Defining Fields

You can create a new field by clicking on either the view page of a field or on the button New in the Fields section. The form Configuration Management – Fields – Create is opened:

Name

Enter here the name of the field. The name cannot be subsequently changed. Please note that field names must not begin with a digit and that there are names which are used internally by the Content Manager and therefore cannot be given to fields. The Content Management Server generates an error message if you try to create a field with one of these names. The following names are reserved:

anchors, archivedContentIds, blob, blobLength, body, bodyTemplateName, channels, children, codeForActionPreview, codeForPreview, codeForSourceView, codeForThumbnail, collection, contentIds, contentType, createNewsItem, displayTitle, editor, encodedBlob, encodedExportBlob, exportBlob, exportCharset, exportFiles, exportMimeType, externalAttributes, externalAttrNames, externalAttrTypeDict, frameNames, freeLinks, getKeys, hasChildren, hasSuperLinks, height, id, isCommitted, isComplete, isEdited, isReleased, isRoot, lastChanged, linkListAttributes, mimeType, name, next, nextEditGroup, nextSignGroup, noPermissionLiveServerRead, objClass, objectId, objectsToRoot, objType, parent, path, permissionCreateChildren, permissionLiveServerRead, permissionRead, permissionRoot, permissionWrite, prefixPath, previous, reasonsForIncompleteState, releasedVersions, setKeys, signatureAttrNames, sortValue, subLinks, superLinks, superObjects, suppressExport, textLinks, thumbnail, title, toclist, validControlActionKeys, validCreateObjClasses, validFrom, validObjClasses, validPermissions, validSortKeys, validSortOrders, validSortTypes, validUntil, version, visibleExportTemplates, visibleName, visiblePath, width, workflow, workflowComment, workflowName, xmlBlob.

Type

Select the field type from the Type popup menu. The type determines which values can be assigned to a field. It cannot be changed after field creation. In the Content Management Server the following field types are available:

Field Type  Description
Date Fields of type Date record date values. The Content Management Server saves all date entries in so-called canonic form. In this form, a date is represented as a 14-digit string made up of - starting from the left - the year, month, day, hours, minutes and seconds. With the exception of the four-digit year, all components are two-digit. For example, the date 8.18.2001 is saved as 20010818000000.
String Fields of type String can contain any text. The Content Management Server converts all whitespace characters (such as tabs and line breaks) to spaces and removes leading and trailing spaces when it saves strings. The length of a string is limited to 250 characters. No coding translation is applied to strings.
Text The value of a field of type Text can contain text of any length. If the value is read out during a preview or an export, all HTML-specific characters are translated so that they remain readable. For example, the pointed bracket < becomes &lt;.
HTML The values of fields of type HTML can contain HTML texts of any length. In contrast to the Text type, the Content Management Server does not translate the HTML field value to conform to HTML. This means that the characters are used as they were entered. Furthermore, all links contained in the field values are transferred into the Content Management Server’s link management.
Markdown Like HTML, however additionally supports the Markdown syntax in the field value. This field type is available from Version 6.6 of the CMS. In the preview and during the export, Markdown text is only evaluated if the Rails Connector is used.
Selection In a field of type Selection , the possible values that the Content Management Server user can assign to the version field are predetermined from the start.
Multiple Selection The possible values are similarly predetermined for enumeration fields with multiple selection. When the Content Management Server user determines the field value, however, he can select not only one, but several of the predefined values.
Link List Fields of the Link List type contain free links, i.e. links which associate a content with any file or any external document. You can store any number of free links in a Link List type field.
Signature Signature fields are special fields whose values are set by the Content Management Server when the user signs a file. The value of a signature field is made up of two parts, the point in time at which the signature was provided, and the login name of the user who provided it. You require signature fields to be able to define workflows in which files must be signed.

Title

Enter here a meaningful title in the language which you configured in your personal preferences. As a rule, it makes it easier to understand the meaning of a field value.

If your Content Management Server is set up for multiple language use, you can switch to the Configuration Management – Fields – Edit – Multilingual Titles form via the Other Languages button and here enter titles in each language in the corresponding fields.

Please confirm your input with OK. The title the Content Management Server displays in the HTML user interface depends on the language the user has configured in his or her personal preferences.

Description

Use the input field Description to give other users additional information about the field and its function. The description is available as help text, when the field’s value is edited via the Content Navigator. If your Content Management Server is set up for multiple language use, you can switch to the Configuration Management – Fields – Multilingual Descriptions form by clicking on the Other Languages button and then enter descriptions here in the respective foreign language:

Please also confirm your input with OK.

Searchable on Content Manager

Select this option to index the values of this field in the optional Search Server and to be able to search for them in the Content Management Server during an extended search.

Searchable on Live System

Select this option to index the values of this field in the Search Server and to be able search for them on the Live Server during a search.

Click then on OK to save the field definition. The Content Manager then displays the view page of the new field.