TCDL
TCDL is a technology-neutral language you can use in your templating code. If you use the deprecated publishing framework, then the Output Format of your Component Template determines whether TCDL tags get transformed into your Web site's language at publish time or at request time.
When a user publishes content that contains any kind of dynamic functionality, such as Dynamic Link Resolving or Dynamic Content Retrieval, SDL Web includes this functionality in the form of TCDL tags (XML elements that have a tcdl: prefix). TCDL is a technology-neutral language for SDL Web dynamic functionality.
You can decide when you want Content Delivery to transform these TCDL tags into technology-specific code. The moment of transformation depends on who is consuming your published output, and on which Web site technology you use.
- Transform TCDL tags during publishing
- If you have an ASP.NET or JSP Web site, and your published content is to be retrieved by Web site visitors, transform TCDL during publishing. This creates ASP.NET or JSP code on your published Web page, which runs at request time.
- Transform TCDL tags a request time
- If your published content is intended for consumption by the Content Delivery Web service, or if you have a Web site that uses a different technology than ASP.NET or JSP, transform TCDL at request time. This creates TCDL code on your published Web page, which is transformed and then executed by a Java class at request time.