What is an External Page Id?

Suggest Edits

Insticator Commenting threads are defined by a URL and page title - this way, our system knows which comments should be shown on a specific page. Many publishers change the structure and title of article URLs over a given time frame. ExtPageID allows us to map these historical comments to your new URL.

For example: Initially, a site may publish a new article under the following URL: [<http://example.com/hotNews/nyan-cat-goes-viral>]

Within 24 hours that article may not be fresh or relevant anymore, and then the publisher would need to archive this URL, altering the URL of the article to something like the below: [<http://example.com/archive/2020-01-09/nyan-cat-goes-viral>]

After these changes are made, comments would not show up on the same article, since it is now being served under a different URL.

If you want to ensure your comments surface in a persistent manner on a given article under different URLs, you will need to provide an additional parameter (data-ext-page-id) to the Insticator Commenting unit div block, as shown below.
Please ensure the unique ID is passed in the following format:

  • Aligns with the URL slug (an-article-title) or article ID (14325)
  • Is less than 50 characters, ideally 15 characters (max 100 characters)
  • Uses a combination of letters, number, dashes (-), or hyphens (_)
  • Except for the regex [^\w\s-:.$~], does not include special characters
<div id="insticator-commenting">  

  <div

    class="so-comments"

    data-integration-id="<integrationId>"

    data-ext-page-id="<extPageId>"

  ></div>

  <script async src="https://soapps.net/live/loader/bundle.js"></script>

</div>

It is good practice to pass your article/post ID as data-ext-page-id even if you are currently not in the habit of altering page URLs. This should serve as a precautionary step in case you decide to alter URL structure or titles in the future.

There is no common way to do it, and it will depend on the Content Management System you’re using. You will need to have a unique identifier for each article in your database, fetch it and pass in the commenting unit body code by replacing the {extPageId} placeholder.

If you have a different URL for mobile versions of an article please ensure it has the same ExtPageID as its desktop counter part. This will ensure the same comments users see on their desktop experience they will see when they access the article from a mobile device.

Updated 4 months ago