Shared Objects & Lists

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Updater 4 includes the ability to manage 'Shared Objects' and 'Lists', advanced functions for creating content elements that can appear throughout your website. These Items can be embedded inside an Updater content story, or embedded directly on a page template.

A Shared Object can be thought of as a reusable component of your website that can appear simultaneously on multiple pages of your site. Image galleries, forms, or even the footer of your website are examples of Shared Objects. For example, the footer of your website repeats on each page. It is one object on your site that is used repeatedly.  The power of Shared Objects is that you can make changes or updates to the "master copy" of the Object, once, and the changes will appear everywhere that Shared Object is set to display, across your site.

'Lists', on the other hand, come in two types, Headlines and Calendar Events. Updater builds these Lists, automatically, by pulling together selected content from any Updater stories you choose to be included in them.  You can flag, or designate, a story for inclusion while you're working with it in Updater's Content Editor.

Your site can have any number of Headline or Calendar Events Lists, each with a unique set of behaviors. And, any Updater story can be selected for inclusion in one or more of those lists. For example, you can flag a story about an upcoming event to appear both on a Headline List, say, on your home page, as well as on an Events list, elsewhere in your site.

1. To access shared objects & lists, choose "Shared Objects & Lists" from the AcuWeb Menu.
   
   
2. A list of all the shared objects and lists will come up on the list view.

There are 3 important topics we would like to cover for Shared Objects & Lists:

1. Create New Item
2. Setting up a shared object or list on a website
3. Delete Item

Create New Item

1. To create a new shared object or list, click the "New Item" button at the top of the page. An edit screen will appear.
2. Type in an Item Name. It is the only required field on this page. This name will not appear on the public Website unless "Title Type" is selected as "Use Name".
3. For Type, choose an item from the drop-down list. Learn More about Types.
4. Author Group Access controls which group can edit the shared object. Choose one or more groups from the list. By default, it's set to "None" which allows anyone logged in to edit. Choose "Admin" to restrict only the highest level users to access it.
5. Title Type allows the option to show or hide the title above the shared object or list. Choose either "None" or "Use Name".
6. If you choose to "Use Name" for Title Type, please choose a Title Style from the drop-down list. Click "View Styles" icon to see a preview of the styles assigned to the website.
   
   
7. HTML Code is where you can type in or paste code for your shared object. If you are creating a list, you may also include code or text there. It will appear above your list. If you need help with HTML, click on the "Need HTML Help?" link below the box.
8. If your item is a shared object, click the "Save Changes" button at the top of the page and you are done.

If your item is a list, please follow the steps for Setting Up a List (below).

Setting Up a List

Under Event & List Options, you must choose various components to display your list properly.

In the "Show Components" section, choose one of the three (3) options for Content.

• None - no content displays on list.
• Entire - the entire content body displays on list.
• Teaser - content placed in teaser field on content edit will display on list. This is usually a summary or synopsis of the content on that page.
  If Teaser is chosen, choose a teaser style from the drop-down box. Click "View Styles" icon to see a preview of the styles assigned to the website.

The following items are components you may choose to display on your list.

• Title - If chosen, the "Item Name" you chose in the Basic Setup section will show on the website. Choose a style from the drop-down list. Click "View Styles" icon to see a preview of the styles assigned to the website.
• Date - If chosen, the date (mm/dd/yyyy format) will display directly below the title. It shares the same style as title.
• Month Labels - This is specifically for Calendar Types. If chosen, the month will show directly below the title. It shares the same style as title.
• Link - If chosen, a link will show up at the end of the teaser or under the date or header (if no teaser). The text for the link is specified when editing the content of the page under the Event Date and Teaser Link section.

Other Options

• Space Between Items - check this box to insert a space between the headline or calendar items.
• Sort in Reverse - check this to sort the items by oldest date first.
• Bullet - To have a bullet next to the list item, type in the HTML code into the box or click the "Choose Bullet" link to pop-up a box with a selection of HTML bullets. Click on the bullet from the list and it will populate the bullet box automatically.

Managing your Calendar and Event Lists

With shared objects, you have the ability to show date-specific events or 'calendar' items on your site. If you have this kind of shared object set up on your site, you'll be able to manage its behavior through via shared objects, from your AcuWeb Menu. Among other things, you have the option of determining the "window", or timeframe, for which future events will be displayed. Even if you wish to set up events or calendar-based items far in advance, you can limit the date-range 'window' for which such events will appear on your web site.

If you have a busy event schedule, you may not want to show all future events, but rather, keep your web site visitors focused on events in the nearer future that you really would like to "fill up".  You have many date-range options to choose from, including a variety of future 'date windows', academic calendar time-frames, and even 'recent past event' lists, handy if you're posting a chronicle or 'recent news' type of list.

Learn how to assign content to your lists »

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Setting up a shared object or list on a website

Once a shared object or list has been set up, there are two places the object or list needs to be set up on a website in order for it to fully functional.

1. Page Grid on Edit Page
2. Content Editor (Insert Shared Objects & Lists)

Page Grid on Edit Page

1. To pull in a shared object via the page grid while editing a page, click on the Edit Page icon on the site map. The page editor will appear.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page under the "Advanced Settings & Page Layout" section, click the "Show" link under the "Page Layout" section.
   
   
3. Locate the grid column and row where the shared object will be placed.
4. Under "Object" choose "shared object" from the drop-down menu.
5. For "shared object", choose the item from the drop-down menu.
6. Select all additional settings such as style, padding, alignment, etc.
   
   
7. Click the "Save Changes" button when done.

Content Editor (Insert Shared Objects & Lists)

1. To insert a shared object, locate the content to be edited by going to AcuWeb Menu and choosing "Content" from the drop-down list. Search for the content by keyword or by page. Once the content has been located, click on the title to go to the content editor page.
2. Under the content editor page, there is a section called "Insert Shared Objects & Lists." Click "Show Items" to see the options available.
   
   
3. Click on "Item 1" drop-down and choose "Shared Object Type".
4. In the box directly beneath, choose the shared object from the drop-down list.
5. In the edit pane above, click the "Source" button to toggle to HTML source.
6. Type in into the edit pane in the position where the shared object will display on the Website.
   
   
7. If you have more than one shared object to insert into your content editor, follow steps 3-6, but use , , and .
8. Click the "Save Changes" button when done.

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Delete Item

Deleting an item should be done with caution. Because shared objects and lists are used throughout an entire site, deleting an item will remove it completely. Once an item has been deleted, it cannot be recovered. If you are uncomfortable deleting an item, please contact Acuity to delete shared objects or list for you to prevent website issues or occurrences.

To delete a shared object or list, there are two (2) places this can be done.

• From List View - Once the "shared object" list is pulled in from the "AcuWeb Menu", the shared object can be deleted by checking the box in the delete column on the far right column and then click the "Save Changes" button.
• From Edit shared object View - While editing a shared object, click the red "Delete" button to delete the shared object.

Note: Do NOT delete the [Content Tag] shared object. This tag works with Updater 4.2 to pull in dynamic information.

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