Lesson 1: Data Model 101

Skylark boasts a highly adaptable and scalable data model architecture that empowers users to construct their ideal framework from scratch, encompassing a wide array of custom fields, objects and relationships.

To help customers get up to speed quickly, Skylark ships with a pre-configured data model optimised for entertainment-related applications, which is detailed below. This data model is also fully customisable, allowing for the integration of additional custom fields, object types and relationships to meet any desired use case and specification.

Included Object Types

The built-in Skylark data model has the following default object types:

NameDescription
BrandMetadata for a brand eg 'Star Wars' or 'Game of Thrones'
SeasonMetadata for a season of content
EpisodeMetadata for an episode of content
MovieMetadata for a movie eg 'Inglorious Bastards'
GenreMetadata for genre's eg Horror or Science Fiction
ThemeMetadata for themes eg Family Fun, Love Stories, War
ParentalGuidanceMetadata for parental guidance eg 'Contains scenes of violence or swearing'
RatingMetadata for ratings eg 'PG-13', 'R' etc
PersonMetadata for people eg 'Arnold Schwartzenegger'
CreditMetadata for credits eg 'Arnold Schwartzenegger as T-800'
RoleMetadata for roles eg Actor, Writer or Director

These object types can be updated to suit your needs, and new object types can be added via the self-configuration API.

Special Objects

The built-in data model also includes these special, proprietary object types. Due to the functionality these types support, fields cannot be added/customised or removed and the type itself cannot be removed.

NameDescription
SkylarkSetA set is a collection of objects which can be used for homepages, rails, etc
SkylarkAssetAn asset represents a video asset
SkylarkImageAn image can be related to any other object type
SkylarkTagA tag is a value that can be related to any other object type
SkylarkLiveAssetContains information relating to live video playback
SkylarkEPGProgramContains information relating to live video playback

Included Enums

Enums are a way of limiting input to a predefined set of options. Skylark includes the following enums built in for setting an object's type.

  • ImageType (with values: MAIN, HEADER, FOOTER, BACKGROUND, POSTER, LANDSCAPE, PREVIEW, FEATURE, THUMBNAIL, PRE_LIVE, POST_LIVE)
  • SetType (with values: PAGE, RAIL, SLIDER, COLLECTION)
  • AssetType (with values: MAIN, TRAILER)

The values for these enums can be removed or new values can be added. You can also create entirely new enums.