SiteCore 6.5: Getting control parameters - sitecore

When adding controls to a content node via the Presentation -> Layout Details -> Edit, you are allowed to add "Parameters" to the controls. How do you get those parameters from code?
I'm using the forms for web marketers and I want to pass in parameters to the form control and have access to them from custom field controls.

Here is a function to get a parameter:
private string Params(string key)
{
string rawParameters = Attributes["sc_parameters"];
NameValueCollection parameter = WebUtil.ParseUrlParameters(rawParameters);
if (parameter.HasKeys())
return parameter[key];
return "";
}
You need to add it to you sublayout .cs file and it should work.

I was able to do this using
Sitecore.Form.Core.Renderings.FormRender frm = ((Sitecore.Form.Core.Renderings.FormRender)((Sitecore.Form.Web.UI.Controls.BaseControl)this).Form.Parent);
NameValueCollection parameters = Sitecore.Web.WebUtil.ParseUrlParameters(frm.Parameters);
string val = parameters["my_param"];
It's ugly, but it works.

Related

Sitecore Call Check-List Data in Parameter Template

I have a sublayout assigned "Parameter Template". In the parameter templates, there are some fields such as single-text, rich-text and check-list types. There is no problem when I call the single and rich-text fields in code-behind. But, I don't know how to call the list in the check-list field.
I'd like to get only selected items' information when the sublayout is added.
Firstly read this on parameter templates
https://www.sitecore.net/learn/blogs/technical-blogs/martina-welander-sitecore-blog/posts/2013/07/improving-the-page-editor-experience-part-1-uses-for-parameters.aspx
Then it's useful to setup a base class to handle data sources and parameter templates. You could write your own base class based on this:
https://marketplace.sitecore.net/en/Modules/Sub_Layout_Parameter_Helper.aspx
When you access the parameter values from the sublayout they will be raw values and in your case pipe delimited guids.
This is how to get the value of a parameter:
var sublayout = this.Parent as Sublayout;
var parameters = sublayout.Parameters;
var collection = WebUtil.ParseUrlParameters(parameters);
string images = collection["Images"];
The variable images will contain guids - you'll have to use Getitem() on these to retrieve the actual items selected by splitting the string like this:
var selectedItems = images.split('|');
List<Item> result = new List<Item>();
foreach (var itemId in selectedItems)
{
Guid id = Guid.Empty;
if (Guid.TryParse(itemId, out id))
{
var found = db.GetItem(new ID(id));
if (found != null)
{
result.Add(found);
}
}
}
The list above will now have the selected items specified on the sublayout
The Checklist field type will only store the selected items information, I believe.
You could cast the field to a MultilistField, and then call GetItems() on it. That should give you back the list of selected items.

Sitecore - Image field in parameter template

If I have an image field in a parameter template, what are the steps involved in getting the URL of the image in c#?
#mdresser makes a valid point about what should and should not be a rendering parameter. However, I don't think that Sitecore intentionally made it difficult to use image fields in parameter templates. They simply built the parameter template functionality over the existing key-value pair rendering parameter functionality.
If the name of your image field on the rendering parameters template was BackgroundImage, you could use the following code to get the URL of the selected image:
var imageId = XmlUtil.GetAttribute("mediaid", XmlUtil.LoadXml(this.Parameters["BackgroundImage"]));
MediaItem imageItem = Sitecore.Context.Database.GetItem(imageId);
backgroundImageUrl = MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(imageItem);
If you don't already have a base class for your sublayouts that provides the Parameters property, you will need to also add this:
private NameValueCollection parameters;
public virtual NameValueCollection Parameters
{
get
{
if (this.parameters == null)
{
var parameters = this.Attributes["sc_parameters"];
this.parameters = string.IsNullOrEmpty(parameters)
? new NameValueCollection()
: WebUtil.ParseUrlParameters(parameters);
}
return this.parameters;
}
}
To achieve this you would have to look at how the sitecore image field renders the raw text value into an img tag. However, there is a reason that this doesn't work out of the box with sitecore; parameters templates are designed to define info about how a rendering or sublayout should render. E.g. You could use it to tell a list control to show a certain number of items etc. I'd advise against using rendering parameters for content as this will make content editing very cumbersome. If your aim is to have the content of a particular sublayout defined somewhere other than the page itself, put it into a sub item instead.
You can have a 2 separate functions to retrieve the value of image field in the parameter template that you gave to the sub layout .
First Step : Get the value associated with the parameter of image . Please use below function to retrieve the value .
/// <summary>
/// Returns a specific parameter value
/// Use this for Single-line, multiline text fields, linkfield, Image field etc.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="parameterName"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public MediaItem GetValueFromRenderingParameter(string parameterName)
{
var item = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(_params[parameterName]) ? _params[parameterName] : string.Empty;
if(item == null)
{
return null ;
}
return Sitecore.Context.Database.GetItem(item);
}
Second step : Create another function where you can use the above mentioned function to retrieve the value of image field and use it appropriately. Here is the code snippet of the same :
Public string RenderImage()
{
Sitecore.Data.Fields.ImageField imageField =GetValueFromRenderingParameter("Image parameter name");
return MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(imageField.MediaItem) ;
}
Hope This Helps .

Set queryable source on Rendering Parameter Template field

I have a Rendering Parameter template applied to a sublayout. It has a single Droptree field on it, and I want to set the Source of that field to a Sitecore query so I can limit the options available for that field.
Source can be:
query:./*
or
query:./ancestor-or-self::*[##templatename='MyTemplate']/
The query just needs to grab items relative to the content item that we're on. This normally works with Droptree fields in the content editor.
However I'm finding that the query isn't working here because we're in the rendering parameters, so it's not using the content item as it's context.
The query fails and I just get the full Sitecore tree.
I found this can be fixed up for the Datasource field with 'Queryable Datasource Locations' at this link:-
http://www.cognifide.com/blogs/sitecore/reduce-multisite-chaos-with-sitecore-queries/
However I don't know where to start to get this working for other rendering parameter fields.
Any ideas? (I'm using Sitecore 6.6 Update 5)
Unfortunately, the pipeline mentioned in Adam Najmanowicz's answer works for some other types, like Droplink and Multilist, but the pipeline isn't run for Droptree fields.
After looking into this deeper I found that the Source of a Droptree field IS using the wrong context item, as Adam mentioned, but the code comes from the Droptree field itself:-
Sitecore.Shell.Applications.ContentEditor.Tree, Sitecore.Kernel
Utilising the query string code from Adam's answer, we can create a 'fixed' Droptree custom field, that is almost the same as the regular Droptree but will use the correct context item instead.
The code will inherit from the normal Tree control, and only change the way that the Source property is set.
public class QueryableTree : Sitecore.Shell.Applications.ContentEditor.Tree
{
// override the Source property from the base class
public new string Source
{
get
{
return StringUtil.GetString(new string[]
{
base.Source // slightly altered from the original
});
}
set
{
Assert.ArgumentNotNull(value, "value");
if (!value.StartsWith("query:", StringComparison.InvariantCulture))
{
base.Source = value; // slightly altered from the original
return;
}
Item item = Client.ContentDatabase.GetItem(this.ItemID);
// Added code that figures out if we're looking at rendering parameters,
// and if so, figures out what the context item actually is.
string url = WebUtil.GetQueryString();
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(url) && url.Contains("hdl"))
{
FieldEditorParameters parameters = FieldEditorOptions.Parse(new UrlString(url)).Parameters;
var currentItemId = parameters["contentitem"];
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(currentItemId))
{
Sitecore.Data.ItemUri contentItemUri = new Sitecore.Data.ItemUri(currentItemId);
item = Sitecore.Data.Database.GetItem(contentItemUri);
}
}
if (item == null)
{
return;
}
Item item2 = item.Axes.SelectSingleItem(value.Substring("query:".Length));
if (item2 == null)
{
return;
}
base.Source = item2.ID.ToString(); // slightly altered from the original
}
}
The above code is pretty much the same as the Source property on the base Tree field, except that we figure out the proper context item from the URL if we've detected that we're in the rendering parameters dialog.
To create the custom field, you just need to edit the Web.Config file as described here. Then add the custom field to the core database as described here.
This means that parameters can now have queries for their source, allowing us to limit the available items to the content editor. (Useful for multi-site solutions).
The key here would be to set the Field Editor's context to be relative to the item you are editing instead of the Rendering parameters (that I think it has by default).
So you could have processor:
public class ResolveRelativeQuerySource
{
public void Process(GetLookupSourceItemsArgs args)
{
Assert.IsNotNull(args, "args");
if (!args.Source.StartsWith("query:"))
return;
Item contextItem = null;
string url = WebUtil.GetQueryString();
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(url) && url.Contains("hdl"))
{
FieldEditorParameters parameters = FieldEditorOptions.Parse(new UrlString(url)).Parameters;
var currentItemId = parameters["contentitem"];
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(currentItemId))
{
Sitecore.Data.ItemUri contentItemUri = new Sitecore.Data.ItemUri(currentItemId);
contextItem = Sitecore.Data.Database.GetItem(contentItemUri);
}
}
else
{
contextItem = args.Item;
}
}
}
hooked as:
<sitecore>
<pipelines>
<getLookupSourceItems>
<processor patch:before="*[#type='Sitecore.Pipelines.GetLookupSourceItems.ProcessQuerySource, Sitecore.Kernel']"
type="Cognifide.SiteCore.Logic.Processors.ResolveRelativeQuerySource, Cognifide.SiteCore" />
</getLookupSourceItems>
</pipelines>
</sitecore>
Together with ResolveQueryableDatasources from Przemek's blog this should solve your problem.

How to generate media item link with id instead of path in Sitecore

Anyone knows how to generate links in sitecore with ID instead of item path?
If you use GetMediaUrl method from the API, I can get this URL:
/~/media/Images/Archive/content/News and Events/News_and_Events_Level2/20070419162739/iwhiz3.jpg
The problem with this approach is that if someone changes the media item name, removes it somewhere or deletes it, the above link will break.
I notice if I insert a media link from rich text editor, I get the link as below:
/~/media/14BDED00E4D64DFD8F74019AED4D74EB.ashx
The second link is better because it's using the item id, so if the actual media item is renamed, removed, or deleted, all related links will be updated too. On top of that, when Sitecore renders the page, it will actually convert the above link and display the item path so it's readable.
I'm using Sitecore 6.5 and currently doing content migration so I need to make sure all internal links are updated properly.
May I know if there is a method to generate the second link by using sitecore API?
Thanks!
The GetMediaItemUrl extension method seems to give you what you want.
public static class ItemExtensions
{
public static string GetMediaItemUrl(this Item item)
{
var mediaUrlOptions = new MediaUrlOptions() { UseItemPath = false, AbsolutePath = true };
return Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(item, mediaUrlOptions);
}
}
[TestFixture]
public class when_using_items_extensions
{
[Test]
public void a_url_based_on_media_item_id_can_be_generated()
{
// Arrange
Database db = global::Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("master");
Item item = db.GetItem("/sitecore/media library/Images/MyImage");
// Act
var mediaUrl = item.GetMediaItemUrl();
// Assert
Assert.That(mediaUrl, Is.EqualTo("/~/media/17A1341ABEEC46788F2159843DCEAB03.ashx"));
}
}
These are called dynamic links and you can normally generate them using the LinkManager e.g:
Sitecore.Links.LinkManager.GetDynamicUrl(item)
.. but I'm not sure of the method to do this with Media links (there probably is one but I cant seem to find it and its not on MediaManager) but the basic syntax is:
"/~/media/" + item.ID.ToShortID() + ".ashx"
If you always want to use ID's instead of paths, you can change this setting in webconfig to false (like this):
<setting name="Media.UseItemPaths" value="false"/>`
Here is what the webconfig describes about it:
MEDIA - USE ITEM PATHS FOR URLS
This setting controls if item paths are used for constructing media URLs.
If false, short ids will be used.
Default value: true
Then you can use the default implementation (without additional parameters):
Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(item);
This is what I use:
var imgField = ((Sitecore.Data.Fields.ImageField)currentItem.Fields["Icon"]);
MediaUrlOptions opt = new MediaUrlOptions();
opt.AlwaysIncludeServerUrl = true;
// Absolute Path works as well. So either use AbsolutePath or AlwaysIncludeServerUrl
opt.AbsolutePath = true;
string mediaUrl = MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(imgField.MediaItem, opt);

sitecore query items by client url

I am looking for a quick and dirty way to query the layouts files of a particular page by its friendly url. This is probably easy, but I can't find the solution.
Basically I want to say something like the following. Pseudo-code:
var mainpage = Sitecore.EasyQueryUtility.GetItemByFriendlyUrl(requestedUrl);
or
var mainpage = Sitecore.EasyQueryUtility.GetOppositeOfFriendlyUrl(friendlyurl);
It sounds like you want to do two things here:
Determine an item based on its rendered URL in the address bar (i.e. friendly URL)
Determine the layout being used by the item once you determine the item.
If those are correct, hopefully this can help you out:
Note: untested code I did on-the-fly
// if you have the full URL with protocol and host
public static Item GetItemFromUrl(string url)
{
string path = new Uri(url).PathAndQuery;
return GetItemFromPath(path);
}
// if you have just the path after the hostname
public static Item GetItemFromPath(string path)
{
// remove query string
if(path.Contains("?"))
path = path.split('?')[0];
path = path.Replace(".aspx", "");
return Sitecore.Context.Database.GetItem(path);
}
Once you have the item you can get the layout's name like so:
item.Visualization.GetLayout(Sitecore.Context.Device).Name;
Or the layout's physical file path to the ASPX:
item.Visualization.GetLayout(Sitecore.Context.Device).FilePath;
If you want to get the path of the aspx file which is used for the layout of your page, you can use:
Sitecore.Context.Item.Visualization.Layout.FilePath
I may have misunderstood you but if you want to control the format of friendly URLs you can set several attributes via the Sitecore.Links.UrlOptions class and pass an instance of this in to the link manager. See here for more details. (Note - the LinkManager class is only available from SiteCore 6 I beleive).
The code you would end up with looks like this:
Sitecore.Links.UrlOptions urlOptions = (Sitecore.Links.UrlOptions)Sitecore.Links.UrlOptions.DefaultOptions.Clone();
urlOptions.SiteResolving = Sitecore.Configuration.Settings.Rendering.SiteResolving;
string url = Sitecore.Links.LinkManager.GetItemUrl(item, urlOptions);
You can then set fields like AddAspxExtension on the urlOptions you pass in.
As you can see, the process is reliant on you passing in an item - whether it be obtained via the current context or retrieved from the URL you start off with.
If you were asking about obtaining the layout definition item, take a look at this which shows you how.