Using the Kentico CMS API

Using the Kentico CMS API Thom Robbins (thomasr@kentico.com Bryan Soltis (bryan@bitwizards.com)

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 • 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.Email = "alice.cooper@domain.com"; user.IsEditor = true; user.IsGlobalAdministrator = true; user.PreferredCultureCode = "en-us"; user.Enabled = true; // Create new user CMS.SiteProvider.UserInfoProvider.SetUserInfo(user); • Example - Creating new user // Prepare the TreeProvider (it must be initialized with user information when editing document structure) UserInfoui = 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 – Delete Document

API Everywhere! Some Examples… • Class View is your Friend Best practice Tip: Class view is customizable to allow personalized organization and viewing

Helpers and general libraries • 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 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 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.

Document Management Techniques 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 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 - http://devnet.kentico.com/Documentation.aspx • Code Snippet Library - http://devnet.kentico.com/Blogs/Thomas-Robbins.aspx • Marketplace - http://devnet.kentico.com/Marketplace.aspx

Using the Kentico CMS API