Content Dependencies module

Content dependencies are references between content items. When a page links to another page, a dependency is created. Similarly, when a page uses assets from the DAM, a dependency exists between the page and the assets. Knowing the dependencies is useful when you are about to delete a page. Magnolia tells you what dependencies will break if you go ahead with the deletion.

The result of a broken dependency is typically a broken link. However, the Standard Templating Kit has a safeguard to prevent broken links from being displayed to visitors. Broken links are only rendered on the author instance, not on public. So even if you break a reference, it does not result in a bad experience for the visitor.

Download

The Content Dependencies module is bundled with Magnolia and typically already installed. You can download it from our Nexus repository.

Installing

Content Dependencies is a Enterprise Edition module. It is typically already installed. Launch the Configuration app and go to /modules/dependencies to check.

Uninstalling

Configuration

The module adds a Dependencies tab in the page properties dialog. The tab has two fields: the first field lists any pages that link here, the second field lists any content items this page links to.

Reference properties

Magnolia 5.2.1+ / Content Dependencies 1.3.3+.

You can define a set of properties at Configuration > /modules/dependencies/config/referenceProperties that hold references to other nodes. The module looks for these properties when retrieving nodes that depend on a given node. For example, before deleting node A the module will look for nodes that depend on it in the website and assets workspaces by checking if nodes there contain those reference properties whose value is the JCR identifier (or uuid) of node A.

Properties configured by default are contact, image, link and teaserImg.

Viewing dependencies

To view page dependencies, open the page properties dialog and go to the Dependencies tab.

Here is an example of dependencies on the Standard Article page (/demo-project/about/subsection-articles/article). Five other pages link to this page. If you deleted the page, those five pages would have broken links.

The selected page also links to three other pages and it uses three assets from the DAM.

Warning the user about breaking dependencies

The system displays a warning message when a user attempts to delete a page. The referring pages listed in the message will have broken links once the deletion is complete.