General Documentation

• Introduction
• Page
  • Value Management
  • Snippets
  • Values
  • Enumerations
• Snippet Item
• Block
• List View
• Data
• Site Search
• Form
• Site Map
• Menu
• Breadcrumb
• Login
• Login Status
• Password Reset
• Language Switcher

The Page module is the entry point of a web site visitor and in which all other modules are rendered. The module is the only one whose item's can be assigned URLs, custom Response Headers, have Search Index settings and is closely tied to layout Templates. Learn more about Masters and Templates.

Page items are created by selecting a predefined Template. By now, you should be familiar on how to set up the markup in a Template. Now, we will introduce how you can define the specific content that each Page item will hold.

There are 3 ways in which to provide content editors the ability to provide content on a page.

1. Values
2. Snippets
3. Regions

Values

Values are placed on a Template and provide an input by which a content editor can provide content. A single Value is the most basic way of defining custom content.

The CMS comes with 7 predefined Value definitions for easy reuse. Click here to learn more about how to manage Value definitions.

To insert a Value on a Template to be used by a Page module, place the cursor at the location in the Template should appear and click the "Value" icon in the toolbar above the Template content area. Values can only be placed in a Template. In the prompt, fill out the following information:

• Name - A descriptive name of the content that the Value will contain such as "Header". Names can only contain alphanumeric characters and cannot contain spaces.
• Value Type - The Value definition to use. A Value type will provide information to the Page on what kind of input to display to the content editor.
• Title (optional) - A user friendly version of the Name attribute that is used to display to the content editor.
• Order Index - A numeric value indicating what order the Value input should be displayed to the content editor. Ordering is arranged from lowest to greatest.
• Required - If checked, then the Page module will require the content editor to provide a value in order to save the item. As well, if checked, then a Default Value must be provided.
• Read Only - If checked, then the value content cannot be edited by the content editor.
• Default Value (optional) - The value that will be used as the initial value when the Page item is created. The Default Value must adhere to the Value definition's data type.
• Reg Ex Pattern (optional) - The regular expressions pattern the value content must match in order to be saved. Learn more about Regular Expressions.
• String Format (optional) - Format behavior that is applied when displaying the value content on the web site. Learn more about string formats.

Snippets

Snippets are groups of Values organized to represent a greater unit than just a single Value. Learn how to manage Snippet definitions. Not only do Snippets contain Values, but they can also contain other Snippets, making them ideal for reuse.

To insert a Snippet on a Template to be used by a Page module, place the cursor at the location in the Template should appear and click the "Snippet" icon in the toolbar above the Template content area. Snippets can only be placed in a Template. In the prompt, fill out the following information:

• Name - A descriptive name of the content that the Snippet contains such as "MainSliderGallery". Names can only contain alphanumeric characters and cannot contain spaces.
• Snippet Type - A Snippet definition to be used.
•  Title (optional) - A user friendly version of the Name attribute that is used to display to the content editor.
• Order Index - A numeric value indicating what order the Value input should be displayed to the content editor. Ordering is arranged from lowest to greatest.

Regions

To place a Region onto a Template, place the cursor at the location in the Template it should appear and click the "Region" icon in the toolbar above the Template content area. Regions can only be placed in a Template. In the prompt, fill out the following information:

• Name - A descriptive name of the Region such as "LeftSideRegion". Names can only contain alphanumeric characters and cannot contain spaces.
• Order Index - A numeric value indicating what order the Value input should be displayed to the content editor. Ordering is arranged from lowest to greatest.

Once a Region is placed onto a Template, Page items that use the Template will present tools that allow a content editor to search for other Items or Modules (with the exception of Page items) to be rendered inside the Region. The content editor has the ability to sort the order in which the items inside a Region will appear.

Custom Views

A custom view is a CMS control tag that is placed in either a Master or Template. The only required attribute is the FilePath that refers to the location of the Razor file in the Media Manager. It is recommended to store Razor files in _private folders.

<Cms:CustomView FilePath="/_private/MyCustomView1.cshtml" />

Custom views are passed a view model of type ConnectedApps.Cms.Entities.Page.CustomViewModel with the following class definition:

By using Custom Views, special C# logic flow statements and programming constructs can be implemented to render dynamic output. If a Custom View has the potential to be included on a Page that is set to cache, then it is recommended not to depend on variables that can differ between requests such as user cookies. Processing of Custom Views is done by the Page module thus, its output is cached along with the output of the Page, should caching be enabled.

 

URLs

A Page URL must:

• Start with "/"
• Not start with "/admin"
• Not start with "/_assetviews"
• Not start with "/signalr"
• Not already exist in the Page's layout domain.
• Not contain periods. If a URL needs to contain a period, then consider using Rewrite Directives.
• Be lower-cased. This is automatically enforced.

If more than 1 language is enabled for a CMS instance, then for each language a dedicated URL is available to be assigned. Each URL must be unique to the Page's layout domain. There are two approaches to assigning URLs for multi-language enabled CMS instances:

Using the ALL URL

If specified, then the Page is accessed through a single URL and the language context is retrieved from the sources (in order):

• Request header with key "LanguageId" containing the language ID.
• Query string parameter with key "LanguageId" containing the language ID.
• A cookie name ".CmsLanguage" containing the language ID.
• If a language still cannot be determined, the default language ID is used.

To help a web site visitor move between two languages in a CMS instance, use the Language Switcher module.

Assigning a URL For Each Language

This approach provides a unique URL for each language without having to depend on response headers, query strings or cookies. In CMS instances where the CDN feature is enabled or another reverse proxy-like appliance is configured in front of the content, this is the only reliable way in determining the language context of a Page Item.

Search Index

If a Page is marked to be included in the site search index, then the following settings influence how the Page's content is returned in keyword searches:

• Boost Page - This value is the factor the site search will boost this page among other pages matching the same search query.
• Additional Search Terms - Terms that can be included that are considered in the keyword matching algorithm but not rendered to the Page.

Learn more about how the Site Search Index.

Response Headers

Response headers defined here are combined with any global response headers. Learn more about Response Headers.