You can change the parent type in the definition of an existing content type, as long as that does not change the content type's effective properties. For adding, changing, and removing properties, see the corresponding sections of this chapter.

For example, if two content types A and B define the same set of properties, and have the same parent type P, then you can change the parent type of B from P to A, and remove redundant property definitions for B. The effective properties of B will stay the same. The database representation of content items of type B will also stay the same.

As with all content type changes, the definitions for Content Management Server, Master Live Server, and Replication Live Servers must be kept in sync.

Re-Index Changed Types

Both Content Feeder and CAE Feeder store contents with their transitive parent content type names in Solr. Indexed content items with changed parent type hierarchy need to be re-indexed, so that search queries for parent types return correct results.

Section 3.5.2, “Partial Reindexing of Content Feeder Indices” in Search Manual describes how to trigger re-indexing of selected content for the Content Feeder using an actuator endpoint or JMX MBean. For updating the changed content type in the index, contents of that type need to be re-indexed with the parameter aspects set to value type. For example, using the reindex actuator endpoint of a Content Feeder with management port 40481:

curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json'
      -d '{"aspects": "type", "contentType": "ChangedType"}'
      http://localhost:40481/actuator/reindex

Section 3.5.3, “Partial Reindexing of CAE Feeder Indices” in Search Manual describes how to trigger re-indexing of selected content for the CAE Feeder using an actuator endpoint or JMX MBean. For updating the changed content type in the index, contents of that type need to be re-indexed for both Preview CAE Feeder and Live CAE Feeder. For example, using the reindex actuator endpoint of a CAE Feeder with management port 40781:

curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json'
      -d '{"contentTypes": "ChangedType"}'
      http://localhost:40781/actuator/reindex