Add arbitrary number of assets (pdf, doc, etc) as a property to a

Add arbitrary number of assets (pdf, doc, etc) as a property to a content type?

Vote:

So I have this content type I set up. Each piece of content has a description and a few text fields, but I also need to allow for an arbitrary number of assets to be added. For example, a user needs to be able to add a PDF, then have the opportunity to add a second, third, etc.

This is what I'm doing now. I have a media content type that looks like this:

using System;

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

using EPiServer.Core;

using EPiServer.DataAbstraction;

using EPiServer.DataAnnotations;

using EPiServer.Framework.DataAnnotations;

namespace XXX.XXXXXX.Models.Media

{

 [ContentType(DisplayName = "GenericMedia", GUID = "xxxxxxxx-bf22-4cee-93c7-xxxxxxxxx", Description = "Used for generic file types such as Word or PDF documents.")]

[MediaDescriptor(ExtensionString = "pdf,doc,docx")]

public class GenericPdfMedia : MediaData

{

[CultureSpecific]

[Editable(true)]

[Display(

Name = "Title",

Description = "Add a title of the content.",

GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,

Order = 10)]

public virtual String Title { get; set; }

[CultureSpecific]

[Editable(true)]

[Display(

Name = "Description",

Description = "Add a description of the content.",

GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,

Order = 20)]

public virtual String Description { get; set; }

}

And then I have a content type that uses it like this:

[CultureSpecific]

[Editable(true)]

[Display(

Name = "Images / Attachments",

Description = "Add a media asset for the content.",

GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,

Order = 400)]

public virtual ContentReference PdfMedia { get; set; }

What do I need to do to let admins add potentially one PDF after another? I don't even know where to begin.

#229185

Edited, Oct 08, 2020 18:26

Tomas Hensrud Gulla

Vote:

Just use a list, and perhaps add an UIHint.

[CultureSpecific]
[Display(
   Name = "Images / Attachments",
   Description = "Add a media asset for the content.",
   GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,
   Order = 400)]
[UIHint(UIHint.MediaFile)]
public virtual IEnumerable<ContentReference> PdfMedia { get; set; }

And, to allow PDF only, create a MediaType for PDF, and set allowed types like this

[AllowedTypes(typeof(PdfMedia))]

A ContentArea could also do the trick.

#229187

Edited, Oct 08, 2020 19:01

Quan Mai

Vote:

While Tomas's answer is very good (with the note to AllowedTypes which is helpful), it's worth noting that it should be IList<ContentReference> instead of IEnumerable<ContentReference>

#229225

Oct 09, 2020 14:10

Tomas Hensrud Gulla - Oct 10, 2020 5:41

Quan, could you please explain WHY it should be IList instead of IEnumerable. I’m quite sure they both will work, but are there reasons to favour one over the other?

- Oct 10, 2020 6:24

I stand corrected :). In older versions it has to be IList, but apparently in later version you can use IEnumerable or ICollection. However I think using IList allows you to add or remove items easier using code.

Tomas Hensrud Gulla - Oct 11, 2020 8:22

:-)