projectdoc introduces structure on a Confluence space. It adds the concept of homepages for document types.
Homepages for Doctypes
Homepages for document types add an additional feature to the organization tools in your Confluence wiki.
Purpose
If you are using Confluence you are probably already familiar with index pages. If you create a new page with a blueprint, the new page is tagged with a label which is bound to a page that lists all documents of this type.
The screenshot shows a link to the Topic homepage and three links to index pages.
Index pages start with "All ..." in the title per convention.
Homepages are similar. If you create a new page, you may decide to send this page to its homepage.
The Default Target checkbox will move the new page to the homepage.
If this box is unchecked (the default) the page will be stored as a child to the current page.
Homepages collect the documents of a give type, but in contrast to index pages, they reference only the root documents. This allows you to create hierarchies of documents on the homepage, while the index page still lists all documents in a long list.
Maven Project Directory Layout
Homepages help to organize your space. If you are a software developer you probably know the concept of a project directory layout. Usually it does not really matter where your place your files as long as they are stored in a well known place. For software developers using Java and Maven it is natural to store these files under src/main/java and the test files at src/test/java. Every type of file has a defined default location. This helps software developers that participate in multiple projects to find the files they are looking for fast and easily. It is a convention that removes the need to configure the development environments manually due to valid defaults.
The same is true for homepages.
Most files simply have to be stored in one location. If you collect meeting minutes or requirements, out-items or stakeholder information, you often want to store them in one place for your project. This is what homepages are about.
Doctype Homepages
Per default the blueprint for each doctype defines one homepage.
Homepages are typically created at space creation. Index pages are created on demand.
Most homepages have links to the homepages for the document types used in that space. The links show if there is content on the homepage.
The example shows four links. There are no documents stored on the homepages of Tours, FAQs, and Topics. They are rendered with an opacity of 50%.
The team has already added some glossary items. Therefore the link is shown in a highlighted style.
The highlighting features makes it easy for readers to judge on first glance which page has actually documents attached.
The link actually checks if a document of this type has already been created. The semantics are to check if any team member has ever invested time to create a document of the given type.
In most cases the simplified version of "there is a document of this kind" will be matching the situation.
Personally defined Homepages
You may also define your personal homepage for documents of a given type.
Simply set the space property named Doctype Home to point to your selected homepage. Whenever you create a new page of that type – and select to send this page to its homepage by checking the Default Location box on the blueprint wizard – that page is stored as a child of the designated homepage.
To set the default page for a user's library, add this to the user's homepage:
The space key has the format
projectdoc.doctype.XYZ.home
Where XYZ stands for the doctype of the homepage. The identifier of the doctype is found in the doctype's documentation under the key ID.
The value is the key of the space followed by the title of the homepage.
