SPFE Documentation | Collections > Writing in EPPO-simple and Derivatives > Adding a new topic

Adding a new topic

• Think
• Plan
• Do

 

Think

A topic is the basic unit of content that is presented to the user. If you are trying to create a reusable content building block that is not a full topic, you should be creating a fragment, a string, or a object.

 

Plan

 

Which topic type should I use?

Before you add a topic, you must decide what topic type to create. You should choose the topic type that is most specific to the subject matter you are writing about. You should also be aware that each topic set only allows a specific set to topic types to be included. While you don't create topics for topic sets, but as independent entities, you don't want to be surprised by this requirement down the line. Each topic set configuration file lists the topic types that are allowed in that topic set. That list should reflect the type of content the topic set is supposed to contain, so if the best topic type for your subject matter is not one that a topic set that wants to include it supports, the chances are that the problem lies with how the topic set is defined rather than with the topic type chosen for the topic.

 

Do

To add a new topic, create a file based on the schema for the topic type you have chosen.

Where you store your file will depend on the rules of the repository that you are using. In the simplest case, you will store you file in a directory on the local file system. One or more topic sets may be set up to pull files from that directory, in which case you topic will then be included in those topic sets. In other cases, the file may be included or excluded based on metadata it contains.