Shared Content

How do you use Shared Content in 4.0

3.7 - Modules - Generic Content - then pages - Generic Content - Select Shared content

I tried

4.0 Content - Centeric Content - then pages ->>> ?????

Markus

Hello Markus,

Shared content feature is not implemented in the RC2. We will have it for Q1-Q2, after the official release when we are going to make changes to the ContentBlock designer.

All the best,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Dear Ivan

Sorry to say, but this another disapointment. I have read over and over again that stuff we had in 3.7 will be introduced in Q1 or Q2.

I guess I have to look back in April when the real beta is out and in June when the real RC is released. So maybe I can start using it in August.

I wish Telerik would sell is old 3.7 (obviously so much worse then 4.0 at the SBE price)

I rather use an old functionall CMS with some disapointment then a new with so much stuff missing. And we were making a fuzz about the new pricing. We should have been talking about the functionallity.

Sorry but this is a said moment for me - I feel like with this (unpolished/unfinished) release on January 14th you are not going to make yourself a favoir. What Telerik stands for will be hard to gain back.

Wishing you a happy new year, anyhow.

Markus

Hi Telerik,

Is there any further information on when the shared content feature will be available? I'm working on a project that it scheduled to go live by the middle of March - do you think it will be available by then?

Regards,
higgsy

Hi Higgsy,

Shared Content is tentatively planned for Q2 ending in July. 
We might start working on this feature earlier and release it in some the Service Packs in Q2 (April or May).

A final plan on that will be made and announced in the end of March.

Regards,
Kalina
the Telerik team

Hi Kalina,

Ok - hugely dissapointing. I wont again make the same comments as everyone else - but how Telerik believe this product is ready for market is beyond me. I'm going to try that one with my clients next time, and tell them a homepage with "Hello world" is the finished website, albeit there are a few bugs, and most of the functionality will come at a later date!

higgsy

Kalina,

Reading my response back that could be taken as quite rude - i certainly dont mean it that way, but all the advice coming from Telerik has been that V4 was ready for us to build our production websites on - so thats what I told my clients, and I simply dont feel it is anywhere near stable enough, or actually feature rich to sell to a single one of my clients. Maybe only for a short period of time, until the service packs are released, but during that time many other CMS' are far more feature rich and stable.

My thoughts anyway.

higgsy

Yes, this is very bad.  I have directed my team to start building all new sites on version 4.0 based on direction from Telerik saying it is ready, and to use it.

Simple items like shared content lead me to believe I have made the wrong decision.  It sounds like we should not be using the new version until end of Q2 when all these core features will be available.  

If that is the case, and we can't purchase 3.7 licenses after this week - what do we do for the next 6 months?

To be honest, I don't use shared content very often, but there have been times when I've found it very useful and one of the last sites we did actually uses it quite extensively. I was just wondering why it wasn't considered to be an important feature for launch. Is it because there is an easy workaround or an entirely new way to think about content? And if so what would that be? I'm sure more will be revealed in the coming days but if you have any quick ideas on how to still do what we're used to in 3.7 I'm sure it would quell some of the grumblings.

Jason - I feel your pain. I don't want this to turn into an attack on the helpful folk at Telerik. The support team are awesome (although I'm sure they would be the first to agree that Telerik needs to invest in additional staff, most days poor Ivan or Radoslav are on their own with all of us throwing questions at them). Like many of you on these forums I run my own web agency. I've invested heavily in Sitefinity in terms of the 100's of hours I've spent trying to learn it with erm slightly lacking documentation and of course my reputation with my clients. I've committed my immediate future to Sitefinity, but my business is far more important to me. I have confidence in Telerik placing a lot of value on OUR reputations and am hopeful they will ensure V4 is brought up to scratch a bit quicker than the end of Q2. If not, well let's not talk about that as I'm hoping the Telerik decision makers are listening! Higgsy

Good thing I am using master templates or I would be cutting and pasting all over the place.  Just now in my third day of using this.

So far I kind of like it.  The documentation is better this time around compare to 3.6, or maybe I learn to understand how to use sitefinity style of documentation better.

Gabe thanks for the Spontaneous Design video for us people who don't want to give up control with a master page.  Keep the videos coming to get me up to speed on 4.0....

so much missing from 4.0 off the bat!  We too started building out a site for an end of April launch... any instrructions on how to downgrade from 4.0 back to 3.7?  It seems like we will have to do that now more and more!

Hi Laura,

I am not sure what actually you mean with "any instrructions on how to downgrade from 4.0 back to 3.7"
Your 3.7 project should not be modified, since you do not touch the binaries or other files, because you can move from 3.7 to 4.0 only by using the migration tool.


Kind regards,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Dear Ivan

I assume Laura was starting a project with 4.0 but found out that to much stuff is still missing. Therefore looking for a migration tool 4.0 -> 3.7 to use the old trustworthy SF.

Markus

Thank you Markus.  I apologise for my rather back-handed comment. ...  I think overall it is a great product all along, however it is frustrating to be selling the product, have upcoming clients to sign on (luckily) but not be sure whether to start off in 3.7 or 4.0.  We bit the bullet with our last client and are building out the site in 4.0 but are wondering if it is worth it. On the other hand, to build out the site in 3.7 then upgrade is unecessary time-consuming work at this point as well.  We have some pretty complicated sites out there from early 3.7 versions and I am not really looking forward to those upgrades....  :(

To all,
    Since there was a need to have shared content for 4.0 until the SP is released, I came up with a temporary solution. We created a control that will temporarily allow you to place "Generic Content", shared, on a page. The control will show a list of all generic content that has been created through the admin section. Once you select the content item you want, it will render it, along with handling parsing of links and such, to the page. To administer the content, you will need to go back to the "Generic Content" module under the Content section.

While it doesn't allow you to create the shared content from the "Content Block" widget, it does allow you to place content on multiple pages that can be administered in one spot and propagate throughout the site. You can get a copy of the control here. I don't plan on extending this any further. It is only a temporary solution until the SP is released with the true Shared Content functionality.The zip file has all of the files needed to compile the widget. I also included a toolboxssConfig.config file with the correct path to add the widget to the site. You can copy the information from the file and add it through the admin section, or you can just copy the one "add" line and put it in your toolboxesConfig.config file. If you add it to the file, don't forget to restart your site for the addition to show up.

Enjoy,
Richard

Very good idea.  I think this will work for us enough to allow us to move forward.  

Thank you.

Wow, thanks Richard!  I am sure the Sitefinity community will really appreciate your work here!  I am checking this out.
At the very least that is the good thing about the Sitefinity CMS - it is very extendable!

@Richard - Good stuff, I don't actually need it for the project i'm working on luckily enough, but just wanted to say its great to see the community sharing. 

higgsy

Hey Richard,

Thank You for the widget.

After adding all of the files and the line of code to the ToolboxesConfig.config file I tried to add the Shared Content widget to a page and I get this error: "Could Not Load Type: SitefinityWebApp.Widgets.SharedContentWidget."

Any ideas on what I need to do to get this to work?

Thank You

Did you rebuild the project? SF4 is a web application and any code you add needs to be compiled. I am sorry for not stating that, was assuming it was implied. Open up your project and make sure you see the widgets folder in your project. If not, then you need to toggle the "Show All Files" icon next to the "Refresh" icon in the "Solution Explorer" view. Once you can see the folder, right-click and choose "Include in Project". After that, you should be able to right click on your project and choose rebuild.

Once this is rebuilt, you should be able to use the control.

Thanks, Richard. That was it.

I have to say that I am terribly disappointed in all the missing features of the 4.0 release.  We use shared content all the time due to the fact that several of our very formatted designs (nested master pages, conflicting CSS with specific resets, etc.) tend to mess with the page editing in the back-end.  Additonally, we use lists a lot, which is also missing.  Given the missing functionality and the dramatic changes in pricing, it is really hard to be excited about the new product.  We love Telerik and have used the controls for years.  We have also used SiteFinity since its very release.  We loved it because it was aimed at developers as a control-set for CMS. Now, it appears that SiteFinity is simply trying to be a CMS sold to end users.  The changes are really beating up our business.  We already have to compete with companies (such as Quicken and Deluxe) who pitch "website for $9.99 per month."  For us, the small business license is almost unusable for our clients due to the 1-person editing.  So, that leaves us starting at the standard license, which 2K, right off the bat.  We all know that the cost of the project isn't just the CMS license.  There is hosting, domain registration, site design, etc.  Add all that up, and it pushes us right out of any competitive market.  So, with all the missing features, no access to the old version, and pricing changes, we are being forced to consider other alternatives which is not where we'd hoped this would go.

Shared content is days away from release.  The Q1 release is scheduled for next week and it includes shared content, amongst other things.

I'm sorry for the stress the feature delay has caused.

Gabe Sumner
Telerik | Sitefinity CMS

I downloaded the SP1 release last week and do not see the shared content option. Is this still pending release?

@mcpdinkansas It should be in the 4.1 release out (hopefully) today... SP1 was a slightly older release (naming convention change\confusion)

I see that 4.1 should have been release this week:

www.sitefinity.com/.../roadmap.aspx

but do not see an option to download. Is this still pending release?

There was a post yesterday saying they found an issue in test at the last minute that has delayed the release till sometime next week.

Hello Jason,

We have an announcement in the forums

www.sitefinity.com/.../sitefinity-2011-q1-postponed-by-one-week.aspx

Regards,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team