Page Templates & Shared Content Issue

Hi -

Just upgraded to 4.1 and wanted to share my footer content so it could be used in all templates. I currently have two templates, Home and Default. I was able to open the Default template, open the content control and share the content perfectly. However, when I try and edit the home page template with a content control, I do not have the option to select shared content - the option doesn't exist. Lastly, I opened the home page which uses the home page template and if I drop a content control there it will allow me to select shared content.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
greg

Looks like you can only select shared content across pages and not page templates.

This is completed idiotic! We implement the same strategy where we put website footer content into a single content block and share across all templates. That way updates only happen in a single location and can update the entire website.

Very disappointed with Sitefinity 4.0.

I was surprised that the shared content was not part of the templates also. What I had done before shared content was to create a base template. This template had all of the core elements that I would want on all templates, like the header and footer. Then all other templates I created were based off this base template. This allowed me to only have to change that one base template and all other templates would get the same change.

I know that this might not work for ever situation, but it was how I was able to get past the issue of no shared content widget when 4.0 was released.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us.

Yes, by design the Shared content functionality is available for Pages but not for Templates.
In the template you can put all the content you need to appear on many pages and then you can base all other templates to this template. This way you will be able to use one and the same content on many pages having different layouts at the same time.

Regards,
Antoaneta
the Telerik team

So, for smaller sites I might have 2-3 templates (master pages). Before, I could use a shared content item in the template which would allow our clients (content editors) to update footer content, for example. Seems funny that they can no longer be applied to templates as that limits editing capabilities for our clients.

I vote to bring it back.

Greg

Hi Richard Baugh,

Thank you very much for the feedback. I will forward your request for an internal discussion with the team.

Kind regards,
Antoaneta
the Telerik team

I just ran into a scenario in which I wanted to use shared content in a template. We have a site in which we want to create a "Donate" button that will be added to the site. The thing is that we need this to be in one spot on the home page and then another on the inside pages. We can add it to the home page without any issues, but when we want the button to be on all inside pages, the only option right now is to create a new content block but that means I would need to update the html in two spots now. If I could apply the shared content to the templates, then I can just use the shared content in both places and only update once.

Hi all,

Since this is a popular request, we added Shared Content Blocks in Templates to our Public Issute Tracking system. You can vote for and track the status on this request on this link. 


Best wishes,
Kalina
the Telerik team

Having to come to the forum to find why things are missing or not in working is getting exhausting to say the least - why don't you guys concentrate on fixing things that are broken (like simple upgrades that cause ID errors on blogs) versus removing existing functionality that is a community staple - like shared content on templates?

The fact that we have to VOTE back popular functionality is just plain silly.

What happens to existing sites that use shared content in templates that make a pass at upgrading?

Hello Scott and all,

We are treating this request with great priority. It is in our backlog and will be considered during the planning for Q3.

The current recommendation is to place widgets that you want to share in a base template and inherit it in other templates. While it cannot work for all cases, it can provide a solution to some.

Greetings,
Kalina
the Telerik team