The Zotonic data model

Zotonic’s data model can be seen as a pragmatic implementation of the Semantic Web: a mixture between a traditional database and a triple store.

The data model has two main concepts: the resource and the edge.

Resources, which are often called pages in the admin, are the main data unit: they have properties like title, summary, body text; and importantly, they belong to a certain category.

Edges are nothing more than connections between two resources. Each edge is labeled, with a so-called predicate.

This manual describes the data model and its related database table in depth.

Table of contents

• The datamodel by example
• Resources
  • Common resource properties
  • How resources are stored
  • Resource categories
  • Medium
  • Blocks
  • Pivot columns
  • Identities
  • Deleted resources
• Edges
  • Predicate
• The Query search-model
  • Trying it out
  • Query-model arguments
  • Filter behaviour
  • Query resources
• Defining custom pivot columns
• The default domain model