OpenWGA


OpenWGA is a Content Management System running on the Java Enterprise Edition Platform. It is used to build, manage and publish websites and content-centric web applications. The system is developed and maintained by German company Innovation Gate GmbH.

Components and Editions of the CMS platform

The central part of the platform is the OpenWGA Server, a web server process responsible for publishing web applications. It itself is a web application of the Java Enterprise Edition Platform and is available in two editions:
Another part of the platform is the OpenWGA developer studio, an Integrated development environment for developing and testing OpenWGA web applications, based on the Eclipse IDE framework.

History

OpenWGA was long time developed under the name of WGA and was by this time a commercial Web Content Management System only available to the German market. With releasing it under Open Source License it was rebranded to OpenWGA. The acronym originally stood for "WebGate Anywhere", containing a reference to the predecessor software "Webgate", a CMS running on the IBM Lotus Domino Platform. The WGA/OpenWGA software has no connection with Windows Genuine Advantage, also known as WGA.
ReleaseVersionNotable Enhancements
20011.0No complete CMS but merely a Java-based interface server for adding content data to CMS "WebGate" via third party authoring clients like Microsoft Word and other office products
20022.0Complete CMS server on J2EE platform storing content data in Lotus Domino Databases
20032.1New administrative tools: "WGA Admin Page" for monitoring and "WGA Manager" for configuring the server; Introduction of WebTML actions
February 20042.2First version of WebTML portlet framework; Switching data interface for Lotus Domino to DIIOP CORBA protocol instead of "native interface", fixing various resource exhaustion problems
July 20043.0Introduction of content storage for relational database systems; Reworked Browser Authoring Interface; WebTML forms
December 20043.1WGA Scheduler; Incremental Content Store Synchronisation
20053.2Integrated Lucene fulltext index; TMLScript overhaul; ACL Roles
20063.3External storage of designs in design directories; Design sharing; WebTML forms and labels
20074.0Focus on Web application development; WGA Plugins architecture; Modernization of WebTML portlet framework incl. AJAX functionality; OpenWGA Content Manager replaces "Browser Authoring Interface"; WGA Design Assistant allows configuration of WGA design directories
20084.1Optimized content file handling with resource-neutral fetching of large file data; Addressing content via human-readable title path URLs
April 20105.0Release as OpenWGA Community Edition under GPL; Refactored and simplified administrative model including new OpenWGA admin client; OpenWGA developer studio; Content relations; Exposure to international market
August 20105.1Pluggable language behaviour; Beginning Drag&Drop support in OpenWGA Content Manager; Externalize serving of large files to HTTP server
November 20105.2CMIS connectivity; Support for PostgreSQL databases; Image editing features inside OpenWGA Content Manager
March 20115.3Content modules; Virtual Hosts; Search Engine Optimizations
July 20115.4Plugin Store; Inheritable read access restrictions for pages; Content Module Templates; Customizable application designs
December 20115.5Basic Website Kit; HDBModel application framework; Support for Microsoft SQLServer in Community Edition
May 20126.0New base stream with 3 years of support; Basic App Kit; Shared server connection pool
May 20136.1OpenWGA Server API
September 20136.2WebTML portlet applications capable of multi-window usage; Problem Registry; Services APIs
April 20146.3File derivates; RESTful web service; cluster communication framework; Optimized "distinct file contents" storage for binary data
September 20147.0New base stream with 3 years of support; Customization of Authoring UI; Performance Improvements
February 20157.1Switch to unoconv service for the analysis and indexing of office files; Refactored fulltext index, separately indexing distinct file attachments
June 20167.2Version 7.2 released: MVC: Added TMLScript controller and renderer modules
October 20167.3Version 7.3 released: New SEO panel
March 20177.4Version 7.4 released: Language dependent optimised fulltext index
December 20177.5Version 7.5 released
July 20187.6Version 7.6 released with new Content Manager UI
July 20197.7Version 7.7 released

Content management characteristics

OpenWGA provides the following characteristic features known in content management and publishing:
OpenWGA uses its own templating languages called WebTML and TMLScript. WebTML is a syntax of XML-formatted tags, prefixed with "tml:", that mark dynamic parts of page templates, providing mainly data output and flow control beside offering higher level features. TMLScript is an expression language used to specify expressions and define routines in WebTML that complies to the rules of JavaScript Version 1.6.
The following example demonstrates the usage of WebTML and TMLScript in a HTML page template:


The design of an OpenWGA web application is either provided as OpenWGA design directory for direct editing or as an OpenWGA plugin for wider distribution.