I have a number of sites which have been on various versions of Umbraco. Now they're all on 7.2.0, and that's all good. I'm nearly done porting the old templates (win forms) to the new stuff (Razor/ MVC), which is also fine and dandy.
I don't therefore want to "use a starter kit": I have existing live sites which I need to move from older structures to newer ones. This means I need to work out how each new thing works, then move to it, step by step.
I'd kind of like to use the "grid" functionality, and there are lots of really slow videos which I've patiently watched through. All of those seem to have features I can't find in my systems, which have been step-wise upgraded over the years from Umbraco 5 I think. So my question is really much more basic than all this fancy video, which tells me stuff I can work out from looking at the screen shots. I don't need to know that... I need to know, and I'm sure it's astoundingly obvious:
How do I create a page element which is a grid?
I would expect it to be a Property of a Document Type, but there's no property editor which is called "Grid" here. Anyone know what I'm missing?
If you have not overlooked any steps in doing the upgrades then you should be able to go to the "Developer" section and right click the "Datatypes" folder and choose "Create". Then you can create a new datatype/property editor by choosing from the dropdown list. There should be a "Grid Layout" in that list.
Perfect - that is where it is... I checked the "data types" already and expected to find the Grid there, but it was not... it did not occur to me to "create" it. I wil ldo that...
I had found that documentation before but could not make head nor tai lof it, in that it seemed to start from somewhere I was not. I know what a grid layout is, am familiar with Bootstrap etc, but I could not get to "first base" with this. Anyway, I think you just got me there - thanks!
Happy to be of assistance - Remember to mark the issue as solved so others can jump straight to the solution if they face the same issue as yourself at some point.
Oh yeah, and this rocks, as I thought it would. I've been cobbling grids for the various sites I run for years... now the users can just do it themselves I think, once I've set it and ported the content over. Neat. But you have to remember to create the data type first or you can't access any of it.
Yeah it's necessary on vanilla installations and that should be changed so it's at least is mentioned in the documentation (written and on tv)...I think the main reason that there is no grid editor defined is because as with everything in Umbraco when you do a vanilla installation it's all up to you to define what your Umbraco solution should look like.
It's also a common practice that when you install a 3rd party property editor you need to create an instance of the newly installed property before you can use it on a document type.
But it should be highlighted in a better manner somehow.
If you don´t know what Umbraco TV is, then it's some video tutorials about the basic concepts of Umbraco and how to work with Umbraco. Some of the videos are free to watch, and some requires that you subscribe. You can find the different plans here. http://www.umbraco.tv/plans-signup/
I think it would help, although I'm not complaining, of course! It's now here which may help.
It's always tricky, as it all depends on the user perspective for these things. From my perspective (which may change as I learn more about this), this one control is more important than all the rest, it's almost the only one I'm going to need. That's a good thing - I can get rid of my own lash ups for various column layouts, and get bootstrap responsiveness at the same time.
Yeah, I think it should be made more obvious when one is doing a vanilla installation - I'm an old-timer so for me it "makes sense" that I need to create a property editor before I can use it...because that's what I'm used to. But for people who don't know that it can be harder than intended to achieve this simple task and be the cause of frustration.
I you have the time I think you should submit a feature request for it at the issue tracker since it would be a nice enhancement. I know the HQ guys are going to put a major effort into remaking the "Settings" section among other UI enhancement so highlightning this on the issue tracker will at least make them aware that this could be improved too since you have a valid point that it's not really obvious :)
Where is my grid?
I have a number of sites which have been on various versions of Umbraco. Now they're all on 7.2.0, and that's all good. I'm nearly done porting the old templates (win forms) to the new stuff (Razor/ MVC), which is also fine and dandy.
I don't therefore want to "use a starter kit": I have existing live sites which I need to move from older structures to newer ones. This means I need to work out how each new thing works, then move to it, step by step.
I'd kind of like to use the "grid" functionality, and there are lots of really slow videos which I've patiently watched through. All of those seem to have features I can't find in my systems, which have been step-wise upgraded over the years from Umbraco 5 I think. So my question is really much more basic than all this fancy video, which tells me stuff I can work out from looking at the screen shots. I don't need to know that... I need to know, and I'm sure it's astoundingly obvious:
How do I create a page element which is a grid?
I would expect it to be a Property of a Document Type, but there's no property editor which is called "Grid" here. Anyone know what I'm missing?
Hi Phil
If you have not overlooked any steps in doing the upgrades then you should be able to go to the "Developer" section and right click the "Datatypes" folder and choose "Create". Then you can create a new datatype/property editor by choosing from the dropdown list. There should be a "Grid Layout" in that list.
You might also benefit from the written documentation here https://our.umbraco.org/Documentation/Using-Umbraco/Backoffice-Overview/Property-Editors/Built-in-Property-Editors-v7/Grid-Layout
Hope this helps!
/Jan
Perfect - that is where it is... I checked the "data types" already and expected to find the Grid there, but it was not... it did not occur to me to "create" it. I wil ldo that...
I had found that documentation before but could not make head nor tai lof it, in that it seemed to start from somewhere I was not. I know what a grid layout is, am familiar with Bootstrap etc, but I could not get to "first base" with this. Anyway, I think you just got me there - thanks!
Hi Phil
Happy to be of assistance - Remember to mark the issue as solved so others can jump straight to the solution if they face the same issue as yourself at some point.
Happy gridding!
/Jan
Oh yeah, and this rocks, as I thought it would. I've been cobbling grids for the various sites I run for years... now the users can just do it themselves I think, once I've set it and ported the content over. Neat. But you have to remember to create the data type first or you can't access any of it.
Hi Phil
Yeah it's necessary on vanilla installations and that should be changed so it's at least is mentioned in the documentation (written and on tv)...I think the main reason that there is no grid editor defined is because as with everything in Umbraco when you do a vanilla installation it's all up to you to define what your Umbraco solution should look like.
It's also a common practice that when you install a 3rd party property editor you need to create an instance of the newly installed property before you can use it on a document type.
But it should be highlighted in a better manner somehow.
/Jan
Hi Phil,
There is also some documentation about the Grid Layout on the Umbraco.TV. You can find it here: http://www.umbraco.tv/videos/umbraco-v7/implementor/fundamentals/grid-layouts/
If you don´t know what Umbraco TV is, then it's some video tutorials about the basic concepts of Umbraco and how to work with Umbraco. Some of the videos are free to watch, and some requires that you subscribe. You can find the different plans here. http://www.umbraco.tv/plans-signup/
Hope this helps, too.
/Dennis
I think it would help, although I'm not complaining, of course! It's now here which may help.
It's always tricky, as it all depends on the user perspective for these things. From my perspective (which may change as I learn more about this), this one control is more important than all the rest, it's almost the only one I'm going to need. That's a good thing - I can get rid of my own lash ups for various column layouts, and get bootstrap responsiveness at the same time.
Hi Phil
Yeah, I think it should be made more obvious when one is doing a vanilla installation - I'm an old-timer so for me it "makes sense" that I need to create a property editor before I can use it...because that's what I'm used to. But for people who don't know that it can be harder than intended to achieve this simple task and be the cause of frustration.
I you have the time I think you should submit a feature request for it at the issue tracker since it would be a nice enhancement. I know the HQ guys are going to put a major effort into remaking the "Settings" section among other UI enhancement so highlightning this on the issue tracker will at least make them aware that this could be improved too since you have a valid point that it's not really obvious :)
/Jan
http://issues.umbraco.org/issue/U4-6512
is working on a reply...