Changes to Content Manager
This section describes what has changed in the Content Manager in SDL Tridion 2011.
The following changes were made in the Content Manager:
- New installer
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SDL Tridion now ships with a single installer for all Content Manager server-side software components. The installer lets you select which features to install. You can also run an unattended install from the command line.
- Full TOM.NET API
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The VBScript/JScript-based TOM API is now deprecated and has been replaced by the TOM.NET API. The TOM.NET API now provides full read/write access to all Content Manager functionality, with the exception of Automated Workflow Activities which is not yet supported in TOM.NET. Use TOM.NET for all interaction with the Content Manager from your Templating code and from your Event Handler code.
For a detailed explanation of the difference between the old and new TOM.NET APIs, refer to the Core Service implementation topics for more information.
- TOM.NET API changes
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Compared to the 2009 SP1 TOM.NET API, the new TOM.NET API introduced in the 2011 release is different in the following ways:
- Failed impersonation now throws exception
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Previously, if a user who was not configured as an impersonation user tried to impersonate another user, the user would fall back to itself. As of the 2011 release, this scenario results in an exception being thrown.
- XML validation
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Earlier releases validated Tridion objects against the system schema, resulting in a single error code
0x80040327 (TcmErrorInvalidXML)if validation went wrong. In the new release, old XML is converted to the SDL Tridion 2011 format using an XSLT stylesheet, deserialized and run against a number of business rules. As a result, both the error code returned will be different and the error message will be much more specific. - API delta
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In addition, the TOM.NET API classes and methods that were already present in the 2009 and 2009 SP1 releases have changed. Refer to TOM.NET API delta compared to SDL Tridion 2009 (SP1) for details.
- Core Service
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The Business Connector extension point is now deprecated and has been replaced in SDL Tridion 2011 by the Core Service, a Web service that enables you to interact with the Content Manager core from any external application, whether written in Java or in .NET. Use the Core Service for all interaction with the Content Manager other than from Templating or Event Handler code.
Refer to the Core Service implementation topics for details.
- .NET-based Event System
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The TOM-based Event System is now deprecated and has been replaced by a new .NET-based Event System which allows for more fine-grained and more sophisticated event handling.
Refer to the Event System implementation topics for details.
- Content Manager architecture
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The Content Manager has been refactored and is now almost entirely built on .NET. The new architecture delivers better maintainability, extensibility and performance.
- Lucene search engine
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The existing Verity-based search engine has been dropped in favor of a new Lucene-based search engine.
- New LDAP implementation
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The new implementation of LDAP integration in the Content Manager involves the following changes:
- The ISAPI filter is no longer needed and therefore no longer configurable in the MMC Snap-in.
- It is now possible to configure multiple Directory Services. The default Directory Service (used as a fallback for unqualified users) is the first one configured.
- It is now possible to specify the domain separator character.
- Empty passwords are no longer supported
- An Active Directory can no longer be configured in the MMC Snap-in separately. To add an Active Directory, simply add a Directory Service, because the Content Manager considers them the same.
- There is also no longer an option to enable Directory Services; Directory Services are automatically enabled as soon as one or more are configured.
- Existing Publications do not automatically get new Default Template items
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As part of the deprecation of old VBScript/JScript templating in favor of new Compound Templating, new Publications created in the Content Manager no longer contain a Default Component Template, Default Page Template and Default Template Building Block, written in VBScript, in the Building Blocks folder. Instead, a new Publication contains a Folder Building Blocks\Default Templates\, containing a minimal set of the default modular templating items that SDL Tridion ships with.
For existing Publications, however, neither the Folder nor the items are added during upgrade. This is because such actions could create a conflict. As a result, if you intend to start using modular templating in a new Publication, you must first create these default items from Template Builder.