Publishing Method Content: Create a Custom Configuration

The goal of this exercise is to create a new Customized Configuration.

  1. Make sure you are in the Authoring perspective.

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  2. Click File > New > Configuration. Or, you can right-click on the Configurations folder in the Library View and select New Configuration. The Configuration Editor is launched.

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  3. Name the new configuration "my_configuration".

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  4. Click on the Plug-in and Package Selection tab. In the list of Plug-ins, check My Plug-in that you created in the Create Method Content tutorial. This plug-in has OpenUP Basic as a base and references parts of its content and has elements that extend and replace base content. If you do not have this plug-in please complete the Create Method Content tutorial before continuing.

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  5. The display will give you a series of warnings and the Configuration Error Log view will be displayed.
    Composer gives these warnings to help ensure that you create a proper configuration. If you reference an element, you will only be able to see the full details for that element in a published web site if the package containing the element is in the configuration. If the package containing the element is not in the configuration, the "offending" package is marked as a warning you may choose not to include the full details of the referenced element.

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  6. Check the Add Missing References button. This will automatically and recursively add packages containing any elements that are referenced in already selected packages. Explore what packages have been added to the configuration. You will probably now see all of OpenUP Basic selected. This is because of the inter-connected nature of the base content. Uncheck OpenUP Basic to restore the warnings.

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  7. Drill down into the content packages in the My Plug-in plug-in by clicking on the + signs. Uncheck the Extends Test and Replace Test content packages if you have created them in earlier tutorials. Unchecking these avoids conflicts that may occur because the same base element is affected by the plug-ins.

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  8. There should be a + by the Contribution Test package. Click the Make Closure by Fixing Errors button. This automatically makes your configuration complete based on what is currently selected.

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  9. Drill down into the OpenUp Basic plug-in and see what packages have been selected. These will be the packages that contain the elements used as base elements in the Configuration Test content package.

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  10. Click on the Views tab.

    Any custom category can be added as a view to a configuration. You can create any number of custom categories and they are very flexible in terms of the content that you can add to a custom category and in the order in which the content appears.

    Add the my_custom_category custom category as a view in the configuration.

    Experiment with adding other custom categories as views.

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  11. Make my_custom_category the default view by selecting the my_custom_category tab and clicking the Make Default button.

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  12. Save the configuration by closing the Configuration Editor.

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  13. Select my_configuration in the configuration selection box at the top of the screen. You will see the items displayed in the Configuration View change.

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  14. Switch to the Browsing perspective. Explore the content in the configuration view. You should see the content you created in your plug-ins and some inherited content.

 

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