Advanced Portal Designer Documentation
Index

Content Overview

APD includes a content management system that allows you to create, manage, and display markdown or HTML content within your portal pages.

What is Content?

Content in APD refers to:

  • Markdown or HTML text documents
  • Stored in Business Central
  • Managed through a dedicated interface
  • Displayed dynamically in templates

Content vs Templates

Aspect Templates Content
Purpose Page structure Page text/articles
Format HTML with APD tags Markdown or HTML
Contains logic Yes (loops, conditions) No (static text)
Edited by Developers Content creators
Storage APD HTML Template Hgd table APD Page Content Hgd table

Use Cases

Content is ideal for:

  • Help articles: User guides and FAQs
  • Marketing text: Promotional content
  • Terms and conditions: Legal text
  • News and announcements: Dynamic updates
  • Product descriptions: Catalog content

Content Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│         Portal Page (Action)         │
│                                       │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │    Template (HTML + Tags)        │ │
│  │                                   │ │
│  │    <?content(article-name)?>     │ │
│  │           ↓                       │ │
│  │  ┌─────────────────────────┐     │ │
│  │  │   Content Document      │     │ │
│  │  │   (Markdown/HTML)       │     │ │
│  │  └─────────────────────────┘     │ │
│  └─────────────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Content Properties

Each content item has:

Property Description
Content Name Unique identifier
Language Language variant
Title Display title
Type Content category
Style Markdown or HTML
Security Profile Access restriction
Host Action Associated action
Content The actual text

Accessing Content Management

Content List

  1. Open the Advanced Portal Designer menu page (search for it in Tell Me) and click Content to open the Content List
  2. View all content items
  3. Filter by type, language, or security

Creating Content

  1. Open Content List
  2. Click New
  3. Enter content properties
  4. Click Edit Content to write

Editing Content

  1. Select a content item
  2. Click Edit Content action
  3. Use the Markdown/HTML editor
  4. Save when finished

Multi-Language Content

Content supports multiple languages:

  1. Create base content (default language)
  2. Create variant with specific Language ID
  3. APD serves appropriate version based on user preference

Language Selection Priority

  1. User's language preference
  2. Session language
  3. Default language (language = 0)

Content Types

Organize content with types:

  • Create custom content types
  • Filter content by type
  • Apply consistent handling
  • Group related content

Managing Types

  1. Open Content List
  2. Click Content Types action
  3. Add or manage type codes

Security on Content

Security Profile

Assign a security profile to restrict access:

  • Only users with matching profile see the content
  • Blank profile = all authenticated users
  • Works with the <?content()?> tag

Host Action

Associate content with an action:

  • Content displays in context of that action
  • Useful for page-specific content
  • Enables proper navigation

The Content Tag

Use the <?content()?> tag in templates to display content:

<div class="article">
    <?content(about-us)?>
</div>

See The Content Tag for detailed usage.

Content Editor

Features

The built-in content editor provides:

  • Markdown syntax highlighting
  • Preview capability
  • HTML editing mode
  • Save and discard options

Markdown Mode

Write using standard Markdown:

# Heading

This is a paragraph with **bold** and *italic* text.

- List item 1
- List item 2

[Link text](url)

HTML Mode

For complex formatting:

<div class="custom">
    <h2>Custom HTML</h2>
    <p>With full HTML control.</p>
</div>

Content Workflow

Typical Workflow

  1. Create: Write initial content
  2. Review: Check content accuracy
  3. Publish: Content is immediately live
  4. Update: Edit as needed
  5. Archive: Remove or replace old content

Best Practices

  • Use descriptive content names
  • Organize with content types
  • Create language variants as needed
  • Review security settings

Importing Content

Bulk Import

APD supports importing content from ZIP files:

  1. Prepare markdown files in a ZIP
  2. Click Import Content in Content List
  3. Select the content type
  4. Upload the ZIP file

File Naming

  • File names become content names
  • .md files set to Markdown style
  • .html files set to HTML style