Naming conventions

When working with MVC-based widgets and templates, you create and manage files of specific types and store them in a specific location in your project. You follow naming conventions that define how Sitefinity CMS prioritizes and resolves views and assets like scripts, for example.

Designer views

The following table summarizes how you name your files and where you store them:

File type	Convention	Location of file	Description
Designer view For example, you are creating a designer view, named Custom, for a News widget.	DesignerView.Custom.cshtml	~/MVC/Views/News/Custom	A template for the custom view in the widget designer.
Designer view for dynamic content widget	DesignerView.Custom.cshtml	~/Mvc/Views/<DynamicContentTypeName>/Custom	A template for the custom view of a dynamic content type widget. <DynamicContentTypeName> is the name of the dynamic content type, for example Country. If you created a dynamic type with name Countries, the folder name must still be named with singular form.
JSON configuration	DesignerView.Custom.json	~/MVC/Views/News/Custom	A `JSON` file that defines a set of additional scripts (and their dependencies), required by the designer view, to be rendered. Has the same name as the view template.
Script	designerview-custom.js	~/MVC/Scripts/News/Custom designerview-custom.js containing AngularJS controller named CustomCtrl	A JavaScript file with custom client-side logic. Needs to be in the same location as the custom view, so that it overrides the default script file.
Angular controller	CustomCtrl		The controller that handles the populating and saving of widget properties through the designer.

In addition, Sitefinity CMS follows a strict convention for resolving views for widgets, based on where the view files are located. For details, see Priorities for resolving views.

Frontend views

The following table summarizes the naming conventions of frontend views of MVC widget types.

Widget type	Convention	Location of file	Description
Widgets with List and Detail views: Blog Blog post Document Event Event Scheduler Image gallery Lists News Users list Video gallery This list also includes any dynamic content widget.	`List.<em>ViewName</em>.cshtml`	~/Mvc/Views/ControllerName ~/Mvc/Views/<DynamicContentTypeName>	You need to use the view name. When working with dynamic content widgets, the name of the folder must correspond to the name of the content type.
	`Detail.<em>ViewName</em>.cshtml`
Account activation Card Change password Comments Comments count Feed Flat taxonomy Form Hierarchical taxonomy Language selector Login form Login status Navigation Registration Reviews Reviews count Site selector Subscribe form Unsubscribe form Video	`NavigationView.Horizontal.cshtml`	~/Mvc/Views/ControllerName	In the example, Horizontal is a unique template name that will be displayed in the Templates dropdown menu. You can replace the name with one that suits your needs. The custom view must be placed in a folder that corresponds to the controller name (without the Controller suffix). IMPORTANT: You need to have the `NavigationView` in the beginning of your view name, so that the template is associated with the Navigation widget.
Breadcrumb Content pager Document link Image Search box Search results	Breadcrumb.cshtml	~/Mvc/Views/ControllerName	You can name the view .cshtml file according to your preferences.
Captcha Checkboxes Dropdown list File field Hidden field Navigation field Multiple choice Page break Paragraph text Section header Submit button Text field	Write.<NameOfTemplate>.cshtml Read.<NameOfTemplate>.cshtml	~/Mvc/Views/<NameOfWidget>	Substitute <NameOfTemplate> with a name of your choice. Most of these fields are dropped in form editor and are therefore referred to as form fields. IMPORTANT: The form editor is package agnostic, you need to place the new widget templates in the root of your project `~/Mvc/Views/<NameOfWidget>`.
Content block	`Default.cshtml`	~/Mvc/Views/ControllerName	The Content block has specifics that require the name of the file to be `Default`, because the `ContentBlockController` renders a view named Default.

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