Using the data publishing capabilities of NetObjects Fusion, you can store text and pictures in a database internal to your site, or import data from external sources such as Microsoft Excel or Access using an ODBC data source connection. In both cases, NetObjects Fusion publishes your data in standard HTML pages. This makes it easy to add listings, such as product and service catalogs, employee directories, and event schedules to your site.
You use the following objects when you publish data in NetObjects Fusion:
Data objects. A data object is a collection of data fields that define what data will be published. Creating a data object is the essential first step in adding internal or external data to your site. The data object becomes an asset of your site. When you reference records internally, you must specify the data fields you want to store. When you store records from external data, NetObjects Fusion includes all fields available in the source.
Data fields. Defined in the data object, data fields appear on stacked pages and are the containers for the data in your site. You can arrange and label data fields; the arrangement appears on all stacked pages.
Data lists. The data list appears on the parent page of the stacked pages that contain the actual data. The data list functions as a table of contents for the internal or external data in your site. You select the fields you want to display as column headers in the list. The field data from either the internal or external source populates the data list when you publish.
Stacked pages. Each record in your database appears on a separate stacked page below the page containing the data list. Stacked pages are not siblings of each other, but instead are iterations of the same page, containing the fields defined in your data object.
The following illustration shows the relationship of these objects for internal and external databases.
For example, you could publish a backpack catalog on your site with a record for each backpack. Each row in the data list lets the site visitor navigate to the stacked page that contains the corresponding backpack’s description, photo, and price.
To create the backpack catalog, your first step is to create a backpack data object. You can define a data object once and use it in different filtered data lists. For example, you can create one data list of all the backpacks in your database. With the same data object, you can create additional data lists of internal frame backpacks, external frame backpacks, frameless backpacks, and so on.
If you create a data object from an external source—for example, from a Microsoft Access database—and then update or change the external source, you must republish the site to update the data. For example, suppose your backpack data object referenced 50 records originally and the external database is increased with 25 new records. After you republish your site, the data object references 75 records, the backpack data list contains 75 rows, and there are 75 stacked pages.
After you create a data list on a page, NetObjects Fusion generates the first stacked page. You create the initial Layout of how all stacked pages look on the first stacked page. When you create the Layout of the first stacked page, the remaining stacked pages automatically inherit the same Layout. Changes you make in the Layout in any one stacked page affect the Layout of all stacked pages in that set.
The following illustration shows how the data list page and its child stacked pages appear in Site view.
