Define a Collection for Dynamic Pages

Modified on Mon, 30 Mar, 2020 at 12:50 AM

The first step in creating Dynamic Pages is to define a collection. Collections are similar to databases in that they contain lists of items that have the same type of information (name, location, image, etc.).

For example, a collection might contain information about properties available to rent:

Property Name	# of Rooms	Price	Location	Image	Page_Item_url
Property A	3	500,000	Tempe, Arizona	URL	property_a
Property B	1	200,000	Denver, Colorado	URL	property_b
Property C	2	300,000	London, UK	URL	property_c

Types of Collections

You can create the following types of collections:

Google Sheets
Airtable
External database

Creating a Collection

For specific instructions on creating a collection, see the above articles. Note all collections should adhere to the following:

The first row of the collection should contain the field names (such as Number of Rooms)
Data should be structured correctly based on the data type. See Using Google Sheets as a Collection and Using Airtable as a Collection for more information on supported data types and structure.
For Airtable and Google Sheets you should have a text field named page_item_url- which defines the URL of each page item and appears in the editor drop down. If this field is not defined, page URLs will get numbers (Google Sheets) or a random string (Airtable).
To use Location & Business hours you must follow a specific structure in a text field:
Business hours structure (field type: text):
- SAT, SUN: 08:00-20:00; THU, FRI: 08:00-12:00;
Location (field type: text):
- String - streetAddress, postalCode, region, city, country
- 577 College Ave, 94306, CA, Palo Alto, US
- The geo location is calculated from this string, the postal code isn’t mandatory but if the address isn’t written correctly (typos for example) we might not find it

To create a collection:

Navigate to Content > Business Content > Collections and click New Collection.
Select the type of collection you want to create.
Connect to the collection.
Define the correct data type for each field.
Click Done.

The new collection shows up in the Collection Panel. The next step is to create or convert a Dynamic Page so you can connect it to your newly created Collection.

Define a Collection for Dynamic Pages

The first step in creating Dynamic Pages is to define a collection. Collections are similar to databases in that they contain lists of items that have the same type of information (name, location, image, etc.).

For example, a collection might contain information about properties available to rent:

Property Name

# of Rooms

Price

Location

Image

Page_Item_url

Property A

3

500,000

Tempe, Arizona

URL

property_a

Property B

1

200,000

Denver, Colorado

URL

property_b

Property C

2

300,000

London, UK

URL

property_c

Types of Collections

You can create the following types of collections:

Google Sheets

Airtable

External database

Creating a Collection

For specific instructions on creating a collection, see the above articles. Note all collections should adhere to the following:

The first row of the collection should contain the field names (such as Number of Rooms)

Data should be structured correctly based on the data type. See Using Google Sheets as a Collection and Using Airtable as a Collection for more information on supported data types and structure.

For Airtable and Google Sheets you should have a text field named page_item_url- which defines the URL of each page item and appears in the editor drop down. If this field is not defined, page URLs will get numbers (Google Sheets) or a random string (Airtable).

To use Location & Business hours you must follow a specific structure in a text field:

Business hours structure (field type: text):

SAT, SUN: 08:00-20:00; THU, FRI: 08:00-12:00;

Location (field type: text):

String - streetAddress, postalCode, region, city, country

577 College Ave, 94306, CA, Palo Alto, US

The geo location is calculated from this string, the postal code isn’t mandatory but if the address isn’t written correctly (typos for example) we might not find it

To create a collection:

Navigate to Content > Business Content > Collections and click New Collection.

Select the type of collection you want to create.

Connect to the collection.

Define the correct data type for each field.

Click Done.

The new collection shows up in the Collection Panel. The next step is to create or convert a Dynamic Page so you can connect it to your newly created Collection.