merged/README.md

# Merged

A CMS that integrates into the rails workflow. Ie it is file based
not db based.

Changes propagate in the normal development cycle, with git, possible
branches, possible staging, possible reviews and controlled deploys.

## Usage

Merged is designed for developers to give limited editing facilities
to users. As with rails, there is great flexibility how this can be
achieved, a basic example below.

## Concepts

Merged has simple but powerful concepts and structures to define
the interactions users may have.

### Page

The core entity that may be edited is a Page. Pages contain Sections
(below) in a way defined by developers.

A Page has a type, different types may define different layouts, or rather types of Sections they may include.

A page has a name which is it's Url, Merged is not designed for nesting currently.

All data that users change is stored in the Pages' Yaml, which get
committed and __merged__ to propagate to the site.

A Page also has data, attributes and options, see below.

### Sections

Merged itself defines many styles of sections, and off course
developers may define more.
For example a Header with text is a section, a hero section is a section, and a card section is a different style.

The only defining characteristic of a section is really that it is full width, and it has a template that renders the content.

A Page may contain as many sections as the Page definition allows.

A Section in turn may contain cards.

Like a Page, a Section may have options.

### Cards

Cards, as in general css lingo, are usually smaller html boxes,
usually contained in a grid (defined by the Section). But they may
be form fields, or features (svg).

Cards have data and options like the other elements.

### Image

Merged also manages images, adding deleting, renaming, even a small editor.
Images are stored in the assets folder. With the Pages, Sections and Cards they
define the content that users can change.

Images merge into the upstream in the same way as the pages, through
git actions (partially done by Merged)

### Change (-sets)

As data is in files, all change happens by git.
Merged partially manages this, by making changes visible to the
users, ie what Pages and Images were added/removed or edited.
Merged can commit and in the future maybe even push.

Merged requires a user to be logged in and will log all changes, meaning
change times and the email of the editor. The last change is displayed in
the ui for auditing purposes.

## Basic setup

A developer set up a machine on a intranet/lan. Ie access is
restricted by physical access.

The machine is set up as a developer machine, on a "feature" branch.
A User may use the machine to edit and commit and push (the branch).

The developer reviews, merges changes and deploys.

## Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

```ruby
gem "merged" , git: "https://github.com/HubFeenixMakers/merged"
```

And then execute:
```bash
$ bundle
```

Mount engine in routes for editing (possibly not in production).

```ruby
mount Merged::Engine => "/merged"
```

Create route to serve content.
```ruby
get ":id" , to: "merged/view#view" , id: :id
```

If Merged served the root:
```ruby
root "merged/view#view" , id: 'index'
```

### Stylesheets

#### Apps not using tailwind

Include merged stylesheet to your layout or asset
pipeline.

```
= stylesheet_link_tag "application"
= stylesheet_link_tag "merged/merged"
```

#### Apps using tailwind

If you use tailwind with the basic install, you need to edit the tailwind config.

Basically it is impossible to have two tailwind generated stylesheets, so your app needs to pick
up the merged styles. This can be configured like so:

```
const output = execSync('bundle show merged', { encoding: 'utf-8' });
const fullname = output.trim() + '/app/**/*.{haml,html,rb}' ;


module.exports = {
  content: [
    fullname ,
    .... as before
  ]
```

## Developers

### Styles

Developers should look at the predefined styles. These are found in
merged gem /config/merged/**style.yml

And on a running app http://localhost:3000/merged/styles/index

### Section Views

These are under app/views/merged/views/sections/*haml
and the name of the file matches the section_style entry

Developers may define more section styles, but must provide the partials to render them.

### Card Views

These are under app/views/merged/views/cards/*haml
and the name of the file matches the card entry.

Developers may define more card styles, but must provide the partials to render them.

### Options

Option definitions (also found under style dir) are common between elements.
Options may be added and then used in the view partials. Many common ones (background,
color) and many more are already defined.

To make the partials more dry, Helpers are defined in OptionsHelper


## Contributing
Ask first.

## License
The gem is available as open source under the terms of the [MIT License](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT).