Built-in property types

EPiServer 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 also create your own property types.

Common property types
Working with other content
Selecting predefined values
Validation attributes

Common property types

What you want to create	Solution	Editing experience	Hints and tips
Plain short text	String property	One row input	Control the allowed length with the StringLength attribute. Use custom tag to control the containing tag, such as using a H1 for the main header for the page.
Plain long text	String property with UIHint.Textarea	Text area	Control the allowed length with the StringLength attribute.
Html	XHtmlString property	A TinyMCE HTML editor
Integer value	Int property	A number slider	Controls other rendering, such as the number of items in a list. Control the min and max values with the Range attribute.
Date and time	DateTime property	A date and time picker	Control the min and max values with the Range attribute.
Double	Double property	Check editor	Control the min and max values with the Range attribute.
Boolean	Boolean property	Check box
Page type	PageType property		Filter items in a list, and so on.
Form	XForm property	A form created by an editor	Render a form that was created by an editor.
BLOB			Hold binary data (such as an image). Route to a BLOB with pattern <Url to content>/BlobPropertyName.

Working with other content

To refer to existing content, use the Link or LinkCollection to create internal or external links.

Use Content area to display content from other content.
Use ContentReference, ContentReferenceList (new from version EPiServer.CMS.UI 8.6.0), or URL to link to a single content of a specified type.
Use the AllowedTypes attribute to further restrict the kind of links that are possible to add to a property, (although there are a few known limitations).

Use a content reference with many different UI hints to select different entities in EPiServer, such as a block, a media item, a block folder, a media folder, and so on.

What you want to create	Solution	Editing experience	Hints and tips
Link to a page	PageReference property	Content picker with drag and drop support
Link to a media file of any type	ContentReference property with UIHint.MediaFile	Content picker with drag and drop support	Link to any file in the media repository. Use ContentReference instead to use standard content rendering. (Mostly for backwards compatibility.)
Link to an image	ContentReference property with UIHint.Image	Content picker with drag and drop support	Lets an editor select content in the media repository by implementing IContentImage.
Link to a video	ContentReference property with UIHint.Video	Content picker with drag and drop support	Lets an editor select content in the media repository by implementing IContentVideo.
Link to a media file with the possibility to append information in the URL	Url property with UIHint.MediaFile or UIHint.Image or UIHint.Video	Content picker with drag and drop support	Each link can be an item inside EPiServer, such as pages or media but also external URLs. Use URL instead of ContentReference if you want to add information, such as query string parameters to control size.
Content area	ContentArea property
URL	Url property	Link dialog with drag and drop support
Link to multiple external and/or internal resources	LinkItemCollection property	Link collection editor with drag and drop support	Does not support AllowedTypesAttribute.
Link to multiple internal pages, media file or other content type.	ContentReferenceList property	Content picker with drag and drop support	Supports AllowedTypesAttribute.

Selecting predefined values

You can use the following solutions to create dropdown lists and checkbox lists:

What you want to do	Solution	Editing experience	Hints and tips
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	String/Int property with AutoSuggestion attribute	Link to implementation page	Use with caution because the auto-suggestion editor creates requests to the server.

Validation attributes

EPiServer supports the following validation attributes that are part of the .NET Framework:

Range
StringLength
RegularExpression
EmailAttribute

You can create custom attributes that implement either ValidationAttribute or IMetadataAware. See Restricting access to who is allowed to edit a property.

Built-in property types

Common property types

Working with other content

Selecting predefined values

Validation attributes

Related topics