Working with Properties¶

Document, media, and member type properties are created by adding properties with public getters and setters to classes decorated using the DocumentTypeAttribute, MediaTypeAttribute, or MemberTypeAttribute attributes.

When your Umbraco application is started, uJet will scan your document, media, and member type classes, looking for properties. Found properties will be used as blueprints to synchronize your database.

Data Annotations¶

Data annotations can be used to customize the user experience in the Umbraco back office, e.g. to set property name and description.

Supported Data Annotations¶

uJet supports the following data annotations.

RequiredAttribute
DefaultValueAttribute
RegularExpressionAttribute
UIHintAttribute
DisplayAttribute
ScaffoldColumnAttribute
AliasAttribute (uJet specific)
IdAttribute (uJet specific)

RequiredAttribute¶

Properties decorated using the RequiredAttribute attribute will be mandatory in the Umbraco back office.

using Logikfabrik.Umbraco.Jet;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace Example.Models.DocumentTypes
{
    [DocumentType("My Page")]
    public class MyPage
    {
        [Required]
        public string MyProperty { get; set; }
    }
}

DefaultValueAttribute¶

Properties decorated using the DefaultValueAttribute attribute will have a default value of whatever value was set when setting the attribute.

using Logikfabrik.Umbraco.Jet;
using System.ComponentModel;

namespace Example.Models.DocumentTypes
{
    [DocumentType("My Page")]
    public class MyPage
    {
        [DefaultValue("My Default Value")]
        public string MyProperty { get; set; }
    }
}

RegularExpressionAttribute¶

Properties decorated using the RegularExpressionAttribute attribute will be validated in the Umbraco back office using the regular expression specified.

using Logikfabrik.Umbraco.Jet;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace Example.Models.DocumentTypes
{
    [DocumentType("My Page")]
    public class MyPage
    {
        [RegularExpression("\\w+([-+.']\\w+)*@\\w+([-.]\\w+)*\\.\\w+([-.]\\w+)*")]
        public string MyEmailProperty { get; set; }
    }
}

DisplayAttribute¶

Use the DisplayAttribute attribute to customize the property name and description in the Umbraco back office. The DisplayAttribute attribute makes it possible to set sort order (Order), and property group (GroupName) also.

using Logikfabrik.Umbraco.Jet;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace Example.Models.DocumentTypes
{
    [DocumentType("My Page")]
    public class MyPage
    {
        [Display(Name = "My Property", Description = "Description of My Property", GroupName = "My Tab", Order = 1)]
        public string MyProperty { get; set; }
    }
}

UIHintAttribute¶

Use the UIHintAttribute attribute to specify the Umbraco data type used. The Umbraco data type is inferred by the .NET property type by default, but can be overridden using this attribute.

using Logikfabrik.Umbraco.Jet;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace Example.Models.DocumentTypes
{
    [DocumentType("My Page")]
    public class MyPage
    {
        [UIHint("ContentPicker")]
        public int MyContentProperty { get; set; }
    }
}

ScaffoldColumnAttribute¶

Properties decorated using the ScaffoldColumnAttribute attribute (set to false) will not be available for editors through the Umbraco back office.

using Logikfabrik.Umbraco.Jet;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace Example.Models.DocumentTypes
{
    [DocumentType("My Page")]
    public class MyPage
    {
        [ScaffoldColumn(false)]
        public string MyHiddenProperty { get; set; }
    }
}

AliasAttribute¶

Use the AliasAttribute attribute to specify a custom property alias, overriding the default value.

IdAttribute¶

Use the IdAttribute attribute to specify a property ID, enabling property tracking.

Data Types¶

.NET data types are mapped to Umbraco data types using data type definition mappings.

The Umbraco data type mapped will determine how Umbraco stores the property value in the database, and what property editor to use for editing the property value in the Umbraco back office.

Supported .NET Data Types¶

uJet supports the following .NET data types out-of-the-box.

Int16 and Int16?
Int32 and Int32?
UInt16 and UInt16?
UInt32 and UInt32?
string
decimal and decimal?
float and float?
double and double?
DateTime and DateTime?

Property Tracking¶

When a document, media, or member type is synchronized, uJet tries to match the type declared in code with a type definition. uJet does so for properties too. uJet creates an Umbraco alias for the property, based on the property name, and uses that alias to look for a matching property definition in the database. If a match is found the definition is updated; if not, a new property definition is created. Renaming a property that has been synchronized, in code or using the Umbraco back office, will cause duplicate definitions to be created, with different aliases.

Property tracking refers to the use of the id parameter when declaring document type, media type, and member type properties in code. Using the id parameter, through IdAttribute, uJet can keep track of properties and their corresponding property definitions without relying on the property names. With property tracking, properties can be renamed; uJet will keep your Umbraco database synchronized.