Content block widget

You use the Content block widget to enter content using the text editor and its features. You can use the basic HTML editing engine of the text editor, such as basic text formatting, inserting hyperlinks, lists, and handling images. The widget outputs identical HTML across all major browsers, as well as follows accessibility standards and provides API for content manipulation.

For more information about the editor, see Kendo UI Editor.

Configure the Content block widget

To open the widget designer, click the Edit button in the upper-right corner of the widget. In the Simple view, you can add, modify, and format the content the widget is displaying.

You can specify additional properties to the control by clicking the Advanced button in the designer:

  • Content
    If you specify any content in the Simple view, the value will be copied in the Advanced view.
  • ProviderName
    If you have more than one providers added, you can specify the name of the non-default provider. Otherwise, the default provider is used.
  • SharedContentID
    If you are using a shared content block, the ID of the shared content item is displayed. The default value is an empty GUID - "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000".
  • WrapperCssClass
    Allows a CSS class to be applied on the wrapper tag of the default content block view.

Use shared content

With the Content block widget you can reuse already created and shared content and you can also share the content that you entered in the text editor. Shared content is stored in the Content blocks module.

  1. Click More button in the upper-right corner of the Content block widget.
  2. To display shared content, click Use shared button.
    A list of all created content blocks appears.
  3. If you are using multiple site management and the Generic content module uses data sources from more than one site, you must first choose the source from which you want to display content blocks. 
    To do this, click Default source in the upper-right corner of the window,
    For more information, see Multisite.
  4. Start typing or directly select from the list the content block you want to use and click Done selecting.
    The shared content appears. You cannot edit a content that is shared, unless you explicitly open it for editing.
  5. To edit a shared content, perform one of the following:
    • Edit all instances of the shared content
      Click Edit button in the upper-right corner of the widget. Edit your content and click Save.

      IMPORTANT: The changes you make to the shared content apply to all pages, where the content is displayed. In addition, shared content blocks do not have workflow. When you edit a content block, the change is immediately visible on all pages and templates that use the content block. 

    • Edit only the current content, so that the changes you make do not affect other pages.
    • Click More in the upper-right corner of the widget.
      1. Choose Unshare » Yes, Unshare this content.
        The system creates a local version of the shared content block. You can edit and save this copy without affecting other pages where the shared content is displayed.
      2. Click Save.

You can always share the content again and reuse it across other pages. For details, see the next section.

Share content

By sharing a Content block, you can:

  • Reuse the same content to be displayed across pages
  • Re-purpose existing content by unsharing it, modifying it, and sharing it again, so that you do not have to start form scratch.

Do the following:

  1. Click More button in the upper-right corner of the Content block widget.
  2. Click Share.
  3. Enter a name for the shared content and click Share this content.

When the content block widget is displaying shared content, its title bar looks in the following way:

shared content block

Share content in multisite environment

If you are using multiple site management and the Generic content module uses data sources from more than one site, when you share a content block, is saved in the data source of the current site.
For more information, see Multisite.

Share content in multilingual environment

If your site is multilingual and the page you are editing is synchronized with another translation, when you edit the widget, the Save to all translations button appears. If you click it, the current widget configuration will be saved to all translations, else, if you click Save, the widget configuration is saves only to the current translation, but the pages are still synchronized. If your pages are synchronized, you can have different widget configurations, but you cannot have different widgets.

Additional resources

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