Creating a DecentCMS content type

A content item in DecentCMS is an aggregate of parts, as defined by the content type of the item. For example, an item of type “page” is the combination of a title part, and a body part. This definition of which parts constitute a given type is configuration data that is defined at the level of the site.

If you open the `settings.json` file at the root of a site’s folder, you’ll find the content type definitions are part of the configuration of the “content” feature. More precisely, under `features.content.types`:

{
  "name": "DecentCMS",
  "host": ["decentcms.org", "local.decentcms.com"],
  "port": "*",
  "setup": true,
  "features": {
    "content": {
      "types": {
        "page": {

The type definition itself has a list of named parts, and their corresponding part types:

"page": {
  "name": "Page",
  "description": "A simple page type.",
  "parts": {
    "title": {
      "type": "title"
    },
    "body": {
      "type": "text"
    }
  }
}

It is possible, if necessary, to have other settings than the part’s type under a part definition.

Any service can access the type definition object through the content manager:

var cm = this.scope.require('content-manager');
var typeDefinition = cm.getType(someItem);
var bodyDefinition = typeDefinition.parts.body;

The content manager also has a helper method for getting the names of all the parts of a given type:

var textPartNames = cm.getParts(someItem, 'text');

In the next DecentCMS post, I think I’ll talk about dependency injection, which should be a fun one to tackle…