#epi7fin #episerver7
1
EPiServer 7:
Content Blocks
Petri Isola
Lead Technical Sales Engineer
#epi7fin #episerver7
2
What Are Blocks?
• Reusable smaller content parts
• Defines a set of properties
• Inherits from BlockData
• Can be shared or local
• Rendered via user control (.ascx) or web control
When to Use Blocks
• Simplify for Editor and Developer by reusing functions
– Across template boundaries (shared block)
– Example: Latest news, Upcoming events
– Display the same information in many places, only edit it in one
– Example: Advert, Contact details
– Re-use existing set of properties in a specific template (local
block)
– Example: To add a Job listing on one particular page, the listing block
is re-used locally as a ”property”.
Multi-Site
• One site library for each site!
• One global library for all sites!
• A block can be “Site local” “Site global”
• Different css/javascripts on each site makes the same
block look different!
Block, Block Type and Block Template
• “It’s all Content”
Block
Block Type
Properties
Block Template
Block Types vs. Page Types
• With page types you can put restrictions via admin on
where they can be used
• Block types can be used on any page type that has a
content area (depending on tags)
• Security access can be put on page types, you can
hide specific page types from editors
• You cannot hide block types from editors, all will be
showed for everybody (read access is not enforced in
edit mode)
Shared Block
• Stand-alone entity
• Stored, versioned and loaded individually in the
database
• Referenced from several pages or blocks
Block
Shared block
Page
Block Type
Properties
Block Template
Folders
• Instance of ContentFolder
• Used to structure content – structures shared blocks
• Not displayed in the page tree or to the visitor
• Localization and access
• Cannot be versioned
A Block Can Be Used as a Property
on a Page
• This is what we call a “local block”
• For code reuse
– Used at another page
– Used as a shared block
”Local” Block
• Used as a property on a page type
• Part of a page instance
• Stored, versioned and loaded with the page
Block
Block Type
Block Template
Local block
Shared block
Properties
Page
Page Type
Dynamic Content vs. Blocks
Dynamic Content
Dynamic Content Is Local
Access Rights Almost the Same
More Powerful…
• Store modularized data into a structure called, “BlockData”
instead of hiding it behind PageData
• Eases migrating websites onto EPiServer as modular data
is more easily defined through blocks and strongly typed
code definitions
• The pre-defined properties for BlockTypes are accessible to
the user control using “CurrentBlock”
• And data stored for a block is not specific to a page but the
block itself!
• We can also search and organize these blocks using a
user-definable folder structure that makes organizing blocks
simple
Questions?
Petri Isola
petri.isola@episerver.com