EPiServer Workflow Replacement : Step 5–Bye bye, Save and Publish!

This is the fifth in a series of posts about how my company built a replacement workflow platform for EPiServer. Why we chose to do this is explained here: http://world.episerver.com/Blogs/Hans/Dates/2012/4/EPiServer-Workflow-Replacement--Step-1Explanation-and-Disabling-Edit-Tab/

I hate the Save and Publish button. This disdain essentially boils down to two issues:

1. Humans are fallible creatures, so assuming that a page is ready to go live without actually looking at it is just asking yourself for trouble.
2. A lot of companies use EPiServer in single instance production environments. We don’t ..but a lot do. Do you really want people to update content live on the web without looking at it?

That said, I do use Save and Publish in Development..and I get why it’s there…. I just wish there was a way to get rid of it through the application itself.

For our team, Save and Publish had to go.

1. In CMS6, navigate to : C:\Program Files\EPiServer\CMS\6.1.379.0\Application\UI\CMS\Edit\EditPageButtonControl.ascx - if installed on 64 bit it will usually be “Program Files (x86)” instead
2. In CMS5, navigate to C:\Program Files\EPiServer\CMS\5.2.375.7\Application\UI\Edit\EditPageButtonControl.ascx  - again, append (x86) if on a 64 bit operating system
3. In the SaveAndPublish EPiServer UI ToolButton, change RequiredAccess to “Administer” – this prevents people with publish access from accessing the SaveAndPublish button
4. Add RequiredAccess=”Administer” to the Publish EPiServerUI:ToolButton as well. This forces people to go to the “Workflow” tab to publish pages.

Here is how our CMS 6 EditPageButtonControl.ascx looks:

<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeBehind="EditPageButtonControl.ascx.cs" Inherits="EPiServer.UI.Edit.EditPageButtonControl" %>
<asp:Panel ID="ButtonPanel" runat="server" CssClass="epitoolbararea epi-toolbarOnPage" Visible="true">
    <EPiServerUI:ToolButtonContainer runat="server">
        <EPiServerUI:ToolButton id="SaveOnly" OnClick="SaveOnly_Click" DisablePageLeaveCheck="true" SkinID="Save" text="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, button.saveonly %>" ToolTip="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, edit.editpanel.tooltipsaveonly %>" runat="server" />    
        <EPiServerUI:ToolButton id="SaveButton" OnClick="Save_Click" DisablePageLeaveCheck="true" SkinID="SaveShow" text="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, button.saveandview %>" ToolTip="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, edit.editpanel.tooltipsave %>" runat="server" />    
        <EPiServerUI:ToolButton id="SaveAndPublish" OnClick="Publish_Click" DisablePageLeaveCheck="true" SkinID="SavePublish" RequiredAccess="Administer" text="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, button.saveandpublish %>" ToolTip="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, edit.editpanel.tooltipapprove %>" runat="server" />
    </EPiServerUI:ToolButtonContainer>
    
    <EPiServerUI:ToolButtonContainer runat="server" CssClass="epitoolbuttoncontainernoborder">
        <EPiServerUI:ToolButton id="Publish" DisablePageLeaveCheck="true" OnClick="Publish_Click" SkinID="Publish" RequiredAccess="Administer" text="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, button.publish %>" ToolTip="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, button.publish %>" runat="server" />
        <EPiServerUI:ToolButton id="CheckIn" DisablePageLeaveCheck="true" OnClick="CheckIn_Click" SkinID="CheckIn" text="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, button.checkin %>" ToolTip="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, button.checkin %>" runat="server" />
    </EPiServerUI:ToolButtonContainer>
    <EPiServerUI:ToolButtonContainer runat="server" CssClass="epitoolbuttoncontainernoborder">
        <EPiServerUI:ToolButton id="Cancel" OnClick="Cancel_Click" SkinID="Cancel" DisablePageLeaveCheck="true" text="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, button.cancel %>" ToolTip="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, edit.editpanel.tooltipcancel %>" runat="server" />        
    </EPiServerUI:ToolButtonContainer>
    
    <EPiServerUI:ToolButtonContainer runat="server" CssClass="epitoolbuttoncontainernoborder epitoolbuttoncontainerright">
        <EPiServerUI:ToolButton id="StickyEdit" OnClick="StickyEdit_Click" OnClientClick="EPi.ToolTip.Hide();EPi.PreventDoubleClick(this);" SkinID="StickyEditOff" DisablePageLeaveCheck="true" text=" " RichToolTip="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, edit.editpanel.tooltipstickyedit %>" runat="server" />
        <EPiServerUI:ToolButton id="UnStickyEdit" OnClick="UnStickyEdit_Click" OnClientClick="EPi.ToolTip.Hide();EPi.PreventDoubleClick(this);" SkinID="StickyEditOn" DisablePageLeaveCheck="true" text=" " RichToolTip="<%$ Resources: EPiServer, edit.editpanel.tooltipunstickyedit %>" runat="server" />
    </EPiServerUI:ToolButtonContainer>
    
</asp:Panel>

...and now when anyone who isn’t an Administrator (basically everyone – we only grant Admin access to a very select few) goes to a page, they see the grayed out view seen below and are therefore forced to use our Workflow process.

In the next post, I will discuss how we hook the Ready to Publish action in order to send approval notifications when that button is pressed.