Working with data

Importing data

There are three options for importing XML on the import-interface (in the tools-area). What's actually the difference between those three?

Suppose you import the file "website.path.to.node.xml" into the website. The root node in that file has UUID '123'.

First scenario: there is no node with UUID '123' in the complete website repository.
In that case there is no UUID collision at all, thus create new, replace existing nodes, and remove existing nodes have no effect at all. The node is imported to /path/to/node and has UUID '123'.

Second scenario: there is a node with UUID '123' on the same location (/path/to/node):
In this case there is a UUID collision.

create new: imports the node with a different, new UUID let's say '456' to the location /path/to/node. The existing node with UUID '123' is kept.
replace existing node, remove existing node: same effect, drops the existing node with UUID '123' from /path/to/node and imports the new one to that location.

Third scenario: there is a node with UUID '123' on a different location, let's say at /another/location:
In this case there is also a UUID collision.

create new: same as in second scenario: imports the node with a different, new UUID '456' to the location /path/to/node. The existing node with UUID '123' is kept at /another/location.
replace existing node: the existing node with UUID '123' and path /another/location is dropped and the new one is imported to the location of the old one (thus "replaced"). This means that the new node is not located under /path/to/node as one might expect but rather located at /another/location!
remove existing node: the existing node with UUID '123' and path /another/location is dropped and the new one is imported to /path/to/node.

Which is the default UUID collision option for imports done in the website browser directly (context menu)?

The default is create new.

Deployment

Is it possible to configure Magnolia in such a way that the update happens automatically on startup?

Yes. In magnolia.properties set the flag magnolia.update.auto to true. Upon next startup Magnolia will install updated .jar files in WEB-INF/lib automatically.