How to serialize a parent item and some of it's child items as new Item only

Question

I've recently found out that you can serialize items if it's new only using

<evaluator type="Unicorn.Evaluators.NewItemOnlyEvaluator, Unicorn" singleInstance="true"/>

When I add this to the configuration, all the items I include will only be serialized if it is new.

I would like to serialize a parent item and only some specific child items to be serialized when it's new, the other child items will still be serialized normally. How can I achieve this?

Answer 1

You will need 2 configurations for this as the evaluator works per configuration.

Your first configuration should serialize the parent and exclude children. Your second configuration can include the child items and be set to use the `NewItemOnlyEvaluator:

For example:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">
    <sitecore>
        <unicorn>
            <configurations>
                <configuration name="Example.ParentItems"
                               description="Serialize the parent item but none of the child items"
                               patch:after="configuration[@name='Foundation.Serialization']">
                    <targetDataStore physicalRootPath="$(sourceFolder)\$(layer)\$(module)\serialization\parentItems" />
                    <predicate>
                        <include name="ParentItem" database="master" path="/sitecore/Content/ParentItem">
                            <exclude path="ChildItem1" />
                            <exclude path="ChildItem2" />
                        </include>
                    </predicate>
                </configuration>
                <configuration name="Example.ChildItems"
                               description="Serialize the child items using the NewItemOnlyEvaluator"
                               patch:after="configuration[@name='Foundation.Serialization']">
                    <targetDataStore physicalRootPath="$(sourceFolder)\$(layer)\$(module)\serialization\newitemonly" />
                    <evaluator type="Unicorn.Evaluators.NewItemOnlyEvaluator, Unicorn" singleInstance="true"/>
                    <predicate>
                        <include name="Child Item 1" database="master" path="/sitecore/Content/ParentItem/ChildItem1"></include>
                        <include name="Child Item 2" database="master" path="/sitecore/Content/ParentItem/ChildItem2"></include>
                    </predicate>
                </configuration>
            </configurations>
        </unicorn>
    </sitecore>
</configuration>

Update based on your updated question:

If you want to be more specific about which child items are NewItemOnly then you just need to be specific with your exclusions in the main configuration and also with your predicates in your NewItemOnlyEvaluator configuration.