EpiCategories

• Master
  

Description

An alternative to Episerver's default category functionality, where categories are instead stored as localizable IContent.

Features

• Localization (no more language XML files)
• More user friendly edit UI
• Access rights support (some editors should perhaps have limited category access)
• Shared and site specific categories in multisite solutions
• Partial routing of category URL segments

How to install

Install NuGet package from Episerver NuGet Feed:

Install-Package Geta.EpiCategories

CMS search providers (Episerver Find or Episerver Search)

If you want to install a CMS search provider you can choose from Geta.EpiCategories.Find or Geta.EpiCategories.Search package depending on if you have Episerver Find installed in your project or not:

Install-Package Geta.EpiCategories.Search

or:

Install-Package Geta.EpiCategories.Find

How to use

Start by creating a category content type that inherits from CategoryData. You can have multiple if you need. Note that CategoryData is included in the package, there is no need to create your own.

[ContentType]
public class BasicCategory : CategoryData
{
}

[ContentType]
public class ExtendedCategory : BasicCategory
{
    [CultureSpecific]
    public virtual XhtmlString MainBody { get; set; }
}

Edit categories

Instead of going to admin mode to manage categories, you now do it in edit mode, under the "Categories" tab in the main navigation component to the left. You work with them like normal pages, and it's possible to translate them. You can create categories that are shared between multiple sites or you can create site specific categories.

ICategorizableContent interface

Implement ICategorizableContent on your content type class to categorize your content.

public class MyPageType : PageData, ICategorizableContent
{
    [Categories]
    public virtual IList<ContentReference> Categories { get; set; }
}

Above property will look familiar if you have used standard Episerver categories before.

There is a context menu in the selector where you quickly can create and auto publish a new category and automatically get back to the selector with the new category selected:

If you prefer to use the native content reference list editor for your categories you can skip the CategoriesAttribute:

[AllowedTypes(typeof(CategoryData))]
public virtual IList<ContentReference> Categories { get; set; }

If you want a single category on your content type just add a ContentReference property:

[UIHint(CategoryUIHint.Category)]
public virtual ContentReference MainCategory { get; set; }

IEnumerable<ContentReference> extension methods

The following extension methods are included:

1. MemberOf(this IEnumerable<ContentReference> contentLinks, ContentReference contentReference)
2. MemberOfAny(this IEnumerable<ContentReference> contentLinks, IEnumerable<ContentReference> otherContentLinks)
3. MemberOfAll(this IEnumerable<ContentReference> contentLinks, IEnumerable<ContentReference> otherContentLinks)

ICategoryContentLoader interface

There is an implementation of ICategoryContentLoader (note that in 1.0.0 it is mistakenly named ICategoryContentRepository) that you can use to load categories:

public interface ICategoryContentLoader
{
    T Get<T>(ContentReference categoryLink) where T : CategoryData;
    IEnumerable<T> GetChildren<T>(ContentReference parentCategoryLink) where T : CategoryData;
    IEnumerable<T> GetChildren<T>(ContentReference parentCategoryLink, CultureInfo culture) where T : CategoryData;
    IEnumerable<T> GetChildren<T>(ContentReference parentCategoryLink, LoaderOptions loaderOptions) where T : CategoryData;
    T GetFirstBySegment<T>(string urlSegment) where T : CategoryData;
    T GetFirstBySegment<T>(string urlSegment, CultureInfo culture) where T : CategoryData;
    T GetFirstBySegment<T>(string urlSegment, LoaderOptions loaderOptions) where T : CategoryData;
    T GetFirstBySegment<T>(ContentReference parentLink, string urlSegment, LoaderOptions loaderOptions) where T : CategoryData;
    IEnumerable<T> GetGlobalCategories<T>() where T : CategoryData;
    IEnumerable<T> GetGlobalCategories<T>(CultureInfo culture) where T : CategoryData;
    IEnumerable<T> GetGlobalCategories<T>(LoaderOptions loaderOptions) where T : CategoryData;
    IEnumerable<T> GetSiteCategories<T>() where T : CategoryData;
    IEnumerable<T> GetSiteCategories<T>(CultureInfo culture) where T : CategoryData;
    IEnumerable<T> GetSiteCategories<T>(LoaderOptions loaderOptions) where T : CategoryData;
    bool TryGet<T>(ContentReference categoryLink, out T category) where T : CategoryData;
}

Inject it in your controller as you are used to:

public class MyController : Controller
{
    private readonly ICategoryContentLoader _categoryLoader;

    public MyController(ICategoryContentLoader categoryLoader)
    {
        _categoryLoader = categoryLoader;   
    }
}

IContentInCategoryLocator interface

You can use IContentInCategoryLocator to find content in certain categories:

public interface IContentInCategoryLocator
{
    IEnumerable<T> GetDescendents<T>(ContentReference contentLink, IEnumerable<ContentReference> categories) where T : ICategorizableContent, IContent;
    IEnumerable<T> GetDescendents<T>(ContentReference contentLink, IEnumerable<ContentReference> categories, CultureInfo culture) where T : ICategorizableContent, IContent;
    IEnumerable<T> GetDescendents<T>(ContentReference contentLink, IEnumerable<ContentReference> categories, LoaderOptions loaderOptions) where T : ICategorizableContent, IContent;
    IEnumerable<T> GetChildren<T>(ContentReference contentLink, IEnumerable<ContentReference> categories) where T : ICategorizableContent, IContent;
    IEnumerable<T> GetChildren<T>(ContentReference contentLink, IEnumerable<ContentReference> categories, CultureInfo culture) where T : ICategorizableContent, IContent;
    IEnumerable<T> GetChildren<T>(ContentReference contentLink, IEnumerable<ContentReference> categories, LoaderOptions loaderOptions) where T : ICategorizableContent, IContent;
    IEnumerable<T> GetReferencesToCategories<T>(IEnumerable<ContentReference> categories) where T : ICategorizableContent, IContent;
    IEnumerable<T> GetReferencesToCategories<T>(IEnumerable<ContentReference> categories, CultureInfo culture) where T : ICategorizableContent, IContent;
    IEnumerable<T> GetReferencesToCategories<T>(IEnumerable<ContentReference> categories, LoaderOptions loaderOptions) where T : ICategorizableContent, IContent;
}

Routing

Two routes are mapped during initialization. One for site categories and one for global categories. This means you can create templates for your category content types. They are routed in a similar way as normal pages. You can set the root segment on the "For This Site" and "For All Sites" category nodes in the Categories tree.

Using above example, the URL "/topics/sports/" would be routed to the site category called "Sports".

ICategoryRoutableContent interface

Implement this on your content type:

public class ArticleListPage: PageData, ICategoryRoutableContent 
{
}

It will be possible to route category URL segments with the help of a partial router shipped in this package. Let's say you have an article list page with the URL "/articles/" on your site. If you have a category with the url segment of "sports", you can add it to the end of your list page URL, "/articles/sports/", and the category data will be added to the route values with the key "currentCategory". Your controller action method could look something like this:

public ActionResult Index(ArticleListPage currentPage, CategoryData currentCategory)
{
}

You can also have multiple category URL segments separated with the configured category separator: /articles/entertainment__sports/.

public ActionResult Index(ArticleListPage currentPage, IList<CategoryData> currentCategories) // currentCategories will now contain "Sports" and "Entertainment" categories.
{
}

Default category separator is "__" and you can change it by adding an appSetting in web.config:

<add key="GetaEpiCategories:CategorySeparator" value="__" />

There is a couple of UrlHelper and UrlResolver extension methods included to get content URL with category segment added:

@Url.CategoryRoutedContentUrl(/*ContentReference*/ contentLink, /*ContentReference*/ categoryContentLink) // Single category
@Url.CategoryRoutedContentUrl(/*ContentReference*/ contentLink, /*IEnumerable<ContentReference>*/ categoryContentLinks) // Multiple categories

@UrlResolver.Current.GetCategoryRoutedUrl(/*ContentReference*/ contentLink, /*ContentReference*/ categoryContentLink) // Single category
@UrlResolver.Current.GetCategoryRoutedUrl(/*ContentReference*/ contentLink, /*IEnumerable<ContentReference>*/ categoryContentLinks) // Multiple categories

Show default Episerver category

This package hides the default Episerver category property. You can opt-out from this by adding an app setting:

<add key="GetaEpiCategories:ShowDefaultCategoryProperty" value="true" />

Hide disallowed root categories

The default behavior is to show all categories in the selector, while it's only possible to select based on [AllowedTypes] setting. If you want to hide all root categories that doesn't match AllowedTypes you can add this app setting:

<add key="GetaEpiCategories:HideDisallowedRootCategories" value="true" />

Sandbox App

Sandbox application is testing poligon for package new features and bug fixes.

CMS username: epiadmin

Password: 3p!Pass

Package maintainer

https://github.com/MattisOlsson