Enable CI/CD for object types

The Xperience CI/CD functionality allows you to serialize the data of objects from the database into XML files and then use a source control system to synchronize the files between different instances. Though the configuration options and API members covered on this page strongly imply relation to only Continuous Integration, the setup ensures support for BOTH Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment.

To configure CI/CD support for an object type:

Edit the generated Info class representing the object type.
Important: To use CI/CD, the code of your custom object type must be located in a separate assembly. See Integrate custom code for more information.
Set the ContinuousIntegrationSettings property in the initializer of the TYPEINFO member.
- Set the Enabled property to true.
- (Optional) Set other ContinuousIntegrationSettings properties according to the requirements of your class’s data.

C#



// Enables Continuous Integration for the object type
ContinuousIntegrationSettings =
{
    Enabled = true
},

(Optional) Set the SerializationSettings property of the TYPEINFO member. Use a nested initializer to configure the SerializationSettings properties.
Save the changes.

If Continuous Integration is enabled, the system now tracks all create, update and delete operations for objects of the given custom class and serializes the data into XML files in the repository folder. To transfer all existing data of the class into your repository, run complete serialization for all objects.

You can also use your custom object type’s name (the value of the OBJECT_TYPE constant) when filtering objects within the repository configuration file.

Deleting object types that have CI/CD enabled

Use the following process if you ever need to delete an object type with existing data and CI/CD enabled:

First, delete the given type’s code files and rebuild the containing assembly (or remove the entire assembly if it is no longer needed).
Delete the object type in the Modules application in the Xperience administration.
Manually delete the folder representing the type’s data from the repository folder (the system automatically removes the data from the database but cannot clear the Continuous Integration data).

References

The reference lists the ContinuousIntegrationSettingsand SerializationSettings properties that are intended for public use. The classes also contain other members that are used internally or handled automatically by the system. We do not recommend working with any of the undocumented members.

ContinuousIntegrationSettings

Property	Type	Description
Enabled	bool	Indicates whether the class is included in CI/CD (when serializing all objects to the file system and tracking object changes). Child classes are included only if the property is also enabled for the parent class.
DependencyColumns	ICollection<string>	Defined as an ICollection of column names. When the values of the specified columns are changed for an object, Continuous Integration reserializes the given object and all of its child or otherwise dependent objects. Only needs to be set for classes that use non-standard columns to determine the identity of objects. The object type’s code name, GUID, parent ID, and group ID columns are included by default.
ObjectFileNameFields	ICollection<string>	Overrides the names of the XML files containing the serialized data of the class’s objects within the repository folder. By default, the XML files are named according to the value stored in `CodeNameColumn`. For object types without a code name column, the value stored in `GuidColumn` is used instead. The property is defined as an `ICollection` of column names that the system combines into the names of the serialized XML files. Underscores ( _ ) are used as separators between the values of the specified columns. Note: For CI/CD to work correctly, the combination of columns must be unique within the appropriate scope (within the objects under a specific parent, etc.).
ObjectTypeFolderName	string	Sets the name of the folder that stores the XML files containing the serialized data of the class’s objects within the repository folder. If not specified, the object type name (`ObjectTypeInfo.ObjectType`) is used.
SeparatedFields	IEnumerable<SeparatedField>	Identifies columns that CI/CD stores into separate files when serializing objects to the file system. The separated file is created within the same folder as the main XML file holding the remaining serialized data of the object. Define separated columns within an `IEnumerable` collection of `SeparatedField` objects. For each `SeparatedField` object, specify the name of the column as the constructor parameter. You can configure additional settings for the separated file through the properties of the object. Note: If the class has a column that stores binary data (specified in `ObjectTypeInfo.BinaryColumn`), the system includes the column in `SeparatedFields` by default. Manually setting the `SeparatedFields` property overrides the default separation settings for `BinaryColumn`, but you can define a custom `SeparatedField` object for the given column.

C#

Example



ContinuousIntegrationSettings =
{
    Enabled = true,

    // Adds a field that CI/CD serializes into a separate file (in addition to the BinaryColumn field)
    SeparatedFields = new List<SeparatedField>
    {
        new SeparatedField("SeparatedField")
        {
            FileName = "CustomFileName",
            FileExtension = ".txt"
        }
    }
}

SerializationSettings

The SerializationSettings property of ObjectTypeInfo determines how the system serializes class objects from the database into XML data.

Property

Type

Description

ExcludedFieldNames

ICollection<string>

Allows you to limit which fields are included when serializing objects of the given class to XML. Defined as an ICollection of field names that you wish to exclude from the serialization (blacklist).

By default, the system automatically excludes the database columns identified by the following properties:

IDColumn
TimeStampColumn (“last modified” column)
VersionGUIDColumn
BinaryColumn

StructuredFields

IEnumerable<IStructuredField>

Identifies fields that contain structured data that cannot directly be serialized as inner text values of an XML element. The default implementation handles columns that store structured data as XML with simple values and a fixed order of elements.

To work with custom formats or advanced XML schemas, you need to create an IStructuredData implementation that defines how the serialization occurs. To register custom data formats, use the generic variant of the IStructuredField class.

C#

Example



SerializationSettings =
{
    // Adds two fields to the default collection of fields that are excluded from the serialized data
    ExcludedFieldNames = { "ClassField", "ClassSecondField" },

    // Ensures that the system processes "ClassXmlField" as nested XML in the serialized data
    StructuredFields = new IStructuredField[]
    {
        new StructuredField("ClassXmlField")
    }
}