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MergeSection

Specifies section information you want to update in your iTunes U site. iTunes U merges the section information specified in your document with the section information in your iTunes U site.

When you specify this operation, iTunes U:

1. Updates existing section items with the information you specify.

2. Creates new items in the section for any entities you specify that do not already exist in the destination section, and, if the Destructive entity is set to true, deletes any existing items in the destination section for entities you do not specify.

3. Merges information in the section for any entities you specify that already exist in the destination section.

You specify the following entities with the MergeSection operation:

• SectionHandle. Specifies the handle in your iTunes U site for the section you want to update. The section handle must correspond to a section item in your iTunes U site. If the handle does not match an existing item, iTunes U returns an error message. If you do not specify the SectionHandle entity, iTunes U uses the destination string in your URL.

• SectionPath. Specifies the path in your iTunes U site for the section you want to update. The section path must correspond to a section item in your iTunes U site. If the path does not match an existing item, or matches multiple items, iTunes U returns an error message. If you do not specify the SectionPath entity, iTunes U uses the destination string in your URL. The SectionPath entity must be in the form “a/b/c” where a, b, and c are folder names. For example, if you have a site named “CupertinoU” containing a section named “Humanities,” you can refer to the SectionPath as <SectionPath>CupertinoU/Humanities</SectionPath> in your MergeSection operation. If specifying the root path, you must start the SectionPath entity with a leading slash (/). To specify a slash (/) as a character within a node of the slash-delimited path, escape the character with a second slash (//).

• MergeByHandle. Specifies whether or not you want to merge section information using Section handles. You can specify one of the following values: true, false. By default, iTunes U merges section information using the Name entity.

  iTunes U preserves the order of division and course items within the Section entity. By default, when you merge a section, iTunes U uses the Name entity to determine how to merge and order similar items in the destination section. You can set MergeByHandle=true to rename a section and merge the entities based on handles instead of names.

• Section. Specifies the entities for the section attributes you want to update, including section Name, Handle, and Course. By specifying this information, you can override existing settings in the section.

• Destructive. Specifies whether or not you want to delete from the destination any Course or Permission items not specified in the Section entity. You can specify one of the following values: true, false. By default, iTunes U sets the Destructive entity to false and merges items.

Notes:

• Specify simple text string values for the Name entity.

• To specify whether or not users can subscribe to a specific section as a podcast, you can specify the following values for AllowSubscription: true, false. You can use this entity to override your global track preferences setting on a per-section basis.

• Specify all details for any Group (including Name) or Permission (including Credential and Access) entities.

Warning: Web Services does not provide an undo operation. Be careful when using the Destructive entity. If misused, you can destroy your entire iTunes U site structure.

The following is an example of an iTunes U Web Services document using MergeSection:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ITunesUDocument> 
    <Version>1.1.4</Version>
    <MergeSection>
        <SectionHandle>sectionhandle value</SectionHandle>
        <SectionPath>sectionpath value</SectionPath>
        <MergeByHandle>mergebyhandle value</MergeByHandle>
        <Destructive>destructive value</Destructive>
        <Section>
            <Name>name value</Name>
            <Handle>handle value</Handle>
            <Course>
                <Name>name value</Name>
                <CourseType>coursetype value</CourseType>
                <Group>
                        <Name>name value</Name>
                        <Handle>handle value</Handle>
                        <Track>
                            <Name>name value</Name>
                            <Handle>handle value</Handle>
                            <Kind>kind value</Kind>
                            <DiscNumber>discnumber value</DiscNumber>
                            <DurationMilliseconds>
                            durationmilliseconds value
                            </DurationMilliseconds>
                            <AlbumName>albumname value</AlbumName>
                            <ArtistName>artistname value</ArtistName>
                            <DownloadURL>downloadurl value</DownloadURL>
                        </Track>
                        <Permission>
                            <Credential>credential value</Credential>
                            <Access>access value</Access>
                        </Permission>
                </Group>
            </Course>
        </Section>
    </MergeSection>
</ITunesUDocument>