Types

Type Definition

Type building blocks:

• Type Attributes - define the metadata and behavior of an object type and the objects created from it.
• Property Definitions - define the properties that objects created from the type will have.
• Property Definition Attributes - every property definition has its own attributes that define it.

{
  "id": "dog",
  "localName": "dog",
  "displayName": "Dog",
  "description": "A document for dogs.",
  "baseId": "cmis:document",
  "parentId": "animal",
  "show": true,
  "propertyDefinitions": {
    "color": {
      "id": "color",
      "localName": "color",
      "displayName": "Color",
      "description": "Dog color",
      "propertyType": "string",
      "choices": [
        "White",
        "Brown",
        "Black",
        "Unknown"
      ],
      "openChoice": false,
      "defaultValue": "Unknown",
      "order": 10
    },
    "height": {
      "id": "height",
      "localName": "height",
      "displayName": "Height",
      "description": "Dog height",
      "propertyType": "integer",
      "required": true,
      "order": 20
    }
  }
}

Type Attributes

Type attributes define the metadata and behavior of an object type. Type attributes are not inherited when creating new types. All types share a set of common type attributes, but Document and Relationship types have additional ones specific to them.

It is possible to add additional type attributes when creating or updating types. These can be used applications leveraging Contendo Server to add custom metadata to the types themselves. E.g. a custom “show” type attribute could mark whether a type (or even objects of a type) should be displayed in the UI.

Property Definitions

Properties define the metadata associated with content objects. This includes updatable properties like a (e.g. name, description) as well as readonly, automatic values set by the system (e.g. createdBy, creationDate). Which properties are available for objects created from a type is defined by the type's property definitions. Property definitions are inherited when creating new types.

See Base Type Details for a detailed overview of which property definitions are available on which base type.

Property Definition Attributes

Each property definition consists of a set of predefined attributes. Every property definition has a common set of attributes. Depending on the type, some have additional attributes. Furthermore, custom attributes may be added to any property definition.

As with type attributes, it is possible to add custom type definition attributes. These add additional meaning to property definitions. E.g. a custom “order” type definition attribute can be added to define the order in which properties are displayed in the UI.