Reldens CMS

A powerful, flexible Content Management System built with Node.js, featuring an admin panel, multi-domain frontend support, enhanced templating with reusable content blocks, and automated installation.

Features

- Quick Setup

• Web-based installer with a guided setup process
• Automatic database schema creation and seeding
• Environment configuration generation
• Directory structure initialization

- Frontend Engine

• Multi-domain support with domain-specific templates and partials
• Dynamic routing from database-driven routes
• Entity-based URLs (e.g., /articles/123)
• Template fallback system (domain → default → base)
• Layout system with body content layouts and page wrappers
• Reusable content blocks with <entity> template functions
• Collection rendering with filtering, sorting, pagination, and loop support
• Custom partial tags with HTML-style syntax for complex partials
• Entity access control for public/private content
• Static asset serving with Express integration as default
• Template engine with Mustache integration as default
• Custom 404 handling

- Admin Panel

• Full CRUD operations for all entities including content blocks
• File upload handling with multiple storage buckets
• Role-based authentication and access control
• Advanced filtering and search across entity properties
• Bulk operations (delete multiple records)
• Relationship management with foreign key support
• Template-driven UI with customizable admin themes

-️ Database & Entities

• Multiple database drivers (Prisma by default, others via DriversMap)
• Automatic entity generation from a database schema
• Relationship mapping and foreign key handling
• Custom entity configuration with validation rules
• Translation support for entity labels and properties
• Content blocks management via cms_blocks table
• Entity access control via entities_access table

- Configuration & Architecture

• Environment-based configuration (.env file)
• Modular service architecture (Frontend, AdminManager, DataServer, TemplateEngine)
• Event-driven system with hooks for customization
• Extensible authentication (database users or custom callbacks)
• File security with path validation and dangerous key filtering

Installation

Method 1: Automated Web Installer

npx reldens-cms

Navigate to http://localhost:8080 and follow the installation wizard.

Method 2: Manual Setup

const { Manager } = require('@reldens/cms');

const cms = new Manager({
    projectRoot: process.cwd(),
    entityAccess: {
        cmsPages: { public: true, operations: ['read'] },
        articles: { public: true, operations: ['read'] },
        users: { public: false }
    }
});

cms.start();

Configuration

Environment Variables

RELDENS_APP_HOST=http://localhost
RELDENS_APP_PORT=8080
RELDENS_ADMIN_ROUTE_PATH=/admin
RELDENS_ADMIN_SECRET=your-secret-key

RELDENS_DB_CLIENT=mysql
RELDENS_DB_HOST=localhost  
RELDENS_DB_PORT=3306
RELDENS_DB_NAME=cms_db
RELDENS_DB_USER=username
RELDENS_DB_PASSWORD=password
RELDENS_STORAGE_DRIVER=prisma

RELDENS_DEFAULT_DOMAIN=example.com
RELDENS_DOMAIN_MAPPING={"dev.example.com":"development"}
RELDENS_SITE_KEY_MAPPING={"example.com":"main"}

Custom Entity Configuration

const entityConfig = {
    articles: {
        listProperties: ['title', 'status', 'created_at'],
        showProperties: ['title', 'content', 'author', 'status'],
        editProperties: ['title', 'content', 'author_id', 'status'],
        filterProperties: ['status', 'author_id'],
        titleProperty: 'title',
        parentItemLabel: 'Content',
        properties: {
            title: { type: 'string', isRequired: true },
            content: { type: 'text' },
            author_id: { type: 'reference', reference: 'users' },
            featured_image: { 
                type: 'string', 
                isUpload: true, 
                allowedTypes: 'image',
                bucket: 'uploads'
            }
        }
    }
};

const cms = new Manager({
    entitiesConfig: entityConfig
});

Enhanced Templating System

Template Functions

Templates support dynamic content blocks, entity rendering, and collections with advanced query options:

Single Entity Rendering:

<!-- Render by any identifier field (like 'name' for content blocks) -->
<entity name="cmsBlocks" field="name" value="header-main"/>
<entity name="cmsBlocks" field="name" value="sidebar-left"/>

<!-- Render by ID (default identifier) -->
<entity name="articles" id="123"/>
<entity name="cmsPages" id="1"/>

Single Field Collections:

<!-- Extract and concatenate a single field from multiple records -->
<collection name="cmsBlocks" filters="{status: 'active', category: 'navigation'}" field="content"/>
<collection name="articles" filters="{featured: true}" field="title"/>

<!-- With query options for sorting and limiting -->
<collection name="articles" filters="{featured: true}" field="title" data="{limit: 5, sortBy: 'created_at', sortDirection: 'desc'}"/>
<collection name="cmsBlocks" filters="{status: 'active'}" field="content" data="{limit: 3, offset: 10, sortBy: 'priority'}"/>

Loop Collections:

<!-- Loop through records with full template rendering -->
<collection name="cmsBlocks" filters="{status: 'active'}">
  <div class="block">
    <h3>{{row.title}}</h3>
    <div class="content">{{row.content}}</div>
  </div>
</collection>

<collection name="articles" filters="{category: 'technology'}">
  <div class="article">
    <h4>{{row.title}}</h4>
    <p>{{row.summary}}</p>
    <img src="{{row.featured_image}}" alt="{{row.title}}">
  </div>
</collection>

<!-- With pagination and sorting -->
<collection name="articles" filters="{featured: true}" data="{limit: 10, offset: 0, sortBy: 'created_at', sortDirection: 'asc'}">
  <div class="article-card">
    <h4>{{row.title}}</h4>
    <p>{{row.summary}}</p>
  </div>
</collection>

Custom Partials with Variables:

New HTML-style partial tags:

<!-- Clean HTML-style syntax for complex partials -->
<partial name="hero" 
    sectionStyle=" bg-black"
    bigTextHtml="A free open-source platform to create multiplayer games!"
    mediumTextHtml="Build with Node.js, MySQL, Colyseus, and Phaser 3"
    htmlContentWrapper='<div class="d-lg-flex"><a href="/documentation" target="_blank" class="btn-get-started">Get Started!</a><a href="https://demo.reldens.com/" target="_blank" class="btn-watch-video"> Demo </a></div>'
    imageUrl="/assets/web/reldens-check.png"
    imageAlt="Reldens - MMORPG Platform" />

<!-- Self-closing and open/close syntax both supported -->
<partial name="productCard" 
    title="Premium Package"
    price="$99"
    highlighted="true">
</partial>

Traditional Mustache syntax is still supported:

<!-- Call a partial with an inline JSON object -->
{{>hero -{
    bigTextHtml: "A free open-source platform to create multiplayer games!",
    mediumTextHtml: "Build with Node.js, MySQL, Colyseus, and Phaser 3",
    imageUrl: "https://example.com/hero.jpg",
    ctaText: "Get Started",
    ctaLink: "/documentation"
}-}}

<!-- Call a partial within collections using row data -->
<collection name="cmsPages" filters="{featured: true}" data="{limit: 3}">
    {{>cardView -{row}-}}
</collection>

<!-- Call a partial with mixed data -->
{{>productCard -{
    title: "Premium Package",
    price: "$99",
    features: ["Advanced Analytics", "Priority Support", "Custom Themes"],
    highlighted: true
}-}}

Example Partial Templates:

partials/hero.mustache:

<section class="hero{{#sectionStyle}}{{sectionStyle}}{{/sectionStyle}}">
    <div class="hero-content">
        <h1>{{&bigTextHtml}}</h1>
        <p>{{&mediumTextHtml}}</p>
        {{#htmlContentWrapper}}
        {{&htmlContentWrapper}}
        {{/htmlContentWrapper}}
        {{#imageUrl}}
        <img src="{{imageUrl}}" alt="{{imageAlt}}" class="hero-image">
        {{/imageUrl}}
    </div>
</section>

partials/cardView.mustache:

<div class="card">
    <h3>{{title}}</h3>
    <p>{{json_data.excerpt}}</p>
    {{#json_data.featured_image}}
    <img src="{{json_data.featured_image}}" alt="{{title}}">
    {{/json_data.featured_image}}
    {{#json_data.cta_text}}
    <a href="{{json_data.cta_link}}" class="btn">{{json_data.cta_text}}</a>
    {{/json_data.cta_text}}
</div>

Collection Query Options

Collections support advanced query parameters for pagination and sorting:

• limit - Maximum number of records to return
• offset - Number of records to skip (for pagination)
• sortBy - Field name to sort by
• sortDirection - Sort direction ('asc' or 'desc')

Examples:

<!-- Get the first 5 articles sorted by title -->
<collection name="articles" filters="{}" field="title" data="{limit: 5, sortBy: 'title'}"/>

<!-- Paginated results: skip first 20, get next 10 -->
<collection name="articles" filters="{published: true}" data="{limit: 10, offset: 20, sortBy: 'created_at', sortDirection: 'desc'}">
  <article>{{row.title}}</article>
</collection>

<!-- The latest 3 featured articles by creation date -->
<collection name="articles" filters="{featured: true}" data="{limit: 3, sortBy: 'created_at', sortDirection: 'desc'}">
  <div class="featured-article">{{row.title}}</div>
</collection>

Layout System

The CMS uses a two-tier layout system:

page.html - Full HTML wrapper:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="{{locale}}">
<head>
    <title>{{title}}</title>
    <meta name="description" content="{{description}}"/>
    <link href="/css/styles.css" rel="stylesheet"/>
</head>
<body class="{{siteHandle}}">
    {{&content}}
    <script src="/js/scripts.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

layouts/default.html - Body content only:

<entity name="cmsBlocks" field="name" value="header-main"/>

<main id="main" class="main-container">
    <div class="container">
        <div class="row">
            <div class="col-md-3">
                <entity name="cmsBlocks" field="name" value="sidebar-left"/>
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-9">
                {{&content}}
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</main>

<entity name="cmsBlocks" field="name" value="footer-main"/>

Pages can use different layouts by setting the layout field in cms_pages:

• default - Header, sidebar, main content, footer
• full-width - Full width without sidebars
• minimal - Basic layout with minimal styling

Content Blocks

Create reusable content blocks in the cms_blocks table via the admin panel:

INSERT INTO cms_blocks (name, title, content) VALUES 
('contact-info', 'Contact Information', '<p>Email: [e-mail]</p>'),
('article-sidebar', 'Article Categories', 
'<div class="categories"><h3>Categories</h3><ul><li><a href="/articles/technology">Technology</a></li></ul></div>');

Entity Access Control

Control which entities are publicly accessible:

const cms = new Manager({
    entityAccess: {
        articles: { public: true, operations: ['read'] },
        cmsPages: { public: true, operations: ['read'] },
        users: { public: false }
    }
});

Multi-Domain Setup

Directory Structure

templates/
├── layouts/
│   ├── default.html        # Body content layouts
│   ├── full-width.html
│   └── minimal.html
├── domains/
│   ├── example.com/
│   │   ├── layouts/        # Domain-specific layouts
│   │   ├── partials/
│   │   │   ├── header.html
│   │   │   └── footer.html
│   │   ├── page.html       # Domain-specific page wrapper
│   │   └── index.html
│   └── dev.example.com/
│       └── page.html
├── partials/
│   ├── header.html (default)
│   └── footer.html (default)
├── page.html (base HTML wrapper)
└── 404.html

Advanced Usage

Custom Authentication

const customAuth = async (email, password, roleId) => {
    const user = await yourAuthService.authenticate(email, password);
    return user && user.role_id === roleId ? user : false;
};

const cms = new Manager({
    authenticationMethod: 'custom',
    authenticationCallback: customAuth
});

File Upload Configuration

const uploadConfig = {
    mimeTypes: {
        image: ['image/jpeg', 'image/png', 'image/webp'],
        document: ['application/pdf', 'text/plain']
    },
    allowedExtensions: {
        image: ['.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png', '.webp'],
        document: ['.pdf', '.txt']
    }
};

const cms = new Manager(uploadConfig);

Event Hooks

cms.events.on('reldens.setupAdminRoutes', ({adminManager}) => {
    // Add custom admin routes
    adminManager.adminRouter.get('/custom', (req, res) => {
        res.send('Custom admin page');
    });
});

cms.events.on('adminEntityExtraData', ({entitySerializedData, entity}) => {
    // Add extra data to admin views
    entitySerializedData.customField = 'Custom Value';
});

Default database Schema

Core Tables

• routes - URL routing and SEO metadata
• cms_pages - Page content with layout assignments
• cms_blocks - Reusable content blocks
• entities_access - Entity access control rules
• entities_meta - Generic metadata storage
• cms_pages_meta - Page-specific metadata

Installation Options

The installer provides checkboxes for:

• CMS core tables
• User authentication system
• Default admin user
• Default homepage
• Default content blocks
• Entity access control rules

API Reference

Manager Class

• start() - Initialize and start the CMS
• isInstalled() - Check if CMS is installed
• initializeServices() - Initialize all services

Frontend Class

• initialize() - Set up frontend routes and templates
• handleRequest(req, res) - Main request handler
• findRouteByPath(path) - Database route lookup
• findEntityByPath(path) - Entity-based URL handling

TemplateEngine Class

• render(template, data, partials) - Main template rendering with enhanced functions
• processEntityFunctions(template) - Process <entity> functions
• processSingleFieldCollections(template) - Process single field collections with query options
• processLoopCollections(template) - Process loop collections with query options
• processCustomPartials(template) - Process <partial> tags with attribute parsing
• fetchEntityForTemplate(tableName, identifier, identifierField) - Load single entity
• fetchCollectionForTemplate(tableName, filtersJson, queryOptionsJson) - Load entity collections with pagination and sorting

AdminManager Class

• setupAdmin() - Initialize admin panel
• generateListRouteContent() - Entity list pages
• generateEditRouteContent() - Entity edit forms
• processSaveEntity() - Handle form submissions

Installer Class

• prepareSetup() - Setup installation routes
• executeInstallProcess() - Run installation
• generateEntities() - Create entity files

File Structure

project/
├── admin/
│   └── templates/           # Admin panel templates
├── templates/
│   ├── layouts/            # Body content layouts
│   ├── domains/            # Domain-specific templates
│   ├── partials/           # Shared template partials
│   ├── page.html           # Base HTML wrapper
│   └── 404.html            # Error page
├── public/
│   ├── css/               # Stylesheets
│   ├── js/                # Client scripts
│   └── assets/            # Static assets
├── entities/              # Generated entity classes
├── .env                   # Environment configuration
├── install.lock           # Installation lock file
└── index.js               # Main application file

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Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Follow the coding standards in the JavaScript rules
4. Submit a pull request

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Need something specific?

Request a feature here: https://www.reldens.com/features-request

Documentation

https://www.reldens.com/documentation/cms

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License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

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Reldens

By DwDeveloper