Versions, Fields and Formats

In CMS Fiona, each file can have several versions, a draft version, a released version and any number of archived versions. The draft version can be modified while the released version is meant to be published and cannot be changed. When a draft version is released, it replaces the file’s released version, if present, which in turn is archived, i. e. turned into an archived version. A file that neither has a draft nor a released version is inactive.

A version is a set of fields that constitute the contents of the version. Analogous to the term body, which denotes the main content of an HTML file, all versions of files have a field named main content. Apart from this one, other fields exist, title, validFrom, and validUntil, for example. The fields common to all versions can be found in section Version Fields.

A CMS administrator can create additional fields and add them to file formats to adapt these formats to their specific purposes. This has the effect that every version of a file based on a particular format has these fields assigned to it. To a format named PressRelease you might want to add an abstract field, while a BusinessOffer might require a category field, for example.

Several field types are available. Each type is intended for values of a specific format (for example dates, HTML texts, enumerations).

The administrator can have the values of fields checked automatically, by a script, for example, to ensure that the values meet certain conditions. It can be checked, for example, whether a version has a title whose length does not exceed a given number of characters or whether a number is in a particular range.

The CMS considers the draft version of a file incomplete if it contains fields that do not meet the specified conditions, or if it contains links that point to nonexistent files in the CMS. Incomplete draft versions can neither be forwarded to other users or user groups for further editing nor can they be released.

Not only the versions of file but also the files themselves have fields. File fields, however, only hold administrative information, for example the file name, the file format, and the workflow to be used. There are no custom file fields.