As a simple example lets consider the following XML file:

<?xml version=“1.0“ standalone=“yes“?>
<Person>
    <Name>Max Muster</Name>
    <Phone>+43 1 12345</Phone>
    <Phone>+43 1 800 FLEXIVE</Phone>
    <Address>
        <Street>Private road</Street>
    </Address>
    <Address>
        <Street>Office lane</Street>
    </Address>
</Person>

With [fleXive] we would create a type called Person. We can use the Java API or a custom Groovy builder, the GroovyTypeBuilder, which resembles the hierarchic structure of the type more closely.

// create an editable type instance
final FxTypeEdit type = FxTypeEdit.createNew("Person").save();

// create and save a new property for our person type
type.addProperty("name", FxDataType.String1024);
// create, modify, and save a new property for our person type
type.addProperty("phone", FxDataType.String1024).setMultiplicity(new FxMultiplicity(1, 2)).save();

// create a new group
type.addGroup("Address");
// add a new property for this group
type.addProperty("Address/street", FxDataType.String1024);

// the structures have been created and can now be used for creating contents

import com.flexive.shared.scripting.groovy.*
import com.flexive.shared.value.*
import com.flexive.shared.security.*
import com.flexive.shared.structure.*
import com.flexive.shared.*


new GroovyTypeBuilder().Person {
  name(FxDataType.String1024)
  phone(FxDataType.String1024, multiplicity: new FxMultiplicity(1,2))
  Address(multiplicity: FxMultiplicity.MULT_1_N) {
    street(FxDataType.String1024)
  }
}
def person = CacheAdmin.environment.getType("Person")

Lets have a look at the following table, which is based on the XML data example, to visualize the mapping of XPath's to values:

The XPath starts with the name of the type (which is optional if addressing in a FxContent instance, since there the type if obviously known but is needed for example in query results) and the path to address the property. Please note that XPaths are not case-sensitive and that an index of 1 is optional: PERSON/ADDRESS[2]/STREET[1] for example is identical to PERSON/ADDRESS[2]/STREET.

FxContent serves as a container for groups, properties and general information about a content instance. It is used to initialize (create an empty content instance), create, save and load content instances ^[2] .

import com.flexive.shared.value.*
import com.flexive.shared.content.*
import com.flexive.shared.*

def ce = EJBLookup.contentEngine
def person = CacheAdmin.environment.getType("Person")
FxContent co = ce.initialize(person.id) //
co.setValue("/Name", "John Doe")
co.setValue("/Phone", "+43 1 12345") //
co.setValue("/Phone[2]", "+43 1 800 FLEXIVE") //
co.setValue("/Address/Street", "Private road") //
co.setValue("/Address[2]/Street", "Office lane") //
FxPK pk = ce.save(co) //

FxContent loaded = ce.load(pk) //
FxString street = (FxString)loaded.getValue("/Address[2]/Street") //
println "Loaded street: ${loaded.getValue("/Address[2]/Street")}"
street.setValue("Office lane") //
println "New street: ${loaded.getValue("/Address[2]/Street")}"
ce.save(loaded)

ce.remove(pk) //

11:13:48,898 INFO  [STDOUT] Loaded street: Ofice lane
11:13:48,899 INFO  [STDOUT] New street: Office lane

The purpose of this example is to demonstrate how easy it is to create, update and remove content instances. Since a content instance is tied to a type (See the section called “Types” for more information) the first thing that needs to be done is to initialize a new (empty) content instance . Initializing a content instance creates as many property or group entries as defined in the respective assignments' default multiplicity. Setting a value to a property assignment is done by creating a new FxValue instance corresponding to the property's data type for the XPath of the assignment. The same applies if a group is involved, as shown in for the street property of the first address group. Adding a new index is done by simply setting the XPath to the desired value like in or . Please note that using an index of 3 would be illegal if no index of 2 exists.

A content is created and updated by calling the ContentEngine's FxPK save(FxContent content) method which returns the primary key of a content instance. Loading is done by providing the primary key to the ContentEngine's load(FxPK pk)-method. .

Changing a value can be done by assigning a new FxValue instance (like in ) or by reading the current value , and changing it which is updated in the content instance as can be seen from the println command on the application servers console.

To remove a content instance () only the primary key - and all required permissions - is needed.

To be able to identify a content, a primary key (implemented in FxPK) is needed. This primary key consists of the unique identifier (usually equivalent to the id the content is stored in the database with) and the version. Depending on the configuration of the type the content belongs to it is possible to create different versions of a content.

A primary key can consist of a distinct version (a numerical value) or a predefined constant:

To create a new version simply call the ContentEngine's createNewVersion(FxContent co) method.

Information about all versions of a content can be retrieved using the ContentEngine's FxContentVersionInfo getContentVersionInfo(FxPK id) method. FxContentVersionInfo contains information about the minimum-, maximum- and most recently modified version numbers as well as information which user was the last to update each version and if a live version exists.