Use Case: Create CMF Topic

  Actor

    - Site Manager[1]

  Overview

    One of the ways you manage the structure of a CMF site is through
    the use of CMF Topics.  Often a site is comprised of a large amount
    of content through which visitors are able to navigate.  A Topic
    allows you to create a dynamic view onto the available content
    enabling visitors to drill down into that content.

    Within each Topic can be configured a set of Criteria which
    constrain the list of content that appear when viewing the Topic.
    Topic Criteria can be based upon any of the data or meta-data that
    comprise your content.

    Note that one useful meta-datam on which to base a Topic Criteria is
    "Subject," which is generally configured to allow a set of
    categories to be chosen when creating new content.  These categories
    can then be used in a Topic Criteria to enable visitors to view
    categorized content.  A standard pattern is to create a number of
    Topics which each correspond to a category.

    Another example of a useful Topic is one which constrains your
    content by creation or modification date in order to display all
    recently changed content.

  Assumptions

    - Site Manager has logged into the CMF (see "Login to the
      Site":LoginAsMember)

  Procedure

    1. Select "Folder Contents" from the actions box and navigate
      to the folder which will contain the Topic.

    2. Click the "New..." button, which brings up the "Add Content"
      form allowing you to choose among the various content types
      that you are allowed to create.  Select "Topic," type in an
      ID which will be used to identify the Topic in the future,
      and click "Add."

    3. The system will create the topic and present you with its
      "Edit Topic" form, which allows you to supply metadata about
      the topic.  

      **Title** --
        the name which will be displayed to visitors.

      **Description** --
        a brief paragraph describing the intended purpose of the
        Topic.  The description will be used to annotate the topic
        object when it is included in another display (e.g., the
        view of its parent folder).

      **Acquire criteria from parent** --
        when creating topic hierarchies[2], allows sub-topics to
        refine the search criteria they acquire from their
        parents.

      Click "Change" to save the changes you've made.  The system
      will then show the default view of your new Topic, including
      the list of content which match the Topic's criteria and
      the list of the Topic's Criteria.
      
      Note that since you have not yet set up any criteria, the
      Topic will match all content objects in the catalog.

    4. To constrain the Topic's matches, select "Criteria" in the actions
      box.  Create a new Criterion by filling out the "Add Criteria" form,
      which has the following fields:

      **Field id** --
        a drop-down list containing the names of all indexed
        attributes.  Select the value corresponding to the field
        to be searched by the criterion.

      **Criteria type** --
        the kind of search to apply.  The standard types include:

        *String Criterion* --
          matches all content objects for which the specified
          field in the content contains the supplied value

        *Integer Criterion* --
          matches ranges or exact values for fields which are
          represented as whole numbers

        *List Criterion* --
          matches content objects for which the specified field
          contains one of a set of string values.

        *Friendly Date Criterion* --
          applies a range search to a date field, relative to the
          current time.

      Click "Add" to create the criterion and add it to the
      Topic.

    5. Fill in the value of the "Criterion value" and click "Save
      changes." You may continue to add criteria which each further
      constrain the content matched by the Topic.

    6. To view the content matching the current set of criteria,
      select "View" from the actions box.


  Notes

  ..[1] Like "Create Folder", this is not solely the prerogative of
        Site Managers;  Content Creators build topics.

  ..[2] See "Add a Subtopic":AddSubtopic for an explanation of topic
        hierarchies.