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Locations module: Create the data persistent class

After you Locations module: Prepare the project, you need to create a data persistent class. A data persistent class is a class that is used for storage in the context of Sitefinity CMS. Such classes are also called model classes. Depending on the design, you can create more than one model class.

Because the Locations module is a content-based module, the data persistent class must be derived from the Content class. Next, you implement the class that associates your items with a URL.

Create the LocationItem class

To create your data persistent class:

  1. In the LocationsModule project, open the context menu of the folder Model and click Add » Class.
  2. Name the class file LocationItem.cs and click Add.
  3. Open the file LocationItem.cs.
  4. Add the following using statements:
    • using System;
    • using System.Collections.Generic;
    • using System.Linq;
    • using System.Text;
    • using System.Runtime.Serialization;
    • using Telerik.Sitefinity;
    • using Telerik.Sitefinity.GenericContent.Model;
    • using Telerik.Sitefinity.Model;
    • using Telerik.Sitefinity.Versioning.Serialization.Attributes;
  5. Make the LocationItem class inherit the Content class:
    public class LocationItem : Content
    {
    }
  6. Disable the ContentLifecycle class (the Locations module does not use it).

    NOTE:  The content lifecycle of an item consists of three states - Published, Draft, and Temp. For more information, see For developers: Content lifecycle.

    To disable the content lifecycle for the LocationItem class, override the SupportsContentLifecycle property:

    public class LocationItem : Content
    {
        public override bool SupportsContentLifecycle
        {
            get
            {
                return false;
            }
        }
    }
  7. Define the Content, Address, City, Region, PostalCode, and Country properties:
    #region Location Properties
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the content.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The content.
    /// </value>
    [DataMember]
    [MetadataMapping(true, true)]
    [UserFriendlyDataType(UserFriendlyDataType.LongText)]
    public Lstring Content
    {
        get
        {
            if (this.content == null)
                this.content = this.GetString("Content");
            return this.ApplyContentFilters(this.content);
        }
        set
        {
            this.content = value;
            this.SetString("Content", this.content);
        }
    }
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Location address
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember]
    public string Address
    {
        get { return this.address; }
        set { this.address = value; }
    }
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Location city
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember]
    public string City
    {
        get { return this.city; }
        set { this.city = value; }
    }
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Location region (state)
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember]
    public string Region
    {
        get { return this.region; }
        set { this.region = value; }
    }
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Location postal code
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember]
    public string PostalCode
    {
        get { return this.postalCode; }
        set { this.postalCode = value; }
    }
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Location region (state)
    /// </summary>
    [DataMember]
    public string Country
    {
        get { return this.country; }
        set { this.country = value; }
    }
     
    #endregion
     
    private Lstring content;
    private string address;
    private string city;
    private string region;
    private string postalCode;
    private string country;

    In the code above, the DataMember attribute allows the properties to be serialized for usage in a WCF service. The Content property is of type LString. This type is used for values that you want to localize.

Create the LocationItemUrlData class

To create a new class that implements the UrlData abstract class:

  1. In the LocationsModule project, open the context menu of the Model folder and click Add » Class.
  2. Name the class file LocationItemUrlData.cs and click Add.
  3. Open the file LocationItemUrlData.cs.
  4. Add the following using statements:
    • using Telerik.Sitefinity.GenericContent.Model;
    • using Telerik.Sitefinity.Model;
    • using Telerik.Sitefinity.Versioning.Serialization.Attributes;
  5. Make the LocationItemUrlData class inherit the UrlData abstract class:
    public class LocationItemUrlData : UrlData
    {
    }
  6. Implement the UrlData abstract class in the following way:
    public class LocationItemUrlData : UrlData
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="LocationItemUrlData" /> class.
        /// </summary>
        public LocationItemUrlData() : base() { this.Id = Guid.NewGuid(); }
     
        /// <summary>
        /// Gets or sets the parent product item
        /// </summary>
        /// <value>The product item</value>
        [NonSerializableProperty]
        public override IDataItem Parent
        {
            get
            {
                if (this.parent != null)
                    ((IDataItem)this.parent).Provider = ((IDataItem)this).Provider;
                return this.parent;
            }
            set { this.parent = (LocationItem)value; }
        }
     
        private LocationItem parent;
    }

    In the code above, the parent property returns the parent LocationItem of the instance. The implementation of the UrlData class associates your items with a URL.

  7. In the LocationItem class, implement the ILocatable interface. This requires from you to create the following members:
    #region ILocatable
     
    private ProviderTrackedList<LocationItemUrlData> urls;
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether to auto generate an unique URL.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    ///     <c>true</c> if to auto generate an unique URL otherwise, <c>false</c>.
    /// </value>
    [NonSerializableProperty]
    public bool AutoGenerateUniqueUrl
    {
        get { return false; }
    }
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets a collection of URL data for this item.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value> The collection of URL data.</value>
    [NonSerializableProperty]
    public virtual IList<LocationItemUrlData> Urls
    {
        get
        {
            if (this.urls == null)
                this.urls = new ProviderTrackedList<LocationItemUrlData>(this, "Urls");
            this.urls.SetCollectionParent(this);
            return this.urls;
        }
    }
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets a collection of URL data for this item.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>The collection of URL data.</value>
    [NonSerializableProperty]
    IEnumerable<UrlData> ILocatable.Urls
    {
        get
        {
            return this.Urls.Cast<UrlData>();
        }
    }
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Clears the Urls collection for this item.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="excludeDefault">if set to <c>true</c> default urls will not be cleared.</param>
    public void ClearUrls(bool excludeDefault)
    {
        if (this.urls != null)
            this.urls.ClearUrls(excludeDefault);
    }
     
    /// <summary>
    /// Removes all urls that satisfy the condition that is checked in the predicate function.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="predicate">A function to test each element for a condition.</param>
    public void RemoveUrls(Func<UrlData, bool> predicate)
    {
        if (this.urls != null)
            this.urls.RemoveUrls(predicate);
    }
     
    #endregion

    In the code above, the ILocatable interface is responsible for associating each of your items with a URL. Note that the methods required by the ILocatable interface, use the LocationItemUrlData class you created.

  8. Mark the LocationItem class with the DataContract and ManagerType attributes.
    /// <summary>
    /// Location Data Item class
    /// </summary>
    [DataContract(Namespace = "http://sitefinity.com/samples/locationmodule", Name = "LocationItem")]
    [ManagerType("LocationsModule.Data.LocationsManager, LocationsModule")]
    public class LocationItem : Content, ILocatable

    In the code above, the DataContract attribute allows the class to be serialized for usage with WCF services. The ManagerType attribute specifies the manager class that will use the persistent class. Its argument must contain the type of the manager and the name of the assembly that it is located in.

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