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Content Types

This page describes how to create a Content Type Definition (CTD) using Flotiq Dashboard.

We will use a simple Blog Post CTD as an example:

Example:

Example: Content Type Definition for Blog Post

A blog post typically can be described with the following set of properties:

• id – string, unique, required, Flotiq Dashboard adds this automatically
• title – string, required, part of the object title
• slug – string, unique, required
• excerpt - string, required
• content – string, required
• headerImage - relation to Media type

You need an activated account to see the CTD page in the Dashboard.

Hint

This documentation page does not describe how to create CTDs using API if you want to learn about it head to the Working with Content Types API

Creating Content Type Definitions ¹

The Content Modeler is a convenient tool for modelling CTDs, which you can access through the Type definitions menu entry. The Modeler interacts with the /api/v1/internal/contenttype endpoint on behalf of the user and seamlessly integrates into Flotiq's UI.

Click Type definitions in the menu on the left to get to CTDs list:

If you don't have any Content Types defined yet, you will see a list of tiles which will help you to quickly create . Select your first one or create such from scratch by choosing Custom. It is also possible to create additional CTD by clicking Add definition button in the top right corner of the page.

Hint

To learn more about our predefined CTDs and how to use them in your projects - head to the next article

In this example, click Blog Post predefined type.

It has five properties:

1. title
2. slug
3. excerpt
4. content
5. headerImage

Click the pencil icon to edit the title property. As you can see - title is a required property of Text type. Once you create the CTD - this property will render as a Text Input in Blog Post Content Object form:

Also, because the Part of object title checkbox is checked, the value of this field will be used to describe objects in different places of Flotiq's UI - object listings or when linking objects through relations.

Hint

Learn more about connecting objects via relations in managing Content Objects. You can find more about other property settings below.

The slug property is also required, but also must be unique across all your blogpost objects in the system.

The excerpt property is defined as a simple text area field.

The content property is set to generate Rich Text input (we use CKEditor in Flotiq):

The headerImage is defined as a relation to Media CTD - a system type definition that anyone can use but sees only their entries. It can only have one element added.

You can add more fields by clicking the Add property button, which opens the modal window, where you can define the property name, data type, and it's basic validation. It opens the same modal as for editing of the property.

After saving your CTD you will be redirected to the CTDs list, where you can click on the tile to list Content Objects or click on the cog to further edit CTD.

Predefined CTD tiles are no longer visible. You can use the dropdown menu in the top right corner to add more of such types.

Updating Content Type Definitions

You can always edit your CTDs. Click the cog icon on the CTD tile to do that, but you should be aware that previously added objects would not be consistent with the schema. Flotiq automatically updates the search index after the CTD update. If you change the types of properties it can lead to data loss in the search index, as the property data have to be wiped out to keep the index working correctly. It can especially occur when you change the type from Text to Relation or vice versa. The safe type change is between string types (Text, Textarea, RichText, Email) and between Number and string types (but changing string to number leads to data loss).

Property settings

Here you can find the explanation of property settings and for what types of properties they apply:

Setting	Possible for types	Required	Unique	Description
Property key	all	yes	yes	Name of the property have to be unique throughout the definition.
Property type	all	yes	no	Type of the property, its options are described in the table below.
Unique	Text, Textarea, Rich Text, Email, Number, Select, Relation	no	no	Information if the value of the property should be unique across all objects of this type
Required	all	no	no	Information if the value should exist in the object, for strings it has to non-empty string
Part of object title	Text, Textarea, Email, Number, Select	no	no	Information if the value of this property should be used when displaying a list of objects in the relation creation, in the Flotiq Dashboard Object edit form
Regex pattern	Text	no	no	Validation information, the pattern that every string should follow to be the correct value for the property (it follows ECMA 262 specification, but here you can find more user-friendly description). E.g.^\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}$ for ensuring that string is Social Security Number (SSN) in the 123-45-6789 format - Note that the regular expression is enclosed in the ^…$ tokens, where ^ means the beginning of the string, and $ means the end of the string. Without ^…$, the pattern works as a partial match, that is, matches any string tat contains the specified regular expression. For example, pattern: pet matches pet, petstore and carpet. The ^…$ token forces an exact match.
Read-only	Text, Textarea, Email, Number, Radio, Checkbox, Select	no	no	Information if the Dashboard user can edit the value. In the edit object view, the input is visible but disabled. In the add object view, the input is not visible unless the input is marked as required. API user can edit value without restrictions.
Hidden	Text, Textarea, Email, Number, Radio, Checkbox, Select	no	no	If checked property can be changed only through API, the form input will not be rendered in object form in Dashboard
Default value	Text, Textarea, Number, Select	no	no	Sets default value in object forms it is not respected when sending incomplete object through API
Help text	all	no	no	Additional description shown under generated input, it is also displayed in API documentation
Options	Radio, Select, Simple List	no	no	Options to choose from in generated object form
Show option label	Select	no	no	Information if options should consist of objects containing value and label with string values, or plain string value.
Multiple	Relation, Select	yes (only when Property type == Select)	no	Information if the list of objects in relation should be bigger than one, or select should be multiselect
Restrict to type	Relation	yes (only when Property type == Relation)	no	Information on which types can be attached as the relation
Show Time	Date time	no	no	Enables the time picker next to the date picker
Restrict to block types	Block	yes (only when Property type == Block)	no	Names of plugins used in editor, possible plugins: header, list, image, youtubeEmbed, quote, warning, delimiter. Paragraph is available always as it is default text block.

Property types:

Type	Description
Text	String type, generating Text Input in object form
Textarea	Long string type accepting new line characters, generating Textarea in object form
Markdown	Long string type accepting markdown, generating Markdown editor in object form
Email	String type, generating Email Input in object form
Rich Text	Long string type accepting HTML, generating CKEditor in object form
Number	Number type accepting any number, integer, float and doubles, generating Number Input
Radio	String type, generating Radio Input in object form
Checkbox	Boolean type, generating single Checkbox in object form
Select	String type, generating Select Dropdown in object form
Relation	Array type accepts only objects specified in Restrict to type, items in relation array cannot be duplicated
List	Object type generates subforms in object form; the inside object can have all types of properties. If you choose the list type property inside the list, then the nested list will be created.
Simple List	Array of strings type, generating Options control in object form
Geo	Object type for lat/lon location, generating inputs with map search in object form
Media	Array type accepts only Media objects, items in array cannot be duplicated
Date time	String type, the correct format is: YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH-mm. Example: 2021-06-17T13:10 or 2021-06-17.
Block	Object type, generates editor.js in object form

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1. Number of available Content Type Definitions depends on the chosen subscription plan. Check pricing and limits on the Flotiq Pricing page ↩