Widget with a custom designer and string[] property - Sitefinity - General Discussions

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Posted by Community Admin on 24-Mar-2011 00:00

Hi.
How can I manage widget string[] property by a custom designer? I've tried to do following:

Widget:

[Telerik.Sitefinity.Web.UI.ControlDesign.ControlDesigner(typeof(TextControlDesigner))]

public class TextControl : TextControlBase

private const string TemplateName = "Controls.Resources.Templates.TextControl.ascx";

protected override void InitializeControls(GenericContainer container)

TextBox1.Text = this.Text;

if (this.Test != null)

TextBox2.Text = this.Test[0];

public string Text get; set;

public string[] Test get; set;

protected override string LayoutTemplateName

get

return TemplateName;

protected virtual TextBox TextBox1

get

return base.Container.GetControl<TextBox>("TextBox1", true);

protected virtual TextBox TextBox2

get

return base.Container.GetControl<TextBox>("TextBox2", true);

Widget's Template:

<%@ Control Language="C#" %>

<asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="TextBox1" />

<asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="TextBox2" />

Custom Designer:

public class TextControlDesigner : ControlDesignerBase

private const string TemplateName = "Controls.Resources.Templates.TextControlDesigner.ascx";

private const string ScriptReference = "Controls.Resources.JavaScript.TextControlDesigner.js";

protected override void InitializeControls(GenericContainer container)

base.DesignerMode = ControlDesignerModes.Simple;

protected override string LayoutTemplateName

get

return TemplateName;

public override IEnumerable<System.Web.UI.ScriptReference> GetScriptReferences()

var res = new List<ScriptReference>(base.GetScriptReferences());

var assemblyName = this.GetType().Assembly.GetName().ToString();

res.Add(new ScriptReference(ScriptReference, assemblyName));

return res.ToArray();

Control designer's template:

<%@ Register Assembly="Telerik.Sitefinity" Namespace="Telerik.Sitefinity.Web.UI"

TagPrefix="sitefinity" %>

<%@ Register Assembly="Telerik.Web.UI" Namespace="Telerik.Web.UI" TagPrefix="telerik" %>

<div class="sfContentViews">

<div id="TextControlOptions">

<h2>

Fine tune your Text control

</h2>

<div>

<label for="text">

Text</label>

<input type="text" id="text" class="sfTxt" />

<label for="test">

Text</label>

<input type="text" id="test" class="sfTxt" />

</div>

and custom designer's .js file:

Type.registerNamespace("Controls.Navigation");

Controls.Navigation.TextControlDesigner = function (element)

Controls.Navigation.TextControlDesigner.initializeBase(this, [element]);

this._parentDesigner = null;

this._googleAnalyticsCodeTextField = null;

this._scriptEmbedPositionChoiceField = null;

this._toogleGroupSettingsDelegate = null;

Controls.Navigation.TextControlDesigner.prototype =

initialize: function ()

this.refreshUI();

Controls.Navigation.TextControlDesigner.callBaseMethod(this, 'initialize');

this._toogleGroupSettingsDelegate = Function.createDelegate(this, function ()

dialogBase.resizeToContent();

)

,

dispose: function ()

Controls.Navigation.TextControlDesigner.callBaseMethod(this, 'dispose');

,

refreshUI: function ()

var data = this._propertyEditor.get_control();

jQuery("#text").val(data.Text);

if ((data.Test !== null) && (typeof (data.Test) !== 'undefined'))

jQuery("#test").val(data.Test[0]);

,

applyChanges: function ()

var controlData = this._propertyEditor.get_control();

controlData.Text = jQuery("#text").val();

controlData.Test = new Array();

controlData.Test[0] = '1';

Controls.Navigation.TextControlDesigner.registerClass('Controls.Navigation.TextControlDesigner', Telerik.Sitefinity.Web.UI.ControlDesign.ControlDesignerBase);

if (typeof (Sys) !== 'undefined') Sys.Application.notifyScriptLoaded();

* I've removed the assembly name from a code.

When I had only a string Text property, I was able to save it by pressing a Save button. But when I added the string[] Test property every attempt to save is finished by following message at Firebug's console:

Error Status Code: 'InternalServerError'

Details: There was an error deserializing the object of type Telerik.Sitefinity.Modules.Pages.Web.Services.Model.WcfControlProperty[]. End element 'PropertyValue' from namespace '' expected. Found element 'item' from namespace ''.

Posted by Community Admin on 28-Mar-2011 00:00

Hi Vyacheslav,

Generally you should deserialize and serialize the object on the client using Sys.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer

All the best,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Vote for the 7 Telerik products at the 2011 Great Indian Developer Awards!

Posted by Community Admin on 30-Mar-2011 00:00

Hi Ivan,
Thank you for your answer.
I've tried to do following at the designer's js code:

applyChanges: function ()

var controlData = this._propertyEditor.get_control();

controlData.Text = jQuery("#text").val();

var test = new Array();

test[0] = '1';

test[1] = '2';

console.log("test: %o", test);

controlData.Test = Sys.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer.serialize(test);

console.log("serialized test: %o", Sys.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer.serialize(test));

Also, I've added the [TypeConverter(typeof(StringArrayConverter))] attribute of the TextControl.Test property and saving is working properly now. My widget base class:

namespace HEH.WebSite.EducationalPortal.Controls.ControlBase

   using System.ComponentModel;
   using Converters;
   using Telerik.Sitefinity.Web.UI;

   public abstract class TextControlBase : SimpleView

   public string Text get; set;

   [TypeConverter(typeof(StringArrayConverter))]
   public string[] Test get; set;

StringArrayConverter:

Controls.Converters

using System;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.ComponentModel.Design.Serialization;

using System.Globalization;

using Newtonsoft.Json;

public class StringArrayConverter : TypeConverter

public override bool CanConvertFrom(ITypeDescriptorContext context, Type sourceType)

return ((sourceType == typeof(string)) || base.CanConvertFrom(context, sourceType));

public override bool CanConvertTo(ITypeDescriptorContext context, Type destinationType)

return ((destinationType == typeof(InstanceDescriptor)) || base.CanConvertTo(context, destinationType));

public override object ConvertFrom(ITypeDescriptorContext context, CultureInfo culture, object value)

if (value is string)

return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<string[]>(value as string);

return base.ConvertFrom(context, culture, value);

public override object ConvertTo(ITypeDescriptorContext context, CultureInfo culture, object value,

Type destinationType)

if (value is string[])

return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(value);

return base.ConvertTo(context, culture, value, destinationType);

Thank you for your help.

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