Custom JCR property loss on authoring change and replication in AEMaaCS
This article provides a solution to address the issue of custom JCR properties being lost when authoring changes are made and content is replicated in Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service (AEMaaCS). It explains why the issue occurs and provides a step-by-step guide to ensure the persistence of these properties.
Description description
Environment
Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service (AEMaaCS)
Issue
When a custom JCR property is added directly to a node associated with a multi-field component in an experience fragment, it may not persist after authoring changes or replication. The following symptoms are observed:
- Custom properties are lost after saving authoring changes.
- Replication processes overwrite or delete these properties.
This behavior arises because multi-field components manage their properties dynamically based on dialog configurations, which dictate what is saved and replicated.
Resolution resolution
-
Update dialog configuration:
- Ensure that all custom properties are explicitly defined in the component’s dialog XML configuration.
- Add corresponding fields for the custom properties to the dialog structure to ensure they are recognized and saved.
-
Multi-field component handling:
- Multi-field components store their entries as separate child nodes under a parent node in the JCR.
- Define the necessary properties within the component’s dialog or configuration files to prevent overwrites during processing.
-
Extend the component
- Extend your existing component by adding fields for each custom property you need. For example, include a
tariffItemfield in your extended component setup, if you are using it.
- Extend your existing component by adding fields for each custom property you need. For example, include a
-
Use hidden field configurations and directly write the step-- For properties that should not appear in the UI, but need to be programmatically retained, configure hidden fields with the following settings:
Name: granite:hidden
Type: Boolean
Value: true
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Test and validate
- Test the updated configurations in a local environment before deploying to production.
- Use standard AEM projects (For example: WKND) for initial testing to validate changes without interference from additional customization layers.