News Blog

AtomSite 1.3 BlogML Release

This release of AtomSite 1.3 contains a new BlogML plugin that allows you to import and export from a BlogML file. We've also improved the AtomSite Manager Tools area to support more import/export tools.

BlogML Support

I've added support for importing data from a BlogML file. The support was added to both the setup wizard and the AtomSite Manager Tools section.

BlogML Wizard Support

BlogML Import and Export Tools

You can choose to import blog posts and articles into any collection that accepts entries. You can also choose a collection that supports media for image attachments. There are three modes of importing the data:

Import Mode	Description
New Mode	This mode is used during the setup wizard. It will replace the existing, blog, pages, and media collections with the data in the BlogML file. This mode allows you to choose the collection name. It will also create an about page and blogroll page if there are no existing articles with these names.
Merge Mode	This mode can be chosen from Import/Export tools page. It will import the data in the BlogML file into existing collections only updating when the data doesn't already exist.
Overwrite Mode	This mode can be chosen from Import/Export tools page. It will clear out any existing data before importing the data into the selected existing collections.

The export tool will write entries into a BlogML file. However, attachments are not yet supported.

Posted by JarrettV on September 13 at 7:57 PM

Comments (2)

Send in your Service.config File

The service.config file is where AtomSite stores all the configuration information about your workspaces, collections, pages, widgets, and plugins. I've posted some examples on the Service.config documentation page. These examples should show you the power of what is possible with AtomSite. We are working to expose all of this potential in the AtomSite Manager.

To help guide other users, please post your Service.config example so we can add it to the site.

You can send them to me (Jarrett):

Post a comment below with a link
Post it to CodePlex discussion
Email it to jarrettv@gmail.com

So far we have:

Posted by JarrettV on August 31 at 7:31 PM

Comments (3)

AtomSite 1.2 Settings Release

This release of AtomSite 1.2 has improved composite web site performance by allowing asset combining and minification. To support this new feature, we reorganized the folders where assets are stored.

Type	Folder	Example
Cascading Stylesheets	/css	/css/default/CommentWidget.css
Images	/img	/img/default/icon.png
Javascript	/js	/js/default/CommentWidget.js
Plugins	/plugins	/plugins/CommentPlugin.1.0.0.0.zip
View Files & Theme Info	/themes	/themes/default/CommentView.aspx

This new feature greatly reduces the number of requests made to download a page. The biggest performance improvements can be seen in the AtomSite Manager where each page contains many widgets. Not only does it make each page load faster, but development is easier as well. For example, a widget can have it's own stylesheet and javascript files making things easier to manage and locate.

Learn More About Asset Combination

This release also includes improvements to the AtomSite Manager. Many of the settings in the service.config file are now exposed on the Settings screen (see to the right). The screen shows different options for each scope: Entire Site, Workspace, Collection. These screen support:

Adding/removing administrators
Adding workspaces (in multi-workspace mode only)
Adding collections
Adding/removing authors and contributors
Changing which content types a collection accepts
Removing categories
Changing other settings

For a complete list of changes with this release see the release page on CodePlex.

Download Release 1.2

Posted by JarrettV on August 04 at 6:06 PM

Comments (0)

Alter an Individual Collection’s Layout and Appearance

I've received multiple questions on how to alter the appearance of one collection from another if they both use the blog plugin. The blog plugin provides multiple views on a collection such as:

Blog Entry (with expanded approval and commenting features)
Blog Listing (which supports view by year, month, day, category, author, contributor, etc.)
Blog Home
Windows Live Writer Manifest
Site Map

So, for example, when both the blog collection and page collection use the same plugin, they also use the same view. This means that they ultimately use the same core markup for display in the browser. However, through composition and the usage of YUI Grids, you can make one collection look very different from the other collection even if they are using the same views.

Let's take this very site, http://atomsite.net and dissect how it makes the info pages look different from the blog pages without changing the core markup.

First, within the service.config file, change the YUI Grid Template for the page as seen in the picture to the right. The default value is yui-t6 but for the BlogEntry and BlogListing pages in the info collection, I've changed it to yui-t2. This makes the side bar show up on the left side and makes it smaller.
Next, change the widgets that show up in the sidebar. For the Info Collection, I've put a table of contents index entry in the sidebar for easy navigation of the documentation. I've also moved the search widget to below the content.
Finally, tweak the CSS to get the perfect look by using the yui-t2 class selector.

TemplateCssSelector

If you need even further control over the markup, AtomSite supports having different themes across collections.

In a future release (hopefully AtomSite 1.3), we'll add the doc and template settings to AtomSite Manager so they are easy to change.

Learn About YUI Grids Learn More About Themes

Posted by JarrettV on July 21 at 9:38 AM

Comments (1)

AtomSite Now Available on Web Platform Installer

I'm pleased to announce that AtomSite is now available in the Windows Web App Gallery and can easily be installed using the Web Platform Installer.

The installer can put AtomSite directly on your server and configure it with the required permissions to get the application up and running quickly. We've built and tested the application to work on IIS7 in integrated mode. However, we are looking for testers and developers to help modify the application to run under Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 with older versions of IIS. Please contact us if you interested in helping us support those platforms.

To the right is a picture of the Web Platform Installer running within IIS7. Installing is as easy as clicking a button and choosing the file and web locations.

See AtomSite in the Web Platform Gallery

Posted by JarrettV on July 20 at 12:16 AM

Comments (2)

AtomSite 1.1 Plugin Release

Note: AtomSite runs best on IIS7 with ASP.NET MVC 1.0

The eleventh release of AtomSite contains improvements to plugins, themes, and other areas in the AtomSite Manager. You can now easily install and uninstall plugins. Other new or improved features include:

Fix plugin installation updates to plugin entries in Service.config
Fix plugin upgrade updates to plugin entries in Service.config
Fix include insert into page area and widget areas
Fix login issue when user name is different from primary Id
Fix overwrite of all authors upon wizard basic settings completion
Added link back to site at top of Manager
Updated plugins page in Manager to support install, uninstall, upload & install
Fixed missing javascript reference in EditEntry and EditMedia
Remove OpenIdAuthenticateService as not used
Update plugin system, now supports zip
Implemented QuickPub on Dashboard
Fixed some of the CSS to look better in IE6/7
AdminRightNowWidget now has links to entries and annotations on AdminDashboard
Added filter support to AdminAnnotations and AdminEntries
Fixed help link in Admin.Master
Fixed link to pending entries on AdminDashboard
Added Admin SelectionCriteria for easily selecting entries and annotations by state
Updates to AtomSite Manager
- added filtering to AdminEntries.aspx
- added filtering to AdminAnnotations.aspx
- updates to theme page, not yet functional
- added additional links on AdminRightNowWidget.ascx
- fixed button on AdminPendingEntriesWidget.ascx
Admin Theme Info added
Admin theme page updates
Finished theme chooser in admin manager
Added sample post for new version
Remove extra images from OpenIdPlugin.csproj
Updated Readme for 1.1 release
Fixed wizard updating Admin link in About entry
Updated/fixed plugin installation from zip file
Setup OpenIdPlugin as pre-installed plugin
Updates to parameters.xml for Web Application Installer
Fix caching to only cache for anon requests (most common)

Posted by JarrettV on June 28 at 7:41 PM

Comments (2)

Script-Sharing Site PoshCode is Based on AtomSite

The poshcode.org site has been redesigned on top of AtomSite. The guys behind this site have done an outstanding job:

Joel Bennett

Oisin Grehan

The site is currently in use for the 2009 Summer Scripting Games.

I'm looking forward to working with them in the near future to pull in some new features and updates they've made to AtomSite.

For example,

OpenSearch
Profile page (mainly for Google users)
Better author/contributor listings
Improved FileRepository performance for large collections

The source code is available on CodePlex.

Posted by JarrettV on June 23 at 10:29 AM

Comments (0)

AtomSite Manager is a Work-in-progress

The AtomSite Manager is new to version 1.0. Although we made a lot of progress on the administration area, there is still many features that are missing or under construction.

We are striving to be similar to WordPress which means there will eventually be a ton of features. However, there are major differences in platform and technologies which take time to build out. Thanks for being patient as we make progress.

Common Annoyances with current AtomSite Manager

Missing link at top to return to site
- Workaround by selecting an entry and choosing "View Entry"
Can't insert images or links into posts using the WYSIWYG editor
- Workaround by editing the xhtml in source view to add them manually
- - For example, add the media first then link to the image in source view using an tag
- Or, use Live Writer
Can't use the QuickPub widget on the dashboard
- Workaround by using the regular Add Entry page
Can't upload plugin on plugin page
- Workaround by uploading the plugin using ftp or xcopy into your site
Can't add or update users or change their roles
- Workaround by editing the service.config and user.config files directly

Please let us know if you find any other annoyances or workarounds.

Posted by JarrettV on May 01 at 9:30 PM

Comments (2)

AtomSite 1.0 Admin Release

The tenth release of AtomSite contains a new administration area called AtomSite Manager. We've also improved compatibility with Live Writer and support more installation scenarios. Other new or improved features include:

AtomSite Manager
- Dashboard
  - Right Now
  - New Annotations
  - QuickPub (not yet functional)
  - Pending Entries
- Entries
  - Edit Listing with Paging inline approval, etc. (status filtering not yet functional)
  - Add/Edit Entry
  - Add/Edit Media
- Annotations
  - Edit Listing with Paging inline approval, etc. (status filtering not yet functional)
- Plugins
  - Enable/Disable
  - Upload/Install/Uninstall (not yet functional)
- Users
  - Listing
  - Add/remove (not yet functional)
- Other areas under construction
- Inspired by WordPress
Plugins
- Upgrades now detected
LiveWriter Compatibility Improved
- Workaround for theme not detected
- Workaround for loss of media collection setting
Virtual Directory installation supported
Alternate default workspace wizard support
Misc. fixes