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Posted by Community Admin on 19-May-2011 00:00

Hello, I have requirement to accomplish the following

Requirement 1

Create a page, with two frames. The right frame will contain a ordered list of topics and each topic can have sub-topics, just like a tree structure. The right frame should display the content for the topic clicked on right frame. The content display can be composed on several elements like tables and images etc. How can I accomplish this using Sitefinity.

Requirement 2

also the content in the right frame is currently saved into access db, so I would like to migrate into Sitefinity using the API. What would be the correct approach ?, Create content blocks for each topic or pages with content blocks?

I am using ver 4.1 SP1 standard edition. I am new to Sitefinity so a detailed instructions would help.

Posted by Community Admin on 23-May-2011 00:00

Hi Huzaifa,

Requirement 1
You just create a template for page that suits your design needs (design --> Page templates ) or use a built in one and extend it with more layout trough editing the page`s backend (when editing a page select Layout tab on right side). Place a navigation widget with tree view type of navigation to display the menu items as you like ( you may need to apply some styling to the control Note that almost all Sitefinity widgets are based on Telerik RadControls and when you create certain type of navigation you refer to some of the RadControls tree view demo). The navigation widget is filled with information from your SiteMap and automatically included all published pages with "show in navigation" option selected. For your Left frame you just add content to that frame on each individual page and drag a navigation widget to it. The link from the navigation is directed to the page that holds the content ( left frame).

Requirement 2
This is a tough one. You need to use the API to write code that will get all fields with those menu item names from your database and create published Sitefinity pages with the information from the database. The right frame is just a page hierarchy in Sitefinity. Here is a getting started Documentation on creating pages.

Hope that information helps. Write back if you need further assistance.

All the best,
Stanislav Velikov
the Telerik team

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Posted by Community Admin on 07-Jun-2011 00:00

Hi Stanislav

Sorry for late reply to your detailed response.

Your suggestion for requirement 1 below will not work for my client because they have a small business licence and that licence only permits publishing up to 50 pages , correct? and they have a lot more articles that cross that limit. So, the other option is to create content items, news items or list items for each article. Each article topic can have sub topics as shown in the image, in my thread post above. I tried all options by trying to use other content item types, but they are not working for me or perhaps I am doing something wrong.

I am unable to get a hierarchy of items to display like a Tree View on the left. For example I can create a news item for each article, also each article can have child topics which must show like expandable or collapsible tree on right panel and actual content of the article topic clicked should be displayed on left panel. How can i do this?

If you can show a short video, that would help or if not...please provide other alternatives.

I have also opened a ticket for this issue, support ticket # is 431157. Please review the posts for that ticket for more info.

I am, requesting urgent help on this as client is waiting anxiously to see the new site built with sitefinity.

Thanks

Posted by Community Admin on 08-Jun-2011 00:00

Hi Steve,

I reviewed your ticket. What you are trying to achieve is really hard because it is possible trough Sitefinity and at the same time you can`t take that road and look for other alternative.
Please consider we are not fully aware with the exact requirements of your client. News items are to be shown trough the news widget and the navigation is designed to show pages.
With the built in navigation widget you can create Tree navigation and set "allow collapsing to true" and "Show all levels expanded initially to false ". Note when you click to some page of the expanded node the node will not persist your other expanded nodes like they were on the previous page ( it will appear all collapsed or all expanded). To achieve the persisting of expanded nodes you will need to create a custom navigation widget and maybe TreeView will be suitable, you may review other menu types in the link. The color and desired behavior can be set using CSS, you can try using our Visual Style Builder to create a skin for TreeView that suits your demands. I have attached a sample TreeView control you might find interesting ( it is persisting your changes ( expansions ) ).

Hope you find a resolution to the limitation problem. If you have further questions write back.

Best wishes,
Stanislav Velikov
the Telerik team

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