comments have been submitted, and scroll to the comments section. For example, a blog or news article.
    2. Mura offers the ability for visitors to your site to help identify spam by including a "Flag as Spam" link.
    3. When logged into Mura, additional options will appear to assist in managing each comment. For example, you should be able to see additional buttons that appear in the top right area of each comment.
    4. If you do not allow comments to be posted without approval, comments pending approval will appear with a red-tinted background, and an additional button to approve the comment. If you are logged out, comments pending approval will not appear.
    5. If you wish to delete a comment, simply click the delete button next to any comment, then click "OK" on the confirm dialog box when it appears.

    How to Manage Comments via the Back-End Administration Area

    Managing comments from the back-end administration area is much easier on sites that receive a fair number of comments. As you'll see in the steps below, you can perform bulk operations on comments such as approving, deleting, or flagging them as spam.

    1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, click Comments on the main navigation.
    2. From the Comments screen, you can search comments by using the Search for Comments field.
    3. You can also filter comments by using the Comment Status select menu, then clicking the spyglass next to Search for Comments.
    4. Or, you can filter comments by selecting your desired Comment Date Range, then clicking the spyglass next to Search for Comments.
    5. You may also filter comments based on Available Categories, then clicking the spyglass next to Search for Comments.
    6. Click the three-dot menu next to a comment in the list, to reveal a menu of options.
      • Comments
        • Select this option to open a dialog window to delete, approve, unapprove, or flag the comment as spam. If you flag the comment as spam, it will not appear on the front-end, public facing side of your site.
        • Click the icon next to the title of the content item that was commented on, and a new tab should open, with the URL of the content item as seen from the front-end, public facing view of your site.
        • If comments preceded the comment you're currently viewing, a button will appear to provide you a way to view the preceding comments. Conversely, if any comments have been posted after the comment you're currently viewing, another button will appear below the currently viewed comment to view additional comments.
      • View
        • If the "View" option appears, it will link to the URL the user entered when submitting their comment. For example, many commenters enter the URL of their personal or business website.
      • Email
        • Select this option to launch your default email program to send an email to the submitter.
    7. If you click the Date, Time, User, or Comment itself, the behavior is the same as clicking the three-dot menu next to the comment, and selecting the Comments option, as described above.
    8. To perform bulk operations such as Approve, Spam, Delete, select the checkbox next to each comment you wish to include in the operation. You may also click the checkmark at the top of the column to "select all" or "deselect all."
    9. Then, click the "Mark As" button, and select your desired operation.
    10. Lastly, comments that have been "deleted" will still appear in the back-end administrator. If you wish to permanently delete comments that have been marked as deleted, you may use the Purge Deleted Comments button to do so.

    Extending the Web Editor

    Mura is a Content Management System (CMS), and as such, supports the creation and modification of digital content. Part of the user interface includes a "web editor" that allows a user, even with limited expertise, to add, modify, and remove content from a website without the intervention of a webmaster.

    The web editor is most often encountered in Mura when editing content, and is used for form fields such as "Content" and "Summary" that require HTML, yet abstracts the vast majority of the syntax from the content manager.

    The current version of Mura utilizes CKEditor, an open source WYSIWYG text editor, which is designed to bring common word processor features directly to web pages, simplifying their content creation. The image below illustrates the default configuration of the web editor.

    Many of the features and customization options for the web editor can be found in the CKEditor Documentation at http://docs.ckeditor.com. As a Mura theme developer, you are probably most interested in how to leverage information from the CKEditor Developer Guide. While the information contained there definitely applies, you will need to be aware of where to go in Mura, to make your customizations in an upgrade-safe manner. Throughout this section, you should be able to do just that.

    Editor Settings

    Mura's web editor, CKEditor, comes with a rich set of configuration options that make it possible to customize its appearance, features, and behavior.

    Custom Configuration File

    Mura utilizes a custom configuration file for setting CKEditor's configuration. Using a custom configuration file allows you to customize the various toolbars, and offers a way to control much of the way the web editor looks and functions.

    The important piece to know is where you can place your custom configuration information. Mura automatically scans for specific files within your theme to use for CKEditor's configuration file. Listed below are the files Mura checks for in the specified order.

    1. ../themes/{ThemeName}/js/editor/config.js.cfm
    2. ../themes/{ThemeName}/js/editor/config.js

    The default theme for Mura as of v7.1, MuraBootstrap4, includes a sample file with miscellaneous configuration examples. You can find it under ../MuraBootstrap4/js/editor/config.js.cfm.txt

    Since the sample file's extension ends with ".txt", Mura will ignore it. If you wish to use it, simply rename the file to remove the ".txt" file extension.

    Custom Toolbar

    A common question from developers centers around the ability to customize the editor toolbar. For example, if you only want the "Default" editor toolbar to display Bold, Italic, and Underline options, your configuration file could look something like the following code example.

    if ( 'CKEDITOR' in window) {
        CKEDITOR.editorConfig = function( config ) {
    
            config.toolbar_Default = [
              {name:'group1',items:['Bold','Italic','Underline']}
            ];
    
        };
    }
    

    Using the example code above, the editor toolbars for "Content" will only display the Bold, Italic, and Underline options. However, the "Summary" toolbar will not change, as shown below.

    As noted in the sample configuration file, if you wish to update the "Summary" toolbar, you'll need to explicitly define that as well. In addition, the front-end toolbar may be referenced with "QuickEdit". Below is an example that would update all three toolbars.

    if ( 'CKEDITOR' in window) {
        CKEDITOR.editorConfig = function( config ) {
    
            config.toolbar_Default = [
              {name:'group1',items:['Bold','Italic','Underline']}
            ];
    
            config.toolbar_Summary = config.toolbar_Default;
            config.toolbar_QuickEdit = config.toolbar_Default;
    
        };
    }

    As you can see in the example code, we're simply using the first definition for the other toolbars. However, you could easily have different options for each toolbar definition, if you wish.

    The example below displays both the Summary, and Content ("Default") toolbars.

    The example below displays the "QuickEdit" toolbar used for front-end editing.

    As you can see, Mura exposes CKEditor's configuration settings to allow you the ability to customize Mura's web editor quickly and easily.

    Where to Learn More

    All available CKEditor configuration options can be found in the CKEditor API documentation. Please refer to the CKEDITOR.config object definition for full details on each option.

    Editor Styles Drop-down

    Mura's web editor, CKEditor, includes a Styles drop-down list which contains styles that you can apply to editor content in order to assign semantic value to the text you are creating. The functionality is provided by the Styles Combo plugin.

    Defining Styles

    Mura automatically scans for specific files within your theme to apply styles to the drop-down list. Listed below are the files Mura checks for in the specified order.

    1. ../themes/{ThemeName}/js/editor/styles.js.cfm
    2. ../themes/{ThemeName}/js/editor/styles.js

    Using the first option with a ".cfm" file extension, allows you the ability to include dynamic code, in the event you wanted to do so.

    The default theme for Mura as of v7.1, MuraBootstrap4, includes a sample file with some styles included. You can find it under ../MuraBootstrap4/js/editor/styles.js. Any styles defined here will appear in the Style drop-down list.

    Where to Learn More

    To learn more about CKEditor Styles, visit the Applying Styles to Editor Content section in the CKEditor documentation. Please refer to the CKEDITOR.styleSet object definition for full details on each option. The Styles section also has some useful information.

    Editor Content CSS

    Mura's web editor, CKEditor, can include your own CSS files to be used to apply style to the editor content. Generally, these styles should reflect the CSS used in the target pages where the content is to be displayed.

    Mura automatically scans for specific files within your theme, specifically for this purpose. Listed below are the files Mura checks for in the specified order.

    1. ../themes/{ThemeName}/css/editor.css.cfm
    2. ../themes/{ThemeName}/css/editor.css

    Using the first option with a ".cfm" file extension, allows you the ability to include dynamic code, in the event you wanted to do so.

    The default theme for Mura as of v7.1, MuraBootstrap4, includes a sample file with basic styles included. You can find it under ../MuraBootstrap4/css/editor.css. Any style definitions found in the file are applied to content entered in the editor body/content area.

    For example, if you wanted to set the color of <h2> and <h3> tags to "green", you could add the following to your CSS file.

    h2, h3 {
        color: green;
    }
    

    The example image below illustrates the result of the <h2> tag (visible due to the Show Blocks button being enabled).

    Your style definitions may also affect the styles of elements in the Paragraph Format select menu.

    Where to Learn More

    The CKEditor documentation has more information. The section on Applying Block-Level Text Formats contains some useful information as well.

    Editor Body Templates

    Mura includes the Content Templates plugin for CKEditor, which provides a dialog to offer predefined content templates - with page layout, text formatting and styles. It comes with a couple of sample templates, and theme developers may also create their own templates.

    This feature only impacts the "Content/Body" area of the layout, and is separate from Mura's layout templates.

    To see the sample templates in action, select a content item to edit, and locate the template button on the web editor toolbar. It's typically located on the last row, just before the Mura [m] tag button, as highlighted below.

    Clicking the template button will launch the Content Templates dialog window.

    The sample layouts include 2 Columns, 3 Columns, and 4 Columns. If "Replace actual contents" is enabled, all content will be deleted and replaced with the sample content. If you wish to disable this feature by default, you can add config.templates_replaceContents = false; to your editor's configuration settings.

    The options on this dialog window are controlled by files located under the theme at ../themes/{ThemeName}/js/editor/templates/. Example files can be found in the default theme for Mura as of v7.1, currently MuraBootstrap4.

    The images directory contains the preview images that will display in the dialog window.

    The default.js file contains the code used by CKEditor for the templates.

    If you open the default.js file, you'll see where the "templates" are defined.

    Each template definition should include the following:

    • title
      • This is the text used next to the image in the dialog window as the Title.
    • image
      • This is the image file used for the example layout to be displayed in the dialog window.
    • description
      • This text will display under the Title in the dialog window.
    • html
      • This markup is used to populate the web editor, if the template is selected.

    You may add, modify, replace, or delete, any of the examples included.

    Note: The sample default.js file included with MuraBootstrap4 includes the use of Bootstrap class names. You may want to modify these to match your own framework's classes.

    Summary

    In this section, we covered many of Mura's advanced features such as the fields of each of the available Tabs when editing content items, Publishing Options, Components, Forms, and Collections. From creating categories, tags, and related content, to creating forms and managing data, you should be well prepared to handle working with the more advanced content features of Mura.