4.0 Content Type Concept: Developer

Introduction

Content Types are templates for content. You create them for content editors, who use them to craft Content Entries, the units of actual content. Content Types can be reused by linking them together with Reference Links.

In this section, you will learn:

1. What Content Types are

2. How they relate to Content Entries

3. How to link Content Types together

4. How localised default values can be set

Content Type overview

A Content Type is a template for a particular type of content

As a developer, you design Content Types as templates that content editors can use to create content. For example, you might develop a Content Type for a hero banner, footer, or blog post. Content editors utilise these as the basis for Content Entries, the units of actual content.

Content Types contain fields that template corresponding fields in Content Entries where editors insert values. You configure these fields with a specific type that defines the permissible values that can be entered. Like Components, these fields can be preset with default values or be marked as translatable.

Content Types can be linked together using a special field called a Reference Link. This allows you to compose new Content Types from existing ones. Doing so creates a chain of Content Types (and this permits their Content Entries to be similarly linked). However, keep in mind that you can only link up to 10 Content Types and circular references are not allowed.

Content Type Fields

Content Type Fields consist of the following:

1. Name: the name of the field, which will be inherited by the Content Entry Fields

2. Type: the type of value content editors will be able to use in the Content Entry Fields

Field types

For each Content Type Field, you can specify one of the following types:

• Boolean

• Date Time

• Media item

• Number (integer)

• Number (real)

• Picklist

• Reference link

• Rich text

• Text

Creating a Content Type for blog posts

For blog posts, standard fields such as title, body, and date can be set up with value types like Text and Date Time. Content editors then fill and adjust the corresponding Content Entry Fields with values that match the predefined type.

Blog post Content Type

Blog post Content Entries

Other Content Type examples

You can create Content Types for virtually any type of content, such as:

• Navigation menus

• Headers/footers

• Hero banners

• Image galleries

• Contact forms

Linking Content Types together with Reference Links

With Reference Links you can connect Content Types together. This allows you to compose new Content Types from existing ones, rather than recreating groups of fields that already exist.

Why use Reference Links?

Using Reference Links ultimately reduces the number of Content Types you create and makes them easier to manage – with similar benefits for content editors using Content Entries:

• Reuse existing Content Types

• Compose new Content Types from existing ones

• Standardise content by reusing the same Content Type

• Manage your Content Types more easily due to less duplication

Reusable Content Types with Reference Links

The following example demonstrates designing a Company Office Content Type with and without Reference Links:

With Reference Links, the Address and PostCode Content Types can be reused in other Content Types, can be managed individually, and do not require the namespacing of field names.

Example Content Types

An example of what the Content Types could look like is shown below:

Example Content Entries

And the associated Content Entries a content editor might create:

Allowing multiple links with Reference Link Collections

Reference Link Collections allow content editors to link multiple Content Entries to the same field. For example, to link multiple images into a carousel, or multiple hyperlinks into a footer.

Reference Link rules

1: You cannot link more than 10 Content Types together

2: You cannot link to a Content Type that directly or indirectly links back to itself

Deleting Content Types with Reference Links

Deleting a Content Type with Reference Links may disconnect some Content Types from each other that were previously linked, potentially removing them from current usage.

Setting default values

You can set default values in your Content Types that Content Entries will be initialised with.

Default values are localised

Each field may set a different default value for every Locale.

For example, a Content Type might define a Boolean field that defaults to True for the US and UK Locales but False in the French locale. Content Entry Fields are initialised with these values for the same Locales.

Default values and fallbacks

You don’t have to set a default value for every Locale if fallbacks are set. This is because Content Entries will be initialised with these default values that may then fall back into other Locales. You can tell where this will happen by looking at the hierarchical structure when setting default values.

For example, in the image below:

• Locale en-GB is set to fall back to en-US (shown by the indented structure)

• For a Boolean field called IsInterview, no default value is provided for en-GB

• The same field in Content Entries will receive the True value for en-GB by fallback from en-US

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Notes

Warnings

User journeys

1. Add a Content Type

2. Add a Content Type Field

Glossary

See the Glossary for more information.