Property types

6 min

Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) content is built from models with properties that store and present data. Use many built-in property types in your models or create your own.

Most property types work as instance or list properties. Some types are list types themselves; those cannot be modeled as lists.

Common property types

These property types cover the most frequent content modeling needs.

What you want to create	Property solution	Editing experience
Plain short text – Control the allowed length with the StringLength attribute. Use a custom tag to control the containing tag, such as using an H1 for the main header for the page.	String	One row input
Plain long text – Control the allowed length with the StringLength attribute.	String with UIHint.Textarea	Text area
HTML	XHtmlString	A TinyMCE HTML editor
Integer value – Controls other rendering, such as the number of items in a list. Control the min and max values with the Range attribute.	Int	A number slider
Date and time – Control the min and max values with the Range attribute.	DateTime	A date and time picker
Double – Control the min and max values with the Range attribute.	Double	Check editor
Boolean	Boolean	Checkbox
Page type – Filter items in a list, and so on.	PageType
BLOB – Hold binary data (such as an image). Route to a BLOB with pattern <Url to content>/BlobPropertyName.	Blob

Work with other content

Reference existing content with Link or LinkCollection to create internal or external links.

ContentArea displays content from other content items.

ContentReference, ContentReferenceList, or URL link to a single content item of a specified type.

The AllowedTypes attribute further restricts the kind of links that can be added to a property (although there are a few known limitations).

ContentReference<T> property type

ContentReference<T> is a built-in property type that references a single content item of a specified type.

[AllowedTypes(typeof(MyPageType))]
public virtual ContentReference<MyPageType> FeaturedPage { get; set; }

📘 Note PageReference is now obsolete. Always use ContentReference<T> for pages, media, or blocks.

Use a content reference with many UI hints to select different entities in CMS, such as a block, a media item, a block folder, or a media folder.

What you want to create	Property solution	Editing experience
Link to a media file of any type – Link to any file in the media repository. Use ContentReference instead to use standard content rendering. (Mostly for backward compatibility.)	ContentReference with UIHint.MediaFile	Content picker with drag and drop support
Link to an image – Lets an editor select content in the media repository by implementing IContentImage.	ContentReference with UIHint.Image	Content picker with drag and drop support
Link to a video – Lets an editor select content in the media repository by implementing IContentVideo.	ContentReference with UIHint.Video	Content picker with drag and drop support
Link to a media file with the possibility to append information in the URL – Each link can be an item inside Optimizely CMS, such as pages, media, and external URLs. Use URL instead of ContentReference to add information, such as query string parameters to control size.	Url with UIHint.MediaFile or UIHint.Image or UIHint.Video	Content picker with drag and drop support
Content area	ContentArea
URL	Url	Link dialog with drag-and-drop support
Link to multiple external and/or internal resources – Does not support AllowedTypesAttribute.	LinkItemCollection	Link collection editor with drag-and-drop support
Link to external or internal resource – Does not support AllowedTypesAttribute.	LinkItem Note: Available in CMS 12.11.0 and later.	Link editor with drag-and-drop support
Link to multiple internal pages, media files, or other content types – Supports AllowedTypesAttribute.	ContentReferenceList	Content picker with drag and drop support

Select predefined values

Give editors a constrained set of choices with drop-down and checkbox list properties.

What you want to create	Property solution	Editing experience
Select a single item from a relatively short list of options	String/Int with SelectOne attribute	Link to implementation page
Select several items from a relatively short list of options	String/Int with SelectMany attribute	Link to implementation page
Select a single item from a relatively long list of options. – Use with caution because the auto-suggestion editor creates requests to the server.	String/Int with AutoSuggestion attribute	Link to implementation page

Validation attributes

Validation attributes enforce data constraints on content properties. CMS supports the following .NET validation attributes:

Range

StringLength

RegularExpression

EmailAttribute

Create custom attributes that implement ValidationAttribute. See Write custom attributes.