Handles provide sanitized, URL-friendly equivalents for the values stored by many field types.
Handles are strings that are generated for all Symphony pages, and by certain field types to provide sanitized, URL-friendly equivalents for the values they store. For example, a text input with the value “Symphony, it’s for Ninjas” would have the following handle autogenerated for it: symphony-its-for-ninjas. Handles are often used for filtering data sources and populating data source output parameters.
Of the core field types, Text Input, Tag List, Select Box, and Select Box Link provide handles for their values.
Handles are autogenerated for pages and for supported fields whenever the value of the field changes.
When using a handle-enabled field to filter a data source or populate a data source output parameter, the handle will be used in place of the actual value. Fields that create relationships between sections, like Select Box Link, are an exception to this rule. The system ID of the related entry will be used instead.