In this article we'll explore how to create the must-have Ephox accessory of the year, your own personal EditLive! for IWWCM installer.  As discussed in the previous article the EditLive! for IWWCM installer's main function is to perform some copy and paste operations.  By having and maintaining your own, customized version of the EditLive! for IWWCM installer it will make the job of maintaining your IWWCM instance much easier.

What I'm Not Going to Explain

In this article I'm not going to go into the details of each of the configuration settings for either the installer or EditLive!'s interface.  The best place to go for that information is the documentation packaged with the product.  If, you're still not sure about any of the settings after giving the documentation a glance I'd encourage you to get in touch with us here at Ephox via our support system.

Why Create a Custom Installer?

Put simply a custom installer is a backup of your EditLive! for IWWCM install.  

The main reason to create and maintain a custom EditLive! for IWWCM installer is to make the job of re-installing EditLive! for IWWCM much, much easier.  This will be helpful when either upgrading your EditLive! for IWWCM version or, more often, after you've installed certain IBM iFixes or patch releases.  For those of you who've been working with IWWCM and any IWWCM customizations, EditLive! included, you've probably noticed that certain packages from IBM will remove EditLive! for IWWCM's install files.   The usual clue that this will happen is when the iFix's or patch's release notes state that you need to backup any custom JSPs before the install.

If you have maintained your customized version of the installer for EditLive! for IWWCM then re-installing EditLive! for IWWCM after installing such a fix or patch into your Portal will be a breeze.  All you will need to do is run the installer and you'll be back up and running again with EditLive! in less than 5 minutes.  Equally upgrading your EditLive! install becomes a breeze - I'll go through how to upgrade your EditLive! version a little later.

What Can Be Customized?

I can tell I've got you interested now because you're still reading, so I will cut to the good bits.

For those of you who've spoken with our technical specialists or taken a glance at our documentation you'll know that EditLive! for IWWCM is extremely customizable.  However, for most people, customizing the installer's properties and EditLive!'s configuration is usually sufficient so that's what I will go through here.  If you've built extra functionality on top of the integration and have questions about how to best maintain that please get in touch with us via our support system or your system integrator who did the work originally.

There are two basic aspects of configuring EditLive!.  Firstly, the installer parameters that will set how EditLive! will interact with IWWCM behind the scenes.  This includes settings such as the install directory for Portal and what's visible on the dialogs that browse the repository (e.g. insert hyperlinks and images).

The second type of configuration is that for EditLive!'s interface.  Typically this involves things like what appears on the toolbar or menu, or how EditLive! cleans content copied from external applications (e.g. Word or the browser).

IWWCM 5.1.0.x

The files you are likely to customize for this installation are as follows (refer to Understanding the EditLive! for IWWCM Installer for information on where to find these files):

• The build.properties file to set the parameters on how EditLive! will interact with your repository
• The sites.properties file if you've enabled some of the advanced styles functionality
• The standard_eljconfigxml.jsp if you've built role or user-based EditLive! configurations

IWWCM version 6.0 and Above

The files you are likely to customize for this installation are as follows (refer to Understanding the EditLive! for IWWCM Installer for information on where to find these files):

• The build.properties file to set the install location of your Portal environment.
• The configuration files for EditLive!
  • sample_eljconfig.xml if you've only got a single configuration for EditLive!
  • ephox.config.properties and any configuration files it lists if you're using role-based configurations or a configuration file other than sample_eljconfig.xml.

How to Create and Maintain Your Installer

By now you should know what advantages there are in maintaining a customized installer and which files are important to be able to maintain that custom installer.  So now it's time to go through the process of creating and maintaining that installer.

Creating the Installer

Creating the installer is pretty easy, in fact, if you've installed EditLive! for IWWCM in the past you've already created your own custom installer by specifying your own settings when you installed.  So, now that you've gone to the effort of doing that for the initial install don't waste it.  Keep that installer in a safe place as it will form the basis for your custom installer.

Maintaining the Installer

Maintaining the installer is also easy, it simply comes down to how you edit the configuration for EditLive!.  The way I'd recommend making any customization is to make the changes in the relevant files in the installer first (see the What Can Be Customized section which lists these files).  If you follow this logic then the steps to make changes to your EditLive! for IWWCM install will be as follows:

1. Make the change in the customized installer you've created (and maintained)
2. Deploy the changes by running the installer

Because deploying EditLive! for IWWCM doesn't require any downtime or restart for Portal this process is quick, easy and painless.

On the other hand if, for some reason, you have to make changes to the EditLive! for IWWCM configuration in the live Portal environment then simply make sure you copy the changes back into the EditLive! for IWWCM installer you're maintaining.  In this way you will make sure that your customized installer always reflects the live environment - effectively maintaining a backup - so if you ever have to re-install you'll have all your customizations back up and running instantly.

Summary

By now you should understand how a custom installer can be used to make a very effective backup of your EditLive! for IWWCM environment.  You should know how this backup can be used to quickly and easily get your EditLive! for IWWCM install back up and running after patching your Portal environment and how to create and maintain your custom installer.

I hope you've found this information useful.  If you have any comments or suggestions on how we could make this article more useful please let us know via the comments field below, the LiveWorks! mailing list, or through our support system.

The next article in this series will go through how you can upgrade your EditLive! for IWWCM install while still maintaining your custom files.

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