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Manage Elements

Access this dialog by expanding Elements & Forms in the left panel of the Site Administration dashboard and clicking Elements. This dialog provides a central dashboard for administering all Standard and Custom Elements.

Use it to view or change Element attributes (such as name, description, and category); assign permissions; define layouts, including display templates and render handlers and their settings; and create, manage, import, or export Custom Elements. You can also conveniently retrieve records associated with individual Custom Elements by clicking the View Data icon in the Actions column.

Optionally pick from the following dropdowns, then click the Filter button to limit the number of Element records shown:

• Search - Select from the dropdown, then specify an alphanumeric value to refine your search on Element title. Leave blank to include all Elements.
• Type - Filters for Standard, Custom Element Types, Local or Global Custom Elements, or Saved Elements.
• State - Filters based on Active, Inactive, or Deleted status.
• Category - Filters on standard CommonSpot Element categories or custom categories defined for your site.

Click Manage Categories to view or change current Element category assignments or to create new categories.

Click column heads to sort on locked/unlocked status, Name, Description, Category, or Element Type.

The lock icon displays for locked Custom Elements.

The Description field contains convenient links to Layouts (display templates and render handlers) defined for the Element. Click the link to view or change rendering for this Element.

Depending on Element type, the Actions column displays a set or subset of the following options. You can copy and delete Custom Elements, but not Standard elements. You can optionally unlock imported Custom Elements.

The edit icon displays context-sensitive menus for modifying your site's Elements. CommonSpot displays more options for Custom Elements than for Standard Elements. The option to add a render handler, as shown above, displays only for Elements supporting render handlers .

• Properties - For all Elements, opens the New Custom Element dialog for viewing or changing the current Element name, category, or description, or setting special properties for Global Custom Elements.
• Field Definitions - For Custom Elements opens the Custom Element Field Definitions dialog for defining new fields for Elements and setting their attributes.
• Data Browser Properties - For Custom Elements, opens the Data Browser Properties dialog for selecting the fields contributors see in the data browser window.
• Viewing Page & Search Properties - For Global Custom Elements, displays the Viewing Page and Search Properties dialog for defining whether to include the Element in full-text indexes and index attributes.
• Ghost Text - For all Elements, opens the Administrators Reference dialog for creating text that displays for contributors before they enter Element data.
• Security - For all Elements, displays an Edit Security dialog for Administrators Reference.
• Change Owner - For all Elements, displays the Custom Element Change Owner - Add User dialog for reassigning rights to this Element. For Custom Elements, you can customize permissions.
• Change State - For Custom Elements, displays options to activate, make inactive, or delete.
• Add Render Handler - For Custom Elements & Standard Elements supporting render handlers, displays the Add or Edit Render Handler dialog for Defining Render Handlers. You can also click the Layout link in the Description column to view, add, or edit any render handlers associated with this Element.
• Add Display Template - For Custom Elements, displays a dialog for Defining Display Templates. You can also click the Layout link in the Description column to view, add, or edit any display templates associated with this Element.
• Export - For Custom Elements, displays the Export - Step 1 of 2 dialog for Exporting a Custom Element
• Unlock - For imported Custom Elements, displays a warning dialog for unlocking the imported object.
• Usage - Displays the Element Usage dialog for identifying frequency of use and location for this Element.

View Data - For Global or Local Custom Elements, displays a popup menu for viewing current Custom Element data, viewing or changing the record filter, or adding a new record of this type.

See Selecting Rendering Mode and Render Properties in the Elements Reference.

Copy: For Custom Elements, creates a copy of the current Element. Does not display for CommonSpot "factory" Elements

Delete: Click to change Element state. "Deleting" suppresses rendering of existing instances and disallows new instances, but does not remove Element data from the system. You can optionally reactivate "deleted" Elements. Does not display for CommonSpot factory Elements.

Add New Element: Click to create a New Custom Element for your site.

Import Custom Element opens the Administrators Reference for Importing a Custom Element.

View Usage displays the Element Usage dialog for viewing the location of all Elements in use at your site.

CommonSpot includes the Export to Excel option in multiple reports throughout the system so you can conveniently collect and distribute data for import into spreadsheets or other applications that accept comma-separated values. Click this option to display a table of all fields within the current report, then select the fields whose values you want to export and save in spreadsheet or CSV format. Selected fields automatically display as column heads in the CSV output. You also have the option to change column names on the fly to customize your reports.

 

Related Links

Manage Element Categories

Manage Layouts

Layout

Layout Usage

Defining Render Handlers

Find Record s Filter

XML Render Handling

Add Display Template

Element Ghost Text

Change State

Element Usage

View Data

Copy Custom Element

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You can download PDF versions of the Content Contributor's, Administrator's, and Elements Reference documents from the support section of paperthin.com (requires login).

The following guides are available from the support site and are in the /docs/directory of your CommonSpot Server:

• Getting Started Guide
• Upgrade Guide
• Release Notes

You can also download these other guides from the support section of paperthin.com (with login):

• Developer's Guide
• Template Developer's Guide
• Shared Database Configuration Guide
• Replication vs Shared Database Guide 

Sites upgrading from versions earlier than release 6.0 should review the following (from the support section of paperthin.com - requires login):

• What's New in CommonSpot 6.0
• CommonSpot 6.0.0 Menu Quick Reference

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For technical support:

http://www.paperthin.com/support/

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