See also:

• Extranet User Guide  (Download PDF version)
• Extranet Developer Guide  (Download PDF version)

How to activate the extranet on your website

To set up basic features of the extranet (user database, extranet, login pages and security), follow these steps:

1. Create one or more extranet user groups
2. Create one ore more extranet users
3. Assign users to groups
4. Add extranet to your website

Then go on to protect:

• pages
• the entire website
• media files
• specific content on pages

And you can also grant public access to some protected pages selectively if necessary.

Additionally, you can add a signup form for user registration as well as forms for users to change or recover their passwords.

Adding extranet groups

1. From the Extranet perspective, expand Extranet and select Groups.
2. Click Add Group on the toolbar.
3. Fill out the fields on the Add Extranet Group form.
4. Click OK.

Adding extranet users

1. From the Extranet perspective, expand Extranet and select Users.
2. Сlick Add User on the toolbar.
3. Fill out the fields on the Add Extranet User form:
4. Сlick OK.

Assign users to groups

1. From the Extranet perspective, expand Groups, select the groupyou want to assign users to.
2. Click Edit Group on the toolbar.
3. On the General tab in the Group Members group box, click Edit Selections.
4. In the Users in Group form, select users and click OK.
5. Save changes to the group.

You can also assign a user to a group by editing a user (Edit User / Settings tab / Login settings / User Groups / Edit Selections).

You can assign one user to more than one group.

Adding the extranet to the website

First of all, create a login page:

1. From the Content perspective, under your website's homepage, add a new page, naming it, for example, "Login".
2. Insert the Composite.Extranet.LoginForm function into the page or add the following code:
   
   Expand code

   <f:function name="Composite.Community.Extranet.LoginForm">
   	<f:param name="SignupPage" value="aaa4ba61-41cd-446d-9d5d-da277e3b82d4" />
   	<f:param name="PasswordRecoveryPage" value="90f44ba3-35d0-4996-b061-5a1d8cff4237" />
   	<f:param name="LoginSuccessPage" value="f90418c7-9654-4226-81c1-3b4e959f4f39" />
   </f:function>

3. If necessary, set the optional parameters:
   • Signup Page: When specified, a link to the signup page is shown on the form.
   • Password Recovery Page: When specified, a link to the password recovery page is shown on the form.
     (In the example above, you should replace the page GUIDs with those of your choice.)
   • Login Success Page: When specified, this page will be shown to the user who has successfully logged in.
4. Save and publish the page.

Next, add the login status to your website. Rather than inserting the function on each page, insert it into page  template(s) or functions shared by pages and/or templates.

1. From the Layout perspective, edit a template, or, from the Functions perspective, edit a function shared by multiple pages / page templates.
2. Insert the Composite.Community.Extranet.LoginStatus function or add the following code:  Expand code

   <f:function name="Composite.Community.Extranet.LoginStatus">
     <f:param name="Iconified" value="True" />
   </f:function>

3. If necessary, set the optional parameter:
   • Iconified: When checked (this is default), it shows the lock/unlock icon buttons and a dropdown login information.
4. Save the template / function.

This feature will indicate the user's login status and allow the user to log off directly from the page he or she is currently viewing.

Finally, activate the extranet on your website:

1. From the Content perspective, right-click your website's homepage and click Add extranet security in its context menu.
2. Then in the Add Extranet to Page form, select the Extranet provider and the Login page (you have created before)
3. Click OK.

Protecting pages

To protect a page (and all its subpages):

1. From the Content perspective, right-click the page and click Edit extranet security in the context menu.
2. Click Edit Selections and in the the New Groups form.
3. Select groups to be granted access to this page.
4. Click OK.
5. Save the changes.

Securing the entire website

You can secure all the pages on your website (except for the Login page, which is always public) by setting restrictions on the homepage itself. If you want to allow all authenticated (excluding non-authenticated) users access to the homepage, follow these steps:

1. In the Extranet perspective, right-click Groups and click Edit Group on the toolbar.
2. In the working area, on the Advanced tab, check the Can be assigned access rights option and save the changes.
3. In the Content area, right-click your website's homepage and in the context menu, click Edit extranet security.
4. In the working area, click Edit Selections and in the New Groups form, select Groups. All subgroups will thus be allowed access to the website.
5. Click OK and save the changes.

This will require that users should log in to the website and be a member of at least one group. Non-authenticated users will be redirected to the Login page.

Allowing public access to protected pages selectively

You can allow anyone access to a specific protected page regardless of inherited or specified group restrictions:

1. Right-click a page you want to give public access to and click Edit extranet security.
2. In the page security view that opens, check the "No login required" option.
3. Click Save.

Even though the page should be protected, anyone can access it on the website now

Protecting media files

Once you have created the Login page and set up the extranet on your website, you can also secure your media files. To protect files in the media library, follow these steps:

1. From the Media perspective, locate the folder you wish to protect, or create a new folder naming it, for example, "Protected".
2. Right-click the folder, and click Add extranet protection in the context menu.
3. In the Add Extranet Protection on Media form, select your Associated extranet and click OK.
4. Click Edit Selections and in the New Groups form, select the groups to be allowed downloading from this folder.
5. Click OK.
6. Save the changes.

Showing group specific content

You can choose to only show some content to visitors who belong to one or more extranet groups and hide it from others:

1. Edit a page in the Content perspective or a template in the Layout perspective.
2. Insert the Composite.Community.Extranet.GroupSpecificContent function ( Insert > Function), or add the following code:  Expand code

   <f:function name="Composite.Community.Extranet.GroupSpecificContent">
   	<f:param name="Content">
   		<html>
   			<head>
   			</head>
   			<body>This content is available to registered users only!
   			</body>
   		</html>
   	</f:param>
   	<f:param name="GroupList" value="1eb3aae7-b9f3-4730-bf30-8e1bb16d3531" />
   </f:function>

3. Set up its two required parameters:
   • Content: The content you want the members of specific groups to see when opening the page.
   • Group with access (GroupList): One or more extranet groups the members of which will see the above content on the page. If users are not members of these groups, they will not see this content. (In the example above, you should replace the GUIDs of two extranet groups with those of your choice.)

Setting up optional features

You can also add a few optional extranet features to your website.

You can allow users to register themselves as new users on your website:

1. Create a new page and name it "Register".
2. Insert the Composite.Community.Extranet.SignupForm function or add the following code:
   Expand code

   <f:function name="Composite.Community.Extranet.SignupForm" xmlns:f="http://www.composite.net/ns/function/1.0">
   	<f:param name="AutoAssignedGroups" value="1eb3aae7-b9f3-4730-bf30-8e1bb16d3531" />
   	<f:param name="AutoApproveUser" value="True" />
   	<f:param name="UserFolderName" value="Members" />
   	<f:param name="SuccessMessage">
   		<html>
   			<head>
   			</head>
   			<body>
   				<h1>Thank you for your registration!</h1>
   			</body>
   		</html>
   	</f:param>
   </f:function>

3. Set the optional parameters:
   • Auto assigned groups: It specifies the groups automatically assigned to the user after the registration.
   • Auto approve user: The user will either be able to log in immediately after the registration or require the administrator's approval.
   • User folder name: It specifies the user folder to add new users to.
   • Success message: A message to show the user who has successfully signed up.
4. Save and publish the page.

To allow registered users to change their passwords, add a change-password form:

1. Create a new page and name it, for example, "Change Password".
2. Insert Composite.Community.Extranet.ChangePasswordForm function into the page or add the following code:
   Expand code

   <f:function name="Composite.Community.Extranet.ChangePasswordForm"/>

3. Save and publish the page.

To allow users to recover their passwords if forgotten:

1. Create a new page and name it, for example, "Recover Password".
2. Insert the Composite.Community.Extranet.PasswordRecoveryForm function into the page:
   Expand code

   <f:function name="Composite.Community.Extranet.PasswordRecoveryForm"/>

3. Save and publish the page.

Form Localization

The strings used in the Extranet Razor-based functions such as LoginForm or SignupForm  ("frontend") are stored in this file:

~/App_GlobalResources/Composite/Community/Extranet.resx

To localize these strings:

1. Create a copy of the Extranet.resx adding the language code suffix of the desired language to the file name , for example, Extranet.da-dk.resx for Danish ("da-dk").
2. Translate the strings in this file.
3. Restart the server ("Tools" | "Restart Server").

CMS Console GUI localization

The strings used in the Extranet in the CMS Console GUI ("backend") are stored in this file:

~/Composite/InstalledPackages/Localization/Composite.Community.Extranet.en-us.xml.

To localize these strings:

1. Create a copy of the Composite.Community.Extranet.en-us.xml changing the language code suffix to that of the desired language, for example, Composite.Community.Extranet.da-dk.xml for Danish ("da-DK").
2. Translate the strings in this file.
3. Restart the server ("Tools" | "Restart Server").

Customization

You can customize the layout by editing the respective Razor function from the Functions perspective: Razor Functions / Composite / Community / Extranet