index.md

The external content API is a module designed to give Staff a CMS interface for writing messages for external tools, e.g. error messages, informational messages. The idea is that the external tool can be lightweight and leave the content management to a another tool designed for that purpose (SilverStripe CMS).

See user guide

There are five parts to this data & how it is managed

1. Content
2. Type
3. Application
4. Page
5. Area

Content is the literal content, the value of this piece of information. The type supplements it by letting the remote system know what the content is (HTML, text, number, etc.)

The latter three parts are a categorisation of the content in relation to the remote application that will serve the content. Many applications can be served through this API, all stored & manged within the same pool in the Silverstripe system, are filtered by request at "runtime".

E.g. (totally invented scenario)

Application: Registration fees payment
Page: homepage
Area: Page title
Type: HTML
Content: <h1>Renew your vehicle registration online</h1>

Application: Registration fees payment
Page: Payment form
Area: Licence plate field error message
Type: Text
Content: Please enter a valid NZ Licence plate - up to 6 alpha-numeric characters only

classDiagram
    class ExternalContent {
        Varchar ExternalID
        HTMLText Content
    }
    class ExternalContentApplication {
        Varchar Name
    }
    class ExternalContentArea {
        Varchar Name
    }
    class ExternalContentPage {
        Varchar Name
        Varchar URL
        Varchar AppName
    }
    class ExternalContentType {
        Varchar Name
        Boolean ContentIsPlaintext
    }
    ExternalContent "one Type" -- "many Contents" ExternalContentType
    ExternalContent "many Pages" -- "many Contents" ExternalContentPage
    ExternalContentApplication "many Areas" -- "one Application" ExternalContentArea
    ExternalContentArea "many Pages" -- "one Area" ExternalContentPage

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