Custom fields in Arc XP
Custom fields are user-defined variables or properties that you create to store additional information within a data structure or object. In Arc XP, you can use custom fields in a variety of applications to extend the functionality of existing data structures. For example, you could create custom fields in Author Service to hold your author bios in various languages and display those fields based on a series of rules.
The following table provides a visual overview of the availability of custom fields throughout Arc XP.
Application of feature | Uses Arc XP Native Specification (ANS) | Custom fields available through the UI | Custom fields available through the API | Custom fields indexes and searchable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Author Service | No1 | Yes | Yes | Yes4 |
Site Service | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Stories, videos, galleries, and images | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Video Center | Yes | No2 | Yes3 | No |
Photo Center | Yes | No | Yes3 | No |
Composer (Draft API) | Yes | Yes | Yes3 | No |
1Author Service uses ANS; however, the ANS version of Author Service data is a translated copy of Author Service’s native JSON. Author ANS is not as fully functional as the original Author JSON, so it is often more efficient to use the native Author JSON format rather than the limited Author ANS.
2Video Center does not display custom fields in the UI; however, the app contains a UI section called Custom Fields where you can add from a curated list of additional ANS fields. These fields are not actually custom. They’re pre-existing ANS fields.
3You can create custom fields only under the additional_properties property in ANS.
4Custom author fields are searchable in Author API, not in Content API.
Author Service
You can create custom fields in Author Service by contacting Arc XP Customer Support, and you can use those custom fields in the Author Service UI. Both the Author Service API and Content API return the custom field data when the author object is delivered. The Author Service API can accept a query filter allowing you to search using the author custom fields. However, the author custom field data is not indexed, which means that you cannot search for stories in Content API filtering by author data custom field values.
Note
To create custom fields in Author Service, you must submit a request to Arc XP Customer Support.
Site Service
You can create custom fields in Site Service by contacting Arc XP Customer Support, and you can use those custom fields in the Site Service UI. Additionally, the Site Service API returns the custom field data when it returns the site object. But the custom field data is not indexed, which means that you can’t search for values in these fields or return content by these fields.
Site Service is not part of Arc XP Native Specification (ANS); therefore, you can customize Site Service to meet your specifications.
Note
To create custom fields in Site Service, you must submit a request to Arc XP Customer Support.
Stories, videos, galleries, and images
You can create custom fields for stories, videos, galleries, and images in the Arc XP Native Specification (ANS).
Stories, videos, galleries, and images use ANS, and as a result, the ANS schema contains an additional_properties property. The additional_properties property is an object that allows custom-named keys as its children where you can store arbitrary data.
The Content Type API returns data from these custom fields when it delivers an object, but additional_properties is never exposed in the Content Type UI. additional_properties is also not indexed, so you can't search for values in these fields or return content by those custom fields.
Video Center
You cannot create custom fields in Video Center, neither through the UI nor by requesting ACS to create them; however, you can select from a list of pre-existing ANS fields to add to Video Center. These fields are not custom.
You can create create custom ANS properties with the Video Center API under the ANS additional_properties property. The Video Center API returns data from these custom fields when it delivers an object, but additional_properties is never exposed in the Video Center UI. additional_properties is also not indexed, so you can't search for values in these fields or return content by those custom properties.
Photo Center
You cannot create custom fields in Photo Center, neither through the UI nor by requesting ACS to create them; however, you can create custom ANS properties with the Photo Center API under the ANS additional_properties property.
The Photo Center API returns data from these custom properties when it delivers an object, but additional_properties is never exposed in the Photo Center UI. additional_properties is also not indexed, so you can't search for values in these properties or return content by those custom properties.
Composer
The Composer application itself does not support custom fields; however, you can surface a variety of ANS fields in the Composer UI from the Composer Settings page.
But using the Draft API, which creates, updates, and deletes documents, you can create custom fields under the additional_properties property. The Draft API returns data from these custom fields when it delivers an object, but additional_properties is never exposed in the Composer UI. additional_properties is also not indexed, so you can't search for values in these fields or return content by those custom fields.