The content management system for the rest of us...

RapidWeaver is primarily a desktop-based website publishing platform; meaning that you build staticwebpages locally in the main 'app' and then publish the completed pages to a web server. RapidWeaverhas no native CMS (content management system) capabilities. From its outset, RapidWeaver is designedfor smaller websites, which only a single person needs to edit from their Mac computer.

If you need to build a website that other people can login to edit (from anywhere and using any computer ordevice), then RapidWeaver may not always be the best tool for the job. You would instead be better toconsider building your website using any of the existing or emerging database-driven or 'flat file' publishingplatforms that exist. Platforms like Wordpress, Drupal, concrete5, Joomla, Pulse, HTMLy, Statamic, Grav,Kirby, Monstra, Pico and Bludit are examples of some of the other platforms available that permit remoteediting of websites without a desktop app.

However you might be in a position whereby you want to build a simple website in RapidWeaver and stillgive yourself or clients some basic remote editing controls. Alternatively you may wish to modify an existingRapidWeaver-built website to include some content management functionality. If so, then Sentry CMSmight be exactly what you're looking to build into your website.

Sentry CMS is a small CMS plugin (stack) for RapidWeaver. Unlike some other CMS solutions forRapidWeaver, Sentry CMS places emphasis on simplicity, speed and security. We purposefully forego a lotof complicated settings and big feature sets that some other CMS solutions for RapidWeaver bring. Webelieve simple is best!

With modest server requirements, you should find Sentry CMS is quick to configure in RapidWeaver. Withina short space of time, it will let you make content on your website editable (without needing RapidWeaver)or grant you the ability to toggle blocks of content on and off.

Sentry CMS

Introduction

What is Sentry CMS?

The editing controls in Sentry CMS are exceptionally user-friendly. So even if you are deploying SentryCMS for a client who is not very tech-savvy, they should be able to use Sentry CMS without any problems.We also support a wide range of web browsers and devices, for editing website content.

Sentry CMS is 'white label'. No branding is displayed in the editing interface. To the casual user, it will looklike you have custom-built them a content management system, exclusively for their use. Indeed, manyoptions are available to customise the user interface, including the colour scheme and button labels. SentryCMS can be localised, so is a good choice to use in non-English websites.

Just remember that once a website is published with Sentry CMS, remote changes made to Sentry CMSEdit or Sentry CMS Display stacks cannot be synced automatically back into RapidWeaver again, at a latertime. Sentry CMS assumes that once an area of the page is marked as being editable, it will always beedited outside of RapidWeaver.

Sentry CMS version 4 has the following system requirements:

RapidWeaver 6 or greaterStacks 3 or greaterA web server with PHP 5.6 or laterA web server with support for SQLite databases

The system requirements for Sentry CMS are very modest. In most instances the stack can be made towork on almost all shared or dedicated web hosting services.

However we strongly recommend that you make use if the free demo version provided; before committingto a purchase. You may need to speak with your web hosting company to confirm they support PHP 5.6 orlater and SQLite.

Because Sentry CMS uses PHP sessions to handle logins, currently Sentry CMS is not compatible withtesting environments like MAMP. You would instead need to use a real web server for testing Sentry CMS.

We strongly recommend that you use a modern, responsive RapidWeaver theme with Sentry CMS, to getthe best results. Free and paid themes offered from established companies like ThemeFlood, seyDesign,Blueball Design, Yuzool and Henk Vrieselaar have been fount to work really well with Sentry CMS; as maysome others.

You can purchase Sentry CMS from the seyDesign website and use it in multiple websites that you ownand manage. For example if you manage 5 websites for 5 different clients, then you would be permitted touse Sentry CMS in all 5 websites. But if one of those clients wanted to buy RapidWeaver and manage thewebsite themselves, they would need to buy their own copy of Sentry CMS too.

System requirements

Licensing

Please note that we only provide free support for the FIRST website you publish with Sentry CMS. You caneither purchase Sentry CMS for additional websites you need help with or hire us at an hourly rate tooversee support and troubleshooting.

Sentry CMS has been tested and confirmed to work on the following web browsers and devices:

Internet Explorer 9, 10 and 11Microsoft EdgeAmazon Fire Tablet PCAll newer versions of mobile, tablet and desktop FirefoxNewer Android (Chrome) based web browsers on mobile and tabletApple iOS 5 and above, iPhone and iPad versions of SafariRaspberry Pi kit-built computersAll recent desktop versions of Safari, Chrome, Maxthon and Opera

This means that if you or a client are using any of the above, you stand a good chance of being able tologin to your webpages and edit content or control the display of stacks. The login interface uses pureHTML, CSS, Javascript and Font Icons; for maximum speed and improved compatibility. No Flash orSilverLight is used in any part of Sentry CMS.

It's important to remember that some devices (like iPhone and iPad) still lack the capability to let you uploadfiles. So therefore some functions of Sentry CMS (like image uploads) may not work universally across alldevices.

Here are some ideas of ways you could incorporate Sentry CMS into your RapidWeaver projects

Create an events page on a website, and set the events to automatically hide when their date issurpassedA simple classified-style page where your clients can list products for sale (like vehicles) and easilyadd or remove entries at any time, without needing RapidWeaver or to ask you to do itUse the media directory in Sentry CMS as a place to upload files for display in Stacks like Pro Gallery,which have warehousing supportCreate an 'about' page for an individual or company, that can be easily updated outside ofRapidWeaver at any timeUse Sentry CMS to create a 'featured' box on a website homepage, to list a different featured productor service each monthA bulletin board / notice board for a small team to collaborate and leave messagesBuild editable lists that present sporting fixtures or team resultsUtilise the image uploader in Sentry to build a simple drop-box file sharing system, so that clients can

Sentry CMS browser compatibility

Possible uses for Sentry CMS

login and share images or text with youA basic news page, that a client can login and add short news updates or announcements to.

Sentry CMS can be considered quite 'client safe'. There is little that a prospective client could do in SentryCMS that would break webpages! Often clients are not web designers, and therefore a CMS solution forRapidWeaver like Sentry CMS safely restricts what changes a client can make unsupervised. In the case ofSentry CMS Edit stacks, a client is unable to add code or custom scripts to editable areas, and any stylingthe client applies to content (like headings or links) is automatically inherited from your RapidWeavertheme.

Sentry CMS comprises of four stack elements, for the Yourhead Stacks plugin. The four stacks comprise ofthe following:

1. Sentry CMS Base: The main stack you put on the homepage of your website. This stack holdsimportant settings and files that other Sentry CMS stacks added to you website need. You configurethe email addresses and passwords of clients here in the base stack. Up-to 10 user accounts can becreated.

2. Sentry CMS Edit: This stack defines an area of the webpage that you or a client can edit. This isintended to make simple stacks like styled text, Markdown or HTML code editable. You can safely usemultiple Sentry CMS Edit stacks on the same webpage (for example, a Sentry CMS Edit stack placedinside each block of a column stack), if you want to make multiple regions of a page editable.

3. Sentry CMS Display: Allows you or a client to login to a page and toggle the display of content on andoff using a simple 'switch'. You can also setup content to hide and show at particular times; which isuseful for things like time-limited special promotions, flash sales or lightning deals.

4. Sentry CMS Login: Put one of these stacks on any page where you are using any of the three abovestacks. This stack provides a virtual 'doorway' to login to the page and start editing it.

At the heart of Sentry CMS is a single database, which stores your editable content and settings for SentryCMS Display stacks. Our database uses something called SQLite; which is a simple, opensource databasesystem. Many Android, iOS and desktop apps (like email and photo albums) also use SQLite; because it isfast, secure and easy to backup.

This SQLite database is generated the first time you login to your Sentry CMS stacks. Unlike MySQL,SQLite does not require you to manually configure and setup a new database - Sentry CMS will createeverything it needs itself. This makes Sentry CMS possibly the easiest CMS stack to use for RapidWeaver!

You can easily login to edit content by pressing and holding it for a few seconds or by clicking a visible loginbutton. Once logged in, any changes made will be saved back into the database.

How Sentry CMS works

Sentry CMS prides itself in being a very secure CMS solution for RapidWeaver. In its long history, there hasnever once been any documented cases of Sentry CMS stacks getting hacked. All the most sensitive items(like usernames and passwords) are embedded deep within PHP files; which only server admins wouldnormally only ever have access to. Nobody holds a 'master key' to Sentry CMS - the logins you setup arethe only ones that can ever be used to to gain access to your Sentry CMS Edit and Sentry CMS Displaystacks.

Sentry CMS stacks are professionally coded to the highest standards and adhere to best practices for usersafety and system security. Any Sentry CMS updates are provided from SSL encrypted servers andAmazon S3; to remove the risk of malware getting injected into the code. Genuine copies of Sentry CMSare only available to purchase from the seyDesign website; and from no other websites or app stores.

You can improve security further by ensuring your web hosting company are keeping server software (likeSQL, PHP and Apache) updated. Only grant trusted persons access to login to your Sentry CMSinstallation. Use secure passwords that are hard to guess. You might also want to choose to hide the visiblelogin button; so there is less clue that the page is remotely editable (login can still be performed by pressingand holding content for several seconds).

Although not essential, we would also recommend you consider applying an SSL security certificate to yourwebsite (if you've not done so already). This will encrypt the website and ensure that the website you oryour client is logging into is the genuine thing.

It is suggested that you create a practice website with Sentry CMS first, before deploying it onto a livewebsite. This will let you safely test Sentry CMS and learn how it works. Once your test site is working, youcan easily delete it and incorporate Sentry CMS into real websites built with RapidWeaver.

Start by creating a new project file in RapidWeaver. This can be named something like 'Sentry.rw'. Go intothe website settings and make sure the address to the webpage homepage is correctly set.

Sentry CMS Security

Using Sentry CMS

Add a new Stacks page to the project file and ensure this is set as the homepage.

Open the Stacks library and search for 'Sentry CMS'. Drag and drop a Sentry CMS stack into the page.

Remaining in edit mode, select this main stack and access its settings. You will see in the Stacks HUD thatthis is where you configure the email address and password of the first login account. Plus other settings,like custom labels and localisations for the admin interface.

An important requirement of using Sentry CMS in your website is the deployment of a Sentry CMS Login

stacks on any and all webpages where you are using Sentry CMS stacks. The login stack works as a go-between communicator; between the various Sentry CMS stacks. It's this stack that connects the logininterface to the backend and verifies if someone is able to login. It also passes information back from thedatabase to your Sentry CMS Edit and Sentry CMS Display stacks. Although it is called the 'Sentry CMSLogin' stack, it actually does far more beneath the surface than just logins.

With this in mind, you need to add a Sentry CMS Login stack to your homepage. You do this by opening theStacks Library and searching for 'Sentry Login'. Add one of these stacks to your homepage.

Although a mandatory requirement on all pages that use Sentry CMS stacks, we provide the Sentry CMSlogin stack as a separate stack element; so you have more flexibility as to where the optional login button isshown on the page. The login button icon is formed using a Font Awesome Icon, which you can change inthe settings. Only one login stack per-page is required.

So far we've created a mini test site and configured the homepage with a Sentry CMS 'base' stack and alogin stack. Now it is time to make other parts of the website editable.

Add a new Stacks page to your website. Open the Stacks Library. Drag-and-drop a Sentry CMS Edit stackinto the page, as pictured below.

Configuring editable content

Then drag-and-drop a Text stack into the Sentry CMS Edit stack. Now that this Text stack is placed insideSentry CMS Edit, this content will eventually become editable on the live website.

Don't forget to add a Sentry CMS Login stack to this page too, as pictured below.

On the assumption that you wanted to setup timed content (only displayed at specific dates) or you wantedthe ability to toggle this content on and off remotely, you will need to setup Sentry CMS Display stacks.Repeating the above steps, add a new Stacks page, together with Sentry CMS Display and Sentry CMSLogin stacks, as pictured below.

You can safely use multiple Sentry CMS Display and Sentry CMS Edit stacks together on the samewebpage. A prime example could be a group of columns on a webpage, and placing a Sentry CMS Editstack inside each column cell would let you edit the contents within those columns.

And this is what the same page would look like on the website in edit mode, with each Sentry CMS Editstack having it's own responsive editing toolbar:

For best results, only place simple stacks inside Sentry CMS Edit and Sentry CMS Display stacks.Examples of simple stacks could include:

TextHTML CodeMarkdown

Once you have a basic test site build with some Sentry CMS stacks, export or publish the website to yourweb server. On the first occasion, publishing may take an extended period of time, while Sentry CMSuploads all of its required files. Please be patient! On subsequent publishes of the website, uploads will bemuch quicker if you've enabled 'smart publishing' in RapidWeaver; thereby ensuring RapidWeaver onlyuploads files it detects as changed.

To begin editing content or toggling it on and off, point your web browser to the webpages with Sentry CMSEdit or Sentry CMS Display stacks on. Click and hold the content for several seconds; to display the loginwindow. Or click a login button on your page to open the login window instantly, without delay.

Enter your email address and password to login. Sentry CMS supports the saving of email addresses andpasswords in your web browser and within utilities like LastPass and 1Password.

Once you are logged into a page, you will typically see style toolbars applied to blocks of content and aborder rendered around editable content.

Remotely editing content in Sentry CMS Edit stacks

Sentry CMS uses a process of 'in context editing'. This means you see your normal page content andlayout, but editable areas now display extra buttons.

You will find that Sentry CMS Edit stacks display a basic array of content editing controls. These let youmarkup headings, create links, add images, create lists and apply simple styling like bold, italics anddividing borders. Quite possibly all the simple text editing controls you would probably ever need.

In the admin toolbar at the top of the page, you can click the Quick Preview button to see what yourcontent changes look like (without logging out) or you can click the Logout button to switch out of editmode.

The green Save Changes button above the editable controls does as its label implies and saves anychanges for this particular Sentry CMS Edit stack.

Likewise if you are using Sentry CMS Display stacks, you will see a similar editing interface, when loggedin.

Occasionally you may notice that a large space is inserted below your Sentry CMS Edit or Sentry CMSDisplay stacks. This is intentional and used to ensure there is adequate space available for Sentry CMSinterface components (like dropdown selects) to display. This extra whitespace collapses when you logout.

Once you are happy with your Sentry CMS test and you're confident that our Sentry CMS stacks will workfor you, you can deploy Sentry CMS on a live website.

Repeat all of the steps discussed above, starting with putting a Sentry CMS Base and Sentry CMS Loginstack on your website homepage. On other pages where you wish to make content editable, use the SentryCMS Edit and Sentry CMS Display stacks; in combination with a single Sentry CMS Login stack.

Sentry CMS displays instructions in edit mode, within RapidWeaver. These will help guide you with thesetup of your Sentry CMS stacks. Additionally if you mouseover any of the Sentry CMS stack settings,small informational tooltips are displayed to explain what a particular option does.

You can drag-and-drop existing text, HTML and Markdown stacks in your pages within Sentry CMS Editand Sentry CMS Display stacks. You do not need to re-write this content again. Sentry CMS will intelligentlydetect basic formatting like headings, links and lists.

The SQlite database gets generated the first time you login to your website; and is subsequently used to

Deploying Sentry CMS on a live website

Backing-up your Sentry CMS database and media

store Sentry CMS Edit and Sentry CMS Display data. This isn't something that RapidWeaver couldaccidentally delete or overwrite each time you republish your website!

However if you were to manually delete your entire website (via FTP) ahead of a full-republish or movingthe website, then of course there is a risk of losing your content (if the database gets deleted). The sameabove applies to the media directory; used to store any images you upload in Sentry CMS Edit stacks.

Fortunately it's very simple to backup your database and media folder. In RapidWeaver, navigate to yourhomepage and select the Sentry CMS Base stack. In its settings, check the Database Download Link.Now preview your page in RapidWeaver.

As you can see in the above screenshot, Sentry tells you the location of your database. You can copy thisaddress and paste it straight into your web browser, to download the database file.

We also display the path to your media directory. This path corresponds to the directory and file structureyou are likely to see in your FTP software.

It is recommended that you still have backups running on your web server. So if you were to accidentallydelete files, you can quickly restore them in a few clicks. Most better web hosting companies already offerfree daily backups of your website; on a thirty day rotation.

Should you need to restore the database or media directories, simply login to your web hosting account(with your FTP or file manager software) and place these files back in the same location you got them from.

Some Sentry CMS users have asked what happens if user accounts are added or removed; and whether

this forces an overwrite of the database. The answer is "no". You can safely add or remove user accountsat any time. Sentry CMS stores email addresses and passwords within the Sentry CMS 'base' stack on yourhomepage, and not within the database. We only use the database for Sentry CMS Edit content and SentryCMS Display timings.

SQlite files are not designed to be human editable. Should you ever need to manually edit SQlite, werecommend using a GUI editor like Base 2 by Menial Software.

This is intentional. Sentry CMS requires PHP, so therefore the page extension is changed to .php in thePage Inspector. This has no impact on page loading speed or SEO. However it may effect any manually-coded links you have previously setup. Make sure you are viewing the PHP version of the page and deleteany HTML version that might still be on the server (otherwise that will default).

Make sure all webpages featuring Sentry CMS stacks (including the homepage) have got a Sentry CMSLogin stack on them. Ensure the 'soft reload' option is enabled in the Sentry CMS Login stack settings.Append ?action=logout onto the browser address bar and hit return, to ensure you aren't already loggedin.

Check the timestamp on your SQLite database file to make sure it has not been accidentally deleted orreverted to an earlier version. Restore from a backup if necessary. See the chapter on backups for moreinformation. Are you viewing the PHP version of the page? Sentry CMS and RapidWeaver will not deleteolder .html pages on the server, which might still be present.

Make sure the email address and password combination are correct. Pay particular attention to ensurethere are no spaces or special characters being accidentally entered. Login may not work if someone elseis already logged into the page and making edits.

If editing or logout buttons are missing, just append ?action=logout onto the page address. This will forcea logout. Note that you will lose any unsaved changes. You can also clear your browser cache to force alogout.

Basic Troubleshooting

Sentry CMS stacks are missing / my page now has a .php extension

Editable controls not showing when you login

Editable content is missing or has been reverted

Can't login

How can I manually logout?

Your internet connection might be slow or the web server might be experiencing heavy traffic.

There might be a problem with your hosting account on the web server. Try again later and if the problempersists contact your web hosting company (who will have access to the server error logs and can pin-pointwhere the problem is).

Some operating systems like iOS do not have file managers, so they may not support file uploads.

This user guide is copyright. No part of it may be copied or reproduced without permission. This includesposting extracts of it on places like the RapidWeaver forums. The information contained is subject tochange.

Edits are really slow to save

'Error 5xx' messages showing

File uploads are not working on my iPhone / iPad