I am investigating CMS systems with view to extending an existing VS2008 ASP.NET application.
I have seen commercial CMS that integrate into Visual Studio and then allow you to load a CMSControl into a placeholder. So that as a user you can then use the CMS system to alter the content of that one block but from what I understand I don't think this is possible with Umbraco.
Am I right or have I missed something?
I have also been looking at DotNetNuke and Ektron (which seems to do what I need but requires purchasing!) this is my first experience of CMS systems so if anyone can help or recommend anything then I would be very grateful.
Every CMS refers to them as different things but in Umbraco we use Macros. Macros are a way of integrating external code/ functionality into the CMS, these can be in the form of .NET controls or XSLT files.
You can build all of those in Visual Studio, and integrate them with Umbraco.
The templating engine of Umbraco is also built on top of standard ASP.NET web forms, so your templates are Master Pages, you insert page data via server controls, etc.
It's very easy to (and it's how we do it where I work) have everything in a web application project (the /umbraco folder is excluded as you don't need to have it included in the compilation) and then just treat it as per normal. It'll even run fine in Cassini
I can see where you are coming from with regards to adding custom functionality, I appreciate that the ability to integrate user controls provides epic flexibility whilst still allowing the core function of the CMS.
I think the issue is that I am being asked to integrate a pre-existing enterprise level ASP.NET site and I don't think it is going to be possible to reformat everything into user controls as well as transfer all the existing functionality to Umbraco. Which is a shame as it looks very good at what it does.
If you just want to manage content in Umbraco it can still be usefull, i did integrate Umbraco in a high end .net application, i just build a simple webservice which did a HTTP request on the Umbraco frontend, from the main application, i had one simple usercontrol that had a url property of the page i wanted the content from. U can see it in action here: http://www.funda.nl/about/default.aspx?pagina=/nl/algemene-teksten-funda-sites/fundanl/over-funda/about-funda
So on that page there i a usercontrol which retrieves the url "/nl/algemene-teksten-funda-sites/fundanl/over-funda/about-funda" from the umbraco website and places it within the content of the main application.
I like to add a further hint for using existing ASP.Net-Form within their own directory mixed with umbraco installation. Because it took me some time to figure out, that the only thing you have to do is, add the directory to "umbracoReservedPaths" in the web.config i. e. "/test" <configuration>...<appSettings>...<add key="umbracoReservedPaths" value="/umbraco,/install/,/test" />
Integrating Umbraco with an existing application?
Hi All,
I am investigating CMS systems with view to extending an existing VS2008 ASP.NET application.
I have seen commercial CMS that integrate into Visual Studio and then allow you to load a CMSControl into a placeholder. So that as a user you can then use the CMS system to alter the content of that one block but from what I understand I don't think this is possible with Umbraco.
Am I right or have I missed something?
I have also been looking at DotNetNuke and Ektron (which seems to do what I need but requires purchasing!) this is my first experience of CMS systems so if anyone can help or recommend anything then I would be very grateful.
Many thanks,
Mutt
Whatever you can build in Visual Studio you can add to Umbraco.
The easiest way is to build it as a usercontrol, this usercontrol can then be used within Umbraco.
If you're looking for a fantastic .NET CMS you're already in the right place :)
Every CMS refers to them as different things but in Umbraco we use Macros. Macros are a way of integrating external code/ functionality into the CMS, these can be in the form of .NET controls or XSLT files.
You can build all of those in Visual Studio, and integrate them with Umbraco.
The templating engine of Umbraco is also built on top of standard ASP.NET web forms, so your templates are Master Pages, you insert page data via server controls, etc.
It's very easy to (and it's how we do it where I work) have everything in a web application project (the /umbraco folder is excluded as you don't need to have it included in the compilation) and then just treat it as per normal. It'll even run fine in Cassini
Thanks for the replies guys!
I can see where you are coming from with regards to adding custom functionality, I appreciate that the ability to integrate user controls provides epic flexibility whilst still allowing the core function of the CMS.
I think the issue is that I am being asked to integrate a pre-existing enterprise level ASP.NET site and I don't think it is going to be possible to reformat everything into user controls as well as transfer all the existing functionality to Umbraco. Which is a shame as it looks very good at what it does.
Let me know what you think
Mutt
If you just want to manage content in Umbraco it can still be usefull, i did integrate Umbraco in a high end .net application, i just build a simple webservice which did a HTTP request on the Umbraco frontend, from the main application, i had one simple usercontrol that had a url property of the page i wanted the content from. U can see it in action here: http://www.funda.nl/about/default.aspx?pagina=/nl/algemene-teksten-funda-sites/fundanl/over-funda/about-funda
So on that page there i a usercontrol which retrieves the url "/nl/algemene-teksten-funda-sites/fundanl/over-funda/about-funda" from the umbraco website and places it within the content of the main application.
Not all of the ASP.NET code needs to run through Umbraco!
You can have folders specified which means the existing ASP.NET app will just run as normal, then you can integrate the Umbraco code you need.
I like to add a further hint for using existing ASP.Net-Form within their own directory mixed with umbraco installation. Because it took me some time to figure out, that the only thing you have to do is, add the directory to "umbracoReservedPaths" in the web.config i. e. "/test" <configuration>...<appSettings>...<add key="umbracoReservedPaths" value="/umbraco,/install/,/test" />
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