Features

This section will be about the features of Gentics Mesh. Each will be described in detail including examples and references to relevant parts of the API or related tutorials.

Content Trees

Gentics Mesh provides the means to organize your contents in terms of a content tree, or rather a node tree. Nodes can be hierarchically structured if a container schema is provided. For example, a book node can act as a container for chapter nodes. Alternatively, consider the example in our demo app, where vehicles are structured within categories.

While it is perfectly legitimate to organize your contents in a simple, flat structure with tagging and referencing, content trees come with big a bonus: they inherently allow for automatically generated hierarchical navigation menus, breadcrumbs and pretty URLs. This furthermore means routes are not hard-coded in your app but can be defined dynamically by content editors using the Gentics Mesh user interface.

To get you started, Gentics Mesh is shipped with a generic folder schema allowing you to follow the well-known file system paradigm for hierarchically organizing your content in a tree.

There are two properties when defining a schema for your nodes that are of importance in this respect.

  1. container: if true, nodes can contain child nodes and build a node tree.

  2. segmentField: allows to specify which schema field should be considered the path segment for the current node, i.e., it’s the basis for building URLs.

Let us consider the following example on the basis of our demo app to demonstrate how these properties work together to support navigation menus, breadcrumbs and pretty URLs:

Gentics Mesh Example of organizing content in a node tree

Within the demo project vehicles are organized in three different categories. The nodes Automobiles, Aircrafts and Yachts of type category serve as containers for nodes of type vehicle, e.g., the node Ford GT in category Automobiles.

The schema category has the container property set to true, thus allowing nodes of type category to have child nodes. The schema’s segmentField is specified to be the slug field. Thus, the resulting value for the path property of node Automobiles is /automobiles.

The schema vehicle has the container property set to false. The schema’s segmentField is again specified to be the slug field. Thus, the resulting value for the path property of node Ford GT is /automobiles/ford-gt.

Pretty URLs

Instead of relying on UUIDs to link your content, you can use pretty URLs like https://yourapp.com/automobiles/ford-gt. For each node, Gentics Mesh will provide you with a human readable path. Likewise, you can query your content using WebRoot paths instead of using UUIDs (see WebRoot API).

The segmentField is used to build the path of a specific node. According to the nodes’ schemas in our example, the path /automobiles/ford-gt for the node Ford GT is built using the slug field of the vehicle node, i.e. Ford GT, and the slug field of the category node, i.e. Automobiles.

Gentics Mesh Example for Building Pretty URLs

The path property as well as the languagesPath property (for available language variants) of a node can be queried using the /api/v1/projectName/nodes/:nodeUuid endpoint together with the query parameter resolveLinks. Alternatively, the WebRoot API can be used /api/v1/:projectName/webroot/:path For more details see the documentation on node and WebRoot API, respectively.

You can also specify dedicated paths for nodes using the urlFields schema property. You can add string or string list fields to your schema and list them via the urlFields property. Gentics Mesh will utilize these fields in nodes in order to retrieve the node.

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/webroot/cars/outatime

API endpoints

Description API endpoint

Get the node with the given UUID.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:nodeUuid

Response Sample

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/fc3c85be82584ae2bc85be82588ae2b0?resolveLinks=short 
{
  "uuid" : "fc3c85be82584ae2bc85be82588ae2b0",
  "creator" : {
    "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
  },
  "created" : "2017-05-29T09:56:16Z",
  "editor" : {
    "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
  },
  "edited" : "2017-05-29T09:56:22Z",
  "language" : "en",
  "availableLanguages" : [ "en" ],
  "languagePaths" : {
    "en" : "/automobiles/ford-gt"
  },
  "parentNode" : {
    "projectName" : "demo",
    "uuid" : "ca6c7df3f45b48d4ac7df3f45ba8d42f",
    "displayName" : "Automobiles",
    "path" : "/automobiles",
    "schema" : {
      "name" : "category",
      "uuid" : "2ca2362b041247c4a2362b041227c4da"
    }
  },
  "tags" : [ {
    "name" : "Gasoline",
    "uuid" : "1c51487f8e8043c291487f8e8053c2c1",
    "tagFamily" : "Fuels"
  }, {
    "name" : "Blue",
    "uuid" : "6e6f1d9f055447d2af1d9f055417d289",
    "tagFamily" : "Colors"
  }, {
    "name" : "White",
    "uuid" : "94fec98d6f114e81bec98d6f118e81cc",
    "tagFamily" : "Colors"
  } ],
  "project" : {
    "name" : "demo",
    "uuid" : "217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3"
  },
  "childrenInfo" : { },
  "schema" : {
    "name" : "vehicle",
    "uuid" : "2aa83a2b3cba40a1a83a2b3cba90a1de",
    "version" : 1
  },
  "container" : false,
  "displayField" : "name",
  "fields" : {
    "slug" : "ford-gt",
    "name" : "Ford GT",
    "weight" : 1520,
    "SKU" : 1,
    "price" : 139995,
    "stocklevel" : 20,
    "description" : "The Ford GT is an American mid-engine two-seater sports car that was produced by Ford for the 2005 through 2006 model years.",
    "vehicleImage" : {
      "uuid" : "df8beb3922c94ea28beb3922c94ea2f6",
      "path" : "/images/ford-gt.jpg",
      "languagePaths" : {
        "en" : "/images/ford-gt.jpg"
      }
    }
  },
  "path" : "/automobiles/ford-gt",
  "breadcrumb" : [ {
    "projectName" : "demo",
    "uuid" : "ca6c7df3f45b48d4ac7df3f45ba8d42f",
    "displayName" : "Automobiles",
    "path" : "/automobiles",
    "schema" : {
      "name" : "category",
      "uuid" : "2ca2362b041247c4a2362b041227c4da"
    }
  } ],
  "version" : {
    "uuid" : "677bf76c8c624e2fbbf76c8c62be2fa0",
    "number" : "1.0"
  },
  "permissions" : {
    "create" : false,
    "read" : true,
    "update" : false,
    "delete" : false,
    "publish" : false,
    "readPublished" : false
  }
}

When organizing your content in terms of a node tree, Gentics Mesh offers two ways of generating a nested navigation response.

The API endpoint /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:nodeUuid/navigation returns a navigation object for the provided node, while the /api/v1/:projectName/navroot/:path API endpoint returns a navigation object for a node which is located using a given path. Each endpoint will return a navigation response which contains the nested navigation tree structure.

By default, only container nodes are included in a navigation response. The includeAll query parameter will include all nodes, if set to true. The maxDepth parameter may be used to limit the navigation depth. In order to include the path property in the navigation response, the resolveLinks query parameter can be used.

Gentics Mesh Example for Building Navigation Menus

The demo app includes a navigation object showing just the top-level elements Automobiles, Aircraft, and Yachts as well as the Home link. All the elements can be easily queried using the available navigation endpoints. In particular, the example uses the /api/v1/:projectName/navroot/:path API endpoint, with the URL parameter :path querying the project root node, i.e., / together with query parameter ?maxDepth limiting the resulting nested JSON object to the top-level nodes.

API endpoints

Description API endpoint

Returns a navigation object for the provided node.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:nodeUuid/navigation

Return a navigation for the node which is located using the given path.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/navroot/:path

Response Sample

Retrieving a navigation object using the projects root node / including the top level navigation menu items.

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/navroot/?resolveLinks=short&maxDepth=1

The same can be achieved using the node specific navigation endpoint. In this case you can specify the root node of your navigation by providing the node uuid.

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/72dbee3975054fce9bee397505cfcec5/navigation?resolveLinks=short&maxDepth=1 
{
  "uuid" : "72dbee3975054fce9bee397505cfcec5",
  "node" : {
    "uuid" : "72dbee3975054fce9bee397505cfcec5",
    "creator" : {
      "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
    },
    "created" : "2017-05-29T09:55:43Z",
    "editor" : {
      "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
    },
    "edited" : "2017-05-29T09:56:22Z",
    "language" : "en",
    "availableLanguages" : [ "en" ],
    "languagePaths" : {
      "en" : "/"
    },
    "tags" : [ ],
    "project" : {
      "name" : "demo",
      "uuid" : "217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3"
    },
    "childrenInfo" : {
      "folder" : {
        "schemaUuid" : "5cc780af998c4d228780af998ccd2240",
        "count" : 1
      },
      "category" : {
        "schemaUuid" : "2ca2362b041247c4a2362b041227c4da",
        "count" : 3
      }
    },
    "schema" : {
      "name" : "folder",
      "uuid" : "5cc780af998c4d228780af998ccd2240",
      "version" : 1
    },
    "container" : true,
    "displayField" : "name",
    "fields" : { },
    "path" : "/",
    "breadcrumb" : [ ],
    "version" : {
      "uuid" : "df10370c82be422290370c82be62229f",
      "number" : "1.0"
    },
    "permissions" : {
      "create" : false,
      "read" : true,
      "update" : false,
      "delete" : false,
      "publish" : false,
      "readPublished" : false
    }
  },
  "children" : [ {
    "uuid" : "15d5ef7a9abf416d95ef7a9abf316d68",
    "node" : {
      "uuid" : "15d5ef7a9abf416d95ef7a9abf316d68",
      "creator" : {
        "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
      },
      "created" : "2017-05-29T09:56:10Z",
      "editor" : {
        "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
      },
      "edited" : "2017-05-29T09:56:22Z",
      "language" : "en",
      "availableLanguages" : [ "en" ],
      "languagePaths" : {
        "en" : "/images"
      },
      "parentNode" : {
        "projectName" : "demo",
        "uuid" : "72dbee3975054fce9bee397505cfcec5",
        "path" : "/",
        "schema" : {
          "name" : "folder",
          "uuid" : "5cc780af998c4d228780af998ccd2240"
        }
      },
      "tags" : [ ],
      "project" : {
        "name" : "demo",
        "uuid" : "217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3"
      },
      "childrenInfo" : {
        "vehicleImage" : {
          "schemaUuid" : "b12272150db4490ea272150db4190e72",
          "count" : 10
        }
      },
      "schema" : {
        "name" : "folder",
        "uuid" : "5cc780af998c4d228780af998ccd2240",
        "version" : 1
      },
      "container" : true,
      "displayField" : "name",
      "fields" : {
        "slug" : "images",
        "name" : "Vehicle Images"
      },
      "path" : "/images",
      "breadcrumb" : [ ],
      "version" : {
        "uuid" : "b1f2c06e45db4e0db2c06e45dbfe0d25",
        "number" : "1.0"
      },
      "permissions" : {
        "create" : false,
        "read" : true,
        "update" : false,
        "delete" : false,
        "publish" : false,
        "readPublished" : false
      }
    }
  }, {
    "uuid" : "ca6c7df3f45b48d4ac7df3f45ba8d42f",
    "node" : {
      "uuid" : "ca6c7df3f45b48d4ac7df3f45ba8d42f",
      "creator" : {
        "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
      },
      "created" : "2017-05-29T09:56:16Z",
      "editor" : {
        "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
      },
      "edited" : "2017-05-29T09:56:22Z",
      "language" : "en",
      "availableLanguages" : [ "en" ],
      "languagePaths" : {
        "en" : "/automobiles"
      },
      "parentNode" : {
        "projectName" : "demo",
        "uuid" : "72dbee3975054fce9bee397505cfcec5",
        "path" : "/",
        "schema" : {
          "name" : "folder",
          "uuid" : "5cc780af998c4d228780af998ccd2240"
        }
      },
      "tags" : [ ],
      "project" : {
        "name" : "demo",
        "uuid" : "217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3"
      },
      "childrenInfo" : {
        "vehicle" : {
          "schemaUuid" : "2aa83a2b3cba40a1a83a2b3cba90a1de",
          "count" : 5
        }
      },
      "schema" : {
        "name" : "category",
        "uuid" : "2ca2362b041247c4a2362b041227c4da",
        "version" : 1
      },
      "container" : true,
      "displayField" : "name",
      "fields" : {
        "name" : "Automobiles",
        "slug" : "automobiles"
      },
      "path" : "/automobiles",
      "breadcrumb" : [ ],
      "version" : {
        "uuid" : "2cadceaea20343e8adceaea20313e842",
        "number" : "1.0"
      },
      "permissions" : {
        "create" : false,
        "read" : true,
        "update" : false,
        "delete" : false,
        "publish" : false,
        "readPublished" : false
      }
    }
  }, {
    "uuid" : "21203632520b4d19a03632520b2d19c1",
    "node" : {
      "uuid" : "21203632520b4d19a03632520b2d19c1",
      "creator" : {
        "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
      },
      "created" : "2017-05-29T09:56:19Z",
      "editor" : {
        "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
      },
      "edited" : "2017-05-29T09:56:22Z",
      "language" : "en",
      "availableLanguages" : [ "en" ],
      "languagePaths" : {
        "en" : "/aircrafts"
      },
      "parentNode" : {
        "projectName" : "demo",
        "uuid" : "72dbee3975054fce9bee397505cfcec5",
        "path" : "/",
        "schema" : {
          "name" : "folder",
          "uuid" : "5cc780af998c4d228780af998ccd2240"
        }
      },
      "tags" : [ ],
      "project" : {
        "name" : "demo",
        "uuid" : "217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3"
      },
      "childrenInfo" : {
        "vehicle" : {
          "schemaUuid" : "2aa83a2b3cba40a1a83a2b3cba90a1de",
          "count" : 3
        }
      },
      "schema" : {
        "name" : "category",
        "uuid" : "2ca2362b041247c4a2362b041227c4da",
        "version" : 1
      },
      "container" : true,
      "displayField" : "name",
      "fields" : {
        "name" : "Aircraft",
        "slug" : "aircrafts"
      },
      "path" : "/aircrafts",
      "breadcrumb" : [ ],
      "version" : {
        "uuid" : "cb34cedeeb9c4d3db4cedeeb9c0d3d01",
        "number" : "1.0"
      },
      "permissions" : {
        "create" : false,
        "read" : true,
        "update" : false,
        "delete" : false,
        "publish" : false,
        "readPublished" : false
      }
    }
  }, {
    "uuid" : "eb2ebdcc0e894a9eaebdcc0e896a9e1d",
    "node" : {
      "uuid" : "eb2ebdcc0e894a9eaebdcc0e896a9e1d",
      "creator" : {
        "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
      },
      "created" : "2017-05-29T09:56:21Z",
      "editor" : {
        "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
      },
      "edited" : "2017-05-29T09:56:22Z",
      "language" : "en",
      "availableLanguages" : [ "en" ],
      "languagePaths" : {
        "en" : "/yachts"
      },
      "parentNode" : {
        "projectName" : "demo",
        "uuid" : "72dbee3975054fce9bee397505cfcec5",
        "path" : "/",
        "schema" : {
          "name" : "folder",
          "uuid" : "5cc780af998c4d228780af998ccd2240"
        }
      },
      "tags" : [ ],
      "project" : {
        "name" : "demo",
        "uuid" : "217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3"
      },
      "childrenInfo" : {
        "vehicle" : {
          "schemaUuid" : "2aa83a2b3cba40a1a83a2b3cba90a1de",
          "count" : 2
        }
      },
      "schema" : {
        "name" : "category",
        "uuid" : "2ca2362b041247c4a2362b041227c4da",
        "version" : 1
      },
      "container" : true,
      "displayField" : "name",
      "fields" : {
        "name" : "Yachts",
        "slug" : "yachts"
      },
      "path" : "/yachts",
      "breadcrumb" : [ ],
      "version" : {
        "uuid" : "4bc10d889134438e810d889134038ed9",
        "number" : "1.0"
      },
      "permissions" : {
        "create" : false,
        "read" : true,
        "update" : false,
        "delete" : false,
        "publish" : false,
        "readPublished" : false
      }
    }
  } ]
}

Breadcrumbs

Each node in Gentics Mesh provides information on where it is located within the node tree in terms of its breadcrumb property. The property provides an array of node references representing the path from the current node up to the project root. For more details see the documentation on node.

The current node will not be included in the list, since all the information is already provided in other properties (i.e., displayField, path) of node object itself.

In our demo app example, the breadcrumb property for node Ford GT will therefore include the node Automobiles.

Gentics Mesh Example for Building Breadcumbs

The breadcrumb property will be returned in all API responses containing nodes. Using the resolveLink query parameter will also the paths of the nodes listed in the array.

API endpoints

Description API endpoint

Get all nodes of a project and return a paged list response.

GET /api/v1/projectName/nodes

Get the node with the given UUID.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:nodeUuid

Load the node or the node’s binary data, which is located using the provided path.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/webroot/:path

Response Sample

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/fc3c85be82584ae2bc85be82588ae2b0?resolveLinks=short 
{
  "uuid" : "fc3c85be82584ae2bc85be82588ae2b0",
  "creator" : {
    "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
  },
  "created" : "2017-05-29T09:56:16Z",
  "editor" : {
    "uuid" : "a93e95f316114659be95f31611265997"
  },
  "edited" : "2017-05-29T09:56:22Z",
  "language" : "en",
  "availableLanguages" : [ "en" ],
  "languagePaths" : {
    "en" : "/automobiles/ford-gt"
  },
  "parentNode" : {
    "projectName" : "demo",
    "uuid" : "ca6c7df3f45b48d4ac7df3f45ba8d42f",
    "displayName" : "Automobiles",
    "path" : "/automobiles",
    "schema" : {
      "name" : "category",
      "uuid" : "2ca2362b041247c4a2362b041227c4da"
    }
  },
  "tags" : [ {
    "name" : "Gasoline",
    "uuid" : "1c51487f8e8043c291487f8e8053c2c1",
    "tagFamily" : "Fuels"
  }, {
    "name" : "Blue",
    "uuid" : "6e6f1d9f055447d2af1d9f055417d289",
    "tagFamily" : "Colors"
  }, {
    "name" : "White",
    "uuid" : "94fec98d6f114e81bec98d6f118e81cc",
    "tagFamily" : "Colors"
  } ],
  "project" : {
    "name" : "demo",
    "uuid" : "217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3"
  },
  "childrenInfo" : { },
  "schema" : {
    "name" : "vehicle",
    "uuid" : "2aa83a2b3cba40a1a83a2b3cba90a1de",
    "version" : 1
  },
  "container" : false,
  "displayField" : "name",
  "fields" : {
    "slug" : "ford-gt",
    "name" : "Ford GT",
    "weight" : 1520,
    "SKU" : 1,
    "price" : 139995,
    "stocklevel" : 20,
    "description" : "The Ford GT is an American mid-engine two-seater sports car that was produced by Ford for the 2005 through 2006 model years.",
    "vehicleImage" : {
      "uuid" : "df8beb3922c94ea28beb3922c94ea2f6",
      "path" : "/images/ford-gt.jpg",
      "languagePaths" : {
        "en" : "/images/ford-gt.jpg"
      }
    }
  },
  "path" : "/automobiles/ford-gt",
  "breadcrumb" : [ {
    "projectName" : "demo",
    "uuid" : "ca6c7df3f45b48d4ac7df3f45ba8d42f",
    "displayName" : "Automobiles",
    "path" : "/automobiles",
    "schema" : {
      "name" : "category",
      "uuid" : "2ca2362b041247c4a2362b041227c4da"
    }
  } ],
  "version" : {
    "uuid" : "677bf76c8c624e2fbbf76c8c62be2fa0",
    "number" : "1.0"
  },
  "permissions" : {
    "create" : false,
    "read" : true,
    "update" : false,
    "delete" : false,
    "publish" : false,
    "readPublished" : false
  }
}

Fetch Content with WebRoot Paths

The WebRoot API is an alternative way for fetching content from Gentics Mesh. Other than accessing nodes with their UUID, one can use the way more intuitive WebRoot paths.

Gentics Mesh Example for Fetching Content by Path using the WebRoot API

This functionality builds on top of the schema segmentField and urlFields property to define the path of a specific node.

WebRoot paths of arbitrary depth can be created, in combination with organizing content hierarchically in terms of a content tree by specifying nodes to be containers for their child nodes. The WebRoot API endpoint uses this information to resolve a given path to a node UUID. Each node in turn will provide a single segment to the full path via the referenced segmentField.

In addition to that it is also possible to create completely custom URLs to your content using the urlFields schema property. You can reference string and string list fields within your schema using the property. Those fields can in turn contain a custom path to your node. Gentics Mesh will only make sure that there are no collisions between custom paths of other nodes. Saving a node which uses the same urlField value would cause a conflict error. It is important to note that conflicts between custom url field values and existing paths which are build using the segmentPath property will not cause a conflict. You can use this in order to override an existing path to a node using a custom path. Custom paths via the urlFields property will always be resolved first and thus overrule the segmentField paths.

Possible applications for the urlFields property are:

  • Short URL support

  • Nice URL handling

  • Redirection handling

Using the WebRoot API it is possible to easily integrate Gentics Mesh with many known routing frameworks.

Framework Language Example

Silex

PHP

Blogpost

ExpressJS

JS

Blogpost

Vert.x

Java,JS,Ceylon

Blogpost

Lotus

Ruby

-

API endpoints

Description API endpoint

Load the node or the node’s binary data, which is located using the provided path.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/webroot/:path

Query content by path

A WebRoot path may consist of multiple path segments, each corresponding to a node within the content tree. The segmentField property from the schema is used to determine the node’s relevant field value.

Each segment of the URL must be URL-encoded. A node’s language variants must provide different path segment in order to guarantee unique paths.

Fetch node with UUID

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/fc3c85be82584ae2bc85be82588ae2b0?resolveLinks=short

Loading the node with the given UUID using API endpoint GET /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:nodeUuid.

Fetch node with WebRoot path

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/webroot/automobiles/ford-gt?resolveLinks=short

Query binary content by path

The WebRoot API, furthermore, directly supports delivering binary content (e.g., images, documents, etc.) using the fileName meta-data field of the binary field.

The Webroot-Response-Type header can be used to differentiate between binary and node responses. The values of this header can be either binary or node. This allows to differentiate between binary content with Content-Type: application/json and typical node responses also delivered with Content-Type: application/json.

Fetch an image with UUID

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/df8beb3922c94ea28beb3922c94ea2f6/binary/image

Downloading a node’s binary field with the given name using API endpoint GET /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:nodeUuid/binary/:fieldName.

Fetch an image with WebRoot path

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/webroot/images/ford-gt.jpg
When using a routing framework, in order to find out if a requested resource is binary data or JSON data you need to check the HTTP Content-Disposition response header. If it is set, it’s binary data.

Image manipulation by path

In case, the binary data is an image, the WebRoot API allows to directly perform image manipulation such as cropping and resizing.

Crop and resize an image with UUID

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/df8beb3922c94ea28beb3922c94ea2f6/binary/image?rect=10,100,800,400&w=300&crop=rect

Crop and resize an image with WebRoot path

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/webroot/images/ford-gt.jpg?rect=10,100,800,400&w=300&crop=rect

Find out more about this topic in our blogpost about Gentics Mesh’s Image Manipulation API and Interface.

Link Resolving

Link resolving represents the counterpart of the WebRoot API - a node UUID can be resolved into a WebRoot path.

Gentics Mesh Example for automatically Resolving Links

Typically, editors create content including internal links to other nodes. When fetching content for your apps, however, Gentics Mesh will resolve these internal links for you and return a WebRoot path.

For example, {{mesh.link("2f2de9297c8143e8ade9297c8193e8fc", "en")}} will be transformed into /api/v1/demo/webroot/images/ford-gt.jpg when using the ?resolveLinks=full query parameter.

The ?resolveLinks query parameter defines if and how links are resolved:

  • off - links will not be resolved. This is the default.

  • full - the resolved links will contain the WebRoot prefix and project name (/api/v1/:projectName/webRoot/:path).

  • medium - the resolved links will contain the project name (/:projectName/:path).

  • short - will contain neither WebRoot prefix nor project name, just the path (:path).

The ?resolveLinks query parameter can be applied to all API endpoints returning nodes.

In some cases it may be desireable to be able to create links which point to nodes within different projects. In these situations the link should no longer be relative but instead contain the domain and protocol which is used by the project of the referenced node.

You can specifiy the hostname and ssl flag when creating a project. This will in turn store this information within the created release of the project. Gentics Mesh will make use of this information once you render a foreign node’s link using the short type. The links will automatically start with https:// if the ssl flag of the release has been set to true. You can update the hostname/ssl flag at any time by updating the release of the project.

Foreign links can only be rendered using the ?resolveLinks=short type. Other resolver types do not support this mechanism.
Foreign links currently don’t contain any release reference thus it is not possible to render links to a foreign node within a specific release. Instead the foreign link resolving mechanism will automatically use the latest release of the node’s project to render the links.

API endpoints

Description API endpoint

Get all nodes of a project and return a paged list response.

GET /api/v1/projectName/nodes

Get the node with the given UUID.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:nodeUuid

Load the node or the node’s binary data, which is located using the provided path.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/webroot/:path

Get a navigation object for the provided node.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:nodeUuid/navigation

Return a navigation for the node which is located using the given path.

GET /api/v1/:projectName/navroot/:path

Link Resolver Utility

In addition to the above, Gentics Mesh offers the /api/v1/utilities/linkResolver endpoint that can be used to resolve Gentics Mesh links within the posted text data. This is useful when resolving links for a preview page.

It’s necessary to send the content in which links should get resolved to the API endpoint in plain text or JSON. The query parameter ?resolveLinks is used to specify how links shall be resolved.

Valid links:

  • {{mesh.link("2f2de9297c8143e8ade9297c8193e8fc", "en")}}

  • {{mesh.link('2f2de9297c8143e8ade9297c8193e8fc', 'en')}}

  • {{mesh.link(\"2f2de9297c8143e8ade9297c8193e8fc\", \"en\")}}

  • {{mesh.link(2f2de9297c8143e8ade9297c8193e8fc, en)}}

  • {{mesh.link("2f2de9297c8143e8ade9297c8193e8fc")}} (link to default language)

  • {{mesh.link(2f2de9297c8143e8ade9297c8193e8fc)}} (link to default language)

Image Manipulation

Images can be resized and/or cropped by appending the image manipulation query parameters on the relevant API endpoints. The following image formats are supported: png, jpg, bmp and gif

Fetch and Resize an Image with UUID

Endpoint: /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:uuid/binary/:fieldname?w=220

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/df8beb3922c94ea28beb3922c94ea2f6/binary/image?w=300

Fetch and Crop an Image with WebRoot Path

It is also possible to use the image manipulation in combination with the WebRoot endpoint.

Endpoint: /api/v1/:projectName/webroot/:path?rect=10,100,800,400&crop=rect

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/webroot/images/ford-gt.jpg?rect=10,100,800,400&crop=rect
It is mandatory to specify all four crop parameters when cropping an image.

Focal Point Handling

Responsive designs often suggest the usage of srcset images for responsive images. Sometimes those designs require image sizes which lead to cropped images. This could result in images which seem chopped off at the worst possible place or images which miss the important part.

You can however use the focal point feature in order to influence how the image should be cropped. Gentics Mesh will use the focal point information when cropping the image so that the focused area will remain in the image.

First you need to specify a focal point along with your image. You can store the focal point information within the binary field of your image or use the fpx and the fpy query parameters when loading the image. You can also use these parameters to override the stored focal point.

The width and height information via w and h parameter are also needed when loading the image. Otherwise Gentics Mesh can’t tell which area of the image needs to be cropped.

Finally the fpdebug parameter can be used to visualize the focal point. This is useful when testing designs and resize parameters.

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/webroot/images/ford-gt.jpg?fpx=0.5&fpy=0.4&w=800&h=600&crop=fp&fpdebug=true

In some cases you may want to show just a single area of the image. In this case you can use the fpz zoom parameter to zoom to the focal point area.

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/webroot/images/ford-gt.jpg?fpx=0.5&fpy=0.35&fpz=3.0&w=800&h=600&crop=fp&fpdebug=true

Transform and Update an Image

Gentics Mesh also allows you to transform (i.e, crop and/or resize) and overwrite an image in a single step. The image manipulation parameters then are part of the request body. This will effectivly override the currently stored image with the image of the resulting operation.

Endpoint: POST /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:uuid/binaryTransform/:fieldname

Example Request:

POST /api/v1/demo/nodes/df8beb3922c94ea28beb3922c94ea2f6/binaryTransform/image
...
{
  "version" : "1.0",
  "language" : "en",
  "width" : 300
}

Image Manipulation Query Parameters

Name Type Mandatory Description

crop

string

false

Set the crop mode. Possible modes: rect : The rect mode will work in combination with the rect parameter and crop the specified area. fp : The fp mode will utilize the specified or pre-selected focal point and crop the image according to the position of the focus point and the specified image size.

fpx

number

false

Set the focal point x factor between 0 and 1 where 0.5 is the middle of the image. You can use this parameter in combination with the crop=fp parameter in order to crop and resize the image in relation to the given point.

fpy

number

false

Set the focal point y factor between 0 and 1 where 0.5 is the middle of the image. You can use this parameter in combination with the crop=fp parameter in order to crop and resize the image in relation to the given point.

fpz

number

false

Set the focal point zoom factor. The value must be greater than one.

h

number

false

Set image target height. The width will automatically be calculated if the height was omitted.

rect

string

false

Set image crop area.

w

number

false

Set image target width. The height will automatically be calculated if the width was omitted.

Find out more about this topic in our blogpost about Gentics Mesh’s Image Manipulation API and Interface.

File Upload

Binary data can be attached to node binary fields. The /api/v1/nodes/:uuid/binary/:fieldName endpoint can be used to POST binary data and thus update the stored binary field.

This endpoint is accepting multipart/form-data, only.

It is required to specify the version and language within the update request. This is similar to regular node update requests in which these information must be added to the JSON object.

----------Geg2Oob
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="version"

1.0

----------Geg2Oob
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="language"

en

----------Geg2Oob
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="shohY6d"; filename="somefile.bin"
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary

fileData

----------Geg2Oob--

Configuration

Gentics Mesh stores all binary files on the filesystem. The default directory data/binaryfiles can be changed in the upload section of the main configuration file mesh.yml.

The upload limit can be configured in bytes using the uploadOptions.byteLimit setting.

For more information on available settings have a look at the administration guide.

Multi-Language

Gentics Mesh comes with multi-language support out of the box. In particular, a node serves as a container for one or more language variants. These language variants will store the actual content fields.

You can query individual language variants by appending the ?lang query parameter. The language json property within an update or create request will be used to identify which language variant should be created or updated.

Requests for nodes should contain the requested languages (as comma separated list)as query parameter:

Endpoint: /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:uuid?lang=en,de

If the requested node is available in any of the languages, the response will contain the fields in that language (first language found).

Language Fallback

Gentics Mesh allows to configure a defaultLanguage in the main configuration file mesh.yml. This default language is used as a fallback in case:

  1. the lang query parameter has been omitted, or

  2. the requested content is not available in the specified language.

This fallback mechanism works when fetching nodes but also when requesting navigation objects or breadcrumb information.

In order to work properly, the fallback mechanism requires all nodes to have a language variant for the specified defaultLanguage.

Permissions

Overview

Permissions allow to equip different groups of users with access to the content of your project.

In Gentics Mesh, we distinguish the concepts of user, group, and role for managing different needs of access.

  • A user represents a physical person or a client app that needs to interact with your content.

  • Groups are used to gather users of same content needs and access levels, e.g. administrators, editors, and users of your app.

  • A role describes a set of permissions on other elements in Gentics Mesh, e.g. nodes, tags, schemas, users.

By assigning a role to a group, the role’s permissions are efficiently granted to a set of users.

For reasons of readability, we will describe granting permissions to users though technically, permissions are granted to a specific role and applied to users via groups.
Permissions in Gentics Mesh
Permission Description

create

grants the right to create instances of the element

read

grants read access to the element

update

grants the right to update the element

delete

grants the right to delete the element

publish

grants the right to publish/unpublish a node

readPublished

grants the right to read the published version of the node
The publish and readPublish permissions are specifically available for node elements.

Most API responses within Gentics Mesh contain a list of permissions. This list indicates which permissions the requesting user has been granted on the returned element(s).

Example

Try the example
Permission of user anonymous on node Delorean https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/fc3c85be82584ae2bc85be82588ae2b0?version=published 
// permissions for node https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/fd58237c79d64bf198237c79d6bbf107?version=published
...
  "permissions" : {
    "create" : false,        //create other nodes
    "read" : false,          //read all versions of the node
    "update" : false,        //update the node
    "delete" : false,        //delete the node
    "publish" : false,       //publish or unpublish the node
    "readPublished" : true   //read the published version of the node
  }
...

The example above shows that the requesting user anonymous has the readPublish permission on the requested node, only. This means the user is allowed to read the published version of the node but not previous versions or a draft version of the requested element.

Furthermore the user is not allowed to

  • create child nodes

  • read a draft version of the node

  • update the requested node

  • delete the requested node

  • publish a draft version of the requested node, or unpublish a node.

Gentics Mesh by default returns the draft version of nodes. This means for supporting the anonymous user and public content, you need to add the ?version=published query parameter on all requests for nodes to avoid "Missing permissions on object" errors. Find out more in the Versioning section.

Following, we will discuss how to query, assign and revoke permissions in Gentics Mesh including the available API endpoints:

API endpoints for querying, assigning, and revoking permissions
Description API endpoint

Read the user permissions on element(s) that can be located by the specified path.

GET /api/v1/users/:userUuid/permissions/:path

Load the permissions between given role and the targeted element(s).

GET /api/v1/roles/:roleUuid/permissions/:path

Set the permissions between role and the targeted element(s).

POST /api/v1/roles/:roleUuid/permissions/:path

The examples provided subsequently, rely on our demo project.

Querying Permissions

There are dedicated API endpoints for querying permissions on elements.

The following example links, require prior authentication with user admin (credentials: admin/admin). Please refer to the authentication section to learn about the different authentication mechanisms provided by Gentics Mesh. The Insomnia REST client can be used to build and invoke requests from your browser to Gentics Mesh.

Querying Role Permissions

The GET /api/v1/roles/:roleUuid/permissions/:path endpoint can be used to query a role’s permission on a specific element or set of elements.

For example, the authenticated admin user is able to find out the configured permissions for role Public User on node fc3c85be82584ae2bc85be82588ae2b0.

Try the example with user admin
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/roles/10447951fd264e6a847951fd266e6ae6/permissions/projects/217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3/nodes/88fac3fbc61041c1bac3fbc610d1c182 Note, that a request with user anonymous will yield a Missing object permissions error response. 
GET https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/roles/10447951fd264e6a847951fd266e6ae6/permissions/projects/217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3/nodes/88fac3fbc61041c1bac3fbc610d1c182

RESPONSE
{
    "create": false,
    "read": false,
    "update": false,
    "delete": false,
    "publish": false,
    "readPublished": true
}

Alternatively, you can use query the element using the respective API endpoint (e.g. GET /api/v1/projectName/nodes) and use the role query parameter to find out another role’s (i.e. anonymous) permissions on the element:

Try the example with user admin
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/demo/nodes/88fac3fbc61041c1bac3fbc610d1c182?role=10447951fd264e6a847951fd266e6ae6 
GET https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/roles/10447951fd264e6a847951fd266e6ae6/permissions/projects/217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3/nodes/88fac3fbc61041c1bac3fbc610d1c182

RESPONSE
...
  "permissions" : { // permissions of requesting user admin
    "create" : true,
    "read" : true,
    "update" : true,
    "delete" : true,
    "publish" : true,
    "readPublished" : true
  },
  "rolePerms" : { // permissions of requested role anonymous
    "create" : false,
    "read" : false,
    "update" : false,
    "delete" : false,
    "publish" : false,
    "readPublished" : true
  }
  ...

Querying User Permissions

The endpoint GET /api/v1/users/:userUuid/permissions/:path provides a shortcut for querying permissions for specific users directly, e.g., for user anonymous, which is essentially inheriting all permissions from role anonymous.

Try the example
https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/users/5fb9654c0b734e87b9654c0b736e8701/permissions/projects/217f8c981ada4642bf8c981adaa642c3/nodes/88fac3fbc61041c1bac3fbc610d1c182

Assigning & Revoking Permissions

The POST /api/v1/roles/:roleUuid/permissions/:path API endpoint can be used to assign or revoke permissions to/from a role.

  • It is important to note that permissions can be granted on individual elements and onto a set of elements, which is identified by the element path name (e.g.: /users/:uuid and /users).

  • Furthermore, the endpoint offers the property recursive for applying permissions recursively on child elements.

Following, we go through all Gentics Mesh objects that can be subject to permissions.

How to grant Permissions on Users

In order to grant permission on individual or all users, one need to specify the path to be either /users/:uuid or /users, respectively.

Applying permissions on /users recursively will affect all users.

If you need to grant permission on users of a specific group, please use the /groups/:uuid element path together with property recursively.
Example

The following example shows how to grant the Editor Role role the permission to read all users. Since this is an operation to be performed on a set of users, the element path /users needs to be used together with property recursive=true.

Links used in the example require prior authentication with user admin (credentials: admin/admin). Please refer to the authentication section to learn about the different authentication mechanisms provided by Gentics Mesh. The Insomnia REST client can be used to build and invoke requests from your browser to Gentics Mesh. 
POST https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/roles/6754d83b086244d894d83b086204d87f/permissions/users

BODY
{
  "permissions": {
    "create": false,
    "read": true,
    "update": false,
    "delete": false,
    "publish": false,
    "readPublished": false
  },
  "recursive": true
}

RESPONSE
{
    "message": "Permission for role Editor Role updated."
}

You can query the updated permissions with user admin:

https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/roles/6754d83b086244d894d83b086204d87f/permissions/users

Role permissions

All possible role permissions on users are summarized in the following table.

Role permissions on individual users and set of users
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create new users

/users

Create

false

Can read all users

/users

Read

true

Can update all users

/users

Update

true

Can delete all users

/users

Delete

true

Can read user

/users/:uuid

Read

false

Can update user

/users/:uuid

Update

false

Can delete user

/users/:uuid

Delete

false

How to grant Permissions on Groups

Permissions on a single or multiple groups are applied via /groups/:uuid path and /groups path respectively.

  • Granting permissions on /groups recursively will affect all groups.

  • Granting permissions on /groups/:uuid recursively will affect users of the group.

Example

The following example shows how to grant the Editor Role role the permission to read a specific group (i.e. Client Group) and its users (i.e. webclient). This operation needs to be applied recursively (i.e., recursive=true), otherwise read permissions would be granted to the group, only.

Links used in the example require prior authentication with user admin (credentials: admin/admin). Please refer to the authentication section to learn about the different authentication mechanisms provided by Gentics Mesh. The Insomnia REST client can be used to build and invoke requests from your browser to Gentics Mesh. 
POST https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/roles/6754d83b086244d894d83b086204d87f/permissions/groups/df81c23d9ff1450081c23d9ff195005e

BODY
{
  "permissions": {
    "create": false,
    "read": true,
    "update": false,
    "delete": false,
    "publish": false,
    "readPublished": false
  },
  "recursive": true
}

RESPONSE
{
    "message": "Permission for role Editor Role updated."
}

You can query the updated permissions with user admin:

Role permissions

All possible role permissions on groups are summarized in the following table.

Role permissions on a specific group and multiple groups
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create new groups

/groups

Create

false

Can read all groups

/groups

Read

true

Can update all groups

/groups

Update

true

Can delete all groups

/groups

Delete

true

Can read group

/groups/:uuid

Read

false

Can update group

/groups/:uuid

Update

false

Can delete group

/groups/:uuid

Delete

false

Can read group and its users

/groups/:uuid

Read

true

Can update group and its users

/groups/:uuid

Update

true

Can delete group and its users

/groups/:uuid

Delete

true

How to Grant Permissions on Roles

By granting permissions on roles, you effectively grant users the right to change permissions of other users.

  • Permissions on a single or multiple roles are applied via /roles/:uuid path and /roles path respectively.

  • Granting permissions on /roles recursively will affect all roles.

Example

The following example shows how to grant the Editor Role role permissions to create new roles and subsequently manage them (i.e., read, update, delete) but no access to existing roles.

Links used in the example require prior authentication with user admin (credentials: admin/admin). Please refer to the authentication section to learn about the different authentication mechanisms provided by Gentics Mesh. The Insomnia REST client can be used to build and invoke requests from your browser to Gentics Mesh. 
POST https://demo.getmesh.io/api/v1/roles/6754d83b086244d894d83b086204d87f/permissions/roles

BODY
{
  "permissions": {
    "create": true,
    "read": false,
    "update": false,
    "delete": false,
    "publish": false,
    "readPublished": false
  },
  "recursive": false
}

RESPONSE
{
    "message": "Permission for role Editor Role updated."
}

You can query the updated permissions with user admin:

Role permissions

All possible role permissions on roles are summarized in the following table.

Role permissions on a specific role and multiple roles
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create new roles

/roles

Create

false

Can read all roles

/roles

Read

true

Can update all roles

/roles

Update

true

Can delete all roles

/roles

Delete

true

Can read role

/roles/:uuid

Read

false

Can update role

/roles/:uuid

Update

false

Can delete role

/roles/:uuid

Delete

false

How to Grant Permissions on Schemas

Permissions on a single or multiple schemas are applied via /schemas/:uuid path and /schemas path respectively.

  • Granting permissions on /schemas recursively will affect all schemas.

  • Read permissions on a schema are needed for creating nodes based on that schema.

Role permissions on a specific schema and multiple schemas
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create new schemas

/schemas

Create

false

Can read all schemas, and create nodes

/schemas

Read

true

Can update all schemas

/schemas

Update

true

Can delete all schemas

/schemas

Delete

true

Can read schema, and create nodes

/schemas/:uuid

Read

false

Can update schema

/schemas/:uuid

Update

false

Can delete schema

/schemas/:uuid

Delete

false

How to Grant Permissions on Microschemas

Permissions on a single or multiple microschemas are applied via /microschemas/:uuid path and /microschemas path respectively.

  • Granting permissions on /microschemas recursively will affect all microschemas.

  • Read permissions on a microschema are needed for creating, reading, updating, and deleting micronodes based on that schema.

Role permissions on a specific microschema and multiple microschemas
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create new microschemas

/microschemas

Create

false

Can read all microschemas, and create micronodes

/microschemas

Read

true

Can update all microschemas

/microschemas

Update

true

Can delete all microschemas

/microschemas

Delete

true

Can read microschemas, and create micronodes

/microschemas/:uuid

Read

false

Can update microschemas

/microschemas/:uuid

Update

false

Can delete microschemas

/microschemas/:uuid

Delete

false

How to Grant Permissions on Projects

Permissions on a single or multiple projects are applied via /projects/:uuid path and /projects path respectively.

  • Granting permissions on /projects/:uuid will also affect sub elements, i.e., used schemas, microschemas, tagfamilies & tags, nodes & sub nodes of the project.

  • Granting permissions on /projects recursively will affect all projects and their sub elements.

Role permissions on a specific project and multiple projects
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create new project

/projects

Create

false

Can read all projects and sub elements

/projects

Read

true

Can update all projects and sub elements

/projects

Update

true

Can delete all projects and sub elements

/projects

Delete

true

Can read published nodes and subnodes of all project

/projects

Read Published

true

Can un/publish nodes and subnodes of all project

/projects

Publish

true

Can read project and sub elements

/projects/:uuid

Read

true

Can update project and sub elements

/projects/:uuid

Update

true

Can delete project and sub elements

/projects/:uuid

Delete

true

Can read published nodes and subnodes of project

/projects/:uuid

Read Published

true

Can un/publish nodes and subnodes of project

/projects/:uuid

Publish

true

How to Grant Permissions on Tag Families

In order to grant permission on tag families the /:projectName/tagFamilies path can be used.

  • Granting permissions on /:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid together with property recursive=true allows setting permissions for tags of a tag family.

  • Granting permissions on /:projectName/tagFamilies together with property recursive=true allows setting permissions for all tag families and their tags.

Role permissions on tag families
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create new tag families

/:projectName/tagFamilies

Create

false

Can create new tag families and tags for tagFamilies

/:projectName/tagFamilies

Create

true

Can read all tag families and tags

/:projectName/tagFamilies

Read

true

Can update all tag families and tags

/:projectName/tagFamilies

Update

true

Can delete all tag families and tags

/:projectName/tagFamilies

Delete

true

Can create tags in tag family

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid

Create

false

Can read tag family

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid

Read

false

Can update tag family

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid

Update

false

Can delete tag family

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid

Delete

false

Can read tag family and tags

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid

Read

true

Can update tag family and tags

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid

Update

true

Can delete tag family and tags

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid

Delete

true

How to Grant Permissions on Tags

In order to grant permission on tags the /:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags and /:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags/:uuid paths can be used.

  • Currently, using path /:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags works same as using path /:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid

  • Granting permissions on /:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags together with property recursive=true allows setting permissions for tags of a tag family, otherwise the property has no effect.

Role permissions on tag families
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create tags in tag family

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags

Create

false

Can read tag family

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags

Read

false

Can update tag family

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags

Update

false

Can delete tag family

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags

Delete

false

Can read tag family and tags

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags

Read

true

Can update tag family and tags

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags

Update

true

Can delete tag family and tags

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags

Delete

true

Can read tag

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags/:uuid

Read

false

Can update tag

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags/:uuid

Update

false

Can delete tag

/:projectName/tagFamilies/:uuid/tags/:uuid

Delete

false

How to Grant Permissions on Nodes

Permissions on a single or multiple nodes are applied via /:projectName/nodes and /:projectName/nodes/:uuid path:

  • /:projectName/nodes/:uuid is used to grant permissions on single nodes.

  • /:projectName/nodes together with property recursive=true can be used to quickly grant permissions on all node of the project.

  • In order to grant permissions on sub trees of the content tree /:projectName/nodes/:uuid together with property recursive=true is to be used.

Role permissions on nodes
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create new sub nodes in all nodes of the project

/:projectName/nodes

Create

true

Can read all project nodes (and all node versions)

/:projectName/nodes

Read

true

Can update all nodes of the project

/:projectName/nodes

Update

true

Can delete all nodes of the project

/:projectName/nodes

Delete

true

Can read the published version of all project nodes

/:projectName/nodes

ReadPublished

true

Can publish/unpublish all nodes of the project

/:projectName/nodes

Publish

true

Can create new sub nodes in specified node

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Create

false

Can read specified node

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Read

false

Can update specified node

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Update

false

Can delete specified node

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Delete

false

Can read the published version specified node

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

ReadPublished

false

Can publish/unpublish specified node

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Publish

false

Can create new sub nodes in specified node & sub nodes

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Create

true

Can read specified node & sub nodes

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Read

true

Can update specified node & sub nodes

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Update

true

Can delete specified node & sub nodes

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Delete

true

Can read the published version specified node & sub nodes

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

ReadPublished

true

Can publish/unpublish specified node & sub nodes

/:projectName/nodes/:uuid

Publish

true

How to Grant Permissions on Releases

Permissions on a single or multiple releases are applied via /releases/:uuid path and /releases path respectively.

Releases can not be deleted. Hence, permissions for deleting do not apply.
Role permissions on a specific release and multiple releases
Role permission Element path Permission Recursive

Can create new release

/:projectName/releases

Create

false

Can read all releases

/:projectName/releases

Read

true

Can update all releases

/:projectName/releases

Update

true

Can read the release

/:projectName/releases/:uuid

Read

false

Can update the release

/:projectName/releases/:uuid

Update

false

Versioning

In order to understand the concept of versioning in Gentics Mesh it is important to remember that nodes are containers for language variants (see Multi-Language). The language variant of a node contains the fields and thus stores all the content.

Versioning within Gentics Mesh only applies to language variants and their referenced fields. Other elements such as users, groups, roles, permissions and even nodes are not versioned.

Various content management tasks will have different effects for versioning in Gentics Mesh. Some of them create versions, others don’t. Following, we go through all of these actions which involve versioning.

At the moment it is not possible to delete older versions.

Node Creation

Once a node has been created the initial version 0.1 will be assigned to its language variant.

Node Updates

Updating a node’s language variant may create a minor version 0.2 of that language variant if changes have been detected within the posted request fields.

No Locks:

It is not required to handle locks in Gentics Mesh. Instead it is required to specify the version in the update request which identifies the version on which the update request was based upon.

Conflict detection:

Gentics Mesh will check whether new versions have been created in the meanwhile. Long running edit operations or multiple concurrent editors may create additional versions.

The detected changes will be compared automatically in order to determine whether the current update request causes a conflict with a newer edit request. Gentics Mesh will return a response which contains information about the conflict in those cases. Other update operations which do not cause a conflict will be stored and the changed fields will be updated.

The latest version which was created using an update request is called the draft version. Only a single draft version per language variant exists.

Publishing Nodes

Node language variants can be published and taken offline. This is particularly useful if you want to first work on a draft, then review it and publish it at a later point in time.

Publishing requires a POST request on the /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:uuid/published endpoint, which will publish all language variants of the node. It is also possible to just publish specific language variants with dedicated POST requests on /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:uuid/languages/:languageTag/published.

Gentics Mesh will automatically create a new major version when publishing a node language variant (e.g.: 1.0, 2.0). The draft reference will also be updated to point to the major version, e.g. 1.0.

Furthermore, it is possible to retrieve information about the published status via a GET request on /api/v1/:/nodes/:uuid/published.

Publishing node language variants requires the user to be assigned to a group with a role which provides the publish permission. 
{
  "availableLanguages" : {
    "de" : {
      "published" : false,
      "version" : "0.4"
    },
    "en" : {
      "published" : true,
      "version" : "3.0",
      "publisher" : {
        "firstName" : "Joe",
        "lastName" : "Doe",
        "uuid" : "db5e8d0520f040949e8d0520f0409484"
      },
      "publishDate" : "2018-06-13T13:05:46.226Z"
    },
    "fr" : {
      "published" : false,
      "version" : "5.2"
    }
  }
}
It is not possible to publish a specific version. Publish always affects the latest draft version of the language variant.

Taking Nodes Offline

Similarly to publishing, the language variants of a node can be taken offline via a DELETE request on /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:uuid/published. E.g., taking a specific node language variant with version 1.0 offline using DELETE /api/v1/:projectName/nodes/:uuid/languages/:languageTag/published will just change the node’s publish state. Version 1.0 will still be available.

Taking node language variants offline requires the user have publish permissions on the node.

Reading Nodes

It is possible to fetch older versions by specifying the ?version query parameter. Similarly, the published version of a node language variant can also be loaded using the parameter ?version=published or the draft version via ?version=draft.

Gentics Mesh by default returns the draft version of nodes. This means for supporting the anonymous user and public content, you need to add the ?version=published query parameter on all requests for nodes to avoid "Missing permissions on object" errors.
Reading published nodes requires the user to be assigned to a role which grants the readPublished permission.

Content Releases

So far we learned that node language variants can be versioned and published. Additionally Mesh versioning provides a powerful concept we call Releases. A release is very similar to branches in a versioning control system.

Releases can be used to restructure your nodes and change the contents within a specific release without affecting a different release which provides a different structure/content.

Structural references for nodes always contain release information. This applies to parent/child relationship or taggings, publish states of nodes. This way releases are completely isolated from each other.

It is currently not possible to migrate from one release to another. Nodes of releases can’t be automatically merged to other releases.

Typical usecases are:

  • Updating an existing application installation which uses Gentics Mesh to a new version. The new application version requires new schema versions. By creating a release and migrating the nodes to the new release (new schema versions), it is possible to serve content for both application versions. Each application versions chooses the correct release for getting nodes.

  • Schema versions must be assigned to the release. Each project can have multiple releases. An initial release will automatically be created when creating a project.

All operations to nodes can be scoped to a specific release by adding the ?release=name query parameter. If omitted the latest release will be used to execute the operation.

Implementations which use mesh should always reference a specific release. Otherwise the document structure could change without the implementation being aware of these changes.

Creating a Release

A release requires an unique name. Existing nodes within the project will automatically be migrated into the release. Please note the started node migration will be processed asynchronously and thus not all nodes may be directly accessible within the scope of the release.

This migration is different from a schema version migration. The release node migration just takes care of making all nodes from the previous release available in the newly created release. Unlike the schema migration the node migration will not create new language variant versions.

You can use the eventbus bridge or the dedicated /api/v1/admin/status/migrations endpoint to query the migration status. The migrated JSON property within the release response also indicates whether the node migration has been completed.

Note: Migrated nodes will still have the same uuid as before.

Updating a Release

A release can be renamed and new schema/microschema versions can be assigned to it.

Renaming is useful if you want to change your development release to be the current production release.

Assigning schema versions to the release via a PUT request to /api/v1/:projectName/releases/:uuid/schemas will automatically trigger a schema migration of the affected nodes language variants within the release.

{
  "schemas" : [ {
    "name" : "content",
    "uuid" : "c3bf0f70251848e1bf0f70251858e150",
    "version" : "1.0"
  }, {
    "name" : "folder",
    "uuid" : "8f6e43d69fa848d2ae43d69fa838d28a",
    "version" : "1.0"
  }, {
    "name" : "binary-data",
    "uuid" : "546c972919ec426bac972919ec126bb7",
    "version" : "1.0"
  } ]
}

It is also possible to assign microschemas via a PUT request to /api/v1/:projectName/releases/:uuid/microschemas to the release.

{
  "microschemas" : [ {
    "name" : "vcard",
    "uuid" : "3c4bccce3ef8409a8bccce3ef8909add",
    "version" : "2.0"
  }, {
    "name" : "geolocation",
    "uuid" : "b5c9753dd5f641f089753dd5f671f07a",
    "version" : "1.0"
  } ]
}

All nodes which reference the release via the updated schema version will automatically be migrated to use the newer schema version. Please note the started schema migration will be processed asynchronously and thus not all node language variants may be directly accessible within the scope of the release.

The migration will create new versions for the affected node language variants.

It is note worthy that updating a schema and thus creating new schema version will not automatically affect the release. Each schema update created a new schema version. This new version must first be assigned to the release.

Deleting a Release

At the moment it is not possible to delete a release.

Moving Nodes

Releases enable Gentics Mesh to setup multiple content project tree structures. Moving nodes can be scoped to a specific release using the ?release request parameter. The project’s initial release will be used to execute the move operation if no release has been selected.

Tagging Nodes

The tag operation is also scoped to a specific release. This way new tags can be assigned to your nodes for a specific release without affecting the taggings of nodes within an older release.

Tags and tag families are not versioned. Deleting a tag will remove the tag from all nodes that previously referenced this tag.
Taggings to nodes are not versioned.

Deleting Nodes

Deleting nodes is also release specific. Deleting a node via DELETE to /api/v1/:projectName/node/:uuid?release=winter2016 will delete the node and all its sub nodes from the winter2016 release. The node will be completely removed from the system if no more language variants are referenced within any release.

It is also possible to just delete a specific language variant via DELETE to /api/v1/:projectName/node/:uuid/languages/en?release=winter2016 from release winter2016.

Updating Nodes

Releases are completely isolated from each other as explained earlier. This also applies to a node’s language variant versions.

Example:

  • Create release summer2016

  • Create node with language variant de at version 1.0 in release summer2016

  • Create release winter2016

  • Update previously created node in release summer2016 and thus create version 1.1

Release summer2016 will reference node language variant 1.1 and winter2016 will still reference version 1.0 since the winter2016 release was created at the specific point of time in which the language variant in release summer2016 was still at version 1.0.

It is currently not possible to migrate 1.1 from summer2016 to winter2016.

Additionally creating new nodes in summer2016 will not be available in release winter2016.

Permissions

Permissions are not release specific.

Preview Handling

The Gentics Mesh User Interface provides a preview button when editing nodes. A post request to a configureable url is being dispatched when the button is triggered. The post request will contain the node JSON data of the current editing state. This way a preview page can be easily rendered by custom frontend implementations.

Password Recovery

A user who lost his password is able to recover it using a reset token. This token, typically, is issued by a user or service having permissions to create new users. The /api/v1/users/:userUuid/reset_token endpoint will return a token code which then can be passed along to an email service sending a recovery email to the user including named token.

A token is valid for 30 minutes and will be invalidated once it has been used.

The user can use this token to update his user record by issuing a POST request to the /api/v1/users/:userUuid?token=TOKENCODE endpoint. E.g., this can be done by presenting the user a form for updating his password. This works even if the user is not authenticated.

Schema & Microschema Migration

Gentics Mesh provides a changelog like system in order to apply and keep track of schema changes. A schema change may be a single change that adds a new field to the schema or a change which updates the schema properties.

Gentics Mesh supports the following change operations:

Operation: addfield

Properties Description

after

Name of the field after which the new field should be inserted

field

Name of the field that should be added

type

Type of the field

listType

Optional list type

 
{
  "operation" : "ADDFIELD",
  "properties" : {
    "field" : "fieldToBeAdded",
    "label" : "Field Label Value",
    "after" : "firstField",
    "type" : "list",
    "listType" : "html"
  }
}

Operation: removefield

Properties Description

field

Name of the field to be removed

 
{
  "operation" : "REMOVEFIELD",
  "properties" : {
    "field" : "fieldToBeRemoved"
  }
}

Operation: changefieldtype

Properties Description

field

Name of the field to be modified

type

New field type

listType

(Only applies for lists) New list type

 
{
  "operation" : "CHANGEFIELDTYPE",
  "properties" : {
    "field" : "fieldToBeChanged",
    "type" : "html"
  }
}

Operation: updatefield

Properties Description

field

Field to be updated

label

New field label

 
{
  "operation" : "UPDATEFIELD",
  "properties" : {
    "field" : "fieldToBeUpdated",
    "name" : "newName"
  }
}

Operation: updateschema

Properties Description

description

New schema description

order

Array of strings that contains the field order

displayFieldname

New displayFieldname value of the schema

segmentFieldname

New segmentFieldname value of the schema

container

New container flag of the schema

 
{
  "operation" : "UPDATESCHEMA",
  "properties" : {
    "container" : "true",
    "segmentFieldname" : "newSegmentField",
    "displayFieldname" : "newSegmentField",
    "description" : "new description",
    "label" : "new label"
  }
}

Operation: updatemicroschema

Properties Description

description

New microschema description

 
{
  "operation" : "UPDATEMICROSCHEMA",
  "properties" : {
    "description" : "new description",
    "label" : "new label"
  }
}

Each change may also provide a migration script. The migration script can be used to modify nodes that were affected by the migration.

Typical usecases for migration scripts are for example dynamic field removal or even custom reformatting of field data. It is also possible to split a single field value into values for two new fields.

The /api/v1/schemas/:uuid/diff and /api/v1/microschemas/:uuid/diff endpoints can be used to generate a list of changes by comparing the stored and posted schema.

This list of changes can be modified and posted to /api/v1/schemas/:uuid/changes for schemas or /api/v1/microschemas/:uuid/changes for microschemas. The posted list of changes will be validated and stored when valid. A schema migration process will be started which runs in the background.

The SockJS compliant /api/v1/eventbus endpoint can be used to register to migration specific messages.

Additionally to websocket it is possible to query whether a migration is running via the /api/v1/admin/status/migrations endpoint.

Sending a schema to /api/v1/schemas:uuid using the PUT method will conveniently combine the diff generation and invocation of the schema migration.

Please note that by default conflicting data will be removed and this action can only be avoided by specifying a custom migration script.

Custom Migration Scripts

Sometimes it is desired to overwrite the default migration behaviour.

The following migration script converts the number value from field node.fields[fieldname] into a ISO-8601 date string which is then stored within the node.fields[fieldname] field.

function migrate(node, fieldname, convert) {
    node.fields[fieldname] = new Date(new Date(node.fields[fieldname]).getTime() + 864000).toISOString();
    return node;
}

Migration scripts also allow you to split up a field value into two different fields.

function migrate(node, fieldname, convert) {
    node.fields["fieldA"] = "First field set";
    node.fields["fieldB"] = "Second field set";
    return node;
}

The provided converter can be used to convert in between field types. This converter will be used if no custom migration script was specified.

function migrate(node, fieldname, convert) {
    var stringValue = convert.toString(node.fields[fieldname]);

    // It is important to use the Java.from method to convert the java list object into a number array.
    var numberArray    = Java.from(convert.toNumberList(node.fields[fieldname]));
    var micronodeArray = Java.from(convert.toMicronodeList(node.fields[fieldname]));
    var dateArray      = Java.from(convert.toDateList(node.fields[fieldname]));
    var booleanArray   = Java.from(convert.toBooleanList(node.fields[fieldname]));

    var numberValue    = convert.toNumber(node.fields[fieldname]);
    var nodeValue      = convert.toNode(node.fields[fieldname]);
    var micronodeValue = convert.toMicronode(node.fields[fieldname]);
    var dateValue      = convert.toDate(node.fields[fieldname]);
    var booleanValue   = convert.toBoolean(node.fields[fieldname]);
    var binaryValue    = convert.toBinary(node.fields[fieldname]);

    // Delete the field
    delete node.fields[fieldname];
    return node;
}

Finally the changes can be applied by sending the request to /api/v1/schemas/:uuid/changes.

{
  "changes" : [ {
    "operation" : "ADDFIELD",
    "properties" : {
      "field" : "listFieldToBeAddedField",
      "label" : "Field Label Value",
      "type" : "list",
      "listType" : "html"
    }
  }, {
    "operation" : "CHANGEFIELDTYPE",
    "properties" : {
      "field" : "fieldToBeUpdated",
      "type" : "string"
    }
  }, {
    "operation" : "REMOVEFIELD",
    "properties" : {
      "field" : "fieldToBeRemoved"
    }
  }, {
    "operation" : "UPDATEFIELD",
    "migrationScript" : "function migrate(node, fieldname) {node.fields[fieldname] = new Date(new Date(node.fields[fieldname]).getTime() + 864000).toISOString(); return node;}",
    "properties" : {
      "field" : "fieldToBeUpdated",
      "displayFieldname" : "newDisplayField",
      "label" : "newLabel"
    }
  }, {
    "operation" : "UPDATESCHEMA",
    "properties" : { }
  } ]
}

Executing migrations

Migrations can potentially affect a huge amount of nodes depending on the size of your project. As such the migration could take some time to complete. This is why we designed migrations in ways that they can be executed asynchronously. Various operations in Gentics Mesh (eg. Schema update, assigning versions to releases, creating releases) may trigger migrations. Before the migration is being executed a job is added to the job queue. You can view the queue via the /api/v1/admin/jobs endpoint. These jobs will be processed and execute the actual migration.

By default updating a schema will create a new schema version and the nodes will be migrated to that new version. If you want to deferre this operation you can set the updateAssignedReleases query parameter to false when updating a schema/microschema. This leads to a new schema version being created but the version would not be linked to your current release and no migration would be invoked.

Once a job has been queued and a migration has been invoked the status can be checked via the /api/v1/admin/status/migrations endpoint.

A job will only be removed from the job list when the job completed without any error. Erroneous jobs will stay in the job list. This way interrupted migrations can be picked up and executed once again.

Intermediate errors may cause a job to fail. In those cases it is possible to reset the error flag of a job by executing DELETE /api/v1/admin/jobs/:jobUuid/error. The job can run again once the error flag has been cleared. It is possible to invoke POST /api/v1/admin/processJobs to trigger a manual event which will start the job processing.

Jobs which keep failing can be permanently removed from the job queue via the DELETE /api/v1/admin/jobs/:jobUuid endpoint. Please note that it is only possible to remove jobs which have failed. Jobs which don’t fail will automatically be removed from the list.

Eventbus Bridge & Websocket

The /api/v1/eventbus endpoint allows clients to access the eventbus. This may be useful if you want to react on specific events. Currently only schema migration specific events are handled via this endpoint but more will follow.

The endpoint is SockJS compliant. It is also possible to access the websocket directly via: /api/v1/eventbus/websocket.

Eventname Description

mesh.migration

Receive node and micronode migration specific events

mesh.cluster.node.joined

Triggered when a node joined the cluster

mesh.cluster.node.left

Triggered when a node left the cluster

mesh.cluster.db.status

Triggered when the database status changes. The database can either be OFFLINE, STARTING, ONLINE, MERGING or SHUTTINGDOWN

mesh.user.created

Triggered on user creation

mesh.user.updated

Triggered on user update

mesh.user.deleted

Triggered on user deletion

mesh.group.created

Triggered on group creation

mesh.group.updated

Triggered on group update

mesh.group.deleted

Triggered on group deletion

mesh.role.created

Triggered on role creation

mesh.role.updated

Triggered on role update

mesh.role.deleted

Triggered on role deletion

mesh.tag.created

Triggered on tag creation

mesh.tag.updated

Triggered on tag update

mesh.tag.deleted

Triggered on tag deletion

mesh.tagfamily.created

Triggered on tagFamily creation

mesh.tagfamily.updated

Triggered on tagFamily update

mesh.tagfamily.deleted

Triggered on tagFamily deletion

mesh.project.created

Triggered on project creation

mesh.project.updated

Triggered on project update

mesh.project.deleted

Triggered on project deletion

mesh.node.created

Triggered on node creation

mesh.node.updated

Triggered on node update

mesh.node.deleted

Triggered on node deletion

mesh.schema.created

Triggered on schema creation

mesh.schema.updated

Triggered on schema update

mesh.schema.deleted

Triggered on schema deletion

mesh.microschema.created

Triggered on microschema creation

mesh.microschema.updated

Triggered on microschema update

mesh.microschema.deleted

Triggered on microschema deletion

mesh.release.created

Triggered on release creation

mesh.release.updated

Triggered on release update

mesh.release.deleted

Triggered on release deletion

Clustering

Clustering is described in detail in our dedicated clustering documentation.

Keep in touch

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