For last 4 days we have started promoting RLing CMS. We also mentioned that this website is built using RLing CMS and also the blog that you are now reading is an output o RLING CMS.. But we have no where explained you what does RLING CMS Contain. So here is a list of features that we have planned for the users of RLing CMS

1. 80% CONFIGURATION SYSTEM

RLINGCMS will be a 80% configuratution system where users/website administrators will have to do is just configure all their necessary requirements within the website and start using the system. but what does 80% configuration system mean. 80% is a ball park number that we have given because users will have to create their HTMLs and integrate in the layouts. However in future we shall eliminate that as well and come out with a theming and templating system where users will not have to restart once they are done in the initial stages.

So the 20% of non configuration activities are to run scripts to create databases, tables and input initial data, add the HTMLs to the Layouts with ruby scripts to execute some ruby code and finally to start and restart the server.

2. EFFECTIVE USER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

RLINGCMS shall contain an effective user management system. We have provided configurations to allow administrators to configure their website to allow them to create users, or allow users to register them selves with the site. The administrators can also configure if the welcome email has to be sent to the users and also configure if activation email has to be sent to to he users when admin registers or when the user registers in the website. Also the administrator has flexibility to configure the contents of the email that is sent to the users.

Other than user activation the admin can configure on what details that could be collected from the user and display in the My Account Section of the user. Administrator can define what kind of information e.g. firstname, fullname, age, date of birth, location, etc., dynamically and also can define the visibility position that the users can see.

Finally Any user management system will not be good if we cannot group users. RLing CMS contains a Role Managmeent system that is available to the admin and admin can add and associate roles to the users. And as with a role management system RLing CMS also contains a permission management system to control some of the areas of the website. such as model managment, commenting system, etc., In the first release of RLing CMS we have restricted the other roles except admin to have access only to Model and commenting systems.

Finally even the administration creation mechanism of RLINGCMS is simple and is done on the first start of the website. so no default email/password required to start the system.

3. MENU MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A simple menu management system which is easy to create and execute. RLing CMS contains a parent object by name MENUSET which is used to identify the element where the menus would be associated to e.g. HEADER, FOOTER, SIDEBARS, etc., this will be easy when creating the menus as all the menus can be associated to only one menuset at a time.

Menus in RLINGCMS are simple and of tree structure. Menus are sortable under their level and are flexible. Also menus can be connected to an internal page or to an external website e.g. if you have a blogging system in wordpress then create a menu with the link to that external system. Also much flexibility is provided to make the menus display text or image and in case of image what image to be displayed in normal case and if a different image to be displayed on hover.

4. PAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

RLingCMS will contain a simple Page Management System. It will be same as all other CMS System, however we have made some new exceptions. RlingCMS will have all pages controlled by Perma-links, instead of ids. While creating pages, admin can create menus by default and also can decide if he would want the page to be displayed as home page.

Administrator can also configure Page variables to the pages which can be displayed in the layouts / specific pages to be displayed. Page Variables are a boon to the website especially in scenarios where SEO is involved i.e. if you want to set Page Specific or Site Specific Keywords, description and titles you can... Page variables have to be called in the layouts of the system.

RLing CMS also contains another section called as Pagelets, Pagelets are a simple dynamic pieces of text which admin can use to call it at places where page body cannot be extended e.g. menu tooltips, or any part of the text in the website which they want to keep changing but do not want to keep it hardcoded e.g. offers..etc., So pagelets come with a mechanism of information that can be put in the website with a call to the handle. based on the information available for the handle the information will be displayed.

Where we speak about pagelets which are a minor versions of pages, RLing CMS also constitutes the feature where you can call multiple pages as part of the same page. e.g. for a particular page if the user wants to display another page within it, all admin has to do is to call the child page within the parent page's body in a pre-defined format and RLINGCMS will recognize it... Also the same would occur when users want to have the main page at the center of the page and a side bar displaying a short information of some other content.

Pages and Pagelets are Cached in the system

5. FORM SUBMISSIONS

RLingCMS has the flexibility to create dynamic forms that can be displayed to website users and ask them to fill that up. A typical example is a Contact Us Page. Admins can create all the compontents that they wish to display to the users and once they are created. Admins can see all the submissions made by the end users on those forms. If any email is provided to the form, then admin can also recieve emails to their inbox as soon as any form has been submitted. Admin has the flexibility to configure what information has to be sent on email and how do they want the information to be available. Admin will have access to an effective Email Template system which they can modify to suit their needs

6. DYNAMIC MODEL SYSTEM

Most of the CMS available can allow users to manage pages or forms, but RLINGCMS surpasses many of the CMS with its ability to control models. Models are something like business objects e.g. Product catalogue, blogging system, photo albums, galleries, or anything that could be built at the administration end and be available at the users end for display purposes. Admin can define the models that they need in their system and all the model components.

On creation of Models and the necessary model components, admin can now provide permissions to other users to initiate actions on the models. the permissions by default allowed are create, modify, delete, modify other's, delete others, view and view all permissions. Based on the permission available users can build the models and execute them.

Once the models are created, users can create submissions to those models.

RLingCMS also has an additional feature by name VIEWs that are used to control the display of the model submissions i.e. blogs to the users. e.g. admin can create a View and define what all to display to the end user. RLingCMS provides flexibility to configure the order, conditions and the elements to be displayed. Once a view is created, users can view them as a page or part of a page. E.g. the Blogs section in RailsDetectives is a view as it lists all the blogs created in the website.

Views come in multiple options, admin can configure the view to be displayed as Table, Grid, List or Tree.

Models in RlingCMS also comes with an in built Commenting System which can be used to allow users to add comments to the submissions. Also the commenting system is made flexible so that comments can be placed to other comments. 

7. CATEGORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
 

A Category Management System is a simple Menu kind of system but are associated to the model submissions, A category system will contain a base categoryset which will form the parent and root entity of the category. the categoryset will be associated to a model and when any submissions are made to the model , categories can be associated to the model submissions.

A category can be associated directly to a CategorySet or to another category forming a tree like structure. Categories can be displayed via the Model View System and on click can display the model submissions associated to that category only.

8. OTHER IMPLEMENTATIONS OF RLINGCMS

The above are the main features of RLINGCMS. However there are small features that are implemented in RLING CMS which will add value to the system. Some of them are

a. Search Bar -- Used to search content in the website. By default searches all content but can be configured to search pages, blogs, albums, etc.,

b. Email Templating System -- Admin have a flexible Email Templating system which they can use to create basic email subject and body and then send emails to multiple people. User

c. Settings -- Admin can configure the way users can interact with the system. Admin can provide the basic Mailer settings to send email in their name.  All email that are sent from the website are by using the admin's email.

-- SATISH N KOTA, CHEIF INITIATOR, RLINGCMS