Configuring Teaser Widget Data Sources

A Teaser widget renders selected fields from a set of selected content items. The content items are selected by a component called a Data Source. A Teaser widget therefore has a Data Source tab that you can use to configure the Data Source. There are two different types of Data Source:

External

An external Data Source is independently-defined: you create it in the same way as a widget. You can then use it in a Teaser widget by dropping it on the widget's External Data Source field as a related content item.

Embedded

An embedded Data Source is embedded inside the Teaser widget. You configure it by editing the Embedded Data Source definition form displayed on the Data Source tab.

A widget can only have one data source, so before you configure a Teaser widget, you first need to decide what kind of Data Source to use. You should use an external Data Source if you want several widgets to be able to share the same Data Source. Otherwise it is most convenient to have the Data Source definition embedded in the widget that uses it. To select the Data Source type you must set the Use field (which is the first field on the Data Source tab) to External Data Source or Embedded Data Source.

If you select Embedded Data Source then you can configure the embedded Data Source using the form displayed in the Embedded Data Source definition field. If you select External Data Source then you need to create a Data Source, save it and then associate it with your Teaser widget by dropping it on the widget's External Data Source field as a related content item.

To create an external Data Source, select File > New > Data Source and then configure it in the same way as you would configure a widget. The Data Source component has a Definition field that contains exactly the same Data Source configuration form as the Teaser Widget's Embedded Data Source definition field. For a complete description of this form and how to use it, see Configuring a Data Source.