Schickler Drive Integration

13 min

Automatically transmit article data to DRIVE when articles are published or updated in Purple Publishing.

What is Schickler Drive?

DRIVE is a content analysis and optimization platform developed by Schickler that helps publishers understand and improve their content performance.

Prerequisites

Before setup, you must have:

Active DRIVE account with Schickler

API token from Schickler

Publisher ID from Schickler

DRIVE API URL (typically https://api.drive-news.de/api/v2/articles)

Configuration

Publication Property Setup

Access Purple Manager and add a custom property to your publication:

Name: drive_config

Type: JSON

Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
token	string	Yes	API token from Schickler
url	string	Yes	DRIVE API endpoint
publisher	string	Yes	Publisher ID assigned by Schickler
userNeedPropertyNames	array of strings	No	Content property names used to populate user needs
extraProperties	object	No	Maps content property keys to additional Drive fields
includeModifiedTime	boolean	No	Send the article's last modified timestamp as update_timestamp. Defaults to false. Only enable if your DRIVE version supports this field.
articleSegmentsEditorialCategory	string	No	When set, maps article categories to editorial_article_segment in the Drive payload. The value is used as the editorial_category for each segment entry (e.g. "ressort", "geo", "audience", "other").
excludedPostTypes	array of strings	No	List of post types to exclude from Drive sync. Articles whose post type matches any entry in this list are silently skipped and not sent to Drive.
stripScriptsAndIframes	boolean	No	When true, removes all <script> and <iframe> elements (and their contents) from the article HTML (article_text) before it is sent to Drive. Defaults to false. Enable when the Drive endpoint rejects article HTML that contains inline scripts or embeds.

Minimal Example

{
  "token": "your-api-token",
  "url": "https://api.drive-news.de/api/v2/articles",
  "publisher": "your-publisher-id"
}

Full Example

{
  "token": "your-api-token",
  "url": "https://api.drive-news.de/api/v2/articles",
  "publisher": "your-publisher-id",
  "userNeedPropertyNames": ["drive_userneeds"],
  "extraProperties": {
    "my_cms_property": "drive_field_name"
  },
  "includeModifiedTime": true,
  "articleSegmentsEditorialCategory": "ressort",
  "excludedPostTypes": ["page"],
  "stripScriptsAndIframes": true
}

User Needs Setup (Optional)

To enable user need categorization:

Create an Advanced Custom Field (ACF) named drive_userneeds

Set field type to Dropdown

Configure options (e.g. Inspiration, Lösung, Unterhaltung, Alltagshilfe, Neuigkeit, Hintergrund)

Apply the ACF to your content templates

Add "drive_userneeds" to userNeedPropertyNames in your drive_config

The ACF name must match the value in userNeedPropertyNames.

Post Type Filter (Optional)

When excludedPostTypes is configured, articles whose post type matches any entry in the list are not sent to Drive. The article is silently skipped — no error is raised and no data is transmitted.

This is useful when certain content types should not be analyzed by Drive, for example pages that are not editorially relevant articles.

{
  "token": "your-api-token",
  "url": "https://api.drive-news.de/api/v2/articles",
  "publisher": "your-publisher-id",
  "excludedPostTypes": ["page"]
}

The filter only applies when the article has a post type set. Articles without a post type are always processed normally.

Category Segment Mapping (Optional)

When articleSegmentsEditorialCategory is configured, the integration maps article categories from the taxonomy to the editorial_article_segment field in the Drive payload. Each category produces one segment entry with the category name as level_1.

Example segment output:

"editorial_article_segment": [
  {
    "level_1": "Graubünden",
    "editorial_category": "ressort"
  }
]

The field is omitted entirely from the payload when articleSegmentsEditorialCategory is not set, ensuring compatibility with older Drive versions.

Script and Iframe Stripping (Optional)

When stripScriptsAndIframes is set to true, all <script> and <iframe> elements — together with their contents — are removed from the article HTML (article_text) before the article is sent to Drive. When the flag is false (the default), the content is sent unchanged.

Enable this flag when the configured Drive endpoint rejects article HTML that contains inline <script> or <iframe> embeds. Stripping these elements lets the article be accepted.

{
  "token": "your-api-token",
  "url": "https://api.drive-news.de/api/v2/articles",
  "publisher": "your-publisher-id",
  "stripScriptsAndIframes": true
}

Note the trade-off: interactive embeds such as charts and videos are removed from the Drive copy of the article. The flag is opt-in per publication — existing publications are unaffected unless they set it.

How It Works

New Articles

Once configured, the integration automatically:

Detects article publication or updates

Extracts article data, user needs, and category taxonomies

Formats the data per DRIVE API specifications

Transmits it securely to DRIVE

Logs the result in the system

Historical Articles

To send previously published content, contact your Purple support team.

Example Payload

{
  "article_id": "abc123",
  "article_title": "Graubünden: Neue Massnahmen angekündigt",
  "article_teaser": "Der Kanton Graubünden hat heute neue Massnahmen bekannt gegeben.",
  "article_text": "Der Kanton Graubünden...",
  "authors": ["Max Mustermann"],
  "publish_timestamp": "2024-03-15T13:00:00",
  "update_timestamp": "2024-03-15T12:00:00.000Z",
  "tags": {
    "tags": ["politik", "graubünden"],
    "categories": ["Graubünden"]
  },
  "extra_info": {},
  "publisher": "purple",
  "article_user_need_publisher": ["Neuigkeit"],
  "editorial_article_segment": [
    {
      "level_1": "Graubünden",
      "editorial_category": "ressort"
    }
  ]
}

Deactivating the Integration

Navigate to your publication settings

Remove the drive_config custom property

Optionally deactivate the drive_userneeds ACF