Introduction
Prior to Sitefinity 4.2 it was not possible or at least not easy to change or extend the publishing system of Sitefinity. That's why we reworked the publishing system with the idea one to be able to extend it or change it easily. The main idea is to add information to a factory about how pipe are constructed and this information to be modified when someone wants to. The factory which stores that information is named PublishingSystemFactory and has static methods for adding, getting and removing components used for creating pipes.Here are a few words about these components:
PipeSettings - this class holds all information for creating a pipe. It is persistent and it is used to restore a pipe saved in the database.
Mappings - this class contains information how data is transformed when moving through the pipe. The mappings are part of the PipeSettings and are persistent.
Definitions - this is a collection of items describing the type members used by the mappings. They are used in the UI for changing the default mappings and they are not persistent.
Template - this is another thing used in the UI. It describes which pipes will be displayed in the Create and Edit screens for search indexes and feeds. They are not persistent.
Note: By using the methods of the PublishingSystemFactory you cannot change the settings and mappings of existent publishing points (feeds), because they are persistent.
Using the methods of PublishingSystemFactory
All built-in Sitefinity pipes use the PublishingSystemFactory for getting their components. This means that one can change the default components of the built-in pipes and thus change the way they work. One even can replace a built-in pipe by calling the necessary methods:
PublishingSystemFactory.UnregisterPipe(PageInboundPipe.PipeName);
and
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterPipe(PageInboundPipe.PipeName,
typeof
(MyPageInboundPipe));
The first is to choose where to place your code. One possible place is where you initialize your module. But if you change the settings of the built-in pipes you have to be sure that this is done after SearchModule and PublishingModule are initialized. The best moment to register a custom pipe is after all modules including PublishingModule are initialized. This moment is Bootstrapper.Initialized event and in its event handler we can write our code for registering the custom pipe.
The first thing we do is to register the custom pipe as a type with the following code:
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterPipe(
"MyCustomPipeName"
,
typeof
(MyCustomPipe));
After that we register the pipe settings, the mappings, the definitions and eventually we add the pipe to the search template depending on whether we want the pipe to be used by a search index. Registering the pipe settings and the mappings is mandatory, while the definitions may be implemented to be returned directly by the pipe and adding the pipe to a template may be skipped.
Most of the methods in PublishingSystemFactory has the following signature:
void
RegisterXXX(
string
pipeName, XXX xxx);
// Registers the XXX component
bool
XXXRegistered(
string
pipeName);
// Checks if the XXX component is registered
void
UnregisterXXX(
string
pipeName);
// Unregister the XXX component
void
UnregisterAllXXX();
// Unregister all XXX components
XXX GetXXX(
string
pipeName);
// Gets a XXX component
and possibly
XXX CreateXXX(
string
pipeName, PublishingManager manager);
// Gets a persistent ready component
Registering the pipe settings
First get default pipe settings:
PipeSettings pipeSettings = PublishingSystemFactory.CreateDefaultContentInboundPipeSettings(
"MyCustomPipeName"
);
or create pipe settings like this:
PipeSettings pipeSettings =
new
PipeSettings();
pipeSettings.IsActive =
true
;
pipeSettings.IsInbound =
false
;
pipeSettings.InvocationMode = PipeInvokationMode.Push;
and then register them:
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterPipeSettings(
"MyCustomPipeName"
, pipeSettings);
We can call a built-in method (e.g. CreateDefaultContentInboundPipeSettings) to get pipe settings but one can write his/her own. Passing the name of your custom pipe is mandatory because this name is set to the PipeName property of the PipeSettings. To get the registered pipe settings of a pipe one calls
GetPipeSettings(
string
pipeName)
CreatePipeSettings(
string
pipeName, PublishingManager manager)
RegisterPipeSettings(
string
pipeName, PipeSettings settings)
Unfortunately there is no possibility to create a class that inherits one of the built-in classes for PipeSettings. The problem lies in a limitation in Sitefinity/OpenAccess for mapping inheriting classes. That is why we added a new persisted property to PipeSettings class. The property is of type IDictionary<string, string> and is named AdditionalData. A developer can use this property to add his/her specific data.
Changing the default pipe settings of the built-in pipes
The PublishingSystemFactory can be used to change the default components of the pipes. For example by default the MaxItems property of the pipe settings (this property defines how many items a pipe will provide) used by the ContentInboundPipe is 25. If a developer wants to change this number he/she can use this code:
var pipeSettings = PublishingSystemFactory.GetPipeSettings(ContentInboundPipe.PipeName);
pipeSettings.MaxItems = 50;
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterPipeSettings(ContentInboundPipe.PipeName, pipeSettings);
Registering the pipe mappings
Get default pipe mappings:
List<Mapping> mappingsList = PublishingSystemFactory.GetDefaultInboundMappingForContent();
or create pipe mappings like this:
List<Mapping> mappingsList =
new
System.Collections.Generic.List<Mapping>();
var contentMapping =
new
Mapping()
{
DestinationPropertyName =
"Content"
,
IsRequired =
true
,
SourcePropertyNames =
new
[] {
"Title"
}
};
mappingsList.Add(contentMapping);
var linkMapping =
new
Mapping()
{
DestinationPropertyName =
"Link"
,
IsRequired =
true
,
SourcePropertyNames =
new
[] {
"Link"
}
};
linkMapping.Translations.Add(
new
PipeMappingTranslation()
{
TranslatorName = UrlShortenerTranslator.TranslatorName
}
);
mappingsList.Add(linkMapping);
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterPipeMappings(
"MyCustomPipeName"
,
true
, mappingsList);
Again we can use one of the built-in methods to get a list of mappings but one can implement his/her own. There is an extra parameter when calling RegisterPipeMappings method. This parameter specifies whether the pipe is inbound or outbound (correspondingly we pass true or false). This is necessary because one pipe can be used for both purposes - to pass data to a publishing point or to take data from a publishing point. In these two cases the pipe may need different mappings. To get the registered mappings for one pipe one should use
GetPipeMappings(
string
pipeName,
bool
isInbound)
CreateMappingSettings(
string
pipeName,
bool
isInbound, PublishingManager manager)
Registering the pipe definitions
Get default pipe definitions:
IDefinitionField[] definitions = PublishingSystemFactory.CreateDefaultRSSPipeDefinitions();
or create pipe definitions like this:
IDefinitionField[] definitions =
new
IDefinitionField[]
{
new
SimpleDefinitionField(PublishingConstants.FieldContent, Res.Get<PublishingMessages>().RssContent),
new
SimpleDefinitionField(PublishingConstants.FieldLink, Res.Get<PublishingMessages>().RssLink)
};
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterPipeDefinitions(
"MyCustomPipeName"
, definitions);
We can use one of the built-in methods to get an array of definitions but one can implement his/her own. To get the registered definitions for one pipe one should use
GetPipeDefinitions(
string
pipeName)
public
IDefinitionField[] Definition
{
get
{
if
(
this
.definitionFields ==
null
)
{
this
.definitionFields =
new
SimpleDefinitionField[]
{
new
SimpleDefinitionField(PublishingConstants.FieldContent, Res.Get<PublishingMessages>().RssContent),
new
SimpleDefinitionField(PublishingConstants.FieldLink, Res.Get<PublishingMessages>().RssLink)
};
}
return
this
.definitionFields;
}
}
instead of:
public
IDefinitionField[] Definition
{
get
{
if
(
this
.definition ==
null
)
{
this
.definition = PublishingSystemFactory.GetPipeDefinitions(
this
.Name);
}
return
this
.definition;
}
}
Registering the pipe templates
This is quite easy:
var pipeSettings = PublishingSystemFactory.GetPipeSettings(
"MyCustomPipeName"
);
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterTemplatePipe(
"SearchItemTemplate"
, pipeSettings);
To sum up all the code samples above here I'll give you the code used for registering the ProductInboundPipe inside our Publishing module. I
want to point that this code is just for reference what your code should look like
at the end. If you are looking for a working sample please look at this post http://www.sitefinity.com/blogs/teodorgeorgiev/posts/11-08-18/publishing_system_brief_walkthrough.aspx
//Subscribe for the Initialized event
public
override
void
Initialize(ModuleSettings settings)
{
/* ... */
Bootstrapper.Initialized -= Bootstrapper_Initialized;
Bootstrapper.Initialized += Bootstrapper_Initialized;
}
protected
void
Bootstrapper_Initialized(
object
sender, Telerik.Sitefinity.Data.ExecutedEventArgs e)
{
//Check if all modules are initialized
if
(e.CommandName ==
"Bootstrapped"
)
{
this
.RegisterProductPipe();
}
}
private
void
RegisterProductPipe()
{
//Check if the module is initialized and active
var catalogModule = SystemManager.GetApplicationModule(CatalogModule.moduleName);
if
(catalogModule ==
null
|| catalogModule
is
InactiveModule)
return
;
//Check if the pipe is already registered
if
(PublishingSystemFactory.PipeSettingsRegistered(ProductInboundPipe.PipeName))
return
;
//Register the type of the pipe
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterPipe
(ProductInboundPipe.PipeName,
typeof
(ProductInboundPipe));
//Get the default mappings and register them
var mappingsList = ProductInboundPipe.GetDefaultInboundMappingForProduct();
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterPipeMappings(ProductInboundPipe.PipeName,
true
, mappingsList);
//Get the default pipe settings and regiser them
var pipeSettings = (SitefinityContentPipeSettings)PublishingSystemFactory.CreateDefaultContentInboundPipeSettings(ProductInboundPipe.PipeName);
pipeSettings.ContentTypeName =
typeof
(Telerik.Sitefinity.Ecommerce.Catalog.Model.Product).FullName;
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterPipeSettings(ProductInboundPipe.PipeName, pipeSettings);
//Get the previously registered settings and register them for the template used by the search index UI
var contentPipeSettings = (SitefinityContentPipeSettings)PublishingSystemFactory.GetPipeSettings(ProductInboundPipe.PipeName);
contentPipeSettings.ContentTypeName =
typeof
(Telerik.Sitefinity.Ecommerce.Catalog.Model.Product).FullName;
contentPipeSettings.MaxItems = 0;
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterTemplatePipe(
"SearchItemTemplate"
, contentPipeSettings, ps => ps.PipeName == ProductInboundPipe.PipeName);
//Get the default definitions and register them
var contentPipeProductsDefinitions = ProductInboundPipe.CreateDefaultProductPipeDefinitions();
PublishingSystemFactory.RegisterContentPipeDefinitions(ProductInboundPipe.PipeName,
typeof
(Telerik.Sitefinity.Ecommerce.Catalog.Model.Product).FullName, contentPipeProductsDefinitions);
}
Summary
In this post I tried to give you all the basic information to set up your custom pipe for using is Sitefinity. It may seem a lot of effort to do this but actually it's not so hard if you follow the samples above and especially the last one. If you have any questions or a remarks please write them down.