The Sling underpinnings of CRX and CQ allow for complex, conditional, rendering of content. That is fine and good, but what if you are just wanting to render a simple HTML page? CRX/CQ can serve static content as well. This includes any HTML files, images, SWFs and PDFs. This is a quick description of three ways to add this sort of content to your repository.
Using cURL
The most basic way to get static content into the CRX/CQ repository is to place it there using HTTP. Here is a simple example showing how to upload a page, sample.html, to a CRX server using curl:
curl -u admin:admin -T sample.html http://localhost:8080/content/sample.html
The resulting page is accessed at the same URL it was placed to.
Using WebDAV
By default, CRX/CQ allow WebDAV connections. With any WebDAV client, point to the CRX/CQ WebDAV endpoint at http://<host>:<port>/crx/repository/crx.default. I have a laptop with Windows 7 64 bit. WebDAV does not work with that operating system so I had to download a WebDAV client. My personal preference for a WebDAV client is CyberDuck (http://cyberduck.ch).
Once you connect to your CRX/CQ instance you can place your static content within the repository.
Using Package Manager
The third way to add content to your repository is to create a package and import the package. The advantage of this method is that your content becomes a single file that is portable and able to archived. Packages can be created using tools such as Maven. The method I describe here uses no build tools.
First, create a folder node to contain your content within your repository using CRXDE Lite. Right click on the node you want to contain your new node and select the Create->Create folder… from the context menu.
This will bring up a dialog to name your new folder.
Once you have created and named your new folder, be sure to press the Save All… button within CRXDE Lite. Any changes are lost if you leave the page before saving.
At this stage go back to the main screen by pressing the CRXDE Lite logo at the top and the screen. On the main screen, select the Packages link to go to the Package Manager.
In the Package Manager you can create a new, empty, package for the folder you just created in your repository. Select the Create Package button.
This will open a dialog. Enter the name and version of your package. The group of the package should be the default, my_packages. Press OK.
The package is listed within the Package Manager. Right now this package is completely empty. Within the listing for the new package select the Edit… button.
Within the dialog that is opened, select the Filters tab and press the Add Filter button. Specify the root path of the package. Press the search button next to the root path field and select the folder within the repository for the Web pages. Press OK to select the folder and press the Save button in the Edit Package dialog.
In the listing for the new package press the Build button to the right of the Edit button. The Activity Log at the bottom of the page will show you the progress of the build. Once built, press the Download button in the package’s listing to save a copy to your computer.
This package file will be a zip file with content directories and manifest files. At this stage we finally get to your content. Place the content you want to include in your repository inside the package file. Place the content inside the directory of the zip file that matches the folder in the repository you wish to place it. Once the package file contains all of your content you can upload it to any CRX/CQ repository.
To upload the package, go once again to the Package Manager. Within the Package Manager is the Upload Package button.
A dialog to select a package file appears after the Upload Package button is pressed. Select your package file. Pressing OK adds the Package you selected to CRX/CQ. The package will be listed in the Package Manager. It very important to know that the package itself has not been applied to the repository. To apply the content changes found in the package file, press the Install button within that package’s listing.
Once the package is installed the content can be access through your CRX/CQ instance.
See Also
Apache Sling – Discover Sling in 15 minutes has instructions on how to use the curl command to add and edit content within the Sling instance. This works the same way in CRX/CQ.
The documentation site for CRX/CQ, dev.day.com, contains documentation on WebDAV access to CRX/CQ and how to work with packages.
