Describe content in the UI
In Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) version 7.0, the content system was introduced to use the central types of pages and blocks in CMS. Since the CMS 7.5 release, the Optimizely Customized Commerce catalog and Media system is delivered as content.
UI descriptors
To make content types display and behave differently, you can use UI Descriptors to describe the appearance and behavior of a content type, such as setting the icon used to display items of the type. The following code describes how objects of the custom type ContainerPage behaves in the user interface by specifying the CSS classes used to display the item, such as in listings or trees.
[UIDescriptorRegistration]
public class ContainerPageUIDescriptor: UIDescriptor<ContainerPage> {
public ContainerPageUIDescriptor(): base("epi-iconObjectPage") {}
}Inheritance
The type descriptor supports inheritance, so when you do not define a behavior on the specific type, it checks parent type descriptors for a description of the requested behavior. For example, if a page type does not specify a custom icon, then the generic icon for pages is used.
Sticky view
Sticky view means that the previously used view is loaded when navigating the content tree instead of the default view. By default, CMS enables sticky view functionality for every content item. , Set the EnableStickyView property to false if the content item should not use a sticky view.
📘 Note You should enable the feature for as many content types as possible or turn it off for all content types. Mixing the true and false flag between content types may make the sticky view behavior seem inconsistent to editors, as there is no way for editors to know if the sticky view is enabled or disabled on a content item.
For example, if CMS should force the All Properties view to be the default view for the StartPage type instead of the previously used view, then EnableStickyView should be false and DefaultView should be set to AllPropertiesView.
[UIDescriptorRegistration]
public class StartPageUIDescriptor: UIDescriptor {
public StartPageUIDescriptor(): base(ContentTypeCssClassNames.Page) {
DefaultView = CmsViewNames.AllPropertiesView;
EnableStickyView = false;
}
}Resources
You can add type-specific translations for the user interface to create, move, or delete items.
The following example sets some generic “fallback” texts for any content, more specific texts for blocks, and specific texts for YouTube blocks (assuming this is a type in your solution). It defaults to a language node under <contenttypes> with the name of the type without namespace. You can change the key by defining the LanguageKey property of your type descriptor; for example, if you have classes in different namespaces with the same class name.
<language name="English" id="en">
<contenttypes>
<icontentdata>
<name>Content</name>
<create>New Item</create>
<move>Move Item</move>
</icontentdata>
<youtubeblock>
<name>You Tube Block</name>
<create>New You Tube Block</create>
<move>Move You Tube Block</move>
</youtubeblock>
</contenttypes>
</language>Content repository descriptors
CMS has a content repository descriptor entity that standardizes components that show content from repositories. This class describes a repository so that the UI can auto-generate with the settings for a repository. You can create navigation components, such as the page tree, or selection widgets, such as the page selector. The following example shows how the implementation for the block repository descriptor:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using EPiServer.Core;
using EPiServer.Framework.Localization;
using EPiServer.ServiceLocation;
using EPiServer.Web;
namespace Samples {
[ServiceConfiguration(typeof (IContentRepositoryDescriptor))]
public class BlockRepositoryDescriptor: ContentRepositoryDescriptorBase {
public static string RepositoryKey {
get {
return "blocks";
}
}
public override string Key {
get {
return RepositoryKey;
}
}
public override string Name {
get {
return LocalizationService.Current.GetString("/contentrepositories/blocks/name");
}
}
public override IEnumerable<ContentReference> Roots {
get {
var roots = new List<ContentReference> {
SiteDefinition.Current.GlobalAssetsRoot
};
if (SiteDefinition.Current.GlobalAssetsRoot != SiteDefinition.Current.SiteAssetsRoot) {
roots.Add(SiteDefinition.Current.SiteAssetsRoot);
}
return roots;
}
}
public override string SearchArea {
get {
return "CMS/blocks";
}
}
public override Type[] ContainedTypes {
get {
return new Type[] {
typeof (ContentFolder), typeof (BlockData)
};
}
}
public override Type[] MainNavigationTypes {
get {
return new Type[] {
typeof (ContentFolder)
};
}
}
public override int SortOrder {
get {
return 200;
}
}
public override string[] MainViews {
get {
return new [] {
HomeView.ViewName
};
}
}
}
}The following example shows how to use the content repository to create a content selector for blocks within the repository:
using EPiServer.Core;
using EPiServer.Shell.ObjectEditing.EditorDescriptors;
using EPiServer.Web;
namespace Samples {
[EditorDescriptorRegistration(TargetType = typeof (ContentReference), UIHint = UIHint.Block)]
public class BlockReferenceEditorDescriptor: ContentReferenceEditorDescriptor<BlockData> {
public override string RepositoryKey {
get {
return BlockRepositoryDescriptor.RepositoryKey;
}
}
}
}The following example shows how to set up a component in the assets panel of the CMS main view that shows content from the repository:
using EPiServer.Shell.ViewComposition;
namespace Samples
{
[Component]
public class SharedBlocksComponent : ComponentDefinitionBase
{
public SharedBlocksComponent()
: base("epi-cms.component.SharedBlocks")
{
LanguagePath = "/episerver/cms/components/sharedblocks";
SortOrder = 100;
PlugInAreas = new[] { PlugInArea.DefaultAssetsGroup };
Categories = new[] { "cms" };
Settings.Add(new Setting("repositoryKey", BlockRepositoryDescriptor.RepositoryKey));
}
}
}