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RatheeshVa
New Member
September 25, 2025
Question

Content updates to AEM instance

  • September 25, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 765 views

Hi Everyone,

I have a requirement to move our customized Adobe components into a proxy folder and update all content that currently references these components so they point to the new proxy versions.

Example:

  • Current component: button

  • New proxy component: buttongl

This means I need to update all pages to use the proxy component by modifying the sling:resourceType for every instance of the old button.

Adobe Support recommended importing the content into code, applying the updates there, and then deploying through Cloud Manager (since we’re on AEM Cloud).

I tried this approach in a demo project, but so far I don’t see my changes reflected in the AEM instance — currently testing on localhost.

 

Steps I followed:

  1. Created a demo project, authored a new content page, and synced back to source code for making changes

 

 

2: Filter.xml

 

 

3: build using command: mvn clean install -PautoInstallSinglePackage

4: Verify the changes are reflected in crxde


Content.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <jcr:root xmlns:jcr="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/1.0" xmlns:nt="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/nt/1.0" xmlns:cq="http://www.day.com/jcr/cq/1.0" xmlns:sling="http://sling.apache.org/jcr/sling/1.0" jcr:primaryType="cq:Page"> <jcr:content cq:lastModified="{Date}2025-09-23T20:13:14.268-07:00" cq:lastModifiedBy="admin" cq:template="/conf/demo/settings/wcm/templates/page-content" jcr:primaryType="cq:PageContent" jcr:title="Ratheesh Page" sling:resourceType="demo/components/page"> <root jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured" sling:resourceType="demo/components/container" layout="responsiveGrid"> <container jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured" sling:resourceType="demo/components/container" layout="responsiveGrid"> <title jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured" sling:resourceType="demo/components/title"/> <container jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured" sling:resourceType="demo/components/container" layout="responsiveGrid"> <image jcr:created="{Date}2025-09-23T20:12:15.392-07:00" jcr:createdBy="admin" jcr:lastModified="{Date}2025-09-23T20:12:15.392-07:00" jcr:lastModifiedBy="admin" jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured" sling:resourceType="demo/components/image" fileReference="/content/dam/digital/websites/products/camouflage-nanohybrid-composite/clinical-images/case-1/AntBelleglassafter.jpg" imageFromPageImage="false"/> <button jcr:created="{Date}2025-09-23T20:12:22.489-07:00" jcr:createdBy="admin" jcr:lastModified="{Date}2025-09-23T20:13:14.262-07:00" jcr:lastModifiedBy="admin" jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured" jcr:title="Ratheesh Button2" sling:resourceType="demo/components/button" linkTarget="_self"/> <button_451314813 jcr:created="{Date}2025-09-23T20:12:36.223-07:00" jcr:createdBy="admin" jcr:lastModified="{Date}2025-09-23T20:12:56.013-07:00" jcr:lastModifiedBy="admin" jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured" jcr:title="Ratheesh Button" sling:resourceType="demo/components/buttongl" linkTarget="_self"/> </container> </container> </root> </jcr:content> </jcr:root>

 

filter.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <workspaceFilter version="1.0"> <filter root="/content/demo/us/en/RatheeshPage/jcr:content/root/container/container/button_451314813" mode="update_properties"/> <filter root="/conf/demo" mode="merge"/> <filter root="/content/demo" mode="merge"> </filter> <filter root="/content/dam/demo" mode="merge"> <exclude pattern="/content/dam/demo(/.*)?"/> <include pattern="/content/dam/demo/jcr:content(/.*)?"/> </filter> <filter root="/content/dam/demo/asset.jpg" mode="merge"/> <filter root="/content/experience-fragments/demo" mode="merge"/> </workspaceFilter>


 

    2 replies

    Karishma_begumSh
    Karishma_begumSh
    Level 4
    September 25, 2025

    Hi @ratheeshva 

    Why you don’t see the property update

    1. Packages don’t overwrite by default
      Your filter.xml has mode="merge" or update_properties. These modes are non-destructive — they won’t overwrite properties that already exist in the repo. If a node is already in /content/..., your package won’t replace its sling:resourceType.
    2. Author-created content wins
      Any page authored in AEM takes precedence over package content. AEM assumes /content is owned by authors, not developers, so it protects it from being blown away by deployments.
    3. Local SDK behaves the same
      Even on localhost, unless you explicitly tell the filter to replace, AEM merges and leaves existing content untouched. That’s why you still see demo/components/button in CRXDE

    Force Replace (not recommended for authored pages)

    Change your filter.xml like this:

    <filter root="/content/demo/us/en/RatheeshPage" mode="replace"/>

    If you replace the whole page with your package, you’ll see buttongl in CRXDE.
    But any edits made by authors in AEM will be wiped out every time you deploy.

    or

    Update only the node

    Narrow the filter to just the button node and use replace:

    <filter root="/content/demo/us/en/RatheeshPage/jcr:content/root/container/container/button" mode="replace"/>

    That will overwrite only that button node.
    But you’d need to repeat this for every instance across all pages → not scalable.

    or else

    Run a migration

    Instead of packaging content in Git, update it inside the repository once

    Groovy Console script (if ACS Commons is available):

    def updated = 0 def query = "SELECT * FROM [nt:unstructured] WHERE [sling:resourceType] = 'demo/components/button'" def result = session.workspace.queryManager.createQuery(query, "JCR-SQL2").execute() result.nodes.each { node -> node.setProperty("sling:resourceType", "demo/components/buttongl") updated++ } session.save() println "Updated ${updated} button components."

    This will immediately update all button nodes in your content repo → check CRXDE after running and you’ll see the change.

     

    Hope this helpful 🙂

     

    Regards,

    Karishma.

     

     

      R
      RatheeshVaAuthor
      New Member
      September 25, 2025

      Thank you for your quick and detailed reply.

      I just tried the below filter, but now crxde is missing this button_451314813. 
      Since I will be moving all custom components, I would like to replace the node property: sling resource type alone.

       

      <filter root="/content/demo/us/en/RatheeshPage/jcr:content/root/container/container/button_451314813" mode="replace"/>

       

       

       

        Karishma_begumSh
        Karishma_begumSh
        Level 4
        September 25, 2025

        Hi @ratheeshva 

        Use ACS Commons Tools 

        • CSV ResourceType Updater: You prepare a CSV mapping old → new sling:resourceType.
        /content/demo/us/en/RatheeshPage/jcr:content/root/container/container/button_451314813,demo/components/buttongl
        • Upload it in the ACS Commons tool (/apps/acs-commons/content/page-tools/resource-type-updater.html).
        • It will bulk update the property without deleting the node.

        or

        Use a Groovy Script (if ACS Commons is available with Groovy Console, or you can run via CRXDE package)

        def mappings = [ "demo/components/button": "demo/components/buttongl", "demo/components/image": "demo/components/imagegl" ] def updated = 0 def query = "SELECT * FROM [nt:unstructured] WHERE [sling:resourceType] IS NOT NULL" def result = session.workspace.queryManager.createQuery(query, "JCR-SQL2").execute() result.nodes.each { node -> def current = node.getProperty("sling:resourceType").string if (mappings.containsKey(current)) { node.setProperty("sling:resourceType", mappings[current]) updated++ } } session.save() println "Updated ${updated} components"

        This may avoild filter.xml problem.

         

        Regards,

        Karishma.

         

          aanchal-sikka
          Community Advisor
          aanchal-sikkaCommunity Advisor
          Community Advisor
          September 25, 2025

          @ratheeshva 

           

          If you have ACS AEM Commons, you can create a generic service to update property. Example: 

          https://kiransg.com/2021/12/10/bulk-add-update-and-delete-properties-in-aem-without-using-groovy-console/

           

          Concept would be similar to https://adobe-consulting-services.github.io/acs-aem-tools/features/csv-resource-type-updater/index.html

           

          This generic service can then be used to replace values for various properties 

          Aanchal Sikka
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