Must-Have Velo Glossary for Coders: 60+ Essential Terms Precisely Explained

$w $w is the , or set of rules, that you use in your code to select an element on your page. To select an element, type $w in the , then enclose the name of the element in parenthesis and quotes, and add a hashtag before the element name. For example, $w("#myButton"). Once you select an element, you can use the to work with its properties and functions in your code. syntax code panel APIs API are sets of properties and functions that let you use code to control your site's functionality. There are that let you interact with page elements, your site’s database content, and external services. The APIs also give you access to information about your site and its visitors. Velo APIs APIs Backend Backend is the section in the Code Files section where you add code that you want to run server-side. Files in Backend with a .js extension, are not publicly accessible from your site. You may want some of your code to run server-side and not in the front-end; for example, if your site will have security risks if the code runs in the front-end. You can call server-side code from your front-end code using . Velo Sidebar web modules Code panel You edit the code for your site in the , which is displayed at the bottom of the Editor. code panel The Code Panel displays your site's code files in tabs. When you use the Properties panel to add an event to your element, the code for that event is automatically placed in the tab for that page's code. If you have code that relates to a specific page only, you would add it here. When an element appears on all your site pages and you want to add functionality to it that will be consistent across your site, add that code in the masterPage.js file. When you use the Properties panel to add an event to your element that appears on all pages, the code for that event is automatically placed in the masterPage.js file. If you have code that relates to all the pages of your site, you would add it here. Connect to Data panel To work with , you need to connect elements on your page to a using the Connect to Data panel. To open the panel, click the Connect to Data icon for your element: connecting to data dataset Connecting to Data is the process of connecting your elements to a . You can bind your elements to a collection to display content or to capture user input. To bind your elements to a collection you need to have a on your page. Connecting to Data collection dataset Content Manager The Content Manager is where you edit the contents of your . There is a for your and in the for your . Sandbox and Live are not always enabled for your collections. Learn more . database collections Content Manager in the Editor Sandbox Database Wix Database app Live Database here Database A database is made up of one or more . You can add as many collections as you need to your database to manage your site's content. collections Your site has two databases that are separate but related to each other. One database is your site's , and the other is your site's . The Sandbox database is where you work while developing your site. The Live database is what your visitors interact with when your site is published. You add a collection to your database in the Editor, and when you publish your site its live version is added to the Live database. You view the Live database in the . Sandbox database Live database Wix Database App Sandbox and Live are not always enabled for your collections. Learn more . here Database collection A is a table of data that you can use in a Wix site. Each row in the table represents an in the collection. Each column in the table is a in your collection, which can be of a specific data type. You can connect elements in your site to fields in your collection using . database collection item field connecting to data Dataset A is a component that you add to your page that enables you to connect the elements on your page to your . A dataset controls which collection is available for your elements to use, whether your elements can display, add to, or modify the items in your collection, as well as how the data is sorted or filtered. You can use a dataset on a regular page as well as a dynamic page. Datasets are not displayed in your published site. dataset collections Dataset mode The is a setting that controls what the elements that are connected to your collection can do with the collection's data. Options are Read & Write, Read-only, and Write-only. dataset mode Dynamic category page A is a that is used to display a number of items from your that all match the same criteria. When you create the for a dynamic category page, you need to use fields in your collection that identify a group of items in your collection. dynamic category page dynamic page collection URL Dynamic item page A is a that is used to display one item from your at a time. When you create the for a dynamic item page, you need to use a field in your collection that uniquely identifies each item in your collection. dynamic item page dynamic page collection URL Dynamic page A is a page you design with one layout that can be used over and over again, each time displaying a different item or items from your database collection. The actual content a dynamic page displays is determined by its . There are two types of dynamic pages, and . dynamic page URL dynamic item pages dynamic category pages Dynamic page dataset A is a component that is added to your page automatically when you create a dynamic page. Like a regular , it enables you to connect the elements on your page to your collections. It also allows you to add more filters and to sort the content on your page. dynamic page dataset dataset Element ID The element ID is the name assigned to an element in your site. When you hover over or select an element in the Wix Editor, you can see the the element’s ID following the hashtag. Velo assigns a default ID to every element you add to your site. You can change the ID in the . Properties panel The ID is used to identify the element in your code. For example, to work with an element named myButton, you would write $w(“#myButton”) in your code. Event An is something that can happen to an element, usually as the result of a user action. For example, onClick is the event that occurs when a user clicks an element. If you want your site to do something, or react, when an event occurs to your element, you add an to your element. event event handler Event handler An is the function that holds the code you want to run when an occurs to an element. Your site watches elements to see if events happen to them. If an event happens that has an event handler, the code in the event handler function will run. event handler event Field A is the place in your where you store data, and is represented as a column in the . Every item in your collection is made up of one or more fields that can be of type Text, Image, Boolean, Number, Date and Time, or Rich Text. Collections also have default that are hidden by default. field collection Content Manager system fields Field key A is the name that you use to refer a field in a collection, in code. Field Key When you add a new field in the , you can specify the Field Key. If you don't specify your own Field Key, one is created based on the Field Name. You cannot change the Field Key once the field has been created. Content Manager Field name The is the label you see at the top of the column for that field in the . The Field Name is also used when connecting page elements to a dataset in the Editor. Field Name Content Manager When you add a new field in the Content Manager, you specify the Field Name. You can change the Field Name after the field has been created, and all connections to that field will be updated. Field type The defines what kinds of data the field contains. The field type can be Text, Image, Boolean, Number, Date and Time, Rich Text, URL, or Document. When you add a new field in the , you specify the field type. Field Type Content Manager The field type is used when connecting page elements to fields in your collections. Hook A hook is code that runs before or after certain interactions with your site. run code before or after certain interactions with your site's collections. allow you to intercept the process of a dynamic page's data getting bound to the page. Some data binding router hooks can be used with as well. Data hooks Data binding router hooks router pages HTTP Endpoint The URL where a web service can be accessed by an application. In Velo, web services built on HTTP endpoints are used to connect and to Wix sites. site monitoring tools external database collections HTTP Functions let you create functions to expose the functionality of your site as a service. That means other people can use the functionality of your site by writing code that calls your site's API as defined by Velo Functions you create. HTTP functions Interaction An interaction is custom functionality you add that allows your site to respond to that occur in your site. events Item An is one record in a and is represented as a row in the . Every item in your collection is made up of one or more . item collection Content Manager fields Live database The is the database that is associated with your published site. The data in the Live database is what is visible on your published site when you display data. It is also the database where data you collect in your live site is stored. You can between databases and copy data from the Sandbox to your Live database, or overwrite your Live data to your Sandbox to work with it in the Editor. Live database sync Sandbox and Live are not always enabled for your collections. Learn more . here Local Editor The local Wix Editor you use to edit your local project's UI and preview the local version of your site. Local Project A project that contains all the files for the local version of your site. These include all of your site's code as well as its UI. The project also contains some project configuration files. Log Collection of associated with the same Wix site and namespace. Each log has a , which indicates the log’s site URL and namespace. log entries logName Log Entry Velo's tool records each Wix site event as a single in JSON format. You can in real time as they’re recorded, or to an external monitoring tool for analysis. site monitoring log entry view log entries connect them Main Field A collection's Main field is used to enable another collection to connect to it and its data. reference Every database collection has a Main field. The Main field is indicated by the lock icon next to its field name. By default, the Title field is the Main field. However, you can define any text field in the collection as the Main field. Mixin A mixin is a class containing properties and functions that other classes can use. Instead of defining certain functions and properties over and over again in multiple classes, they’re defined once in a mixin, and then the mixin is added to the relevant classes. For example, the has properties and functions relating to hiding and collapsing elements. Since you can hide and collapse many types of elements, this mixin is added (mixed in) to the list of properties and functions for text, image, and other elements. You can see which mixins are included for each class in the under the “Mixes In” heading. HiddenCollapsedMixin API Reference onReady When a page loads in a browser, it's possible for the code on the page to run before the page finishes loading. This can cause an error if your code tries to reference an element in the page before it's loaded. Because of this, you need to make sure that all the elements on your page have loaded before you try to access them using code. You do this is by including all your code that uses the in the function that is added by default to the top of every page's code: $w selector $w.onReady( { }); ( ) function // Put all your $w code here Payload Payload refers to the actual data sent in a message. For Velo's feature, the is the message included in the site event’s , such as an error message or console log. site monitoring JSON payload log entry Permissions give you control over which visitors are allowed to interact with the data in your collections and what they are allowed to do. The available permissions are create, read, update, and delete. You can assign different permissions to different . Permissions roles Promise A JavaScript function that returns a promise is returning a contract to eventually produce a return value when an is completed. A Promise is said to be fulfilled or resolved when its value is finally known. asynchronous operation There are two main ways to that are returned from a function: work with promises - Allows you more control, but is a bit more complicated. then( ) - Allows you to work with asynchronous code as if it were synchronous. async/await Properties panel The lets you work with Velo on the elements in your site. You can use the Properties panel to add to your elements and define their default behavior when your page loads. Properties panel event handlers Public/Front-end The Public section of the Code Files section contains files that are publicly accessible from your site. The code you add here runs in the front-end, or client. Velo Sidebar Pull Calling the command in the Velo CLI pulls down the most recent version of your Wix project from the remote repository. Then you can merge the version into your local site and work with it in the . pull Local Editor Push When you are editing a Wix site in a , you can push your changes to the by clicking . This means the version of the site in your Local Editor becomes the version in the and the latest version in your site history. Local Editor remote repository Push Version Regular Editor Query A query is a request for information from a database collection. For example, you might want to retrieve a list of all of the site members in your Members collection who live in a specific country. You can query your collections using the function. wix-data query Regular Editor The remote Wix Editor you use to edit and preview your site's UI and code. Release Candidate A is a version of your site that you may release to a percentage of your site visitors so that you can test that it's working before publishing. You can manage your release candidates from the . release candidate Release Manager Release Manager In the you can see the current published version of your site and the current . You can also create, edit, and delete release candidate versions. Release Manager release candidate Remote Repository This is where all your site revisions are stored online. When you perform a save in the Regular Editor or push a version from the Local Editor, a new site revision is added to your in the remote repository. Site History Repeaters Repeaters allow you to create one layout for a group of elements. The repeater then uses that layout for each Repeater Item it displays. Each Repeater Item uses the same layout but displays different content. You can use Repeaters to display static content, meaning you set the elements' content for each Repeater Item in the Editor and it doesn't change. You can also connect Repeaters to the . Each Repeater Item then uses the same element layout to display different content in your collection, based on how you connect your elements. data in a collection Revision Every time you manually save or publish your site following a change, a new revision of your site is created. You can view and manage your revisions in your . You can also create a or for a specific revision of your site. Site History release candidate monitor site events Roles Together with , give you control over which visitors are allowed to interact with the data in your collections and what they are allowed to do. Every person that visits your site falls into one of four roles, and you can assign specific permissions to each role. Possible roles are admin, site member author, site member, and anyone. permissions roles Router A lets you customize exactly how your site handles incoming requests. You can customize what happens when your site receives a request to display a page. You can also control the information that search engines use to index the pages in your site. router Sandbox database The is the database that is associated with your site in the Wix Editor. Data in the Sandbox is not visible on your published site unless you your collection with your . Data in the Sandbox is affected by your actions in Preview mode. Sandbox database sync Live database Sandbox and Live are not always enabled for your collections. Learn more . here Structure/Schema A is the definition of a database's structure. In Velo, the schema defines which fields are in each of your collections and their . However, in some cases, your collections can contain fields that are not part of the schema. database schema type When you create a new field in the in the , the field is added to the schema. The schema is synced from your Sandbox collections to your Live collections when you publish your site. a collection's data will not sync the collection's schema. Content Manager Sandbox database Syncing Scope A scope defines which elements you can select with a selector function, such as , and how those elements behave when they are selected. Depending on which context you received a selector function from, it will either select from the or the . $w( ) global scope repeated item scope Site Monitoring Velo's feature lets you gather information about Wix site events, such as console logs, HTTP functions, and web module functions. You can live site events in real time, or site events to an external monitoring tool to generate event metrics and perform error log analysis. Each site event is represented by a . site monitoring view connect JSON object Submit button A is a button that you add to a page with User Input elements that enable visitors to submit data they have entered, to your collection. Submit button You create a Submit button by adding a regular button to your page and setting its action to in the panel. Link connects to Submit Connect Button Sync (copy/overwrite) allows you to move your data between your and databases. You can copy selected or all items in a collection from a Sandbox collection to the live version of that collection. You can also overwrite a Sandbox collection with all the data from the live version, or overwrite all your Sandbox collections with the data from their live versions. You can only initiate sync operations from the Sandbox database. Sync Sandbox Live Sandbox and Live are not always enabled for your collections. Learn more . here System fields are fields that are added automatically to each collection, are hidden by default, and cannot be edited. System fields are ID, Date Created, Last Updated, and Owner. System fields User Input elements allow you to capture and store user data in a . To use User Input elements, you need to connect them to a whose is set to either Write-only or Read & Write. User Input elements database collection dataset mode Validating Validating is the process of ensuring that data that visitors enter into a matches your criteria for that data and what you expect them to enter. You can validate user input with the or with . user input element Settings panel code Velo Sidebar The shows all of the files that make up your site, including pages, lightboxes, files, routers, and database collections. Working in the sidebar, you can perform a variety of actions that affect your site. Velo Sidebar Web Modules enable you to write functions that run server-side in the backend, and easily call them in your client-side code. With web modules you can import functions from backend into files or scripts in public, knowing they will run server-side. Velo handles all the client-server communication required to enable this access. Web modules Wix Database app The Wix Database app is in the My Account section of your site. This is where you manage your collections. Live database if we missed any terms you would find helpful. Let us know Previously published at https://support.wix.com/en/article/velo-glossary