EKlecticCore Content Management System

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EKCCMS Documentation

Below is our EKCCMS Crash Course that should help get most users up and running quickly. More information is available by choosing one of the Documentation submenus.

If you are unable to find the information you're looking for, click here to send us an email. We will respond to you personally, and update this documentation.

EKCCMS Crash Course

The images below show the basic steps for using EKCCMS in a "crash course" fashion. This is intended to get you up and running quick, and therefore is a bit "lite" on the details.

If an image below is hard to read, click on it for a larger popup.

In order to login to your EKCCMS site, simply add "/admin" after the domain name in the web address bar. You will then be redirected to the login page. For example, if your domain name is www.zzz123.com, you would type "www.zzz123.com/admin" in your browser's address bar.

Type the administrator username and password, then click the "Login" button.

When you are logged in as admin, you will see these "edit controls" appear whenever you point at (aka mouse over) the content on your page. (Tip: In the Global Configuration screen, you can configure the controls to appear "On Click," "On Mouse Over," or "Always.")

If the content is active (visible to others on the web) then the edit controls will have a green background like those above. If the content is inactive (invisible to others on the web) then the background will be red like those below.

Tip: All EKCCMS icons have tooltips. If you can't remember what it does, just point at it for a second for a popup reminder.
 

This image describes what each of the edit controls does. Click the image for a larger (easier to read) version.

Note that the Permissions feature is a powerful tool for showing and hiding content from particular users or groups of users. However, as this is a "crash course," you should read the detailed documentation for more info on this feature.

This is the Admin Links module. Every EKCCMS site should have this module added somewhere, and it should always be set to "inactive."

You can also access the administrative links directly:
https://YOUR_WEBSITE.DOMAIN/admin/system_administration.php

This is the Menu module with type "Static Links" selected. The Static Links Menu is the primary tool for creating your section hierarchy (i.e. your site layout), and should always be installed somewhere on your site. The order of the items displayed in your menus is directly controlled by how you arrange the items in this Static Links Menu.

The edit controls you see pictured above edit the sections the same basic way as those for content. Note the "New Child Section" icon (to the right). Note these features:
- Child sections cannot be moved up or down outside of their parent.
- If you delete a parent section, the child sections will not be automatically deleted. They will be moved up to the next parent section.

The Static Links Menu can also be used as a Site Map visible to your users. Only active sections will be displayed to non-admin users.

Clicking the Edit Content icon takes you to the Edit Content screen pictured here. This screen can be summarized as controlling "where, when, and what" content is displayed.

Active content is displayed to everyone. Inactive content is only visible by admin users.

If content is marked as "Always Show," it will be displayed in the selected location on every section of your website. This is very useful for navigation menus and other "permanent" content.

The Content File section of the Edit Content screen dynamically changes depending upon which Content File (aka module) you have selected. This image illustrates the configuration options for the Contact Us module.

Editing Content

Basic Instructions:

There are THREE sections below that will output content to your website:
1) The Content Prefix
2) The Module File
3) The Content Suffix

The Content Prefix and Content Suffix sections will both output the content that you type in the HTML editor exactly as you type it. (The HTML editor ensures that the content is properly formatted for web browsers.)

The Module File section allows you to use one of the EKCCMS Module Files. EKCCMS Module Files are programs that create or embed content on your site. Because they are programs, their capabilities are beyond the scope of this document. However, when you choose a Module File, its configuration options will be displayed which usually include specific instructions for how that module is used (a "Click For Instructions" section will appear if the module includes instructions).

Click the  (more) icon next to one of the Content sections below to enter content, or choose an EKCCMS Module File from the dropdown box below.

Advanced Instructions:

EKCCMS includes the following advanced features:

MARKDOWN: "Markdown" (MD) is another way to create formatted text (i.e. HTML). Admins can type or paste MD text in the HTML editor and it will be formatted as HTML on the website. (Please note that you must check "Enable Markdown Content" (in the Advanced Options) in the Global Configuration admin section.) Click here for more info on Markdown.

EMBEDDED FUNCTIONS: EKCCMS provides special built-in functions (aka "Embedded Functions") for generating dynamically changing content. Embedded functions allow you to inject calculated text inside of your regular content. For example, consider this content: "Our company started 5 years ago, in 2003." Since 2003 is more than 5 years ago, this text is obviously out-of-date. Using an embedded function, you could instead write: "Our company started [[_YEARSSINCE]YEAR] years ago," where "YEAR" would be replaced with the year your company started. The "_YEARSSINCE" embedded function would then calculate the proper number of years since 2003 using the current date, and you wouldn't have to update the text every year.
Embedded Function Syntax: [[FUNCTION]PARAMETER]
Two open brackets, function name, close bracket, parameter(s), close bracket.
FUNCTION always begins and ends with an underscore.
PARAMETER can be a single value, or multiple values delimited with the pipe symbol "|".
Available Embedded Functions:
[[_CURRENTYEAR]YEAR]: returns the current year.
[[_YEARSSINCE]YEAR]: YEAR can be a four-digit year or a full date in YYYY-MM-DD format.
[[_YEARSUNTIL]YEAR]: Same as _YEARSSINCE, but UNTIL.
[[_DAYSSINCE]DATE]: Same as _YEARSSINCE, but DAYS.
[[_DAYSUNTIL]DATE]: Same as _DAYSSINCE, but UNTIL.
[[_SMSLINK]NUMBER|MESSAGE]: Generates a link that mobile phone users can click to send the MESSAGE to NUMBER
[[_GET_EKCICON]EKC_ICON_CONSTANT]: Gets the image source for the currently defined EKC_ICON image specified.
[[GETCONSTANT]FILE]: Gets the PHP Constant value for the supplied constant name.
: Allows for custom CSS overrides to be inserted. (Please note that most CSS styling can be accomplished through the modules that begin with the word "Setup.")

Additionally, custom functions can be defined in a User Exits file by developers (requires EKlectic CART upgrade).

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