# CMS settings, posts, files, visitors and where everything is stored

> The settings of the Total.js CMS, the posts manager, how uploaded files are served and resized, the visitor statistics and the dashboard, the OpenPlatform integration and the data model of the site.

Framework: cms
Product: CMS (cms@8071e48)
Language: en
Content-SHA256: 111717bf1e02afa7bbb01896ed4e92ee49e22fc18bc8590b127b73e3e0868ce6
Snapshot: c0700e321579725c5cf4f5ace1ad7d2866d1b4f93c24a63c0b41b6b7998e976c
Sources: 
Review: not-recorded

## Settings

The plugin *Settings* (`settings_read`, `settings_save`; permission `settings`) edits the configuration that the CMS keeps inside the metadata of the site and loads into `CONF` at every start:

| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `name` | the name of the site, used in the `<title>` of every page except `/` and in the file name of the backup |
| `url` | the public address of the site; the CMS also updates it from the host of the admin requests |
| `smtp` | the SMTP settings as a JSON text (`server`, `from`, `user`, `password`, `port`); `settings_test` tries them |
| `icon` | an icon for the site |
| `$tms`, `secret_tms` | publish the events by TMS, and the secret of that connection |
| `op_reqtoken`, `op_restoken` | the tokens of an [OpenPlatform](/en/openplatform/how-an-app-connects/); when both are set the admin sign-in is replaced by the one of OpenPlatform |
| `totalapi` | a key for the Total.js API services |

Plugins can add more keys, which appear in the same form. Values that live in the file `config` (`$api`, `cdn`, `salt` and, if you add it, `token`) are not edited here.

## Posts

The plugin *Posts* is a small manager of articles, kept in its own NoSQL file inside the storage. A post has a `name`, `category`, `picture`, `summary`, `body`, `reference`, `icon`, `color`, `hidden` and `date`; the admin lists them newest first (100 per page) and `posts_categories` returns the categories in use. The posts are data for your own code: the public renderer of the CMS (`controllers/default.js`) does not print them, so a widget or a route of yours has to read them and draw them.

## Files

The plugin *Files* stores uploads in the file storage and marks them as public. `GET /download/<id>.<ext>` serves a public file (only the public ones; the rest answer 404). For images, `?s=<percent>` returns a smaller JPEG (the value must be between 10 and 80, with quality 80), and `?download=1` forces a download. The upload routes and their limits are in [the admin API](/en/cms/the-admin-api/).

## Visitors and the dashboard

The module `modules/visitors.js` counts the visits of the public pages through the script `/visitors.js` that every page includes: unique visitors, hits, browsers, referrers, search, social and direct traffic, mobile and desktop, hours of the day, and the people online (a visitor is online for 20 minutes without activity). The *Dashboard* plugin draws those numbers from `dashboard_stats`, `dashboard_online`, `dashboard_browsers`, `dashboard_referers` and `dashboard_pages`.

## OpenPlatform

When `op_reqtoken` and `op_restoken` are set, the CMS signs people in through [OpenPlatform](/en/openplatform/what-is-openplatform/) (module `modules/openplatform.js`) and each plugin contributes its permission to the list that OpenPlatform shows when you assign groups: `pages`, `layouts`, `widgets`, `navigation`, `posts`, `files`, `redirects`, `variables`, `settings` and `admin`. Remember the rule of OpenPlatform: an application is visible only to the groups that you assign to it.

## The data model

`MAIN.db` holds the metadata of the site (`pages`, `layouts`, `widgets`, `redirects`, `vars`, `nav`, `config` and `storage`) and it is saved as one JSON document called `meta` in the file storage. The HTML of every page and layout is a file of that storage whose name is the id of the page or layout. `FUNC.load()` reads the metadata at start, compiles the widgets (running their `install` function) and rebuilds the caches; `FUNC.save()` writes it back. That is why a backup of the storage is a backup of the site.