Magnolia 5.5 reached end of life on November 15, 2019. This branch is no longer supported, see End-of-life policy.
A site definition contains site-wide configuration such as navigation, common page areas, and JavaScript that you want to load on every page. A site definition also contains a reference to your theme and defines locales for entering content in multiple languages.
Do I need a site definition?
No, it is not necessary to use a site definition. A site based on concrete template definitions works perfectly well. A site definition is an advanced option. It is useful when you have a large site and want to avoid repeating similar configuration.
Without a site definition you can still:
- Choose which templates are available to editors.
- Add CSS and JavaScript at the page level instead of site level.
- Configure variations for each page template.
But without a site definition you cannot use:
- Prototype
- Theme
- Imaging variations
sitefntemplating functions
Prerequisites
You need the Site module in order to create a site definition. The Site module may not always be included, for example when you create your own bundle based on the empty webapp. Add a dependency to the Site module in your webapp pom file.
Enterprise Edition Pro provides the multisite feature. It allows you to configure a different site definition for each website in a single Magnolia instance. Each site can be mapped to a different domain and you can serve content from different workspaces. These features are in the Multisite module.
Edition limitations
- Community Edition allows one site definition
- Enterprise Edition Standard allows one site definition
- Enterprise Edition Pro allows unlimited site definitions
Configuring a site definition
Configure a site definition in the Site app.
Example: Site definition for the Travel Demo site that ships with Magnolia (partial example).
| Node name | Value |
|---|---|
| travel-demo:pages/home | |
travel-demo-theme | |
| info.magnolia.cms.i18n.DefaultI18nContentSupport | |
| true | |
| true | |
| en | |
Nodes and properties:
templates | optional |
| optional The template prototype is a master template definition which applies to the whole site. Anything you configure in the prototype is applied to all page templates. |
| optional Template availability defines which page templates are available to editors in the Pages app. There are more ways to control page template availability. |
enabled | optional , default is Enables and disables the site definition. |
domains | optional Maps domain names to the site. Requires the Multisite module (EE Pro). |
theme | optional Reference to a theme that defines the look and feel of the site. Themes are configured in |
i18n | optional Locale configuration and support for entering and serving content in multiple languages. When configuring the i18n node, make sure to provide the properties |
| required (when using i18n) For instance use |
| optional , default is false |
mappings | optional URI mappings that define which node in a workspace should be served when a particular URI is requested. |
parameters | optional Custom template properties that you can access from a script without having to write a class. |
variations | optional Variations adapt the site for different devices or geographical locations. |
The Site app is actually a shortcut that displays the configuration from:
config:/modules/site/config/siteand from any extended locations in a single-site setup (Community Edition, Enterprise Edition Standard)config:/modules/multisite/config/sitesin a multisite setup (Enterprise Edition Pro)
Choosing a fallback site definition
fallback is a special site definition that is used when no site matches the request. Think of it as a "default".
When you have multiple sites, configure one of them as a fallback. Use the extends property to reference a complete site definition.
Example: Choosing travel as a fallback site definition in /modules/multisite/config/sites
| Node name | Value |
|---|---|
| ../travel | |
Overview
Content Tools