Rail section types and fields

Overview

When a client application makes a request to Content Delivery that returns rail (and rail section) contents, the app must know how to read the contents of each rail so that it can present the contents to the user in an appropriate way.

This page explains how the app can differentiate between the different types of rail sections and explains some of the more important fields that are returned.

Example response payload

The following image shows an example response payload. The numbered callouts denote certain significant fields.

Rail section types

The type field (#6 in the image above) denotes the rail section type.

These are explained in more detail in the following table:

Type	Description
`ContentItem`	A single piece of content (e.g., a movie or an episode of a series)
`ChannelItem`	A broadcast channel with the current/upcoming programs
`BecauseYouWatchedItem`	Recommendations based on specific content the user has watched (e.g., "Because you watched X...")
`ChannelGroupItem`	A collection of related channels (e.g., "Sports Channels"). Contains multiple `ChannelItem` objects grouped together.
`SeriesItem`	A TV series. When expanded, contains individual episodes; when collapsed, contains a single series item.
`SeasonItem`	A specific season within a series. When expanded, contains individual episodes from that season; when collapsed, contains a single season item.
`NodeItem`	A grouping of content
`EventItem`	A scheduled broadcast event with start/end times. Contains both event and channel information.
`ContinueWatchingItem`	Personalised list of partially-watched content
`FavouritesItem`	A list of the user's favourited content
`RecentlyWatchedItem`	A list of the user's recently-viewed content.
`RecommendationItem`	A list of content recommendations personalised to the user
`UserRecordingsItem`	An item the user has recorded
`NonContentItem`	A non-media content item, containing only metadata
`DynamicContentGroupItem`	A collection of content based on a search query
`PreCuratedItem`	Content curated by third-party providers
`SearchItem`	A set of search results based on a static server-side query combined with a user-supplied search term
`TVodItem`	Transactional Video on Demand content that the user has purchased
`PPVItem`	Pay-Per-View events like sports or special broadcasts that the user has purchased
`ChannelSubscriptionItem`	Channels that the user has purchased

Type fields

In addition to the rail section type, there are several other type fields within the sections block. These are explained in the following table:

Item Number (see diagram above)	Field	Description
1	`contentType`	The content type as defined in CPM. Examples of content types include: `"movie"`, `"series"`, `"event"`, `"unknown"`, `"episode"`, `"tvshow"`, `"sports"`, `"highlight"`, and `"match"`.
2	`playbackType`	The playback type for the content item. Possible values: `live-event` `live-stcu-event` `vod-ed` `vod-ltcu` `npvr-event` `channel` This is set in the payload that the client sends to UAV when creating bookmarks. Rails Builder then uses this type when retrieving content from MDS to support use cases like continue watching. Also used by ION to drive behaviour in the user interface.
3	`modelType`	Deprecated: indicates CPM editorial or technical model. To be removed.
4	`type`	Deprecated: this is an internal type used within Rails Builder.
5	`entityType`	Deprecated: customer-specific value. This has a default that is set in CB itself. To be removed.
6	`type`	Describes the type of the rail section. See Rails section types, above.