Template Engine

The Template Engine is a CMS component that can be used on the live system. Its task is to incrementally export content in the background. Especially for larger websites the Template Engine has numerous advantages:

  • Using layout files, content is exported on the live server. This happens in the background, and the exported web documents are stored in a directory hierarchy which is offline. Therefore, the documents on the live website are neither replaced nor deleted by this procedure.
  • Content is exported incrementally. This means that only files which have been modified are exported, and deleted ones are removed. This saves the live server’s resources.
  • The website which has been created and updated in the background is regularly activated. Activation does not require data to be copied. Instead the webserver is directed to the directory tree which has been offline until then. Therefore, this happens very fast so that the webserver can immediately deliver the static documents.
  • After activation, the directory tree which is now offline is synchronized with the live hierarchy to make the status quo available for further updating. This makes it unnecessary to re-export the complete folder hierarchy after every activation procedure.

If our Search Server is used, the Template Engine also activates the indexes which have been updated simultaneously.

The Template Engine receives modified file versions from the Content Management Server. The data is transferred via the XML interface (i. e. via HTTP connections) of the applications. The instruction to activate the updated website is also issued by the Content Manager.

The Template Engine requires a database to store file information, for example. The exported documents can be served with any webserver whose document root directory is configurable, for example with Trifork Application Server which is included in CMS Fiona.