Standardizing intra-site modules in Sitefinity 4-5.x

Hello,

We write a lot of intrasite modules and are noticing that they really deviate now in SF 4+ from the content-based ones. So, on that note, I have some questions:

1. How do you get the EXACT look and feel of the standard modules for the edit/create form? For example, how do you eliminate the menu above, center the form, etc, as in, say, the Events module?
2. How do you add an actions menu dropdown to a radgrid, same as you'd see in the grids for standard modules?
3. How do you incorporate Sitefinity fields into the usercontrols? For example sf:ImageField throws script errors when added to a control? Also, is there documentation on each of these fields and how to configure?

---finally---
If we really want that standardization, do we have to go with another module type?

Is there a module type that will allow us to access non-sitefinity data (ie separatate db) but also provide us with exactly the same functionality and UI experience as the content-based modules?

Unless we are a.  Writing a module to sell as a stand-alone module, or b. Need to install on multiple sites or c. the module has nothing to do with content (this utilities, etc), we've have great success using the module builder.

I haven't came across any situations (other than the above) where we couldn't get the same functionality from the module builder.

Hi,

We can confirm that what Victor said is absolutely valid for this case. In general the concept of ModuleBuilder was to deliver a mechanism for easily defining new content types that have the same look and feel like the standard modules that come with the product out of the box.
On that regard ModuleBuilder would meet all of your specific requirements, pointed out below.

If you would like to elaborate a bit on the last point, namely pulling content from another database, maybe we could give you a more specific response there as well. In general, Sitefinity has been utilizing the provider model, which allows you do create a separate provider that can pull data from another datasource, and use it in Sitefinity. On the other hand if you would like to populate a separate property form your module created with ModuleBuilder (e.g. you want to populate a dropdown list with some data from an external database) you can develop a custom FieldControl that would be pulling this data using WebService, for example.

Regards,
Boyan Barnev
the Telerik team

Boyan,

Thanks for your response. We have data from external databases that needs to be managed from custom Sitefinity modules.

It sounds like there are a couple of possibilities from your response. Since I'm fairly new to SF 4+, I'll just start from the top with an example and see how an expert may proceed:

Say we have a table called "Cars" that resides in a database outside of Sitefinity. We have to use a data access technology like EF (a company policy). How would you recommend we build a module that allows us to manage "Cars" and behaves and looks similar to the built-in modules, i.e. the Events module?

Hi Adam,

In your case, if the data will be persisted in a different database, that does not use the Sitefinity model, the best approach would be to go with a static module - be it an intrastate module(inheriting from ModuleBase), or a Content-based one (inheriting from ContentModuleBase), as this would give you more freedom when implementing the custom module provider with EF.
This brings us back to your initial question on achieving similar look and feel like the out of the box static modules. Please note that as Josh pointed out in his blog post, the intra-site modules (inheriting from ModuleBase) are not using any Sitefinity components. On the onther hand, inheriting from ContentModuleBase would deliver the backend grids and frontend ContentView widgets functionality with it. For a more detailed example I'd recommend checking out the Products Catalog sample from our Sitefinity SDK.

All the best,
Boyan Barnev
the Telerik team