Built-in property types
Describes how to use built-in property types in your models and also create your own property types.
Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) content is built up by models with properties that store and present data. You can use many built-in property types in your models and create your own.
You can use most property types as instance or list properties. Some types are list types themselves; those cannot be modeled as lists.
Common property types
| What you want to create | 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 property | One row input |
Plain long text – Control the allowed length with the StringLength attribute. | String property with UIHint.Textarea | Text area |
| HTML | XHtmlString property | 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 property | A number slider |
Date and time – Control the min and max values with the Range attribute. | DateTime property | A date and time picker |
Double – Control the min and max values with the Range attribute. | Double property | Check editor |
| Boolean | Boolean property | Checkbox |
| Page type – Filter items in a list, and so on. | PageType property | |
BLOB – Hold binary data (such as an image). Route to a BLOB with pattern <Url to content>/BlobPropertyName. | Blob property |
Note
See also Properties in the CMS 12 user guide.
Work with other content
To refer to existing content, use the Link or LinkCollection to create internal or external links.
- Use
ContentAreato display content from other content. - Use
ContentReference,ContentReferenceList, orURLto link to a single content of a specified type. - Use the
AllowedTypesattribute to further restrict the kind of links that can add to a property (although there are a few known limitations).
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 | Solution | Editing experience |
|---|---|---|
| Link to a page | PageReference property | Content picker with drag and drop support |
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 property 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 property 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 property 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 property with UIHint.MediaFile or UIHint.Image or UIHint.Video | Content picker with drag and drop support |
| Content area | ContentArea property | |
| URL | Url property | Link dialog with drag-and-drop support |
Link to multiple external and/or internal resources – Does not support AllowedTypesAttribute. | LinkItemCollection property | Link collection editor with drag-and-drop support |
Link to external or internal resource – Does not support AllowedTypesAttribute. | LinkItem propertyNote: 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 property | Content picker with drag and drop support |
Select predefined values
You can use the following solutions to create drop-down lists and check box lists:
| What you want to create | Solution | Editing experience |
|---|---|---|
| Select a single item from a relatively short list of options | String/Int property with SelectOne attribute | Link to implementation page |
| Select several items from a relatively short list of options | String/Int property 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 property with AutoSuggestion attribute | Link to implementation page |
Validation attributes
CMS supports the following validation attributes that are part of the .NET:
- Range
- StringLength
- RegularExpression
- EmailAttribute
You can create custom attributes that implement either ValidationAttribute. See Write custom attributes.
Updated about 1 month ago