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Area: Optimizely CMS
Applies to versions: 10-11
Other versions:
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Built-in property types

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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.

In this topic

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 ContentArea to display content from other content.
  • Use ContentReference, ContentReferenceList, 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, or a media folder. 

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 create 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.

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Last updated: May 26, 2021

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