MVC Website Development Basics

This document introduces the fundamental knowledge of developing MVC websites based on Dignite Cms.

Public Application Layer

ISiteSettingsPublicAppService

API

Task<string> GetDefaultLanguageAsync()

Gets the default language of the website.
Task<IEnumerable<string>> GetAllLanguagesAsync()

Gets all languages of the website.
Task<BrandDto> GetBrandAsync()

Gets the brand information of the website.

The Dignite.Cms.Web.Host\CmsBrandingProvider.cs file demonstrates how to get the brand information of the website.

IFieldPublicAppService

API

Task<FieldDto> FindByNameAsync(string name):

Find a field by its name. Returns the field information if found, otherwise returns null.

Properties of `FieldDto`

Id: The unique identifier of the field.
Name: The unique name of the field.
DisplayName: The display name of the field.
Description: The description of the field.
FormControlName: The name of the field control.
FormConfiguration: The configuration of the field control.

ISectionPublicAppService

API

Task<SectionDto> GetAsync(Guid id):

Get the section information by id. Returns the section information if found, otherwise throws an exception.
Task<SectionDto> FindByNameAsync(string name):

Find a section by its name. Returns the section information if found, otherwise returns null.
Task<SectionDto> FindByRouteAsync(string route):

Find a section by its entry path (i.e., match the entry URL). Returns the section information if found, otherwise returns null.
Task<SectionDto> GetDefaultAsync():

Get the default section.

Properties of `SectionDto`

Id: The unique identifier of the section.
Name: The unique name of the section.
DisplayName: The display name of the section.
IsActive: Indicates whether the section is active.
Type: The type of the section (refer to Sections for details).
Route: The URL route of the entries under the section.
Template: The view template for displaying entries.
EntryTypes: The list of entry types in the section.

Extension Methods of `SectionDto`

FieldDto GetField(Guid entryTypeId, string name): Get the field with the specified name.

IEntryPublicAppService

API

Task<EntryDto> FindBySlugAsync(FindBySlugInput input):

Find an entry by its slug. Returns the entry information if found, otherwise returns null.

The input parameter contains three query conditions:
- SectionId: The section Id (required).
- Slug: The slug of the entry (required).
- Culture: The culture of the entry, with the default value being the default language of the site.
Task<EntryDto> GetAsync(Guid id):

Get the entry by its id. Returns the entry information if found, otherwise throws an exception.
Task<EntryDto> FindPrevAsync(Guid id):

Find the previous entry published before the specified id. Returns the entry information if found, otherwise returns null.
Task<EntryDto> FindNextAsync(Guid id):

Find the next entry published after the specified id. Returns the entry information if found, otherwise returns null.
Task<PagedResultDto<EntryDto>> GetListAsync(GetEntriesInput input):

Get a list of entries that meet the specified criteria.

The input parameter contains the following query conditions:
- SectionId: The section Id (required).
- Culture: The culture of the entry, with the default value being the default language of the site.
- EntryTypeId: The entry type Id.
- CreatorId: The Id of the creator.
- StartPublishDate: The start publish date.
- ExpiryPublishDate: The expiry publish date.
- Filter: The filter string in the entry title.
- QueryingByFieldsJson: Query entries by field values (refer to Advanced Development for details).
In addition to querying entries based on the above conditions, it also supports querying the list by entry Id array:
- SectionId: The specified section Id (required).
- EntryIds: The specified entry Id or Ids.

Properties of `EntryDto`

Id: The unique identifier of the entry.
CreatorId: The unique identifier of the creator.
SectionId: The unique identifier of the section to which the entry belongs.
EntryTypeId: The unique identifier of the entry type.
Culture: The cultural region of the entry.
Title: The title of the entry.
Slug: The slug of the entry.
ParentId: The unique identifier of the parent entry.
Order: The order of the entry in the section.
Status: The publish status of the entry, including Draft and Published.
PublishTime: The publish time of the entry.
IsActivatedVersion: Indicates whether it is the activated version of the entry.

Extension Methods of `EntryDto`

GetUrl(SectionDto section): Get the URL of the entry.

MVC Controllers

EntryController

The EntryController contains the following actions:

HomePage()

Find the entry with the slug Index under the default section and pass the EntryViewModel view model to the template page.

For example, for the Home Page section in Quick Start, accessing https://localhost:44339 will retrieve the entry with the language en and the slug index under the Home Page section and render the page using the /Views/Entry/HomePage.cshtml view.
EntryPageWithCulture(string culture, string route)

Find the entry with the specified Culture and matching route value, and pass the EntryViewModel view model to the template page.

For example, for the Blog Post section in Quick Start, accessing https://localhost:44339/ja/blog/2024/03/first-blog-post will retrieve the entry

with the language ja and the slug first-blog-post under the Blog Post section and render the page using the /Views/Entry/Blog/Entry.cshtml view.

EntryPage(string route)

Find the entry with the matching route value and pass the EntryViewModel view model to the template page.

For example, for the Blog Home section in Quick Start, accessing https://localhost:44339/blog will retrieve the entry with the language en and the slug index under the Blog Home section and render the page using the /Views/Entry/Blog/Index.cshtml view.

The EntryViewModel class contains the following two properties:

Entry: The entry of type EntryDto.
Section: The section of type SectionDto.

Localization

Dignite Cms Mvc websites support independent localization for each tenant, using CmsPublicWebResource.{culture}.json files to store localization resources.

Localization resource files for the tenant are stored in the /Tenants/{TenantName}/Localization/ directory:

For information on how to use the multi-tenant localization feature, please refer to the Multi-Tenant Localization document.

View Components

Localization Switch Component

The CultureSwitchViewComponent component is used to switch localization.

Create a class that implements the IToolbarContributor interface and add the following code:

public class CmsWebHostToolbarContributor : IToolbarContributor
{
    public virtual Task ConfigureToolbarAsync(IToolbarConfigurationContext context)
    {
        if (context.Toolbar.Name != StandardToolbars.Main)
        {
            return Task.CompletedTask;
        }

        context.Toolbar.Items.Add(new ToolbarItem(typeof(CultureSwitchViewComponent)));

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

Add the following code to the ConfigureServices method in the module class:

Configure<AbpToolbarOptions>(options =>
{
    options.Contributors.Add(new CmsWebHostToolbarContributor());
});