_deriveName
Should this Thing's Link Name be automatically derived from its Name? --
Collection:
Required Type:
Thing Type Querki has two different kinds of "name". Both are important, but they are
very different:
- A Thing's Link Name is its official name -- the one that shows up in its URL, and which you use to refer to it in QL expressions.
- A Thing's Name is what actually gets shown most of the time.
The most important difference is that Link Name is very restricted: it can contain letters, digits and spaces, and nothing
else. It can't contain any of the punctuation you often want in a name: apostrophes, dashes, and stuff like that. So you
usually want to think about the Name, not the Link Name.
However, the Link Name is still important, so Querki will fill it in for you unless you tell it not to. When we talk about
"deriving" the Name, we mean Querki looking at the Name and removing all the characters it can't deal with, to
get the Link Name. Sometimes the result is exactly the same as Name, sometimes not, although a derived Link Name will usually
be pretty close to the Name.
This Property says whether to do so. It has three possible settings, which are appropriate for different situations and tastes:
- Derive Name Initially means that the Link Name will be set based on the Name the first time you save it, but
will stay that Link Name thereafter. This means that, if you change the Name, it might wind up quite different from
the Link Name. But since the Link Name doesn't change, it means that references to this Thing are less likely to break. This was
the default, but is now deprecated: it proves too confusing in practice.
- Always Derive Name means that the Link Name will change whenever the Name does. This makes it easier to remember
what the Link Name is, but means that if you have references to this Thing -- if you have put its URL somewhere, or refer
to it in a QL Expression, that might wind up as a broken link if you ever change the Name. This is now the default.
- Never Derive Name means that you will set the Link Name (or not) yourself: Querki shouldn't do anything automatically.
This gives you maximum control, but is more work.
It is rare to set this property by hand. Instead, use the "Derive the Link Name from the Name" checkbox in the
Advanced Editor. This is usually checked, which means Always Derive -- the Link Name will change when the Name
does. If you uncheck it, that means Never Derive -- the Link Name will no longer change. Unchecking it makes
sense if you might have outside pages pointing to this Thing by its Link Name, and don't want to break those
pointers.
