Creating a content class #

A class is where a kind of content gets its shape. The book's steps still apply; the screens moved.

1. Setup > Classes (the class groups). Classes are kept in class groups, which group by content type or by function, for example the Users group with the user and user-group classes. See Class groups.
2. Open or create a group, then New class.
3. A class has a few generic properties:
   • Name: what editors see.
   • Identifier: a short, stable machine name (article, product). Templates refer to it, so choose it once and do not change it.
   • Object name pattern: how the name of each object is made from its attributes, such as <title> or <first_name> <last_name>. This matters: the name is the base of the address of the object on the site.
   • URL alias name pattern: since the book, a separate pattern for the address; leave it empty to use the name.
   • Container: whether objects of this class may have children.
   • Always available: whether an object of this class is shown in another language when it has no translation in the one asked for.
4. Add attributes. Pick a datatype from the list (the datatypes tour), give each a name and an identifier, and set the datatype's own options (a maximum length, a default, a size limit).
5. Mark attributes Required, Searchable, Information collector and Translatable as needed. An attribute that is not translatable (a photograph) is the same in every language.
6. Store. Put the class in more than one group if it belongs to several.

The new class is available in the Create here list of the places where a role lets the user create it.

Changing a class later #

• A changed object name pattern does not rename published objects. The new pattern is used the next time an object is published, so a mass change needs a republish.
• Removing an attribute removes its content from all objects of the class. Back up first.
• Adding an attribute is safe: existing objects show it empty until edited.
• To move one object to another class, see Changing the content class of an object.

More: Content classes for builders, The content model and editing content and Choosing datatypes.

Next: the datatypes tour.

Source and license #

Adapted from chapter 2, "Content Management with eZ publish", of Learning eZ publish: Building Content Management Solutions by Paul Borgermans, Tony Wood, Paul Forsyth, Martin Bauer, Björn Dieding and Ben Pirt (additional material by Bruce Morrison), second edition, 2024, Book-Learning-eZPublish. Copyright (c) 2004-2024 7x and Graham Brookins. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, version 1.3 or any later version, with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts (the license). Changes: rearranged and shortened; settings, labels, datatypes, tags and URLs checked against Exponential 6 and corrected; links to the current guides added.