OpenCms

OpenCms

The sitemap editor of OpenCms 10
Developer(s) Alkacon Software and the OpenCms community
Stable release
10.0.0 / March 23, 2016 (2016-03-23)
Operating system Cross-platform
Platform Java, XML
Type Content management system
License GNU Lesser General Public License
Website www.opencms.org

OpenCms is an open source content management system[1] written in Java.[2][3] It is distributed by Alkacon Software under the LGPL license.[4] OpenCms requires a JSP Servlet container such as Apache Tomcat.[4]

It is a CMS application with a browser-based work environment, asset management, user management, workflow management, a WYSIWYG editor, internationalization support, content versioning, and many more features including proxying of requests to another endpoint.[2]

OpenCms was launched in 1999,[4] based on its closed-source predecessor MhtCms. The first open source version was released in 2000.

OpenCms has been used by large organizations such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the LGT, BP South Africa, and UNICEF Netherlands.[4]

User interface

The OpenCms user interface runs in a web browser, placing control elements directly on the web page that is edited. Content on a page can be modified by drag and drop.[5] Text can be edited "inline" directly on the web page, or in an alternative form based editor.

Web pages and their navigation structure are managed in a dedicated sitemap editor. Content elements are stored in galleries and can be reused between different web pages or web sites. An additional "power user" interface for Administrators provides role and permission management. Since version 9.5 OpenCms offers layout and template creation without coding.[6]

Editing a web page in the inline editor of OpenCms 10.

Technology

OpenCms runs on the Java platform as a servlet. It uses several libraries provided by the Apache foundation. The user interface has mostly been developed using the Google Web Toolkit.

The OpenCms content repository is stored in a database, with MySQL, PostgreSQL, HSQLDB, Oracle, MSSQL and DB2 being natively supported. It can be accessed with CMIS, WebDAV as an SMB network share or through the native web interface.

Text content in OpenCms is defined using an XML schema. The user interface for the content managers creates XML files based on these schemas, which are stored in the database repository. A template system based on JavaServer Pages then creates web pages from the XML.

Versions

OpenCms has been under continuous development as an open source project since the year 2000. A major version is released every 18 to 24 months, and bugfix releases are usually available every 3 to 4 months. The revision control of the OpenCms source code is done using Git on GitHub.[7] The following table provides an overview of all major OpenCms releases.[8]

Overview of major OpenCms releases
Version Release date Important new features
Old version, no longer supported: 4.0 2 Feb 2000 Online / offline workflow, WYSIWYG editor for web pages, explorer, user management
Old version, no longer supported: 5.0 5 May 2002 Page templates in JSP with own <cms:> tag library, extended caching and static export of pages
Old version, no longer supported: 5.3 11 Dec 2003 Full text search using Lucene, direct edit of web pages
Old version, no longer supported: 6.0 30 Jun 2005 Updated user interface, storage of content in XML files based on XSD, management of multiple sites
Old version, no longer supported: 6.2 31 Mar 2006 Integrated image scaling, visual comparison of document versions
Old version, no longer supported: 7.0 04 Jul 2007 Support for WebDAV, automatic link management, category tags for all content files
Old version, no longer supported: 7.5 15 Jun 2009 Content galleries, extended support for creating JSP using expression language
Older version, yet still supported: 8.0 8 May 2011 Enhanced user interface allowing drag and drop of elements in the page and sitemap editor, support for mobile devices
Older version, yet still supported: 8.5 24 Sep 2012 "Inline" editing of web pages, integration of Apache Solr, CMIS support, SEO features
Older version, yet still supported: 9.0 08 Nov 2013 Preview for mobile devices, accessing the content repository using a network share, visual site management interface, demo template based on Bootstrap
Older version, yet still supported: 9.5 03 Nov 2014 Nested containers allow template and layout creation with drag and drop, user generated content, PDF creation, extended editor roles, spell checking in the WYSIWYG editor, visual management of galleries, categories and templates
Current stable version: 10.0 23 Mar 2016 Modernized administration workplace, added Apollo Template, new file explorer, Identicons for users, direct commit of changed templates to Git, drag and drop of images, enhanced Solr based content search
Legend:
Old version
Older version, still supported
Latest version
Latest preview version
Future release

Further reading

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to OpenCms.
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