OpenCms

OpenCms is an open-source content management system[2] written in Java.[3][4] It is distributed by Alkacon Software under the LGPL license.[5] OpenCms requires a JSP Servlet container such as Apache Tomcat.[5]

OpenCms
Developer(s)Alkacon Software and the OpenCms community
Stable release
16[1] / 2023-10-02[±]
Repository
Operating systemCross-platform
PlatformJava, XML
TypeContent management system
LicenseGNU Lesser General Public License
Websitewww.opencms.org

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.[3]

OpenCms was launched in 1999,[5] based on its closed-source predecessor MhtCms. The first open source version was released in 2000.

OpenCms is used or has been used by large organizations such as WIPO, the LGT Group, the University of Stuttgart, the Archdiocese of Cologne, or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.[5]

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.[6] 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.[7]

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 been developed using Vaadin and the Google Web Toolkit.

The OpenCms content repository is stored in a database, with MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, HSQLDB, Oracle, MSSQL and IBM 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. Since 2021 a major version is scheduled for release every 6 months in April and October. The revision control of the OpenCms source code is done using Git on GitHub.[8] The following table provides an overview of all major OpenCms releases.[9]

Overview of major OpenCms releases
Version Release date Important new features
Old version, no longer maintained: 4.02 Feb 2000Online / offline workflow, WYSIWYG editor for web pages, explorer, user management
Old version, no longer maintained: 5.05 May 2002Page templates in JSP with own <cms:> tag library, extended caching and static export of pages
Old version, no longer maintained: 5.311 Dec 2003Full text search using Lucene, direct edit of web pages
Old version, no longer maintained: 6.030 Jun 2005Updated user interface, storage of content in XML files based on XSD, management of multiple sites
Old version, no longer maintained: 6.231 Mar 2006Integrated image scaling, visual comparison of document versions
Old version, no longer maintained: 7.004 Jul 2007Support for WebDAV, automatic link management, category tags for all content files
Old version, no longer maintained: 7.515 Jun 2009Content galleries, extended support for creating JSP using expression language
Old version, no longer maintained: 8.08 May 2011Enhanced user interface allowing drag and drop of elements in the page and sitemap editor, support for mobile devices
Old version, no longer maintained: 8.524 Sep 2012"Inline" editing of web pages, integration of Apache Solr, CMIS support, SEO features
Older version, yet still maintained: 9.008 Nov 2013Preview for mobile devices, accessing the content repository using a network share, visual site management interface, demo template based on Bootstrap
Older version, yet still maintained: 9.503 Nov 2014Nested 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
Older version, yet still maintained: 10.023 Mar 2016Modernized 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
Older version, yet still maintained: 10.515 Feb 2017Improved localization tools for side-by-side comparison of sitemaps, support for generating pages as JSON fragments, asset connection for external data sources, font icons in the user interface
Older version, yet still maintained: 11.030 Apr 2019Redesigned user interface, meta mappings for SEO, new Mercury Template, default content list generation with predefined Solr searches, bookmarks in the explorer, new apps for resource type and sessions management
Older version, yet still maintained: 12.012 Oct 2021Headless JSON API for REST content access, greatly improved Mercury Template, template variants, updated WebDAV implementation.
Older version, yet still maintained: 13.003 Apr 2022New plugin system, search by geo coordinates, extensions to template variants, improved Mercury template.
Older version, yet still maintained: 14.011 Oct 2022XML schema versioning with automatic content rewrite, two factor authentication (2FA) in the user login, source code editor widget for multi-line text inputs, Mercury template updated to Bootstrap 5.2.
Older version, yet still maintained: 15.025 Apr 2023Role-based control for sitemap access and new editor for modifying selected sitemap attributes, app "Person data search" reveals personal user data in the VFS, enhanced Mercury template.
Current stable version: 16.002 Oct 2023New app "Unused contents" finds and deletes content not actively used, individual detail pages based on categories, option to reset the password for all content managers, improved Mercury template.
Legend:
Old version
Older version, still maintained
Latest version
Latest preview version
Future release

Further reading
  • Liliedahl, Dan (2008). Opencms 7 Development. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84719-105-2.
  • Butcher, Matt (2006). Managing and Customizing Opencms 6 Websites: Java/JSP XML Content Management. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-904811-76-3.
  • Butcher, Matt (2004). Building Websites with OpenCms. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-904811-04-6.

See also

References
  1. "OpenCms 16 available". opencms.org. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
  2. Rähm, Jan (2007-06-26). "OpenCMS 7 kurz vor Veröffentlichung" (in German). Retrieved 2009-01-23.
  3. Asipenko, Slava (17 Sep 2006). "OpenCms 6.0: A Review". CMS Watch. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
  4. "Quelloffenes Content-Management". 2002-04-26. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
  5. McGrath, John (28 November 2002). "Open-source CMS: On the rise". ZD Net. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
  6. OpenCms release notes describing drag and drop editing features
  7. OpenCms release notes describing template and layout creation without the need to code
  8. News release about using GitHub for OpenCms
  9. Overview of all OpenCms releases in the history.txt file on GitHub
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