Is it possible to define custom content types with fields in

I was looking at the built-in Blogs module and I noticed there are a lot of possibilities to extend the content items that the module uses (both blogs and blog posts it seems). You can add custom fields, set up validation and choose how they are rendered in the insert and edit windows. That leads me to the following question:

Is it possible to create a modules this way completely using the CMS, just by naming the module and defining the custom fields? Like if I wanted to manage hotels in a module, including rating, address, location on a map etc.

Thanks!

PS. I'm still evaluating Sitefinity, haven't built a site with it (yet). If I use the wrong terms to describe stuff please let me know!

Hi Michiel,

Thank you for contacting Telerik Support.

We do not offer entirely UI-based module creation, but you can follow this tutorial on creating a simple module, which is easily done programmatically, and then you can, of course, extend it from the UI.
I hope this information helps. if you need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Greetings,
Boyan Barnev
the Telerik team

Right, in that case the basic module is just something to then associate those extra fields with. 

Hello Michiel,

Thank you for getting back to me.
Yes, once you have the basic module registered, you can use it as a building block and customize it, either through code, or using custom fields from the UI. What's the use case scenario you want to build a custom module for?

Best wishes,
Boyan Barnev
the Telerik team

Hello Boyan,

I am still evaluating Sitefinity, and of course I am comparing it to other content management systems. When it comes to defining custom content types, some content management systems allow you to create them completely through the UI (this is possible in Umbraco for instance).

The benefit of that is of course flexibility. But in my experience it also has downsides. For one, it means that these definitions are stored in the database, which is separate from code and thus harder to version. And creating custom content types through code has the benefit that you can write strongly typed templates (or widgets).

From what I know about Sitefinity, it makes more sense to code custom content types, because that way developers can use them through the API as well. I'm not sure about deployment though, it would seem that simply dropping an assembly would be enough to update existing custom content types, for example with new properties.

Thanks!

Hi Michiel,

You are completely right about this one, thanks for the valuable feedback once again. With Sitefinity you are given the power of creating custom modules/templates by developers though code, and yet once deployed these can still be customized/modified from the backend through the UI by non-developers (e.g. set different template for a custom widget, add a custom field etc.)

All the best,
Boyan Barnev
the Telerik team