Automated .page creation

Hi,
I have a site which runs on a Runtime engine similar to livesite. All its content is in XML form, the XMLs are generated from DCRs. Each page starts with a type of DCR which has slots for several modules (similar to components in a .page). I have to find a way to convert these XMLs into .page. The XMLs have their own layouts which can map to different layouts of Fixed Layouts of livesite .

To start with I created a base XML for a .page without any components , similar to below ::
---------------------------------------------------
<Page ID='1364811723586' Version='3.1.1.0' Private='false' Template='false'>
<PageTemplates>
<PageTemplate ID='1' Version='1' PageEditVisibility='visible'>
<Description />
<Name>Fixed-Home</Name>
<VPath><![CDATA[Fixed-Home.template]]></VPath>
</PageTemplate>
</PageTemplates>
<Page_Display_Properties Class='com.interwoven.livesite.model.page.PageProperties'>
<Title>test1</Title>
<BGColor />
<Background />
<Center>false</Center>
<PageType>
<Id>juniper-fixed-layout</Id>
<Layout canvas-path='jdn-home.xml'>fixed-layout</Layout>
</PageType>
<Description>home</Description>
<Keywords />
<Controllers>
<Pre />
<Post />
</Controllers>
<Resources />
</Page_Display_Properties>
<Page_Content />
</Page>
-------------------------------------------------------------

I have created a Perl script which can parse the XML of runtime engine, get its layout and then create a file named same as XML with .page extension and add above .page base to that file and set the correct fixed-layout XML name in it. I can also add the name of livesite template and when I do a Get Latest component in contentcenter , all the components in template get added to the new .page file.
The runtime engine XML has several types of module XMLs which are generated from a certain DCR type . Based on the DCR category/type I can determine which Livesite component needs to be added to its respective .page. Problem is adding the component through script into the .page in the correct area of fixed-layout template.
Is there a way to add component to a page through some CLT or CSSDK API method. I can write either Perl or Java if I know the correct way.
Has anybody done this kind of migration before and can guide me on this ?

Thanks !

Regards,
Ankit

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Rick Poulin

Problem is adding the component through script into the .page in the correct area of fixed-layout template.
Is there a way to add component to a page through some CLT or CSSDK API method. I can write either Perl or Java if I know the correct way.
Has anybody done this kind of migration before and can guide me on this ?

The platform does not expose any kind of API for scripted page manipulation. While you can create a page manually, inspect its XML, and then replicate its creation in a language of your choice, doing so is entirely unsupported by the vendor and may very well lead to unexpected issues.

Possible supported alternatives include:
* Creating a component that reads from a DCR, at which point you would have to create N-many pages manually but there's little or no content refactoring; or
* Creating a component that dynamically loads its content from XML records, using an external parameterized by a query string or similar.

TeamsiteDev

Hi Rick,

Thanks for your reply.
In the livesite-runtime.jar , there are some classes, ex - com.interwoven.livesite.business.BusinessPageGenerator .
Can these be used for page generation ? Is any sample code available to harness this ?

Thanks !

Regards,
Ankit

Rick Poulin

That's part of what SitePublisher uses to create pages, yes, but the API is not public (and is therefore not supported for customer use).

Like I said, there's many unsupported ways of doing it, and you're likely to find more if you keep digging. The only supported approaches I know of are the ones I listed above.