Advanced Content Editing with the eZ Publish Administration Interface

Accessing the Object Edit Interface

There are four ways to access the Object Edit Interface from the Content structure, Media library or User account tabs:

• Click the Create here button (found at the bottom of the main area when a content object is being viewed) to add new content.
• Click the Edit button in the Preview window (at the top of the main area when a content object is being viewed).
• Click one of the edit icons in the Sub items window (at the bottom of the main area when a content object is being viewed).
• From the context-sensitive pop-up menu of the secondary menu, select either "Create here" or "Edit" / "Edit in".

Recall that you are working in edit mode when you are viewing some content in the Object Edit Interface (in the Administration Interface), or in the Content Editing Interface (in the Website Interface). This usually means that either the Edit or Create here button has been clicked. Other operations such as site navigation and searching are disabled during edit mode.

Edit mode and layout of the Object Edit Interface

The following screenshot shows how the Object Edit Interface is typically displayed.

Object Edit Interface

The Object Edit Interface usually consists of six windows:

1. The Object information window displays information about the object that is being edited.
2. The Current draft window displays information about the version that is currently being edited.
3. The Translate from window (shown even if you have a single-language site) displays information about the existing languages and you can select the language on which the current translation will be based.
4. The Main edit window enables you to modify the contents of the attributes of the selected object.
5. The Related objects window (not shown in the screenshot; located at bottom of page) makes it possible to relate other objects to the one that is being edited.
6. The Section window displays information about the section that the current object belongs to and enables you to change this. Sections are used to segment the content node tree. You can, among other things, apply different access rules to different sections.

By default, the Object Edit Interface makes use of the Online Editor, a WYSIWYG editor integrated with eZ Publish.

Usage

Aside from content editing, the Object Edit Interface provides access to version management, a special translator mode, and version previewing.

The Manage versions button in the Object information window brings up the Version history interface, which makes it possible to display a list of the versions of the object that is being edited.

If you select a language using the corresponding radio button and click the Translate button, the Main edit window will switch to a special translator mode in order to make it easier to translate an object from the selected existing language.

The Version preview interface makes it possible to generate a preview of any object version on the system. This interface is typically used to create a preview of the draft that is currently being edited. It can be accessed by clicking the View button in the Current draft window of the Object Edit Interface, or by following the version / translation links in the Version history interface.

Exiting the Object Edit Interface

You should always exit the Object Edit Interface by clicking either the Send for publishing, Discard draft or Store and exit button. Note that clicking the Store draft button will not end the editing session. If you do not end an editing session properly, a stale draft is left on the system, possibly leading to editing conflicts when you or another editor returns to edit the object.