Concepts & Terminology

Concepts & Terms You Need to Know in SA5

Here are some useful concepts and terms to understand if you want to access the full range of capabilities in SA5 Data.

Data Sources

Simple v. Complex Data Sources

• A Simple Data Source returns a single value.

• A Complex Data Source returns a structure.

  • e.g. a JSON-LD source

  • e.g. a Collection List source

Implicit v. Explicit Data Sources

• An Implicit Data Source is one which is available automatically with no special definition or setup.

  • e.g. query string, URL parts, and cookies are all implicit data sources in SA5

• An Explicit Data Source requires special setup before it can be accessed

Data Binding

Simple v. Complex Data Binding

1. Simple Data Binding ( 1:1 ). Refers to simple situations in which a single data item is bound to a single, simple element such as a text element, a checkbox, or a form input element. These are all characterized by 1:1 bindings.

2. Complex Data Binding ( n:1, 1:n, n:n ). Refers to complex binding situations that involve Collection List data sources, bound to complex elements ( tabs, sliders, select options ) or elements groups.

Data Paths

Data Paths describe specifically what you are binding to the data bound element.

As an example, let's say that we want to do the following;

I want to initialize a form input field with the name value from the URL query string.

Since the query string is a Simple Data Source in SA5, there is no special setup required.

To achieve this, we can simply add the following custom attribute on the Form Input element;

wfu-bind = $query.name

Here $query.nameis the Data Path. It identifies the data we are binding.

There are two parts, which are separated by the period (.) delimiter;

• $query is the Data Source Type

• name is the Data Source Name

Abbreviated Data Paths

Many commonly-used Data Source Types can be abbreviated. In this example, the Query String Data Source Type can be replaced with a question mark ?.

This allows the attribute to be written even more efficiently as-

wfu-bind = ?name

Using Data Paths w/ Complex Data Sources

SA5 data paths are designed for much more complex uses as well, such as navigating tabular and hierarchical data structures.

This will be covered in special courses but you can find some introduction in the Data Paths documentation.

use a simple, implicit data source such as a