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All content of the website will be stored and maintained in a Headless Content Management System (HCMS), in our case in Contentstack.
A HCMS allows to define data structures and relations between datasets without any coding efforts. HCMS provide interfaces for creating, editing and maintaining datasets as well ass assets (files) and managing different permissions of the HCMS. Different to a classical CMS, like e.g. WordPress, a HCMS aims at being flexibly adaptable to many different purposes and even quite complex processes.
With the advantages, a few issues come: HCMS interfaces are not explicitly optimized to a defined specific processes. Sometimes you have to add a few clicks more. Basically, if you once understood the principle, working with a HCMS is comfortable.
With Contentstack comes a complete customizable user interface to allow to maintain content without any coding skills. Nevertheless, it helps to understand the key terms used in Contentstack and what relational data management means.
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A relation between two datasets is called Reference. Based Depending on the Content Type settings of the customized UI, you can reference datasets from one or multiple specific Content Types.
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Using References is a key in using Contentstack. A comprehensive description how to work with References and what you need to consider, you can find in References in Contentstack. |
A Content Type is like a table in Contentstack, coming with a customized edit form.
With the edit form of . a Content Type, you can create or edit an Entry, which is a dataset.
An Asset in Contentstack is a file you you upload to Contentstack, like images, PDFs etc.
Please refer to the Contentstack User Manual for more detailed information about Contentstack.
References in Contentstack
If you reference an entry in another entry, the referenced entry itself stays independent. This means, all options can and must be used independently.
Contentstack allows you in a reference field to either (a) “Create a new entry” or to (b) “Choose an existing” entry.
(a) If you click this option, Contentstack forwards you to the related Content Type’s form to create and store your desired piece of content. Once you store the new entry, it will be automatically related (= referenced) to the entry where you are coming from.
(b) If you click this option, Contentstack provides you with a selection of possible Content Types and Entries to select. Once you selected an entry, the reference will be created between the selected entry and the entry where you are coming from.
If you create a new entry and you want to create a referenced entry in the same step, you will mostly miss the “Create a new entry” option. → Save you just created entry and try again.
Contentstack needs the unique ID of the entry to be able to store the reference. This unique ID will be created by saving the entry for the first time.
If you want to publish an entry with references, Contentstack will probably ask you, if you want to published the entry with or without references. → Normally, you also want to publish with references.
As already said, the referenced entries stay independent in regards to their edit and publish status. Technically, if you publish with references, Contentstack publishes multiple entries in one process.
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find more terms in the Glossary.
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Be careful with deleting entries in Contentstack. Many Content Types allow relations to others. This means that if you delete an entry, you might break web pages! If you do not need an entry any longer at a specific point, you should always just change the referenced entry. Before you delete an entry, you should safeguard, if the entry is in use somewhere.
If you see any referenced entry here, you should better avoid deleting an entry. |
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Please refer to the Contentstack User Manual for more detailed information about Contentstack.
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