TopsFileSystemAlternative

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FileSystemAlternatives got my gears rolling. (See PageAnchor Top4726 in that topic.) After struggling trying to find a sufficiently-flexible WCMS recommendation for a customer, who chewed out our team for being too rigid, I've been kicking ideas around for something more organic than the existing tools. I'm providing a semi-concrete description in order to trigger a friendly debate about what, how, and why should be included and/or excluded.

Here is a starting/draft "god record" for object attributes for reference:

• Domain // name-space domain
• ID // auto-key
• parentID
• title
• type // object type. Possible values are as follows:
  • "content" // similar to a file
  • "folder" // this object is a "parent" to a set of other objects
  • "link" // serves as a link to another object (via URL/URI)
  • "related" // "See also", suggested links to similar or related objects/folders
  • "other" // custom or misc. Generally treated the same as "content" if special handling not applied or known
• subType // custom or type-specific sub-type
• synopsis
• content // file content or data bytes
• contentType // generally is the file extension
• contentSubType // implementation- or content-specific
• category // implementation- or content-specific
• criteria // query text. See note about "queried links".
• linkPath // URL or URI
• thumbnail // path to image
• byLine // sub-title or small text often found in news summaries, such as city name and/or date
• displayDate // display-date/time. Often same as modifDate, per convention. "Soft error" if missing.
• createDate
• modifDate
• origAuthior
• modifAuthor
• template // default "synopsis" display template for self, leave blank to inherit
• childTemplate // default "synopsis" display template for sub-items
• priority // Numeric, generally higher values mean higher priority
• sequence // Numeric sequence number, if applicable
• custom01..custom10 // 10 custom text columns (Specific implementations may add more)
• status
• hideType
  • "Draft" - only the author or designated reviewers can see
  • "System" - system file/object that is intended only for technicians or a system
  • "Work" - working files intended for authors or designers, not general viewers
  • "Other" - hidden for custom use
  • "None" or blank - Normal, all can view
• priceEst // for quick-and-dirty online catalogs or price search engines
• shippingEst
• taxEst
• currency // currency domination, such as "Yuan", "Dollar", etc.
• keyWords // alternative search words
• [more coming]

For "link" and "related" types, if there is text in the "criteria" field, it's considered a "content query" as described in the "DOS-like" example on FileSystemAlternatives. If there is also a path in "linkPath", an error or warning is triggered. (We probably don't want a "hard" error; for web/organic philosophy is "limp" in LimpVersusDie.)

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Notes

An author or WCMS can generally use the predefined columns for whatever they want to, with the caveat that generic tools/settings won't necessarily recognize custom uses.