Index Block
An Index Block is a special type of block asset that returns a listing of assets from the CMS directory structure in the form of XML data. Assets such as pages, files, folders, external links, and even other blocks can be returned as XML content that describe them. An index block can even return the data content of multiple pages within a directory for use on other pages within the system.
Index blocks may be configured to index an entire site or a specific folder. It can be limited by number or depth of folders to index, or by number of assets. It can also be configured to index parent and/or child folders relative to a specific location. Any time the data content in the system changes (a page is added, deleted, renamed, moved, etc.), the index block automatically updates, and all pages using the index block are also updated.
An XSLT stylesheet can be applied to the XML data of an index block, which allows for HTML elements such as dynamic navigation toolbars or page listings to be created on pages throughout an entire site automatically. Examples of dynamic navigation include main menus, sub menus, breadcrumbs, previous/next links, site maps, and site indices. The powerful combination of the automatically populated XML data inside of index blocks and XSLT stylesheets provides unparalleled ease of use with managing large sites.