Files always consist of a main content and a set of fields. There are many predefined fields in the CMS, e.g. for the name of the file, the title of its content, etc. Furthermore, additional fields can be defined by a CMS administrator.
Using fields, you can store information in the Content Management Server relating to a file or version, or provide the version of a file with additional customer-specific information. Every field has a name and a title, a type and a value. The Content Management Server differentiates between file fields and version fields.
File fields are predefined by the Content Management Server and are created for each file independently of its type when the file is created. The values of these fields are absolutely necessary for maintaining the files and defining their relationship to each other, and for controlling the export.
The fields ID and Path are automatically preset with values by the system. The ID is the unique identification number of a file in the Content Management Server. It cannot be changed. In contrast, the value of the Path field changes when the file is moved within the folder hierarchy. In this case, the field value is adjusted by the Content Management Server.
Every file has a Name field. Its value can be set by the user who creates the file. The name of the file is used to clearly identify it within a folder. If no name is given, the Content Management Server gives the file a predefined name; in the default installation, this is new. If additional names are created automatically, the Content Management Server ensures their uniqueness by appending a counter to the predefined name.
In addition to ID, Path, and Name, files have (among others) the file fields File Type, Workflow, Format, Maintainer and Exclude from Export.
The file type is derived from the file format and cannot be changed. The value of the Workflow field is also derived from the format; it can, however, be subsequently changed by a file administrator. The Format field contains the name of the format of a file. Its value can be changed. However, this is only necessary in exceptional cases and should be avoided (the file can become invalid). The value of the file field Exclude from Export can also be changed.
In addition to the file fields in the Content Management Server, version fields also exist which are not created for a file itself but for the draft version of a file. A version field can be assigned a different value in each version of a file. Some version fields are predefined, while others are custom fields.
As with file IDs, versions also have Version IDs to clearly identify them. As with some file fields, you can preset the predefined version fields Title, File Extension, Valid from and Valid until with values in the format of the file to which the version belongs.
With additional (i.e. custom) version fields there are more field types available (see also Type). If you create, for example, a field of the Selection type, the editor of a version can select a value from several field values, namely those that were preset by the CMS administrator.
Custom version fields in the Content Management Server should be conceived of as field definitions, which you can reference in formats. In doing this, you determine which fields the draft versions of the files – based on the corresponding format – are to have. When you first create a draft version, it is given the fields that are referenced in the format on which the corresponding file is based. In accordance with the format of their file, versions can have different custom fields and any number of them.
The version fields of a format can be grouped together in field sets in the format definition. The field sets are displayed on an file’s details view as sections. The values of the fields can thus be edited in a comfortable and structured way.
Furthermore, in formats, you can determine which version fields are to be obligatory fields, i.e. which fields of a draft version must contain a value so that the respective file can be released. Additionally, all fields can be optionally preset with values so that the fields of the draft version of new files based on this format contain preset values.