Should un-publishing a pdf that is used in a component on page cause the page to be unpublished?

Question

We are handling PDF publishing by using a Dynamic Component Template associated with the PDF schema, then creating Binary Links where we need to link to the PDF.

We've found that un-publishing a PDF that is a component link inside a component used on a page is triggering the page to get unpublished.

I know we can control this behaviour by using a Custom Resolver, but is this the expected result?

Has this behaviour changed from Tridion 2009 to Tridion 2011?

Answer 1

BinaryLinks are meant to be used for "inline binary content", so typically things that are included by a src attribute.

<img src="..." />
<video width="320" height="240" controls="controls">
  <source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
  <source src="movie.ogg" type="video/ogg" />
  Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>

For this inline binary content, the page will not display correctly without it. Knowing that, it is correct that the Page gets unpublished when you unpublish the MMC. So as far as I can tell this is indeed the expected behavior, which hasn't changed in a long time.

The mistake is in using an MMC for a PDF that you want to show as a hyperlink. For anything that you want to link to (so that turns into a <a href="...") you should be using a ComponentLink (or of course a PageLink of it is a Page).