I’d managed to remain blissfully unaware of the IBM (Lotus) Workplace Web Content Management abomination (IWWCM).
Until tonight.
My job requires me to create a lot of Flash content. A lot of Flash content that loads its “skeleton” through XML files and loads other external assets, too.
If you’re coerced into using IWWCM, be prepared for a nightmare.
Apparently, it’s miscengenation for a SWF and an XML file to cohabit the same folder. I can only assume that every PNG and JPG needs its own folder, too (though maybe I’m wrong on that).
Why?! What the heck?! Gone are the carefree days of relative paths! Now, instead of sticking all my images into the same folder and just telling Flash, “Go get the images from here. Yeah, they’re all in there. Just hang out and I’ll tell you which one I want,” I have to know the full URL (which I can’t know until the file’s been uploaded and IWWCM, in its infinite wisdom, creates a travesty of a path structure), which means I have to edit the XML accordingly. For a handful of images, it’s not a big deal. For a few hundred images (for example), it’s significantly more annoying.
Oh–and I have to republish the SWF with the correct URL for the XML file after I’ve uploaded the XML file, too.
Whoever takes credit for this lovely system, I have only one thing to say: You are not my favorite friend. 