Slide uses a configuration file for environmental properties that is used to define some global options for Slide. Those options affect the general behavior of the Slide Content Management Framework, and can be used for example to completely disable security. Therefore, the security of the slide.proporties file is crucial, and access to it should be restricted to the server administrator. These properties are specified in a Java properties file with the name org.apache.slide.slide.properties.

The Slide JAR includes a default configuration file. A configuration file in the Java library directory (e.g. /jdk1.2/lib) can be used to override the default configuration file with system wide properties. In addition, a configuration file can be placed in the classpath and will override both the system wide properties and default configuration.

When running the provided examples, Slide will use the configuration file located in the examples directory which specifies additional debugging information and pretty printing of all produced XML documents.

The following properties are currently supported in the configuration file:

 # Domain XML definition file. This is the Slide configuration file 
 # (see below).
 # Default : Will look for domain.xml in current directory
 #org.apache.slide.domain=domain.xml
 
 # Automatically perform security checks. If set to false, no security checks
 # will be performed. It's equivalent to giving root access to each principal.
 # Default : true
 #org.apache.slide.security=true
 
 # Automatically perform locking checks. Locking is disabled if set to false.
 # Default : true
 #org.apache.slide.lock=true

Slide can store the data it manages in a broad array of repositories. Each repository is accessed through a module called a Service. Each of these services have widely different dependencies, and can need a lot of extra setup steps. It is expected that services will be developed by Slide adopters to address their specific content management needs. For exemple, one company would want to access its website and NFS file server through Slide, so a NFS Service will be needed, along with a HTTP service.

The scope of the Slide project is not to integrate every existing repository in the universe (although there will be out-of-the-box support for the most widely used ones), but to enable users to easily write services which would enable access to them.

Some services included, or scheduled for inclusion with Slide are :

	Memory
	File system
	File system with versioning
	JDBC
	CVS

The WebDAV module is a Servlet and requires a property configured Servlet 2.2 implementation. It also requires JAXP and a JAXP compliant XML parser.

It is recommended that this servlet be loaded as a web application, as defined in the Servlet 2.2 specification.

Parameters can be specified to configure the servlet. They are defined in the web application descriptor of the web application. See the Servlet API documentation for more details about web applications and the web.xml file. The parameters are :

	namespace: Specify the name of the namespace which will be accessed in the Slide domain. Defaults to "webdav".
	domain: Path in the web application where the domain configuration file is. Defaults to "/Domain.xml".
	manager: Path of the manager servlet in the web application. Defaults to "/manager/".

Sample configuration file : click here.

Slide needs a configuration file to initialize the domain. This configuration file defines the namespaces which are part of this domain, the services associated with them, and the namespaces data configuration. This file uses the XML language for its syntax. The XML elements and attributes used by Slide are formally defined in the following schema. A less formal abstract follows.

Note : For convinience purposes, the root element is named "slide". If Slide is run under Avalon, this root element must be "avalon".

	slide/namespace This element is used to define a namespace in the domain. Attributes list : Name Description Required name Defines the name of the namespace true
	slide/namespace/definition This contains the declaration of the services mapped by the namespace.
	slide/namespace/definition/store Declaration of a store service which will be used by the namespace. The association of the service to a specific path in the namespace is done by using the slide/namespace/definition/scope element (see below). This element can have child stores elements. If no classname is specified, the org.apache.slide.store.StandardStore will be used. Attributes list : Name Description Required name Name under which the service is mapped true classname Service class name false
	slide/namespace/definition/store/parameter Specifies an additional parameter. Attributes list : Name Description Required name Name of the parameter true
	slide/namespace/definition/store/[childstore] Declaration of a substore which will handle storage of a type of objects. This element can either have a classname element and parameter child elements, or it can refer to another child store defined in this descriptors store. [childstore] can have the following values : nodestore securitystore lockstore revisiondescriptorsstore revisiondescriptorstore contentstore The referenced child store must be a properly defined child store defined in the same store. That is, it must have a classname attribute, and must not be a reference to another child store. Additionally, the child store must implement storage for both types. Attributes list : Name Description Required classname Service class name false
	slide/namespace/definition/store/[childstore]/reference Reference to a child store which has already been defined for thsi descriptors store. Attributes list : Name Description Required store Store type true
	slide/namespace/definition/store/[childstore]/parameter Specifies an additional parameter. Attributes list : Name Description Required name Name of the parameter true
	slide/namespace/definition/scope Associates a service to a specified scope in the namespace. Attributes list : Name Description Required match Uri filter true store Name of the store associated with the scope true
	slide/namespace/configuration This element specifies the namespace configuration.
	slide/namespace/configuration/[actions] Specifies to which object in the namespace the default action types are mapped in the namespace. The value of the element must be the uri of the corresponding object. [actions] can have one of the following values : default-action read-object create-object remove-object grant-permission revoke-permission read-permissions lock-object kill-lock read-locks read-revision-metadata create-revision-metadata modify-revision-metadata remove-revision-metadata read-revision-content create-revision-content modify-revision-content remove-revision-content It is legal not to specify any of these elements, al long as the default default-action element is present and have a valid value (which means that an object should exist at the specified uri.
	slide/namespace/configuration/userspath Specify the uri of the users root. For example, a value of "/users" will indicate that principal "foo" has a corresponding object which uri is "/users/foo" in the namespace. This element is optional.
	slide/namespace/configuration/guestpath Specify the uri of the guest user, relative to the users root. This value will be used when the credential token contains an empty String or a null value. For example, a value of "foo" will indicate that principal "userspath/foo" will be used as the current principal when the credential token contains no value. This element is optional.
	slide/namespace/configuration/filespath Specify the uri of the document root. This value is mainly used by the webdav module, which will base it's root directory using this value. Note : This feature is not implemented right now. This element is optional.
	slide/namespace/configuration/parameter Specifies an additional parameter. Attributes list : Name Description Required name Name of the parameter true
	slide/namespace/configuration/role Specifies a role mapping. The value of this element should be the Java class name of the interface representing the role. Attributes list : Name Description Required name Name of the role true
	slide/namespace/data Specify the namespace bootstrap data. Slide will attempt to create the objects specified in this section each time the namespace is intialized, and will stop if it finds the namespace has already been initialized before. Unless the namespace has already been initialized or a repository access error occurs, the creation of the specified objects / ACL / metadata will always be successful. The objects defined in this section should at least contain a user and an action object, so that later on at least one pricipal has enough credentials to perform an action on the namespace (unless security is disabled).
	slide/namespace/data/objectnode Defines a namespace node. Can have another objectnode element as child element. If the object only has one revision, the revision element can be omitted, and objectnode can contain property and content child elements. Attributes list : Name Description Required classname Class name of the attribute true uri Uri of the object true
	slide/namespace/data/objectnode/permission Grants a permission on the associated node. By defualt, the permission is positive and inheritable. Attributes list : Name Description Required action Action which can be performed true subject Subject who can perform the action true inheritable If true, the permission will also apply to the child nodes false negative If true, will explicitely deny the permission specified false
	slide/namespace/data/objectnode/revision Defines a revision on the associated node. Attributes list : Name Description Required number Revision number true
	slide/namespace/data/objectnode/revision/ancestor Indicates that the revision is based on a previous revision.
	slide/namespace/data/objectnode/revision/property Defines a revision's property. Attributes list : Name Description Required name Property name true
	slide/namespace/data/objectnode/revision/content Defines the revision's content. This element's value MUST NOT be the actual content, but an URL to the content.