Have you read the docs? They're quite helpful for this:

https://our.umbraco.org/Documentation/Reference/Events/Application-Startup

https://our.umbraco.org/Documentation/Reference/Events/ContentService-Events

The events definitely work as I use them all the time :)

NB. I wouldn't use FirstOrDefault to get your item, I'd use a loop as there may be multiple published items:

public void ContentPublished(IPublishingStrategy sender, PublishEventArgs<IContent> e)
{
    foreach (var article in e.PublishedEntities.Where(pe => pe.ContentType.Equals("YourArticleDocumentType")))
    {
        // copy article
    }
}

I'm going to keep documenting my experience here if everyone doesn't mind. I'm learning along the way... some things work as they are supposed to, some do not!

I came up with a solution to be able to update or map all of the same articles. This will allow the editor to change the article after saving or delete all related articles.

I added a Global ID to the DocType with data type of Label. (non-editable).

To add an id here, I did it in the Saving event - but only want to do it for this doc type and if it's new.

I used the queries above but they never returned the correct doctype, I kept getting a NULL return. So I added the Alias to the query:

            var articles = e.SavedEntities.Where(content => content.ContentType.Alias.Equals("blogArticle"));

That worked.

Then I tried to determine if the article was new by following the documentation: https://our.umbraco.org/Documentation/Reference/Events/determining-new-entity

None of the documented solutions worked. So I simply tested on whether the Id existed for the new article:

            foreach (var article in articles)
        {                
            if (article.Id == 0)
            {
                // give the article a global ID                
                article.Properties["globalArticleID"].Value = System.Guid.NewGuid();
            }
        }          

That worked!

Glad you are making progress and thanks for updating your post so others can learn from it!

Unfortunately IContent and IPublishedContent are two different interfaces. So models generated by ModelBuilder are IPublishedContent but content returned by ContentService (which is what is used in the events you are tapping into) are IContent. Even though they appear similar, they aren't compatible so you can't convert from one to the other (for instance, IContent can represent unpublished content whereas IPublishedContent is only every for content that has been published and in the XML cache).

I am about to refactor my code so I figure I will share this before it ends up in a bunch of different spots...

Any input on better umbraco pattern is appreciated. Especially before I start refactoring.

So here is a visual representation of what I am doing - All global articles are entered in the Global Admin spot and then "copied" to the appropriate website depending on a "picker". If the directory tree does not exist, than that is also generated in the appropriate site.

I Initially had this code under the Publishing event, but if I made a change to the original Global Document, the change wasn't able to update to the websites. (Example: Adding another website in the picker).

private void ContentService_Published(IPublishingStrategy sender, PublishEventArgs<IContent> e)
        {
            /***** Publish from the Global Section  *****/
            var contentService = ApplicationContext.Current.Services.ContentService;
            var blogHome = contentService.GetById(2160);
            var articles = e.PublishedEntities.Where(content => content.ContentType.Alias.Equals("blogArticle")
                                                                && content.Ancestors().Contains<IContent>(blogHome)); /* NodeId = 2113*/

            foreach (var article in articles)
            {
                var articleGlobalId = article.Properties["globalArticleID"].Value;

                var month = article.Parent();
                var year = month.Parent();
                var blogContainer = year.Parent();
                var copytoSitesList = article.Properties["mapToWebsite"].Value;
                var rootNodes = (article.Properties["mapToWebsite"].Value.ToString()).Split(',').ToList(); /* These are ids */



                foreach (var root in rootNodes)
                {
                    int rootId;
                    bool canUseRootId = int.TryParse(root, out rootId);
                    if (canUseRootId && contentService.HasChildren(rootId))/* has children but might not have blog */
                    {
                        //Check for blog folder
                        var rootBlogContainer = contentService.GetChildren(rootId).Where(child => child.ContentType.Alias.Equals("blogContainer"));/* NodeId = 2115*/
                        if (rootBlogContainer != null && rootBlogContainer.Count() == 1) /* has Blog */
                        {
                            var container = rootBlogContainer.FirstOrDefault();

                            //check to see if the article already exists
                            var existingArticles = contentService.GetDescendants(container.Id).Where(content => content.ContentType.Alias.Equals("blogArticle"));
                            var existingArticle = existingArticles.Where(a => a.Properties["globalArticleID"].Value.Equals(articleGlobalId)).FirstOrDefault();

                            if (existingArticle != null
                                && existingArticle.Name.Equals(article.Name)
                                && existingArticle.Properties["title"].Value.ToString().Trim()
                                    .Equals(article.Properties["title"].Value.ToString().Trim()))
                            {
                                // article exists - update the article

                                var existingParent = contentService.GetParent(existingArticle);
                                contentService.Delete(existingArticle);
                                contentService.Copy(article, existingParent.Id, false);
                            }
                            else if (existingArticle == null)
                            {
                                // check for year
                                var currentYear = contentService.GetChildren(container.Id).Where(f => f.Name == year.Name);
                                if (currentYear != null && currentYear.Count() == 1)
                                {
                                    var yearFolder = currentYear.FirstOrDefault();
                                    // check month
                                    var currentMonth = contentService.GetChildren(yearFolder.Id).Where(f => f.Name == month.Name);//TODO: Use Dictionary
                                    if (currentMonth != null && currentMonth.Count() == 1)
                                    {
                                        var monthFolder = currentMonth.FirstOrDefault();


                                        /***** Determine the Site to copy to *****/
                                        contentService.Copy(article, monthFolder.Id, false);
                                    }
                                    else
                                    {
                                        var newMonth = contentService.GetById(contentService.Copy(month, yearFolder.Id, false).Id);


                                        /***** Determine the Site to copy to *****/
                                        contentService.Copy(article, newMonth.Id, false);
                                    }
                                }
                                else
                                {
                                    var newYear = contentService.GetById(contentService.Copy(year, container.Id, false).Id);
                                    var newMonth = newYear.Children().FirstOrDefault();
                                    //then article
                                    contentService.Copy(article, newMonth.Id, false);
                                }
                            }
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            CopyFullBlogSection(contentService, article, blogContainer, contentService.GetById(rootId));
                        }
                    }
                    else /* No Blog Exists*/
                    {
                        CopyFullBlogSection(contentService, article, blogContainer, contentService.GetById(rootId));
                    }
                }
            }
        }

I find it illogical that that PublishEvenArgs is returning a "list" of PublishedEntites. This would be much easier to use e as the object being publised, instead of wasting the resource to query the list. Mainly because I have noticed that this published event fires for every single "node" that was published.

Something like e.ContentType would be so much better.

PublishEventArgs returns an IEnumerable because you can either publish a single node using the typical "Save and Publish" button, or publish a node and its children by right clicking the node in the tree view and selecting Publish.

Instead of nesting into so many levels (e.g. Year > Month > Article Name) you could perhaps try making the content type of "Blog" display its children as a list view. Users can then search for articles with an in-built search box for the list view?

Here's another thing I found that ties in to my question about using the generated models.

Though I understand that IPublished Content and IContent are different, I can still use the "safer" ModelTypeAlias property from the generated model that will update with any database changes.

So instead of:

var articles = e.PublishedEntities.Where(content => content.ContentType.Alias.Equals("blogArticle")
                                                                && content.Ancestors().Contains<IContent>(blogHome));

I can use:

var articles = e.PublishedEntities.Where(content => content.ContentType.Alias.Equals(BlogArticle.ModelTypeAlias)
                                                            && content.Ancestors().Contains<IContent>(blogHome));

It seems there is a problem with the Published event and future publishing.

I am trying to create a Bitly url on publish. It works fine in the event but when I set the article to future publish it doesn't fire.

EDIT:

I just set a breakpoint and it did fire and run fine.

The property value (link) is not showing up in the Content Section.!!??

Hmm not sure why it wouldn't show for nodes which are set to publish on a specific date.

Is the URL definitely getting set? I just don't see why it wouldn't show if it's being set.

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