Can/How do I access data saved on Page

[Debi Breaux]

I am new to Confluence, as might be painfully obvious after you read the rest of this text. After reading much of the documentation from various sources, I am not even sure if I can do what I am asking, but here goes:

What I want to do:

I want to retrieve page data and generate a report from it

Here basically are the test steps I am following:

1. Create/Save a template
2. Create a page from the template
3. Enter data in to the page fields
4. Save the page
5. Do steps 2-4 two more times, entering different data

Here are my questions:

Where does the page data go when you save it?

Can/How do I retrieve it?

[Andrew Frayling · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I think I understand what you're trying to do, but Confluence templates do not work in the way that I think you're trying to use them.

If I'm understanding correctly you're trying to do something akin to entering data into a spreadsheet / database where the data is held in columns or key/value pairs and you can then manipulate the data in some way - generate a report, draw a chart, etc. Confluence templates don't work like that, they just create a skeleton structure and placeholders and when you enter data into the fields in a page created from a template the page is saved as a whole, each page is just one big chunk of text in a database field.

Is my understanding of what you're trying to do correct? Does my explanation make sense?

So for pages created from Confluence templates the data is stored in the database as one big chunk of text per page and although there are APIs that allow you to retrieve page content programmatically because it's not stored as structured data you would have to retrieve the entire page and post-process it to try and construct the relevant key/value pairs.

Confluence page templates are great for when you want to have multiple Confluence pages displaying the same type of information above several things, e.g. meeting mintues, server inventory, HR new starter checklist, etc. and it doesn't matter that the data is unstructured. For structured data such as surveys, etc. where you want a simple form for capturing the data, but want the data to be structured do that you can manipulate it later you might be better off looking at something like a WuFoo form embedded in a Confluence page - http://blogs.atlassian.com/2009/05/confluence_wufo/

Hope that makes sense? If I've misunderstood post back and I'll try and get a better understanding.

Andrew.

[Debi Breaux]

Thanks Andrew for your prompt and thorough reponse! You are exactly right in understanding what I am trying to do and your explanation makes perfect sense. I will look into the WuFoo option.

Have a great day!

[Andrew Frayling]

You're welcome. You may also be interested in the list of other options for data capture at http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONFHOST/Capturing+data+with+forms -