xrowmetadata: page titles, descriptions, Open Graph and sitemaps #

This page is for site builders who care about search engines and link previews. xrowmetadata ("Xrow Meta Data") is the simple SEO building block of Exponential:

• it gives every content object an editable meta data attribute: page title, keywords, description, canonical link and, since 1.3.6, an Open Graph image;
• it builds XML sitemaps with cronjobs.

Use it #

1. Add the meta data datatype to the classes you want to describe (Setup > Classes).
2. Print the meta data in your page layout (see the example).
3. Run the sitemap cronjob and register the sitemap in robots.txt.

Example: print the meta data in your design #

{def $meta = metadata( $module_result.node_id ) }
{if $meta}
    {if $meta.title}<title>{$meta.title|wash}</title>{/if}
    {if $meta.keywords}<meta name="keywords" content="{$meta.keywords|implode(',')|wash}">{/if}
    {if $meta.description}<meta name="description" content="{$meta.description|wash}">{/if}
{else}
    <title>{$site_title}</title>
    {foreach $site.meta as $key => $item}
        <meta name="{$key|wash}" content="{$item|wash}">
    {/foreach}
{/if}

Sitemaps #

Four cronjob parts write sitemaps for every siteaccess: sitemap, archivesitemap, newssitemap and mobilesitemap.

php runcronjobs.php sitemap

The command prints the name of each file it wrote (since 1.4.4; before, it failed on the file object). The files are written below var/storage/sitemap/<siteaccess>/, for example urlset_standard_<siteaccess>.xml; the names are set in xrowsitemap.ini. The news sitemap stops quietly when the news subtree is empty.

Then:

1. Make sure your rewrite rules let the XML through: RewriteRule ^sitemap[^/]*\.xml - [L].
2. Register the sitemap in robots.txt:

Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemaps/index

Open Graph image #

Since 1.3.6 and 1.3.7 the meta data carries og_image, width, height, alt and type.

• In the object edit form, choose the image with the same browse and remove interface as an object relation. The value is stored in data_text.
• In the class attribute, set a default Open Graph image that objects use when they have none (the data_text5 default, falling back to data_int4). xrowMetaDataFunctions falls back to this default when an object has no value.
• The class and object edit forms show the selected image inline under the name field, and a "no relation" message when none is selected.

What changed in the Exponential 6 releases #

Related pages #

• xrowextract: the export has a column handler for this datatype
• bcgooglesitemaps: plain sitemaps
• robots.txt
• Velocity engines
• Chronicle and release notes
• Change ledger
• Months: 2026-08, 2026-09, 2026-10 (all extensions)