[opencms-dev] open questions about XML content

[Andy Kriger]

I'm consolidating a number of questions I posted last week with the hope of
learning some answers...

Here's what I am trying to setup and what has spawned all these questions...
The directory structure of the site is 5 levels deep. I have a template with
a content area in the middle. This content area is defined by an XML schema.
The template is consistent down dir levels but the format of the content
area will change. The same content type could be used at each level - the
information displayed in the content area will vary depending on the level. 

1) From the example posted on the mailing list, XML content uses the
template-element property to determine its display page. However, if I have
multiple types of content in a single directory, how can I direct one type
to display with one page and another to display with a different page? Is
the use of template-elements hard coded? Is it possible to configure the
template-elements property on-the-fly so that it can be controlled
programmatically? For example, I'd like to determine the template-elements
value based on the depth of the content file in the directory tree (I
realize that the template-element could be set on each directory level, but
there are a lot of directories and I'd like to have more control and
flexibility if possible).

2) Create a content schema, create several items based on the schema, then
add more fields to the schema. New items of that type will have the new
fields. Editing older items will not show the new fields. Is there any way
to automatically bring older items up-to-date with a modified schema? Is
this a bug with content schemas (since the link to the schema is in the
controlcode, the form should be able to update automatically on edit)?

3) Can default values be assigned to properties of directories/content when
they are created? Is it possible to set this up programmatically? For
example, always set the template-element property of a new directory to X or
always set the custom property of a type of content to Y.

4) Is it possible to setup dropdown selections in form-based content?

5) Is it possible to setup validation on form-based content? For example,
values range or formatting.

thx
andy
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