section

Represents a section of an Escenic publication. Section tree relationships are created using this element's child parent element, which references the section to which this section belongs. Note that the Content Engine's import subsystem does not tolerate unusually deep section hierarchies. Section trees that are more than 40 sections deep cannot be guaranteed to import successfully.

Syntax
<section
    id="text"?
    (source="text" sourceid="text")?
    dbid="text"?
    exported-dbid="text"?
    name="text"?
    unique-name="text"?
    mirror-source="(true|false)"?
  >
    <delete/>?
    <parent/>?
    <mirror-source/>?
    <unique-name>...</unique-name>?
    <directory>...</directory>?
    <section-layout>...</section-layout>?
    <article-layout>...</article-layout>?
    <priority/>?
  </section>
Examples
  • This example imports a section. The child parent element specifies where the section is to be inserted into the section hierarchy. The referenced section must already exist in the database or appear before this element in the syndication file.

    <section source="ex" sourceid="s2" name="example-section">
      <parent unique-name="ece_incoming"/>
    </section>
  • This example imports a section that may be mirrored by other sections.

    <section source="ex" sourceid="s4" name="example-mirror-source" mirror-source="true">
      <parent unique-name="ece_incoming"/>
    </section>
  • This example imports a mirror section and illustrates the use of the mirror-source element to reference the section that is to be mirrored. The referenced section must already exist in the database or appear before this element in the syndication file.

    <section source="ex" sourceid="s5" name="example-mirror-target" mirror-source="true">
      <parent unique-name="ece_incoming"/>
      <mirror-source unique-name="example-mirror-source"/>
    </section>
Attributes
id="text" (optional)

A unique identifier for this section element. It is only valid and unique within the current syndication file and can be used to enable the establishment of relationships between elements in the file. Other elements in the file have id-ref attributes that can be used to reference section elements. If a section element does not have an id attribute then it must have either a dbid attribute or both a source and a sourceid attribute. A section element may have several or all of these attributes, in which case any of them can be used for establishing relationships.

The id attribute is not imported along with sections. Unless a dbid attribute has been specified, all imported sections are assigned new internal IDs during import.

source="text" (optional)

The name of the system from which this section originates. Together with the sourceid attribute it forms a globally unique external identifier for the section that can be used for establishing relationships between elements in the syndication file. Other elements in the file have source and sourceid attributes that can be used for this purpose. If this attribute is specified then a sourceid attribute must also be specified. If a section element does not have a source and sourceid attribute then it must have either a dbid attribute or an id attribute. A section element may have several or all of these attributes, in which case any of them can be used for establishing relationships.

If supplied, source and sourceid are imported and stored with sections. If source and sourceid are supplied and dbid is not supplied, then they are used to lookup an existing section. If a section with matching source and sourceid is found, then this section is updated; otherwise a new section is created.

If supplied, source and sourceid are imported and stored when creating new sections, but not when updating existing sections.

sourceid="text" (optional)

The id of this section in the system from which it originates. Together with the source attribute it forms a globally unique external identifier for the section that can be used for establishing relationships between elements in the syndication file. Other elements in the file have source and sourceid attributes that can be used for this purpose. If this attribute is specified then a source attribute must also be specified. If a section element does not have a source and sourceid attribute then it must have either a dbid attribute or an id attribute. A section element may have several or all of these attributes, in which case any of them can be used for establishing relationships.

If source and sourceid are supplied and dbid is not supplied, then they are used to lookup an existing section. If a section with matching source and sourceid is found, then this section is updated; otherwise a new section is created.

If supplied, source and sourceid are imported and stored when creating new sections, but not when updating existing sections.

dbid="text" (optional)

The internal Content Engine ID of this section, which can be used when importing updated versions of existing content items. It can also be used for establishing relationships between elements in the syndication file. Other elements in the file have dbid attributes that can be used for this purpose. If a section element does not have a dbid attribute then it must have either a source and sourceid attribute or an id attribute. A section element may have several or all of these attributes, in which case any of them can be used for establishing relationships.

You should only use the dbid attribute when importing updated versions of existing sections.

This attribute is never present in syndication files that have been exported from a database. The ID is always written to the exported-dbid attribute in exported syndication files.

exported-dbid="text" (optional)

The internal Content Engine ID of this section, which can be used to identify the section in the database from which it was exported.

This attribute is generated during export from the , but ignored during import. It is provided mainly for information and debugging purposes.

name="text" (optional)

The name of this section.

unique-name="text" (optional)

The unique-name or name of an existing section to be updated. You can only use this attribute for look-up purposes, not for setting a section's unique name. To set the unique name of a section you are creating or updating, use the child unique-name element.

If this attribute is specified, then one of the following conditions must be satisified:

  • The target publication must already contain a section with a uniquename or name attribute that matches this attribute, or

  • A section element with a unique-name or name attribute that matches this attribute must appear somewhere before this section element in the syndication file.

If this is not the case, or if there is a matching name attribute but it is not unique, then import will fail.

If dbid or source and sourceid or id are specified, then this attribute is ignored.

mirror-source="(true|false)" (optional)

If true, then this section may be mirrored. This attribute may not be set to true if the section has a child mirror-source element.