A quick guide to Wix database terms

Talking about databases can be confusing for people new to Wix and/or web development. "Collections, databases, items, single item collections, dynamic pages" and the list goes on. This article covers the basics of Wix databases or as they call them, collections.

Common terms

1. Collection A collection is a database. The contents can easily be updated from the content manager tab on your website's dashboard.

2. Single item collection A single item collection is a collection that can only hold one item. This can be used if you want to display values on your website that you want to be able to easily update without having to go into the editor.

3. Item Most collection consists of multiple items. Think of it as lines in excel. If you have a collection for the boroughs in NYC the items would be Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

4. Dynamic pages Dynamic pages are pages that are created by database items. The pages use a template you can create and can then display information for a specific database item on a specific URL. This allows you to easily create thousands of pages.

5. Index When you search on a field that has been indexed the load time will be reduced. Realistically you will only start noticing these effects when your collections contain hundreds of items.

6. Collection fields You can compare collection fields to columns in excel. All information is saved in collection fields. When you create a new collection the system fields (5) automatically get added but you can add your fields to save the relevant information in the relevant format.

7. Permissions Permissions allow you to secure your database and only allow access to the users who require access. View the permissions sections of this blog for more information.

8. System fields System fields automatically get added to every collection. This can not be deleted but you can hide them.

9. ID - Every item has a unique ID. This can be used to easily and reliably identify an item in your collection.

10. Created Date - The date and time the item was created. This usually gets displayed in your current timezone.

11. Updated Date - The date and time the item was last modified.

12. Owner - The wix user id of the user who initially created the item. This can be empty if the item is created from a backend function.

Permissions

To secure your collections you need to set the right permissions. You can choose to limit the following actions:

1. Read (view)

2. Write (add)

3. Update

4. Delete

And the following groups:

1. Admin

2. Author (the user who initially created the item)

3. Site Member

4. Everyone

Wix app collections

Not all collections operate the same. As a user, you can create your own collection but Wix also automatically creates some collections for your apps. These usually only allow you to read the content.