Hi Nicole,

Welcome to our community.

This is typical issue with Umbraco.

We solve such issues with code like that:

@foreach (var item in selection)
{
    switch (item.DocumentTypeAlias)
    {
        case "pollPage":
            Html.RenderPartial("Trend Poll", item);
            break;
        case "counterAndText":
            Html.RenderPartial("Trend Counter", item);
            break;
        case "randomSlider":
            Html.RenderPartial("Trend Random Slider", item);
            break;
        case "subscriptionPage":
            Html.RenderPartial("Trend Subscription", item);
            break;
    }
}

So you get all your children nodes, and depending on docType render view.

Ask if something.

Cheers, Alex

Hi Alex, thanks so much for your response. While I was waiting for my post to be moderated, I did find a solution that works, but because I'm not very familiar with XSLT, Razor or Umbraco, I'm not sure if it's the best solution. Would you be able to have a look and let me know if this seems ok? Here's the code:

<xsl:for-each select="$currentPage/child::*[@isDoc][not(self::modularPage)]">
<xsl:value-of select="umbraco.library:RenderTemplate(@id,@template)" disable-output-escaping="yes"/>

I added it as an XSLT file and created a macro for it, then rendered the macro on the parent page template.

Thanks again!

Are you using an older version of Umbraco (e.g., 4.x)? If not, I would recommend avoiding XSLT at all costs. Here's an article I wrote that gives guidance on what old technologies to avoid: http://24days.in/umbraco/2015/umbraco-zeitgeist/ (see the bygone section: http://24days.in/umbraco/2015/umbraco-zeitgeist/#bygones)

You are trying to create child node widgets, which I'd recommend against for Umbraco 7 (still a good option for Umbraco 6): http://24days.in/umbraco/2015/umbraco-zeitgeist/#child-node-widgets

Instead, you can use Archetype: http://24days.in/umbraco/2015/umbraco-zeitgeist/#archetype

Archetype allows you to create widgets: http://24days.in/umbraco/2015/umbraco-zeitgeist/#widgets

You might also consider using the Umbraco Grid Layout for widgets: http://24days.in/umbraco/2015/umbraco-zeitgeist/#grid

I faced the same issue in the past. I think I understand what you're trying to do - you're trying to construct a page by adding parts - e.g. rows, if you're into Bootstrap so that the editor can eventually have a page with any elements desired - a gallery there, content underneath, some bar chart under that etc.

If I understand correctly, then the problem is that you can't actually have "templates" for those sections that are, essentially, nodes under your actual page, since you're never going to display them individually, but only as part of the "parent" page.

What I did in a similar situation was to create macros for each section (some may argue with my choice, but I wanted to have the native support for caching and parameters that macros offer) and created a helper function that would iterate the page's children nodes and render a macro for each depending on the document type, something in the lines of the following code:

public static IHtmlString RenderContentMacro(IPublishedContent item)
{
            UmbracoHelper u = new UmbracoHelper(UmbracoContext.Current);

            switch (item.DocumentTypeAlias)
            {
                case "sectionImageGallery":
                    return u.RenderMacro("SectionImageGallery");

                case "sectionPortfolio":
                    return u.RenderMacro("SectionPortfolio");

                case "sectionCounter":
                    return u.RenderMacro("SectionCounter");
             }
}

And so forth.

Then I would call it from my page's template, like this:

  foreach (IPublishedContent item in Model.Content.Children())
  {
            @SomeStaticHelperClass.RenderContentMacro(item)

  }

Of course, this is a simplified example. But in general, that's what I'm doing to "construct" a page from sections.

Thanks Nicholas and Sotiris.

Hmmm, this gives me a lot to think about. I had a long look at Archetype, and installed it (I'm using UaaS). But I did read that it's not really meant for page layouts and I feel like it could get complicated quite fast with what I'm trying to do. And also, to be honest, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how it works.

Right now I'm thinking of using the xslt/macro way to add the child nodes to my page as sections (bootstrap-style rows), and then use Archetype to list modular components within those sections.

@Nicholas- thank you for the articles, they were very helpful. I hear what you're saying about avoiding xslt, but do you think in this context it might be ok? I guess I'm having a hard time foreseeing what future problems could arise since I'm so unfamiliar with xslt, json, razor etc. (I really only know html, css and js).

I find Archetype to be perfectly suitable for layouts, especially now that I've implemented cross-Archetype fieldset dragging (allows you to change your mind on the layout without having to enter the content a second time): https://github.com/imulus/Archetype/issues/355

Here's an example: https://nvisioncenters.com/

That homepage is built with these Archetype widgets in the back office:

I'd also recommend against the macro approach: http://24days.in/umbraco/2015/umbraco-zeitgeist/#macros

Here's a bit of info on Razor: http://24days.in/umbraco/2015/umbraco-zeitgeist/#aspnet-mvc-razor

However, suppose you do use macros, then I'd recommend Razor macros rather than XSLT macros. Razor is much more powerful, and will likely have more support in the future than XSLT. As an example, here's how you'd create a Razor version of that for loop that you created in XSLT:

@foreach (var child in Model.Content.Children)
{
    @Umbraco.RenderTemplate(child.Id, x.TemplateId)
}

@Nicholas Westby: I'm reviving this thread with hopes that you might be able to help me with Archetype?

When I originally asked this question, I was in a giant time crunch to get our site launched and just had to go with a hasty solution involving macros.

Now that our site is launched and we're not in such a dire time constraint, I think that Archetype might be the right solution for us long-term. I now have the time to actually learn and implement it.

In one of your previous comments you mentioned that you had used Archetype for layouts successfully and used nvisioncenters.com as an example. I'm still having a really hard time wrapping my head around how it works though. I'm wondering if you can explain it to me like I'm 5?

For example- I'm confused about how Archetype works with templates. Using your nvisioncenter example- would this page have its own unique doctype and template, or would it use a sort of generic "modular page" doctype/template that you would use for all your site's pages?

I'm also confused about how you control the css classes on each Archetype widget. Does each Archetype widget have it's own associated template?

I hope these questions made sense. Please let me know if not and I'll try to clarify.

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

Nicole

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