Content Schema is the combination of Content Models, Content Fields, and their respective behaviors. Content Schema provides the guidelines for creating, editing, and accessing content in a Zesty.io Content Instance. Changes to Content Schema also shapes the patterns of a Content Instance's auto generated API by assigning unique identifiers.

Content Schema is most commonly created and controlled through the Zesty.io Content Manager User Interface, but it can also be created through the API

Content Models

Content Models contain instructions (options and fields) that determine the format of the content items that can be created and stored in them. For example, let's pretend we created a content model called Person, and Person has two fields: name and date of birth. Person now serves as a model to follow when entering or editing content in the Person content model.

Content Fields

Content Fields are stored on a content model to determine what type of content can be stored. Content fields are created with three key attributes:

1. Name (A label used to guide people conducting content entry)
2. Reference Name (used by programmers, only alphanumeric characters and underscores)
3. Data Type (used to determine input options and data requirements)

Content Model Example: Person

Content Fields Names	Reference Name	Field Type
Name	name	text
Date of Birth	date_of birth	date

Fields can control what type of data is stored, for example, text or number, They also determine what the editing interface for a user is. Fields can be one of many types.

Content Fields Types

Type	Description
text	Simple text, limit 160 characters
textarea	Simple text, can contain HTML, limit 1000 characters, produces a larger input area
wysiwyg	What You See is What You Get (wysiwyg) is a rich editor that provides the user with tools to format text with titles, bolding, italics, links, Instagram embeds, video embeds, etc.
markdown	A text editing area that supports the markdown format
number	A numeric character 0-9999999999
currency	A float style number i.e. 99.99
sort	A numeric character -9999999 - 9999999
image	A field that stores an image reference Zesty.io Micro DAM
files	A field that stores a file reference from Zesty.io Micro DAM
link	Accepts a full URL
internal_link	Accepts a ZUID to a content item
datetime	Accepts a date in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:SS
date	Accepts a date in the format YYYY-MM-DD
yes_no	A boolean field that can have custom labels on a toggle
dropdown	Creates a pre-populated dropdown controlled by the user generated options
one_to_one	One to one relationship to another content model's content item (requires relationship field on creation)
one_to_many	One to many Relationship to another content model's content item. (requires relationship field on creation)