Creating/Modifying Content Apps
AppManager Content Apps can easily be created or modified within the AppManager based on an existing SharePoint list or by creating a new SharePoint list as the source for the Content App.
The Content App creation modal allows for more than one Content App to be associated with a single SharePoint list. As an example, this could be used to generate two different Content Apps, one of which had access to set the “Start Date” and “End Date” for an article, and another which could only edit the heading and body content. These apps could be assigned to different content editors based on what you wanted each to have access to.
To create a new content app in AppManager, click the +ADD NEW button. To change the settings for an existing content app, click the EDIT pencil icon for Content Apps on the AppManager Settings page.
A list of the existing Content Apps on the current site will be displayed.
To add a new Content App, click on the “+ Add New” button. A modal window will open with the Content App info screen to begin the process.
Complete the Content App info screen using the following information:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| App Type |
Supported App Types in AppManager:
For additional information, please reference the following documents: Working with Author Type Content Apps Working with Curated Type Content Apps |
| SharePoint list | This is the name of the SharePoint list which has the content to be managed. |
| App Name | This is the title which will display as part of the Content App icon in AppManager. It does not affect the original SharePoint list title. |
| App Icon | Select the icon you want to use for the App. |
Click on the “Save” button and the Content App settings screen will display for the new app to complete the configuration.
Configure (or update) the settings for the new Content App using the following table as reference:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Authorized Groups & Users | Select one or more SharePoint groups who will have access to this Content App. Click on “Select Groups & Users” to display the list of available groups. |
| Preview | If preview is desired for this app, the pages which will be available are entered here. The Preview Name is what will appear in the preview menu in the Content App. The URL must be the fully qualified URL for the target preview page. Multiple preview pages can be defined. See Enabling Preview for the steps to enable the Preview function. |
| Link resources for content editor | Allows a content editor, using the AppManager rich text editor, to browse a specified set of SharePoint lists/libraries in the current site, select a list item, and have a link to that item be inserted into the current text area. |
| App Image Library | This is the image library which will be displayed if a user chooses to add an image to the content from the content editor. |
| SORT Field | Not shown in the image above. This field displays when configuring a Quicklinks or Slider App Type. Clicking on “Select” will display the list columns so that the column that contains the order to display items (DisplayOrder) can be selected. |
| Columns
|
“Hide from App” allows for the hiding of specified fields in the content app. A list may have fields that are not required for the business user to view.
“Display as SEO Field” defines which fields in the list are associated with SEO data. These fields are then grouped together in and SEO section in the Content App. “Enable Auto Translation” defines which fields in the list are allowed to be auto translated when multilingual is enabled. “Re-order” defines the display order for the content app selected. Allows columns to be moved up/down to change the field order display. |
| Enable auto-translate | If using the multilingual capability in the AppManager (Product Feature Key required), this option enables the auto-translate feature for the application. |
| Enable Created by Filter | Turning this on will cause the content listing for the Content App to only display items created by the current logged in user. Regardless of the filtering they choose on the listing page, the results will always be from the set they created. |
| Enable Title Uniqueness Check | This option (normally on) will enforce the title of each content item added in the app to be unique. Since there are circumstances where the title field DOES NOT have to be unique (as can be set in the SharePoint list), setting this to “Off” disables the check in AppManager and allows for duplicate item titles. |
| Enable Personas for this app | Turning this on enables the persona feature to be set for access control based on personas. |
| Enable Social Rules | Turning this on enables which reactions are available and who should be notified for comments and/or reactions associated with this item. (Product Feature Key Required). |
| Enable Comments for this app | Turning this on enables the commenting feature which allows those with access to the Content App to add comments to an item. |
| Hide “Add New” | This option is only available for the Author App Type. Turning this on hides the “Add New” button from the Content App content list, preventing any new content from being created (existing content can still be edited). This is typically used for the Content Block application where only one content item is mapped to the Content Block, so creating a new one without changing the content block control would have no effect. |
| Hide “Delete” | Turning this “ON” hides the “Delete” button from the current app. This is the default setting when creating a new content app of type Author, Slider or File. Turning to “OFF” will display the delete button in the app. |
| Enable Permissions Setting for this app | Turning this on allows read/edit permissions to be set for this app. |
| Enable Content Distribution for this app | Turning this on allows user to push content from portal to market in the app. |
Click SAVE & EXIT when complete.
The Content Apps list will display with the new app added.
At any time, click on the “Edit” pencil icon for the Content App to access and update the settings.
Click on the “Remove” trash can icon to remove an app.
Enabling Preview for a Content App
Preview allows the business user to make and view changes to content in AppManager without making them visible to site visitors who are not authorized to view draft content (SharePoint permission level).
To enable Preview mode for a Content App, use the following steps:
In SharePoint, enable Versioning for the SharePoint list connected to the target Content App. Note that both “Require content approval…” and “Create a version each time…” must be enabled.
In AppManager, navigate to the Content Setting screen for the target Content App. In the “Preview” section, add at least one site page on which the preview should be viewed (you can add multiple pages if desired using the Add Preview button). This page will appear with the new content to be previewed. The link should be the FULL URL to desired page.
- From within the target AppManager Content App, the “Preview” and “Save” buttons will now be active.
Adding the preview link for dynamic content (content that uses the Friendly URL) is slightly different. The preview URL which is used for this type of content should be formatted as follows:
https://{SharePoint Site Collection or sitesubsite URL}/SITE Navigation TERM/{{InternalColumnName}}
Example:
https://akuminade.sharepoint.com/sites/akqa23com/BreakingNews/{{InternalColumnName}}
When a content author makes a change, they can Save the content and then click on the Preview button (if they forget to save and just hit Preview, they will be prompted to save first).
This will launch the preview page defined in the content app settings in a new window and display the updated version of the content. The updated version, however, will not be visible to users who cannot view draft content until the user publishes the content. In this way, they can make multiple edits/saves and continue to preview the content until it is finalized.