Package Manifest

The package.manifest JSON file format is used to describe one or more custom Umbraco property editors, grid editors, parameter editors, dashboards, sections or content apps. This page outlines the file format and properties found in the JSON.

Sample Manifest

This is a sample manifest, it is always stored in a folder in /App_Plugins/{YourPackageName}, with the name package.manifest

{
    "propertyEditors": [
        {
            "alias": "Sir.Trevor",
            "name": "Sir Trevor",
            "editor": {
                "view": "~/App_Plugins/SirTrevor/SirTrevor.html",
                "hideLabel": true,
                "valueType": "JSON"
            }
        }
    ],
    "javascript": [
        "~/App_Plugins/SirTrevor/SirTrevor.controller.js"
    ]
}

Root elements

The manifest can contain eight root collections, none of them are mandatory:

{
    "propertyEditors": [],
    "gridEditors": [],
    "parameterEditors": [],
    "contentApps": [],
    "dashboards": [],
    "sections": [],
    "javascript": [],
    "css": []
}

Property Editors

propertyEditors returns an array of property editor definitions, each object specifies an editor to make available to data types as an editor component. These editors are primarily property editors for content, media and members. They can also be made available as a macro parameter editor.

The basic values on any editor are alias, name and editor. These three must be set. Furthermore the editor value is an object with additional configuration options, it must contain a view value.

{
    "alias": "my.editor.alias",
    "name": "My friendly editor name",
    "editor": {
        view: "~/App_Plugins/SirTrevor/view.html"
    },
    "prevalues": {
        fields: []
    }
}

• alias The alias of the editor, this must be unique, its recommended to prefix with your own "namespace"
• name The name visible to the user in the UI, should also be unique.
• editor Object containing editor configuration (see below)
• isParameterEditor enables the property editor as a macro parameter editor can be true/false
• prevalues Configuration of editor prevalues (see below)
• defaultConfig Default configuration values (see below)
• icon A CSS class for the icon to be used in the 'Select Editor' dialog: e.g. icon-autofill
• group The group to place this editor in within the 'Select Editor' dialog. Use a new group name or alternatively use an existing one such as Pickers
• defaultConfig Provides a collection of default configuration values, in case the property editor is not configured or is using a parameter editor, which doesn't allow configuration. The object is a key/value collection and must match the prevalues fields keys.

Editor

editor Besides setting a view, the editor can also contain additional information.

"editor": {
    "view": "~/App_Plugins/SirTrevor/view.html",
    "hideLabel": true,
    "valueType": "TEXT",
    "validation": {},
    "isReadOnly": false
}

• view Path to the HTML file to use for rendering the editor
• hideLabel Turn the label on/off
• valueType Sets the database type the value is stored as, by default it's string
• validation Object describing required validators on the editor
• isReadOnly Disables editing the value

valueType sets the kind of data the editor will save in the database, its default setting is string. The available options are:

• STRING Stores the value as an nvarchar in the database
• DATETIME Stores the value as datetime in the database
• TEXT Stores the value as ntext in the database
• INT Stores the value as a bigint in the database
• JSON Stored as ntext and automatically serialized to a dynamic object

Pre Values

preValues is a collection of prevalue editors, used for configuring the property editor, the prevalues object must return an array of editors, called fields.

"prevalues": {
    "fields": [
        {
            "label": "Enable something",
            "description": "This is a description",
            "key": "enableStuff",
            "view": "boolean"
        }
    ]
}

Each field contains a number of configuration values:

• label The label shown on the data type configuration screen
• description Help text displayed underneath the label
• key The key the prevalue is stored under (see below)
• view Path to the editor used to configure this prevalue (see below)

key on a prevalue, determines where it's stored in the database. If you give your prevalue the key "wolf" then this key will be used in the prevalue table.

It also means when this property editor is used on a property the prevalue will be exposed on the models configuration object as shown below, inside the property editors controller:

// this is the property value
$scope.model.value = "hello";

// this is the configuration on the property editor
$scope.model.config

// this is our specific prevalue with the alias wolf
$scope.model.config.wolf

view config value points the prevalue editor to an editor to use. This follows the same concept as any other editor in Umbraco, but with prevalue editors there are a couple of conventions.

If you specify a name like boolean then Umbraco will look at /umbraco/views/prevalueeditors/boolean/boolean.html for the editor view - if you wish to use your own, you specify the path like ~/App_Data/package/prevalue-editor.html.

Default Config

The defaultConfig object provides a collection of default configuration values in case the property editor is not configured or is using a parameter editor, which doesn't allow configuration. The object is a key/value collection and must match the prevalue field keys.

"defaultConfig": {
    "wolf": "nope",
    "editor": "hello",
    "random": 1234
}

Grid Editors

Similar to how the propertyEditors array defines one or more property editors, gridEditors can be used to define editors specific to the grid. Setting up the default richtext editor in the Umbraco grid could look like:

"gridEditors": [
    {
        "name": "Rich text editor",
        "alias": "rte",
        "view": "rte",
        "icon": "icon-article"
    }
]

However the default grid editors are already configured in /config/grid.editors.config.js. You can use the file for inspiration, or see the Grid Editors page for more information on grid editors.

Parameter Editors

parameterEditors returns an array of editor objects, each object specifies an editor to make available to macro parameters as an editor component. These editors work solely as parameter editors and will not show up on the property editors list.

The parameter editors array follows the same format as the property editors described above, however it cannot contain prevalues since there are no configuration options for macro parameter editors.

Content Apps

Here is an example of adding a content app. See the Content Apps article for more information and a full guide on how to create Content Apps.

 "contentApps": [
    {
        "name": "Word Counter", // required - the name that appears under the icon
        "alias": "wordCounter", // required - unique alias for your app
        "weight": 0, // optional, default is 0, use values between -99 and +99 to appear between the existing Content (-100) and Info (100) apps
        "icon": "icon-calculator", // required - the icon to use
        "view": "~/App_Plugins/WordCounter/wordcounter.html", // required - the location of the view file
    }
]

Dashboard

There are two approaches to registering a custom dashboard to appear in the Umbraco Backoffice. Registering with package.manifest or with C# Type. Here is an example of registering a custom dashboard with the package.manifest file.

 "dashboards": [
    {
    
        "alias": "myCustomDashboard", 
        "view": "~/App_Plugins/WordCounter/wordcounter.html",
        "sections": ["content", "member", "settings" ],
        "weight": -10
 
    }
]

See the Dashboards for a full article on how to create custom dashboards.

Sections

As with the custom dashboards, a custom section can be registered either with a package.manifest file or with C# Type. Here is an example of registering a custom section with the package.manifest file.

 "sections": [
    {
        "alias": "myFavouriteThings",
        "name": "My Favourite Things"
    }
]

See the Sections for a full article on how to create custom sections.

JavaScript

javascript returns a string[] of JavaScript files to load on application start

"javascript": [
    "~/App_Plugins/SirTrevor/SirTrevor.controller.js",
    "~/App_Plugins/SirTrevor/service.js"
]

CSS

css returns a string[] of css files to load on application start

"css": [
    "~/App_Plugins/SirTrevor/SirTrevor.css",
    "~/App_Plugins/SirTrevor/hibba.css"
]

JSON Schema

The package.manifest JSON file has a hosted online JSON schema file that allows editors such as Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code to have autocomplete/intellisense support when creating and editing package.manifest files. This helps to avoid mistakes or errors when creating your package.manifest files.

Schema Files

• Package.manifest
• Package.manifest 7.0.0
• Package.manifest 8.0.0

Setting up Visual Studio

To associate the hosted JSON schema file to all package.manifest files you will need to perform the following inside of Visual Studio.

• Tools -> Options
• Browse down to Text Editor -> File Extension
• Add manifest into the Extension box
• Select JSON Editor from the dropdown and add the mapping
• Open a package.manifest file and ensure in the top left hand corner you see the schema with the URL set to http://json.schemastore.org/package.manifest. You can also add the schema inline in the json file (see below).

Setting up Visual Studio Code

To associate the hosted JSON schema file to all package.manifest files you will need to perform the following inside of Visual Studio Code editor.

• File -> Preferences -> User Settings
• This will open two editors side by side with the default settings on the left and custom overrides on the right
• In the right hand file add the following

{
    "json.schemas": [
        {
            "fileMatch": [
                "manifest.json"
            ],
            "url": "http://json.schemastore.org/package.manifest"
        }
    ]
}

Adding inline schema

Editors like visual studio can use the $schema notation in your file.

{
    "$schema" : "http://json.schemastore.org/package.manifest",
    "javascript": [],
    "other properties": ""
}