Concepts & Terminology
Concepts & Terms You Need to Know in SA5
There are a lot of new things happening here, so terminology is stabilizing as we vector words a specific paradigm.
Datastore
The central SA5 object used for storing and retrieving data. Each piece of data loaded is catalogued within this object.
In general, all interactions with this object are automatically handled by the data-source and data-binding scripts. However you may interact with it if you are using custom code.
Database ( or Data Table, or Data Object-Set )
Is a named collection of data stored in the database.
Currently, it typically contains an array of records, such as the contents built from a Webflow Collection List.
In the future, this will likely support custom object datastores, such as the cached results of an API query.
Data Row ( or Data Object )
Data Item
An individual item.
Data Source
A data source is a more general name for a source of data.
Static v. Dynamic Data Sources
Sometimes that source is dynamic, and referenced on request. Other times it is pre-loaded, and then retrieved from that cache. Databases are a good example of a static source.
A Webflow Collection List
A remote JSON source, such as a public API endpoint
A remote CSV source, such as a Google Sheet
Data Source Type
Data sources are typed, for example;
Collection list
3rd party public API
Static CSV file
Static JSON file
A remote JSON source, such as a public API endpoint
A remote CSV source, such as a Google Sheet
User data
Local storage data
Cookies
Session storage data
Query string data
A remote database using a connection string
Data Source Name ( DSN )
Some Data Sources require a name to reference them, since you can have several of them.
In some places you'll see the abbreviation DSN used in attributes and docs. This refers to the unique name of a data source, which is used to locate the database within the datastore.
Data Path
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