Collections are structured data that make it easy to manage site content at scale. They are essentially tables of data organized in rows and columns. Collections are then Connected to widgets, dynamic pages, custom widgets and more in order to display that content on your pages.
Collections can be either:
- Internal - A table of data you manually create and maintain on the website
- External - Data that is created and maintained outside the website
Examples of data that may be best entered into a collection: Directories of People or Departments, Extracurricular Clubs, Athletic Teams, Activities, Special Events, Job Postings and more. Even our PlusPortals integrations are considered a collection.
To Create/Edit a Collection:
- Click on Content from the Left Panel
- Choose Collections (bottom option)
- Then choose +Add Collection (OR choose an existing collection to edit.)
- Choose your Collection Type (typically Internal Collection; but you may opt for an Image Collection or Google Sheet)
- Be sure to Name your collection (top)
- Add Content to your Collection (if using a Internal Collection Columns represent your Fieldsand Rows represent entries)
- Use the plus sign + in the upper right corner of the table to add a Column (field)
- Column Fields can be set as different "Types" of data (text, image, link, etc).
- Use the +Add Row button to add new entry lines to the table
- Internal Collections are limited to 500 rows and 50 fields.
- A single external collection's data is limited to 20MB.
- Renaming a collection or field will disconnect it from any widgets/pages connected to it.
- Collection names and field names are limited to 50 characters.
- Text fields in internal collections are limited to 2000 characters.
- External collections (Google Sheets, Airtable and external database) are limited to 100 fields.
- Changes to external collections update automatically every hour.
To Connect a Widget to a Collection:
- Access the Widget settings (either via right Click or the gear in the widget editor)
- Choose Connect/Connected Data
- Choose the Collection the Widget will be Connected to
- Map the fields of the widget to the proper collection fields. Note field mappings are restricted to and by the "type" of data and the type of content the widget is capable of displaying.
- Access Filter & sort if you need to apply either a sort or fixed filter. Fixed filters allows for only displaying a specific a Category, Tag, or Department from the collection.
Widgets are limited to what types and amounts of data they can display. You can only map certain data types to the widget IF that widget can interface with that type of data. For example, a button widget interfaces with Text and a URL (Link), but is not capable of displaying an image. A Photo Gallery widget would require at least one data field to be set as image type in order for it to work properly.