Managing Object Entry Versions

Liferay DXP 2025.Q4+/Portal 2026.Q1+

Important

Object entry versioning is used in Liferay’s Content Management System (CMS). To use versioning with a custom object’s entries, you must enable versioning in the object definition using the API, by setting the objectEntryVersioning attribute to true. Then you can call the versioning API endpoints. Versioning integration is not available in the out-of-the-box object entry management or display features like collections, form container, or data set manager.

When you publish an Object definition, REST APIs are generated for managing its entries. These APIs include versioning endpoints. You can use the versioning endpoints if the object definition enables versioning.

When versioning is enabled in the definition, updating an entry using either PATCH or PUT creates a new version of the object entry. Here’s an overview of the versioning endpoints for an individual entry:

Action	Example Endpoint	Versioning Behavior
Update an entry with PATCH or PUT.	/o/c/ables/by-external-reference-code/	A new entry version is created.
Get an entry’s versions	/o/c/ables/by-external-reference-code//versions	Pass in the ERC to get all of the entry’s existing versions.
Get a version	/o/c/ables/by-external-reference-code//by-version/	Pass in the ERC and the version number to get a single version.
Restore a specific version	/o/c/ables/by-external-reference-code//by-version//restore	Brings back an earlier version so it’s the latest. This creates a new version of the entry based on an older version. You cannot update the entry’s fields while restoring it.
Copy a version.	/o/c/ables/by-external-reference-code//by-version//copy	Create a new entry with a unique ERC based on an entry version.
Delete a version.	/o/c/ables/by-external-reference-code//by-version/	The previous version is now the latest version. If none exists, the entry is deleted.

In addition, you can get all the definition’s latest approved versions using the /o/c/ables/approved endpoint.

You can test the endpoints. First set up a Liferay instance.

Preparing Liferay

Start a new Liferay instance by running

docker run -it -m 8g -p 8080:8080 liferay/portal:7.4.3.132-ga132

Sign in to Liferay at http://localhost:8080. Use the email address test@liferay.com and the password test. When prompted, change the password to learn.

Run the following commands to download and unzip the provided sample code:

curl https://resources.learn.liferay.com/examples/liferay-j5b2.zip -O

unzip liferay-j5b2.zip

Then, navigate to liferay-j5b2/curl and populate some data by running this script:

./populate_j5b2.sh

This creates an object definition with versioning enabled, creates three entries, and updates one with a PUT call to create a new version. One of the entries is in draft status.

Various entries are available for testing object versioning APIs.

Calling the Versioning APIs

You can run shell scripts that execute curl commands to explore these GET endpoints:

Get all the versions for the entry matching the ERC:
```
./Ables_GET_Versions_ByExternalReferenceCode.sh ABLE_1
```
ABLE_1 has two versions, named Able 1.0 and Able 1.1.
Now use the endpoint for retuning one version by specifying the version number:
```
./Ables_GET_Version_ByExternalReferenceCode.sh ABLE_1 1
```
Only the ABLE_1 version with the name Able 1.0 is returned.
Next, get all of the latest approved versions for the object definition:
```
./Ables_GET_Approved.sh
```
Two Able entry versions are returned, named Able 1.1 and Able 2.0. Able 3.0 has one version with the status draft, so it’s not returned. Able 1 has two versions, but this endpoint only returns the latest approved version.

These calls demonstrate additional actions on object entry versions:

Restore Able 1.0 to the latest version:
```
./Ables_PUT_Restore_ByExternalReferenceCode.sh ABLE_1 1
```
You can restore an older version with this call, but you cannot update fields at the same time.
Copy Able 1.1 (i.e., version 2 of the ABLE_1 entry):
```
./Ables_POST_Copy_ByExternalReferenceCode.sh ABLE_1 2
```
This copies the version as a new draft entry (if drafts are enabled for the object definition).
Delete version 2 from ABLE_1:
```
./Ables_DELETE_Version.sh ABLE_1 2
```
Set the status of the first ABLE_1 version to Expired:
```
./Ables_POST_Expire_ByExternalReferenceCode.sh ERC 1
```
If you expire the latest version it’s marked with the status expired (3) and the entry’s expiration date is set to the current date.