Symphony.

First of, I just love love love the concept here and what symphony is and does, wow. I have worked with a few (thought not as in depth) CMS’s and they just seem klunky. My fav up to this point has been MODX, but after finding this one, I am sold.

I sort of got into xml and xslt waaaaaay back for then lost interest.

I have a couple of sites coming up in a few months and am hoping to pick this up in time to be able to use this system.

I have spend a week so far, going through some Of Bauhau’s tutorials etc, though a little confusing. I have also gone through xml and xslt.

I do have a couple of questions perhaps someone can help me with?

1) When you create a page with the corresponding xsl template, this is as far as the interface will take you? ie. after using ?debug to see the out put you would then decide yourself using xsl language system to determine what how you want to bring in the xml?

2) I am still confused on how say create a nav system :(

3) What does symphony use the database for? When you create a section with entries etc these are bascialy xml documents with nodes etc? are these stored in the database?

I think that is it for now? any help or tips is greatly appreciated.

When you create a page with the corresponding xsl template, this is as far as the interface will take you? ie. after using ?debug to see the out put you would then decide yourself using xsl language system to determine what how you want to bring in the xml?

More or less, yeah. It’s entirely up to you how you want to pull in the source XML and what you want to do with it (although the default workspace will give you a head start).

I am still confused on how say create a nav system :(

I have a tutorial 90% finished that includes this very information. Have been sidetracked with other work but hope to finish it off in the next couple of days…

What does symphony use the database for? When you create a section with entries etc these are bascialy xml documents with nodes etc? are these stored in the database?

Yes, the content is all stored in the database making it organized and easy to query and so forth… The XML is built dynamically during page creation.

Thanks! that helps :)

The tutorial would be very helpful, I’d be the first one to read it.

ok, so the last part, I am assuming PHP is responsible for transporting the data and then bringing it out as xml or are the nodes and such created when you are making a section then stored in the database? ie, when you define a section and the type of entires etc, this is where you are basically creating for example: <catalog><cd> <cd> </catalog>?

Thanks for taking time.

When you model your content using sections and fields, Symphony creates database tables that correspond to that content. As you enter content, it gets stored in the database.

Now, when you want to push some of your content through to the front end, you create a data source. The data source is attached to a page, and when that page is accessed, the data source queries the database and dynamically builds XML using whatever filters and other options you set.

You should probably check out the Beginner’s Guide. Though still a bit incomplete, it’ll give you a good sense of how the system works.

thanks again, yeah I read it a couple times, but still was hazy on where or how the xml part is created. That makes alot of sensei now.