Help with pseudo rating blog control

Hello,

I am looking for some assistance with creating a custom blog control that accesses values from "custom fields for blogs".

Project Overview: The widget I'm creating will display a rating of a blog item.  The "rating" is set when the blog "post" is created and displayed graphically. The value for the rating comes from a custom field that the content editors see when they are creating the blog post within Sitefinity.  The control is just displaying data, so this isn't something the end users will need to interact with, so I'm not using the RadRating control.  I've got my ascx created along with the code-behind file. I've changed the directive in my ascx from "CodeBehind" to "CodeFile".  This is done per this post from Josh Morales. Currently, I have two public properties in my control so the content editors can modify the values.  The first public property is for the path to the rating image to use and the second property is for the rating number.  My question is how do I wire up the two custom fields from the blog posts to the public properties in the code-behind file?  What am I missing?  Am I headed in the right direction?

Our shop is running Sitefinity 4.2.1650.0.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Mark

Hello Mark,

Just to make sure we're on the same page here, can you please confirm that what you're trying to do is access the custom filed for your blog posts through code, is that correct? If so,  you can get the value of the custom fields in the codebehind, using the extension method GetValue (please add a reference to Telerik.Sitefinity.Model in your class):

Svetoslav,

Thank you for your reply.  Yes, that is what I'm trying to do.  So, how do I get "currentItem" assuming currentItem is a blog post?

Thank you.

Mark

Hello Mark,

 Here's a method that is used inside Sitefinity to resolve items by URL:

Svetoslav,

I'm now getting a Parser Error in my aspx page.  I'm trying to test out my code as a user control in an aspx page before I use it as a Sitefinity blog widget.  Here is the error:

Parser Error

Line 40: 
Line 41: <asp:Content ID="Content11" ContentPlaceHolderID="ContentBody1" runat="server">
Line 42:     <uc3:BlogRating1 ID="BlogRating1" runat="server" />
Line 43:     
Line 44: </asp:Content>

Hello Mark,

 No, this won't work in an .aspx page, because it gets the browser's url and resolves the item by it. This means that no control can be resolved by the .aspx page's url. 
So, to test this code, please put it in an .ascx control and place it on a Sitefinity page with a BlogPosts widget on it. So, when you click on one of the items and it loads on the same page, the URL will be what you need and the item will get resolved by it.

Svetoslav,

First off, thank you for your help thus far.  However, I'm still having a problem getting this to work.  I've added my custom user control into Sitefinity and copy and pasted my front end code into a custom blog widget.  I've followed the steps here to point the blog widget to my own template.  Per the instructions on this page, I've removed the Template Key and used the path to my template (my ascx file) .  When I try to preview, I get the "Error parsing the template" message. When I go back to edit the widget, the Template Key is back.  Is the Template Key property causing the parsing error since it overrides my custom template? If so, why does the Template Key keep getting added back to my widget?  Please let me know if you need more information to help troubleshoot this issue or need clarification.

Our shop is running Sitefinity 4.2.1650.0.  

Thank you,

Mark

Hi Mark,

 You have mapped the template properly, the Key gets set by default, but this now would be the new key of your mapped template. 
The fact that you see an error shows that your template has been mapped. However, the error is inside the template, probably the control that you added cannot be rendered properly. 
By the way, have you checked out my recent blog post on how to add a Rating control to blogs?
http://www.sitefinity.com/blogs/svetoslavpetsov/posts/11-11-14/blog_rating_control_with_radrating_and_the_power_of_wcf_restful_services.aspx

Svetoslav,

I found out that when I change the first line in my blog widget template

Hello,

 If you want to have a template with codebehind, you will have to map it to the relevant view of the widget, the way that it is shown in this blogpost:
http://www.sitefinity.com/blogs/joshmorales/posts/11-05-10/mapping_external_templates_for_sitefinity_4_widgets.aspx 

Another way for the mapping, that is not included in the blogpost, would be to go to Administration >> Settings >> Advanced >> Controls >> ViewMap and create new record, using Namespace.Class of your view(for the widget) and the virtual path to your external template.

Svetoslav,

That is exact same link I included in my previous post where I said those instructions DID NOT WORK.  

Mark

Hi Aaron,

 Have you tried the second way I suggested? It always works, as it maps the template globally. 
Another way for the mapping, that is not included in the blogpost, would be to go to Administration >> Settings >> Advanced >> Controls >> ViewMap and create new record, using Namespace.Class of your view(for the widget) and the virtual path to your external template. 
Can you try that and let me know if it worked for you? Thanks in advance.

Svetoslav,

I tried the ViewMap and it did not work.  Here is what I did:

1. Navigated to Administration >> Settings >> Advanced >> Controls >> ViewMap
2. Created a new ViewMap
  HostType = WebApplication2.Controls.BlogRating
  LayoutTemplatePath = ~/App_Data/Sitefinity/WebsiteTemplates/_SharedControls/BlogRating.ascx

3. Did an iisreset on my system
4. I removed the CodeFile entry from line 1 in the widget, so it reads
<%@ Control Language="C#" %>

I viewed the page.  I can see the blogs, just not the rating stars.  When viewing the page source, the src attribute on the image is empty so the widget is not reading my custom field.

Do I have to change anything in the widget properties?  I could not find any documentation stating if I did or not.  The documentation I found implied that after resetting the site, it would just work.

Please advise further.

Mark

Hi Aaron,

 I apologize - I didn't understand that you are trying to add codebehind to a Custom control's. I thought that you were trying to map a template for the default blog widget If your control is a custom one (inherits from SimpleView) you cannot map a template for it, as it is not exposed in the definitions.
If you are trying to map a template for the default widget, then the proper registration would be:
HostType: Telerik.Sitefinity.Modules.Blogs.Web.UI.Public.MasterPostsView
LayoutTemplatePath: the path to your template.