Using a block as a property

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Blocks in Episerver are reusable smaller content parts that editors can add to pages. Blocks can also be used in code as a property, which is a convenient way to reuse a set of properties in multiple instances. This topic describes how to add and render an existing block as a property in an existing page type.

How it works

Blocks can only be rendered in the context of other content, such as a page. A block instance is either part of a page instance (if a PageType or BlockType contains a property of the block type), or a shared instance. When a block is used as a property on a page, it is stored, loaded and versioned with that page.

Adding a block as a property

Here we assume that you have an existing page type "Standard Page", to which you want to add an existing block type "Teaser Block". The page type has a Main body property of type XhtmlString. The block has a Heading property of type String, and an Image property of type ContentReference.

In the example below, we add the block as a property to the page type, and update the corresponding view for the page type to display the block as a property.

Example: The Teaser Block block type.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
using EPiServer.Core;
using EPiServer.DataAbstraction;
using EPiServer.DataAnnotations;
using EPiServer.Web;

namespace MyEpiserverSite.Models.Blocks
{
    [ContentType(DisplayName = "TeaserBlock", GUID = "38d57768-e09e-4da9-90df-54c73c61b270", Description = "Heading and image.")]
    public class TeaserBlock : BlockData
    {
        
                [CultureSpecific]
                [Display(
                    Name = "Heading",
                    Description = "Add a heading.",
                    GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,
                    Order = 1)]
                public virtual String Heading { get; set; }

                
                [Display(
                    Name = "Image", Description = "Add an image (optional)", 
                    GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,
                    Order = 2)]
                public virtual ContentReference Image { get; set; } 
        
    }
}

Example: The Standard Page page type with Teaser Block added as a property.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
using EPiServer.Core;
using EPiServer.DataAbstraction;
using EPiServer.DataAnnotations;
using EPiServer.SpecializedProperties;
using MyEpiserverSite.Models.Blocks;

namespace MyEpiserverSite.Models.Pages
{
    [ContentType(GroupName = "Basic pages", Order=1, DisplayName = "StandardPage", GUID = "abad391c-5563-4069-b4db-1bd94f7a1eea", 
        Description = "To be used for basic content pages.")]
    public class StandardPage : SitePageData
    {
                [CultureSpecific]
                [Display(
                    Name = "Main body",
                    Description = "The main body for inserting for example text, images and tables.",
                    GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,
                    Order = 1)]
                public virtual XhtmlString MainBody { get; set; }

                [Display(Order = 5, GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content)]
                public virtual TeaserBlock Teaser { get; set; }
    }
}

Example: The view for the Standard Page.

@using EPiServer.Core
@using EPiServer.Web.Mvc.Html

@model MyEpiserverSite.Models.Pages.StandardPage

<div>

  @Html.PropertyFor(m => m.MainBody)

  @Html.PropertyFor(m => m.Teaser)

</div>

The result when editing a page based on Standard Page page type in the All Properties editing view.

Using a block as a property

How it works

Adding a block as a property

Related topics