--- canonical: https://amplience.com/developers/docs/schema-reference/data-types/ title: Data types description: Data types that are used with Amplience. These are the standard types in the JSON Schema specification, together with some Amplience specific extensions. audience: Developer date_published: 2022-07-12 date_modified: 2023-06-12 --- # Data types Properties must be one of the following data types. These are standard types defined in the [JSON Schema](https://json-schema.org/specification.html) specification, together with some Amplience specific extensions. See the [validation](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/schema-reference/validation) page for details of the validations that can be applied to each of these data types. | Type | Description | | ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [string](#strings) | A string of text that may contain unicode characters | | [number](#number) | Any numeric type. It can be an integer or floating point number | | [integer](#integer) | An integral number | | [boolean](#boolean) | A value that can be true or false | | [object](#object) | A nested inline JSON object that can contain properties | | [array](#array) | A JSON array containing ordered elements. Each entry in the array can be any data type | | [image](#image) | A reference to a user selectable image file stored outside Amplience | | [video](#video) | A reference to a user selectable video file stored outside Amplience | | [content relationship](#content-relationships) | A reference to other Content stored inside the CMS. Several different forms of content relationship are available to suit your use case | The snippets below show examples of each property. ## Strings Strings can have a format field defined. As well as validating the value of the string, this also controls how the string will be shown in the content form. This is known as a semantic hint. The markdown format is an Amplience specific format which is used as a semantic hint by the user interface to open the markdown editor to allow the user to edit the value. The string formats are shown in the table below. For those formats where we've included an example, just click the link to go directly to the example on this page. | Format | Description | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [text](#text) | A string of natural language text | | [uri](#uri) | A universal resource identify which must be valid according to [RFC3986](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986). Must be a full URI of the format `https://www.amplience.com` | | [date-time](#date-time) | Must be a valid date and time as defined in [RFC 3339, section 5.6](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3339). | | [date](#date) | Must be a valid date as defined in [RFC 3339, section 5.6](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3339). Introduced in JSON Schema draft 7. | | [time](#time) | Must be a valid time as defined in [RFC 3339, section 5.6](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3339). The time zone is optional. Introduced in JSON Schema draft 7. | | [email](#email) | Must be a valid email address as defined in [RFC 5322, section 3.4.1](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322) | | [markdown](#markdown) | Tells the user interface to display a markdown editor. The value can be any valid string. | | [color](#color) | Tells the user interface to display a color picker. | See [validation](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/schema-reference/validation#text-format) for a full list of supported text formats. Examples of the string formats are shown below. ### Text The following shows a simple text field representing a headline, with a maximum length of 256 characters. The UI in the content editing form shows the current and maximum character count. ```json "properties": { "headline": { "title": "Headline", "description": "The main title of this banner", "type": "string", "format": "text", "minLength": 5, "maxLength": 256 } } ``` ### URI The uri format must be a complete uri such as `http://example.com`. The following shows the callToActionUrl field from the tutorial banner example: ```json "properties": { "callToActionUrl": { "title": "Call to action URL", "description": "The URL for the call to action", "type": "string", "format": "uri", "maxLength": 256 } } ``` ### Date-time A date in the `date-time` format must be a full date combined with the time including the time zone offset, for example: "2019-09-25T17:20:39+00:00". ```json "properties": { "date": { "title": "Creation date", "description": "The creation date", "type": "string", "minLength": 0, "maxLength": 50, "format": "date-time" } } ``` ### Date A full date including the year, month and day, for example "2019-09-18". ```json "properties": { "date": { "title": "date", "description": "The date", "type": "string", "minLength": 0, "maxLength": 20, "format": "date" } } ``` ### Time A time with an optional time zone offset, for example "17:23:07+02:00". ```json "properties": { "time": { "title": "time", "description": "The time", "type": "string", "minLength": 0, "maxLength": 20, "format": "time" } } ``` ### Email The email format must be a complete, valid email address of the form `myname@example.com`. The following shows a example string property with this format: ```json "properties": { "email": { "title": "email", "description": "email address", "type": "string", "format": "email" } } ``` ### Markdown The markdown format does not do any validation of the string, because the entire value is treated as markdown format. When the content editing form encounters a string property in markdown format, it provides a full markdown editor. ```json "properties": { "blogtext": { "title": "blogtext", "description": "text for the blog", "type": "string", "format": "markdown" } } ``` ### Color The color format to strings that will display a color picker in the content form. To use the color picker add a string property to your schema and specify the format as color. ```json "properties": { "theColor": { "title": "Color", "description": "Pick a color", "type": "string", "format": "color" } } ``` ## Number In the example below, the bannerOpacity property is defined as a number. The minimum and maximum keywords are used as additional validation to ensure that the number entered is between 0 and 1. ```json "properties": { "bannerOpacity": { "title": "opacity", "description": "A value between 0 and 1 (e.g. 0.3)", "type": "number", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1 } } ``` The content form UI enforces the validation defined for this property. So if the user attempts to add a value greater than 1.01, a warning is displayed and the content cannot be saved until they correct the error. ## Integer The integer type is an integral value. In the snippet below there is no maximum set, but it doesn't make any sense for a stock value to fall below 0. ```json "properties": { "stockLevel": { "title": "stock level", "description": "The stock level for this item", "type": "integer", "minimum": 0 } } ``` ## Boolean The boolean type is a simple true or false. In the example below, the user will choose whether to select an option for the way a banner is displayed on mobile screen sizes. ```json "properties": { "stackMobileLayout": { "title": "Stack mobile layout", "description": "Enable to allow banner text to stack underneath the image on small screens", "type": "boolean" } } ``` ## Array The array property is often used to hold a list of external objects, such as in the carousel example where the slides property contains the carousel slide items. The maxItems validation keyword is used to set the maximum number of items, in this case carousel slides, that can be added to 6. Below is an example of the array property type: ```json "properties": { "slides": { "type": "array", "items": { "allOf": [ { "$ref": "http://bigcontent.io/cms/schema/v1/core#/definitions/content-link" }, { "properties": { "contentType": { "title": "Carousel Slides", "enum": [ "https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/amp-product/tutorials/dynamiccontenttutorials/carouselslide.json" ] } } } ], "minItems": 1, "maxItems": 6, "title": "Carousel Slides", "description": "" } } } ``` Arrays are also useful for simple types, such as shown in the following example: ```json "properties": { "primitiveList": { "type": "array", "items": { "description": "Primitive list item description", "type": "string", "title": "Primitive list item" } } } ``` ## Image An `image-link` property, together with an alt text property, is shown below. When the content form encounters an `image-link` property, the user can launch an image browser and choose an image from their media library. ```json { "properties": { "image": { "title": "Image", "allOf": [ { "$ref": "http://bigcontent.io/cms/schema/v1/core#/definitions/image-link" } ] }, "altimagetext": { "title": "Alt image text", "description": "The text to be displayed if the image cannot be displayed", "type": "string", "minLength": 0, "maxLength": 100 } } } ``` ## Video An `video-link` property, together with a title text property, is shown below. When the content form encounters an `video-link` property, the user can launch an image browser and choose an video from their media library. ```json { "video": { "title": "video", "allOf": [ { "$ref": "http://bigcontent.io/cms/schema/v1/core#/definitions/video-link" } ] }, "videotitle": { "title": "Video title", "description": "Enter the title for the video", "type": "string", "minLength": 0, "maxLength": 50 } } ``` ## Object Objects are nested inline objects with properties. The following shows a `background` property within which there are two properties: `alt` which is a string and `image` which is a link to an external image. ```json { "background": { "type": "object", "title": "Background image", "properties": { "alt": { "title": "Alternative text", "description": "Alternative text for the background image", "type": "string" }, "image": { "title": "Image", "description": "The image for the background of this banner", "allOf": [ { "$ref": "http://bigcontent.io/cms/schema/v1/core#/definitions/image-link" } ] } } } } ``` ## Content relationships We support several different ways of linking content together. Content links and content references are both ways of defining properties that include content created from other content types. You can also define inline content, using mixins to load content from other content types and display it within the content form. For a `content-link` or `content-reference` property, the content form displays a content chooser, allowing users to choose the content that the property will link to. In the examples below, the `contentType` enum is used to specify that only content created from the `https://schema-examples.com/media` content type can be chosen. The `contentType` enum can contain as many types as you need. While the properties shown below contain a link or reference to a single content item, you'll often use an array to contain links to multiple content items. You can read more about content relationships in [relationship concepts](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/concepts/relationships). ### Content link Using a `content-link` you are linking a parent content item to a child content item. When the parent item is published, all its descendants will be published too. ```json { "type": "object", "properties": { "content_Link": { "title": "Media content item linked", "allOf": [ { "$ref": "http://bigcontent.io/cms/schema/v1/core#/definitions/content-link" }, { "properties": { "contentType": { "enum": ["https://schema-examples.com/media"] } } } ] } } } ``` ### Content reference Using a `content-reference` you can link to external content items, but retrieve those items only when needed. ```json { "content_Reference": { "title": "Media content item referenced", "allOf": [ { "$ref": "http://bigcontent.io/cms/schema/v1/core#/definitions/content-reference" }, { "properties": { "contentType": { "enum": ["https://schema-examples.com/media"] } } } ] } } ``` ## Mixins ### Inline content With a mixin you can support inline content, as shown in the `inline_Content` property below. A mixin allows you to reference externally defined content and display this inside the same content form. You do this by including the other schema using the $ref keyword. The content is created from an external schema, but the content itself is all included in the same content item, is not managed separately and cannot be shared with other content items. ```json { "inline_Content": { "type": "object", "allOf": [ { "$ref": "https://schema-examples.com/media" } ] } } ``` ### Partials A [partial](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/schema-reference/mixins) is a schema that just contains a "definitions" section. These definitions can be used in multiple schemas. In order to include a property that is defined in a partial, you just need to make sure that the partial is created on your hub. Partials are not registered. ```json { "link_from_partial": { "allOf": [ { "$ref": "https://schema-examples.com/various-partials#/definitions/link" } ] } } ``` ## Related pages [JSON Schema](https://json-schema.org/specification.html) [Content types](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/concepts/content-types) [Validation](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/schema-reference/validation)