Quick start

On this page:

Overview

Here's a quick start guide to working with Scaffolding.

In this example, you will learn to build a knowledge-base system consisting of a set of knowledge-base articles that would look like the following.

Set up the template

  1. Click Space Settings > Look and Feel > Templates.

    scaffolding-template-setup-step1.png

You need space administrator permission to view all the features in the Space settings menu. Non-space admin users see a limited feature set.

  1. Choose Create New Template.

  2. Name the template Knowledge Base Article Template.

  3. Add a Scaffolding Field Group macro in the template editor.

  4. The Field Group settings appear with the available fields.

  • Drag and drop a Paragraph field from the sidebar into the editor area

  • Type Summary above the Paragraph field.

See Tips below on how to quickly insert paragraphs.

  1. Below the Summary paragraph, do the following:

    • Insert a 2x2 table to hold the System and Version fields and enter System and Version into the left-hand cells.

    • Select the empty cell on the right of the System. Then drag and drop a Dropdown List field from the sidebar into the empty cell.
      Alternatively, you can type /dropdown and click on Dropdown List in the popup. This creates a dropdown menu later.

  2. In the sidebar under Field Settings, do the following:

  • Fill in the labels for the dropdown, for example, Mac OS X, Windows 10, Ubuntu, etc.

  • Press enter to create a label.

     

The label text is auto-saved

  1. To continue, select the empty cell to the right of Version. Then, drag and drop a Number field from the sidebar into the empty cell.

  2. Add any other necessary fields like Diagnosis, Cause, and Solution.

  3. Click Insert to insert the Field Group in your template. This will exit the Field Group settings menu and save the field group.

Create a page

  1. Create a new page and add a Live Template macro.

  1. Specify the template name as Knowledge Base Article Template.

  2. Choose Insert to continue.

  3. Enter a page title.

  4. Choose Publish to publish the page.

Add content

To add content to your live template, do the following:

  1. On the newly published page, click Edit Content on the macro.

  1. Populate the fields accordingly. The Paragraph editor under Summary supports most of the features you would normally find in a standard Confluence Cloud editor.

  1. Continue with the System and Version fields below.

  1. The Version field only allows you to enter numbers.

  2. Fill in the rest of the fields as needed and click Publish to save your data. The end result might look like shown in the image below:

Update template

  1. Go back to the Knowledge Base Article Template you created and edit it.

  2. Click the Edit icon to edit the Field Group macro.

Let's change this page to demonstrate the benefits of using a Live Template.

  • Add a new text field and change some existing fields.

  • Add any contact information above the Summary section.

  • In the 2x2 table below

    • Change System to Operating system and

    • Version to Version affected

  • Choose Save to save the Field Group.

  • Click Save on the page again to save the template.

  • Open and refresh the “Page export fails with error 52” page.

The changes you made to the template are now automatically reflected on the "Page export fails with error 52" page without you having to edit that specific page.

Tips

In the Scaffolding editor

You can insert fields quickly by typing / and the beginning of a field name, e.g., /paragraph.

In the editor toolbar

You can insert a table by clicking on the Table icon.

Speed up macro entry with autocomplete

  • In the new editor

    • type / and the beginning of an element (tool or things in the insert menu) to see a list of suggestions.

  • In the legacy editor

    • type { and the beginning of the macro name to see a list of suggested macros.

 

See also