Using the Kentico CMS API Thom Robbins Bryan Soltis

Agenda Overview (Architecture/Objects) (Thom) CMS Context (Bryan) Document Management (Thom) Global Events (Thom) Modules (Bryan)

Looking at Kentico CMS Logical three tier architecture…

Architecture breakdown Data layer (+metadata) Business layer Controls libraries UI components Web project pages Live site pages + admin UI pages Web parts + User controls CMSControlsHelpersSettingsProviderEnumerationsInfos & Providers Data engine GeneralConnection Abstract info Metadata infos (Class, Query, SettingsKey) InterfacesThird party code Module web parts + Module user controls Module controls Module Infos & Providers Module definitions Presentation layer Best Practice Tip Kentico CMS web site project provides examples of all sorts of code!

OO Basics - Object Creation Examples // Create UserInfo CMS.SiteProvider.UserInfo user = new CMS.SiteProvider.UserInfo(); // Set properties user.UserName = "Alice"; user.FirstName = "Alice"; user.LastName = "Cooper"; user.FullName = "Alice Cooper"; user. = user.IsEditor = true; user.IsGlobalAdministrator = true; user.PreferredCultureCode = "en-us"; user.Enabled = true; // Create new user CMS.SiteProvider.UserInfoProvider.SetUserInfo(user); // Prepare the TreeProvider (it must be initialized with user information when editing document structure) UserInfo ui = UserInfoProvider.GetUserInfo("administrator"); CMS.TreeEngine.TreeProvider tree = new CMS.TreeEngine.TreeProvider(ui); // Get the document (current culture) CMS.TreeEngine.TreeNode node = tree.SelectSingleNode(CMS.CMSHelper.CMSContext.CurrentSiteName, "/News/TestingWorkflow", CMS.CMSHelper.CMSContext.CurrentUser.PreferredCultureCode, false, null, false); if (node != null) { // Always delete the document with DocumentHelper, it handles all the dependencies CMS.WorkflowEngine.DocumentHelper.DeleteDocument(node, tree, true, true,true); } Example - Creating new user Example – Delete Document

API Everywhere! Class View is your Friend CMS.SettingsProvider.SettingsHelper.SQLHelperClass.TranslationHelp er CMS.GlobalHelper.DataHelper.ContextHelper.AJAXHelper Library Specific CMS.Controls.CM SControlsHelper CMS.WorkflowEn gine.DocumentHe lper CMS.Blogs.BlogHe lper Some Examples… Best practice Tip: Class view is customizable to allow personalized organization and viewing

Helpers and general libraries SettingsProvider (metadata helpers) SettingsHelper (web.config) SettingsKeyHelper (web site settings) SqlHelperClass (low level DB connection, used only from SettingsProvider) DataHelper (basic data manipulation) TranslationHelper (conversion of IDs based on code names or GUIDs) GlobalHelper (general helpers) /Context (HTTP context related data) /Data (advanced data manipulation and validation) /Globalization (resource strings and cultures) /Markup (macros, HTML, XML, text, script) /Media (images and media manipulation and information) Library specific (module helpers) ControlsHelperCMSControlsHelperDocumentHelperWebFarmSyncHelperClass Etc. App_Code (helper functions) Functions.csInstallerFunctions.csBlogFunctions.csEcommerceFunctions.cs Etc. Best Practice Tip For general code locate the appropriate helper and use it If the helper contains similar methods override and extend Implement new behavior in helpers

CMS Context CMS.CMSHelper.CMSContext class provides static methods to access common information Method CurrentAliasPath CurrentDocument CurrentPageInfo CurrentSite CurrentSiteName CurrentUser ViewMode ResolveCurrentPath Need a code snippet?

Document Management – How documents are stored Documents stored in SQL joined tables – CMS_Tree – Table with basic document data shared between different language versions. Contains one record for all culture version of the document – CMS_Document – Table with document data of specified language version of the document. Contains one record representing one language version of the document – Coupled table – table that contains custom document type fields CMS_TreeCMS_DocumentCoupled tableCMS_DocumentCoupled tableCMS_DocumentCoupled table Best Practice Tip: Every document is stored in up to three (3) tables. Use the API to access documents

Document Management – Versioning Internals Document versions and its history are stored in separate tables – CMS_VersionHistory – Table containing the document versions. Each version of the document is represented by one record that contains the complete document data in XML. – CMS_AttachmentHistory – Table containing the attachment version records. Each attachment version is bound to one or more document versions. Every record contains binary data of the attachment. – CMS_VersionAttachment – Table containing the bindings of the attachment versions to the document versions. CMS_VersionHistoryCMS_VersionAttachment CMS_AttachmentHistory Version of attachments CMS_VersionAttachment CMS_AttachmentHistory Version of attachments

Document Management Techniques CMS.TreeEngine.TreeNode Not aware of versioning/workflow/attachments Only works with published records CMS.WorkflowEngine.DocumentHelper Versioning/workflow/attachment aware Use for all document deletes Best Practice Tip: CMS.WorkflowEngine.DocumentHelper is recommended to access document information CMS.CMSHelper.TreeHelper allows access to documents directly Best Practice Tip: TreeHelper.GetDocuments checks the view mode and then calls either TreeProvider or DocumentHelper

Global Events Provide a way to execute custom events within the CMS system Managed as a separate projects Web Config Key Best Practice Tip: Developer documentation contains step by step instructions for implementing Global Events

Global Event Classes The events are applied to all data items that are stored to the database. It includes documents, user information or any other settings Receives DataClass CustomDataHandler.cs Event applied to all exceptions that occur Receives System.exception CustomExceptionHandler.cs Allows the integration of external databases and modify the authentication and authorization process CustomSecurityHandler.cs Execute custom actions when a document is created, updated or deleted CustomTreeNodeHandler.cs Event applied to workflow documents (same as CustomTreeNodeHandler) Same as CustomtreeNodeHandler CustomWorkflowHandler.cs Best Practice Tip: For Document events always use either the CustomTreeNodeHandler (no workflow) or CustomWorkFlowHandler (workflow) not the CustomDataHandler

Modules Extend the CMS system to include your custom code

Additional Information Best samples are in your project! Get your poster Documentation - Code Snippet Library - Marketplace -