Viewing and filtering slots in the timeline

In the timeline you can expand editions to show the slots that they contain and easily identify which slots require content, or those that are invalid. You can also select one or more slots to use to filter the timeline, so that only the editions containing the selected slots will be displayed. On this page we'll cover how to view and filter slots in the timeline in detail.

Viewing slots

You can expand an edition to display a list of the slots it contains. This can be used as a quick way to determine which slots require content.

When you expand an edition, a solid status bar will be indicate if a slot contains content. In the image below, the "mid summer madness sale" edition contains three slots, two of which are empty.

In the same way as edition and event details are displayed, clicking anywhere within the line containing the slot and outside a slot title will display the slot details pane. The "Feature page banner slot" contains content and is shown with a green tick indicating that it is valid. A slot may also be empty and valid, empty and require content, or contain version conflicts.

The "banner slot with picture field" shown below requires content in order to be valid. The "home page main content slot" within the same edition contains version conflicts, that is two or more versions of the same content.

Clicking a slot title will open the edition within which the slot is contained.

Filtering the timeline using slots

You can choose to focus the timeline view on one or more slots, so that only the events and editions containing the selected slots will be displayed. This "slot centric" view provides a way of showing when content is added to the selected slots over the chosen time period, together with the editions to which the slots are added. By focusing on particular slots, it makes it easier to track when the content changes in the areas of your website or app that these slots represent.

The state of the timeline, including the slots being used as filters, the timeframe and the expand/collapse status of events and editions is preserved until you log out of the Dynamic Content app.

Choosing the slots to use as filters

To choose one or more slots to use as filters, click the icon to the right of the timeframe, as highlighted in the image below.

The slot browser is displayed, allowing you to choose one or more slots to use as filters. In this example, one slot is selected, the "Feature page carousel slot". Click "Add 1 slot as filter" to apply this filter to the timeline view. The button will reflect the number of slots that you've selected.

The timeline view is refreshed and shows only the editions containing the "Feature page carousel slot". The slots being used to filter the timeline view are displayed at the top of the window.

Only the slots used as filters, in this case just the "feature page carousel slot", are shown when the edition in which they are contained is expanded.

Note that when an edition is in its collapsed state, the total number of slots in the edition is displayed. For an expanded edition, the slot count reflects how many slots are actually displayed, for example in the "Save on sunglasses" edition, 1 of 2 slots are shown, because the other slot was not included in the filters.

Modifying the filter selection

In the example shown below, we've chosen multiple slots to filter the timeline view. The "Add" button reflects the number of slots selected and clicking this button will refresh the timeline.

The timeline view is now displayed, showing only those editions that contain the slots chosen as filters. Each slot that is being used as a filter is shown at the top of the screen. To remove a slot from the filters, click the icon to the right of the slot name, as highlighted in the image below. The timeline will be refreshed.

In the example below, we've removed all the slot filters except the "Feature page banner slot". This slot is only contained within one edition in the selected time period- the "Womenswear collection".

If all slot filters are removed, the timeline will be shown in an unfiltered state.

Copying slots

You can also choose to copy a slot from the timeline, either from its contextual menu or from the sidebar shown when the slot is selected.

More information about copying slots can be found on the copying slots page.