A Component is simply a page, an object or a group of objects that is stored in a Component Gallery. Opus provides a group of galleries containing components that you can already add to your publication. Alternatively, you can create your own components and add them to your own galleries.
Pages you can add pages to a gallery. This is useful if you design master pages that you want to use over several publications. You can design the master page once and add it to a gallery. Members of your team can then add the page into their own publications thereby ensuring consistency to the standard style guide. This is also useful if you create quiz pages.
Note:
If the page uses Publication variables, these will not be added to your new publication. However, Page variables are copied over, so it might pay to use Page variables see Types of Variables for more information.
Objects individual objects can be added to a gallery. When the component is placed on a page in your publication, it will be added to the same position as it originally appeared on the page when you created it. For example, you might want to create a gallery containing a library of images that you want to use in your publication or navigation buttons, and so on.
Group of objects you can create a group of objects on your page that work together, for example a group of buttons and images or text that appear when you press the buttons. Like individual objects a group component when added from the gallery to a page will appear in the same position as it originally appeared on the page when you created it.
Note:
Put all the objects in the group in a Frame object and then add the frame to the gallery. If you dont put the objects in a frame and try and add them to a gallery they will be placed in the gallery as separate components.
Script objects you can add a Script Object to a gallery. If you have written several bits of useful code that you want to use in several publications, place them in a gallery.
Note:
If the Script Object refers to objects on a page or uses Publication variables, these are not copied with the Script Object; therefore the script will not work unless you create these objects on the new page. If the script refers to Page variables and you have already added the page component from the gallery to the new publication, then the script will work.
Once a component has been placed on a page, it is just an object like any other you can change its contents, properties and actions in the same way as normal and this does not impact the component stored in the gallery.