OnTopic Library

The OnTopic library (Ignia.Topics.*) is a .NET Framework-based content management system (CMS) established on the separation of concerns (SoC) design principle.

Roles

Specifically, it attempts to ensure that the responsibilities of the developer, designer, and content owner are compartmentalized and optimized for the needs of each.

• Content owners have access to an editor that focuses exclusively on providing access to structured data; this includes support for custom content types (e.g., "Job Posting", "Blog Post", &c.)
• Backend developers have access to data repositories, services, and a rich domain model in C# for consuming the structured data and implementing any business logic via code.
• Designers and graphic producers have access to light-weight views based on purpose-built view models, thus allowing them to focus exclusively on presentation concerns, without any platform-specific scaffolding.

This is contrasted to most traditional CMSs, which attempt to coordinate all of these via an editor by exposing design responsibilities (via themes, templates, and layouts) as well as development responsibilities (via plug-ins or components). This works well for a small project without distinct design or development resources, but introduces a lot of complexity for larger teams with established responsibilities.

Multi-Device Optimized

In addition, OnTopic is optimized for multi-client/multi-device scenarios since the content editor focuses exclusively on structured data. This allows entirely distinct presentation layers to be established. For instance, the same content can be accessed by an iOS app, a website, and even a web-based API for third-party consumption. By contrast, most CMSs are designed for one client only: a website (which may be mobile-friendly via responsive templates.)

Library

Domain Layer

• Ignia.Topics: Core domain model including Topic entity and service abstractions.

Data Access Layer

• Ignia.Topics.Data.Caching: ITopicRepository façade that caches data accessed in memory for fast subsequent retrieval.
• Ignia.Topics.Data.Sql: ITopicRepository implementation for storing and retrieving Topic entities in a Microsoft SQL Server database.
  • Ignia.Topics.Data.Sql.Database: Microsoft SQL Server database definition, including tables, views, and stored procedures needed to support the Ignia.Topics.Data.Sql library.

Note: Additional data access layers can be created by implementing the ITopicRepository interface.

Presentation Layer

• Ignia.Topics.Web: ASP.NET WebForms implementation, allowing templates to be created using *.aspx pages. This is considered deprecated, and intended exclusively for backward compatibility.
• Ignia.Topics.Web.Mvc: ASP.NET MVC 5.x implementation, including a default TopicController implementation, allowing templates to be created using *.cshtml pages.
• Ignia.Topics.AspNetCore.Mvc: ASP.NET Core 2.x implementation, including a default TopicController implementation, allowing templates to be created using *.cshtml pages.
• Ignia.Topics.ViewModels: Standard view models for exposing factory default schemas of shared content types. These can be extended, overwritten, or ignored entirely by the presentation layer implementation; they are provided for convenience.

Unit Tests

• Ignia.Topics.Tests: .NET Unit Tests, broken down by target class.

Editor

• Ignia.Topics.Editor: ASP.NET WebForms implementation of the editor interface.
• Ignia.Topics.Editor.Mvc: ASP.NET MVC implementation of the editor interface.

Credits

OnTopic is owned and maintained by Ignia.