A content record is an iMIS definition object, stored in the Document System, that specifies all the information needed to render a web page from a Content Management (WCM) web site. Instead of hand-coding the contents of a web page for your website, you define some basic properties and tags for the content record, choose a content layout, add various iParts to the iPart zones in the layout, and then define the properties for each iPart. After the content record has been published to an .aspx file on the website, it is available for viewing by web browsers as a complete web page.
An iPart is essentially a web widget in the ASP.NET environment. As with any web widget, you choose from different types of iParts to insert in in the various iPart zones in the content layout, then you configure each iPart to populate that instance of it with the desired content. You can easily rearrange the rendered page contents by dragging an iPart to a different location within the iPart zones. A standard set of system-defined iParts are available in iMIS, but staff or consultants who are experienced in ASP.NET development can also easily add new iParts for use when authoring content.
■ The standard iParts supplied with CM (listed in the Content gallery) all have a corresponding content type, which tells iMIS how to create the corresponding iPart within the system, how to edit it, how to display it, how to publish it, and so on.
■ New complex iParts that you add to your iMIS environment are also listed in the iPart Gallery and must also have corresponding content types.
■ A special ASI-supplied ContentWebUserControl content type is used as a generic default content type for all simple iParts, or for ad-hoc web user controls that have been manually added to a content record.
■ To see the Communities iPart gallery, you need a COMMUNITIES license.