Add a New Channel

Introduction

Goal

Add a delivery channel to a Bloomreach Experience Manager implementation project.

Prerequisites

The starting point for the example described on this page is a default Bloomreach Experience Manager project created using the Maven archetype with a translated channel added as described in Add a Translated Channel. Adding a new channel is very similar.

Steps in the CMS

Assume we already have a content folder myproject. Now, depending on whether the new channel needs to be translated or not, you need add a root 'folder' or 'non-translated folder' in the CMS Content Perspective. Do this by clicking  Add root folder. Assume we add  mysecondchannel.

Now, add some initial folder structure and documents. This may be similar to the already existing channel, or completely different, depending on your use case.

If you need this new channel to be translated, repeat the steps at Add a Translated Channel after you finished this page.

Steps in the HST configuration

Add a new hst:configuration for the new channel mysecondchannel .

Assume we already had different translations for  myproject and have the following  hst:configuration:

/hst:myproject:
  /hst:configurations:
    /hst:default:
    /common:
      /hst:pages:
      /hst:components:
      /hst:templates:
      /hst:catalog:
    /myproject:
      hst:inheritsfrom: [../common]
      /hst:sitemap:
      /hst:sitemenus:
      /hst:channel:
        hst:name: My project
    /monprojet:
      hst:inheritsfrom: [../common]
      /hst:sitemap:
      /hst:sitemenus:
      /hst:channel:
        hst:name: Mon projet

(Note that in the example above, the hst:channel is not below the hst:workspace, meaning it will be read-only, also see Workspace Configuration)

Depending on your domain specific use case, we can or cannot reuse the common part for the already existing channel myproject. Assume, the new channel  mysecondchannel has the same  hst:components,  hst:templates and  hst:catalog but it has different  hst:pages. We can thus reuse everything except the  hst:pages. If we first move hst:pages to a new hst:configuration   sharedpages, and make sure we do cascading inheritance, we can later on easily add  mysecondchannel. Thus

Split off hst:pages from common

/hst:myproject:
  /hst:configurations:
    /hst:default:
    /common:
      /hst:components:
      /hst:templates:
      /hst:catalog:
    /sharedpages:
      hst:inheritsfrom: [../common]
      /hst:pages:
    /myproject:
      hst:inheritsfrom: [../sharedpages]
      /hst:sitemap:
      /hst:sitemenus:
        /hst:channel:
          hst:name: My project
    /monprojet:
       hst:inheritsfrom: [../sharedpages]
       /hst:sitemap:
       /hst:sitemenus:
          /hst:channel:
            hst:name: Mon projet

Add mysecondchannel

Now, add mysecondchannel:

/hst:myproject:
  /hst:configurations:
    /hst:default:
    /common:
      /hst:components:
      /hst:templates:
      /hst:catalog:
    /sharedpages:
      /hst:pages:
    /myproject:
      hst:inheritsfrom: [../sharedpages , ../common]
      /hst:sitemap:
      /hst:sitemenus:
        /hst:channel:
          hst:name: My project
    /monprojet:
      hst:inheritsfrom: [../sharedpages , ../common]
      /hst:sitemap:
      /hst:sitemenus:
        /hst:channel:
          hst:name: Mon projet
    /mysecondchannel:
      hst:inheritsfrom: [../common]
      /hst:sitemap:
      /hst:sitemenus:
      /hst:pages:
        /hst:channel:
          hst:name: My second channel

Add a new hst:site for the new channel

Assume you already had:

/hst:myproject:
  jcr:primaryType: hst:hst
  /hst:sites:
    jcr:primaryType: hst:sites
    /myproject:
      jcr:primaryType: hst:site
    /monprojet:
      jcr:primaryType: hst:site

After adding the mysecondchannel, you'll have something like:

/hst:myproject:
  jcr:primaryType: hst:hst
  /hst:sites:
    jcr:primaryType: hst:sites
    /myproject:
      jcr:primaryType: hst:site
    /monprojet:
      jcr:primaryType: hst:site
    /mysecondchannel:
      jcr:primaryType: hst:site

Make sure that for mysecondchannel, you change the hippo:content property to the absolute JCR path /content/documents/mysecondchannel you created at the beginning of this page. 

Create the host or "URL space" for the new channel.

Assume you already had

/hst:myproject:
  jcr:primaryType: hst:hst
  /hst:hosts:
    jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhosts
    /prod:
      jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
      /com:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
        /myproject:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /www:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
            /hst:root:
              jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
      /fr:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
        /monprojet:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /www:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
            /hst:root:
              jcr:primaryType: hst:mount

now, adding the new channel as a new host can be done as follows:

/hst:myproject:
  jcr:primaryType: hst:hst
  /hst:hosts:
     jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhosts
     /prod:
       jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
       /com:
         jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
         /myproject:
           jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
           /www:
             jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
             /hst:root:
               jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
         /mysecondchannel:
           jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
           /www:
             jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
             /hst:root:
               jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
       /fr:
         jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
         /monprojet:
           jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
           /www:
             jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
             /hst:root:
               jcr:primaryType: hst:mount

Above, we have added the host  www.mysecondchannel.com. Make sure the  hst:mountpoint for 

/hst:myproject/hst:hosts/prod/com/mysecondchannel/www/hst:root 

points to the site node /hst:myproject/hst:sites/mysecondchannel created in the step 2.

If you do not want the new channel to have a different hostname, but a different URL, you can instead configure it as follows (again make sure the  hst:mountpoint is correct).

/hst:myproject:
  jcr:primaryType: hst:hst
  /hst:hosts:
     jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhosts
     /prod:
       jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
       /com:
         jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
         /myproject:
           jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
           /www:
             jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
             /hst:root:
               jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
               /second:
                 jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
       /fr:
         jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
         /monprojet:
           jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
           /www:
             jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
             /hst:root:
               jcr:primaryType: hst:mount

Now, the new channel is available at  www.myproject.com/second.