Connecting Content Items in a Page

Use

To integrate data or functionality between content items in a page, you can define connections between content items. For example, by defining a connection between a list of suppliers and Google Maps, each time the user selects a supplier in the list, Google Maps displays the address of this supplier. This type of integration is also referred to by the term "mashup".

Connections between content items are made via ports and their parameters. For example, the list of suppliers has an out port that transfers the supplier address, and Google Maps has an in port that accepts an address parameter. By connecting between these parameters when creating the page, you enable the integration between the content items at runtime.

The workflow for connecting content items in a page involves the following steps:

1. The administrator and/or developer creates content items that can be connected, as described in the table below.

2. The key user defines and manages connections.

   To define connections between content items in a page, use the graphical connection editor. For more information, see Defining Connections Between Content Items .

   To manage the connection ports and parameters of a content item, use the Settings editor. For more information, see Managing Connection Ports and Parameters .

The actions required to make a content item connectable depend on the type of the content item. The following table describes the different content item types, whether they can be a source or a target or both, who makes them connectable, and possible actions in the Web Page Composer editing environment: