====ARDI User Content Framework====

The **User Content Framework** (or UCF) is a common pattern found in a number of ARDI addons, including our //Reporting//, //Infographics// and //Function// addons.

It's a very basic method of providing custom content in an ARDI addon.

===The Base Folder===

In any UCF-based addon, you will have a **base folder**.

Normally, this will be found in your ARDI [[ardiadminguide:site folder]], along side all of your media-files and settings. 

The actual folder name will vary depending on the addon, but you'll find a couple of examples below...

^Addon^Folder Name^
|ReportList|Reports|
|Infographics|Displays|
|FunctionList|Functions|

As an example, if you installed ARDI onto a Windows system in **C:\ARDI**, you'll find the reports for the 'default' database at...

   C:\ARDI\web\sites\default\reports

===Content In Each Folder===

Under that folder, you'll find any shared resource files (ie. Python libraries, images, settings etc.). 

You'll also find a sub-folder for each piece of //content// you add to the system. For example, the Reporting addon will have a folder for every report, the Infographics addon will have a folder for every display.

//Although they are technically supported, for compatibility reasons we suggest that the folder names don't contain any spaces and are lower-case. This helps avoid issues should an ARDI server ever migrate from Windows to Linux platforms.//

//Note: Sub-folders with a leading underscore (_) symbol are ignored.//

===Identification===

Inside the folder for each item is an **info.txt** or **info.json** file that describes the specific piece of content.

At a minimum, this file will include the //name// of the content (ie. the human-readable name of the report or display) and the //folder// it should appear in when users browse through the user-interface.

In many cases, you can split your content into sub-folders using the '/' character. 

You can also assign a single piece of content to multiple folders by using a vertical bar (|) to split different folder names.

For example...

   Daily Reports
//The content appears in the 'Daily Reports' folder//

   Daily Reports/Technical
//The content appears in the 'Technical' folder, which is inside 'Daily Reports'//

    Daily Reports|Control Reports
//The content appears in **both** the 'Daily Reports' folder and the 'Control Reports' folder.//

===Content===

Along-side the **info** file, put the content itself. This type of content varies depending on the addon - Infographics will usually require a Javascript file called //generate.js//, reports will have a Python script called //report.py//.

===Why Use This System===

At first glance, this system seems //very// basic. And you'd be right.

But this was a deliberate choice. By being very simple, it's extremely flexible and highly compatible with a range of hardware, software and workflow options.

Advantages include...

   * No special infrastructure (databases, services, etc) are required,
   * Content can be created in a wide variety of simple tools,
   * Editing can be performed via text-based methods such as SSH, 
   * Content can be backed up along-side the rest of your ARDI database,
   * Content is compatible with a wide variety of version-management tools,
   * The folder location can be overridden, allowing you to share a common set of content on network drives or cloud-synced storage.
   * Content can often be developed off-server and only copied onto the server when it's published.