Best way to reuse content?

Shared region. Then you can use anywhere with perch_content() or perch_content_custom().

Sorry, Runway:

Collection, but then perch_collection() with template and filter options.

Since this is Runway, he should just use a collection shouldn’t he? As collections are global and then using a template to output global in format required for that page...??

Hi all

Thanks for the replies.

It's good to know to stay away from shared regions for anything more complicated than a simple address etc.

I've created a 'Global details' page and I'm using perch_content_custom to pull out specific content as I need it.

<?php 
    perch_content_custom('Global Details', array(
        'template' => '_global/address-line-1.html',
        'page'=>'/global-details'
    )); 
?>

A collection doesn't feel like a good fit for this type particular type of content. Collections are great for templating repeating content, something like an address book or a catalogue of products. For this website there will only ever be one 'company name' or `phone number'.

Thanks again - great support!

Hi Stephen,

I am trying to do something similar but just in the standard Perch, not Runway. I was hoping you could confirm something for me. I am assuming you don't actually every display your Global Details page? It is just used to store your global content values and then you use different templates to display the content in different areas of the website?

Also, would you mind maybe attaching a copy of your Global Details page so I can see how you have is structured?

Thanks

James

Hi James,

I am assuming you don't actually every display your Global Details page?

That's right

It is just used to store your global content values and then you use different templates to display the content in different areas of the website?

Yup.

Here's part of my global template, you can add other perch tags to collect any extra information.

<!--* Company name *-->
<perch:if exists="company_name"><perch:content id="company_name" type="text" label="Company Name" html="false"  /></perch:if>
<!--* Address line 1 *-->
<perch:if exists="address_1"><perch:content divider-before="Address" id="address_1" type="text" label="Address Line 1" html="false"  /></perch:if>
<!--* Address line 2 *-->
<perch:if exists="address_2"><perch:content id="address_2" type="text" label="Address Line 2" html="false"  /></perch:if>
<!--* City *-->
<perch:if exists="city"><perch:content id="city" type="text" label="City" html="false"  /></perch:if>
<!--* Postcode *-->
<perch:if exists="postcode"><perch:content id="postcode" type="text" label="Postcode" html="false"  /></perch:if>

Say I wanted to use the ID company_name I'd just create a new HTML template (company-name.html), with just part of the global template

<perch:content id="company_name" type="text" label="Company Name" html="false"  />

I'd then use this PHP to use that template.

<?php 
perch_content_custom('Global Details', array(
'template' => 'company-name.html',
'page'=>'/global-details'
)); 
?>

Now when I update the company name in the Perch CMS the new name will be displayed on the page.

Does that help?

Hi Stephen

That is a fantastic answer - it helps heaps. Just one more question (I am fairly new to Perch). My understanding of Perch is that you need to visit the page in the browser first before the fields become available for editing in the Perch Dashboard. So, in the instance of your Global Details page, I presume you have a page called something like global-details.php which in turn is associated with the global-details.html template.

To have the template fields available in the Dashboard, did you have to visit the global-details page in your website? If so, how do you ensure visitors don't somehow stumble across this page in the future - I admit that would be extremely unlikely, but I wanted to check whether you had a strategy to serve up a 404 page or something similar. Or, is there another way to make the global-template fields accessible in the Dashboard without having to first visit the global details page in the browser?

Thanks heaps for your help.

James