The ones I regularly use are:

• UrlPicker and MultiUrlPicker
• Character Limit
• Notes
• Text String Array

I could probably live without the rest, but those I use on almost every project.

I agree about the drop-down lists etc. Provider-based sounds a good idea to me.

Improvements I'd like to see:

UrlPicker - when selecting Content to populate the title (if shown) with the name of the selected page.

Text String Array - to have some kind of strongly typed DTO like some of the other components have.

I do agree uComponents probably tries to do so much - maybe dump the legacy DLLs and move non-datatypes to a new project. You could even break it down more into various types of datatype - eg. URL pickers, Dropdowns, Textboxes, Arrays etc.

Anyway, thanks for all the hard work - it's appreciated :)

Hi Dan, thanks for your feedback.

Good news is that UrlPicker is moving over to the Umbraco core - first v6.2; plus plans for a v7 version. I'll feedback the page title feature request.

re: Textstring Array strongly-typed - noted (y)

Cheers, Lee.

Putting data types in to their own projects makes a lot of sense to me. You could always have a data type installer much like the Umbraco Package Repository, where it was easier to find the most user friendly data type.

My favs are MNTP and URL picker.

I wouldnt bother with XML, JSON or CSV. I'd pick just one (prolly JSON), and make sure it's easy to put the contents in to a typed object in Razor.

Lee,

I recently started a new project (last week during the RC) and decided to use v6 due to a couple of things I liked from uComponents. The pieces that I specifically wanted to use were:

1. Data Type Grid - this is an awesome feature IMO
2. Render Macro - I use Universal Media Picker to pick Vimeo videos, then use Render Macro to render the vimeo video in the back office for the editor to verify the right video is picked.
3. Relation Links - Perfect usage - http://24days.in/umbraco/2012/who-picked-this/

Lee,

My favourites are the MNTP, URL Picker, and togglebox; however I would love to use them all on a project where needed so maybe just make the results of this survey the focal points for the schedule of updates and not the be all and end all?

As for improvements, I've always thought having the ability to edit, or at least view, the default styles of each tool would make it even easier for everyone to customise to their own needs without having to dig too much?

Thanks for all your hard work on these, we wouldn't be the same without them!

Cheers!

Jon

My favorites are :

• MNTP
• URL Picker
• Datatype grid
• Image point
• Char limit

There is already a Char limit for Umbraco 7, take a look at https://github.com/TimGeyssens/MyFirstBellePropEditor.

Another thing I would find interesting was some kind of a datatype snippet, where everybody can introduce their datatypes. Mostly because it has become easier to build them for the frontend developers as well.

The idea
1. Right click a datatype
2. Choose a datatype from the "sky"
3. Choose the datatype you want to implement and install, no more. Of course, if there is some shared dll's it should be installed the first time
4. That's it, now the new datatype is on Umbraco and you had no need for installing a package every time
5. Someone should have the full archive with datatype snippets located on a server, maybe Umbraco themself?

What you could also do, if I may brainstorm a little - place the datatypes in categories and maybe you could log in so you could get your favorit packages for the next umbraco project. On that way you go to the sky, choose "my dream datatypes", click install and now you have the datatypes you use for almost every project, no need for all the others. On that way, the team behind uComponents can also place some statistics to look into the most downloaded datatypes, so they are aware what developer use and what they don't. 

Actually Warren Buckley has already been implemented the 'sky' functionality on the template area.


Kind regards
Niels

Hi Lee

Great to see that you are looking into uComponents for v7. Maybe start the kickstarter project to get a bit of funding for your development? :)

We use some of the same data types as already said and also the 404 handler. But I will give feedback on a more general perspective. I think that uComponents but at the moment it is kind of a blob that can do LOTS of different things because it was developed for several years and the Umbraco project has changed quite much since the start. I would like to see a much cleaner project - AND maybe have you built the most wanted features as pull requests for the Umbraco core so everyone will get them and you dont have to install uComponents just to get the features that you would wish was in the Core. Like the 404 handler - why is that not standard in Umbraco - everyone will need a 404 that can handle a little more than the very basic setup.

Then if you make a sweet data type that maybe 20% of the Umbraco community will use, then you should make that as a package with maybe only that data type or 1 or two simular data types. So in the end you will have smaller packages that is more focused.

Hope my feedback makes sense :)

Kind regards
Anders

1. What do you regularly use in uComponents?
   MNTP (with XPATH) and the drop-down (with XPATH)   
2. Can those components be improved? (all suggestions welcome)
   It would be a great option if that when a content node is copied with uComponent data-types that have child-nodes selected via a $currentPage XPATH style restriction was reset to the newly copied sibbling items as opposed to the original copy-master sibblings. It's very confusing for content-editors to pick that the newly copied structure have links that need to be reset. As a "cheap-alternative" a "clear selection on copy" option would be a good alternative.
3. Does uComponents try to do too much? Should we separate features out to their own projects? (e.g. XSLT Extensions, Not Found Handlers, etc)
   Yeah I think so. If there was a data-type project, we would just use that. 

Quick note about MNTP (and the XPath lists), they were moved over to the Umbraco core in v4.8 (18 months ago). They already have counterparts in v7.

(Thanks for all the feedback so far, I'll reply to other comments in due course - busy morning ahead!)

Thanks, Lee.

Hi All

What I realy think will be cool is an option for a  oneclick conversion form DataType Grid to Umbraco 7 Node to List View 

Later

Stuff from uComponents use most often:

• Xslt extensions (even when I write razor... sad but true)
• Multi Url picker
• XPath AutoComplete, XPath CheckboxList, XPath DropDownList
• Relation Links
• Elastic Textbox
• Character Limit
• Datatype Grid (realise this will probably be deprecated)
• Image Dropdown (I know it's legacy but I still found it useful)
• XPathTemplatable List

Things I think could still be kept

• Image Point
• Sub Tabs
• Static File Macro Engine
• Textstring Array
• Similarity
• Render Macro
• Multiple Dates
• Notes
• Incremental Textbox

One thing I would love to have in v7 is the ability to choose a color for the icon in your document type (They're all vector icons now anyway so it can't be too much of a push) and I think color used sparingly is actually extremely beneficial for the end user.
Same could be said for in the development\settings sections, being able to right-click to colour-code certain folders (based on developer preference) would speed up recognition times.

Rock on Lee! +1 for the kickstarter idea

- Tim

Hi,

My favs are :

- Multi-node tree picker

- Url picker

- Textstring array

- User picker

Dont use any of the others.

Thank you to everyone for your feedback so far, it's been great! As already mentioned many of the more popular data-types have (or are in the process of being) moved into the Umbraco v7 core (e.g. MNTP, Url Picker, etc) ... so all good!

Replying to a few specific points...

@Niels Kristiansen - I really like your idea of pulling data-types from the 'cloud'. It's not a million miles away from what we currently have with the package repository (on Our Umbraco), but I think it could be a much much simpler. Although that may be beyond the scope of uComponents - still worth more discussion! :-)

@Anders - Very good point about the 404 handlers, personally I use these in all my implementations... so yes, let's look at getting them into the core! :-) ... and in terms of data-types, I agree about keeping things simpler. re: Kickstarter - I like the idea of uComponents being grown from the community; if was sponsored development, I fear it would lose it's appeal - too commercial. (Thanks for the suggestion though)

Separation of projects was brought up a few times, I agree - originally we had a single assembly containing everything, (which got pretty big). Then we broke them down to individual projects/assemblies. The natural progression would be to spin them off to their own packages.

Keep the feedback coming, thanks again!
- Lee

“Quick note about MNTP (and the XPath lists), they were moved over to the Umbraco core in v4.8 (18 months ago). They already have counterparts in v7.”

Lee,

Do you have any more information about this? I've been doing some general testing with a clean 7.0 installation, and I don't see any XPath property editors available. Am I missing something, or are they just not available yet in 7.0?

I'd say the most important items that I'd like to see carried over are:

• All of the XPath based data types
• Multi-URL picker

And a request for something new:

• A date/time range property editor for scheduling, that validates that the start date occurs before the end date, and preferably provides a configurable maximum range between the dates.

I would have also requested dropdown checklist, but I just built my own v7 replacement for that based on chosen.js (which I intend to share soon), so I think I'm set there. Finally, I'd just like to add that I agree that the property editors should be split up into separate packages.

Regards,
David

@David - Ah, I guess I was wrong about the XPath lists in v7 - I've checked the core source and they are referenced in there (as 'to be converted'), but they aren't available yet. I believe these will come within the next few patch releases.

Re: your 'chosen.js' based property editor - yes, please do share it - it sounds very useful!

Thanks for your other feedback!

Cheers, Lee.

Re: your 'chosen.js' based property editor - yes, please do share it - it sounds very useful!

Hi Lee,

I just realized I don't have it working as much as I thought I did, (it's only storing keys and not values, which isn't very useful), but here's what I have at the moment anyway, if you want to take a look:

In-Progress Chosen.js-based Select Menu Property Editor

Hopefully I'll have it in a more useful state soon. Suggestions are welcome.

EDIT: Package is up here

-David

I'd like to second David's idea of a "date/time range property editor for scheduling". I'm currently developing an event system (with start date and end date) and it would be great if you could link the two dates together (so that end date is always > than start date).

Do you know in which v7 version UrlPicker will appear?

Just to pile on... :)

Yes uComponents needs to be broken into smaller chunks IMHO.  This is a great opportunity to no longer support legacy controls and force a bit of modernizing of habits.

The core team is busy and it'll probably be awhile for the core integrations yet v7 websites need written now.  I think work needs to begin very soon to make v7 the most successful it can be.

There is also a bit of knowledge needed in the community for Angularjs.  I think it is great but the learning curve is stunting package development at present.

Hopefully the v7 uComponents can enjoy a quicker core adoption rate and maybe the next iteration is just an incubator to see what is core worthy.

I'd like to contribute if possible (that is if you even plan on making a v7 version).  I wrote my first dynamic control yesterday :)  Shameless plug...  https://bitly.com/1c4XAa5+

Feature request...

Since data types are fundamentally different, I feel some work could be done with 'converting' existing uComponent data into the v7 equivalent.

So if a v6 install has datatype X and v7 has a similar control created, the data needs converted (to JSON most likely) and maybe a data converter can be applied (seems difficult though).

<propName>
    <someData>foo</someData>
    <someOtherData>bar</someOtherData>
</propName>

turns into...

<propName>
    {
        someData : "foo",
        someOtherData : "bar"
    }
</oldDatapropName>

Cheers!

What I use most in my 30+ umbraco sites:

Url Picker
Multi-Url Picker
Data-Type Grid
File Picker 

Url Picker and Multi-Url Picker are a must! I saw you say that Url Picker will become Core... I hope it's Multi counterpart makes it in as well!!

Here's how I use the Data-Type Grid and File Picker so that maybe you'll see why they are useful. I create a file picker and a Data-Type grid that only holds that File Picker. I then create a "Global Settings" node that stores my Theme settings for the entire site. I use this Grid for a CSS Files Property and JS Files Property giving the admin the ability to upload the css/js files to the media section and implement them into the site! All without having to give them FTP access.You can even use straight urls in the File Picker giving the admin the ability to link to CSS or JS CDNs and what not.  

Data-Type Grid - It would be awesome to work out any issues with the dynamic xml in the db for this too (we have reverted back to using csv in razor which feels backwards)

Url Picker

Multi-Node

(Basically all of it)

Also:

Url Picker

Multi-Node

I strongly agree on splitting the components up, it's better to abandan some projects than keeping all kind of unmaintained components in the core.

I think the multi picker is for 70% of the people who use Umbraco a MUST have.

The uComponents I use in almost every Umbraco project are:

• MNTP (duuuurrrr)
• Character Limit (really handy for meta-fields like meta-title and meta-description)
• Url-Picker (although it's hard to find good documentation about accessing this component with Razor)
• Multiple Textstring (why was it moved to legacy? I need it in almost every project)

I never use Xslt-Extensions as I belong to the Razor-Empire :)

The biggest improvement for me would be to have good and elaborate documentation around accessing uComponents properties and data in Razor.

greetings,

Anthony

(As mentioned earlier on in the thread) The data-types: MNTP, XPath CheckBoxList/DropDownList and Multiple Textstring were moved to the Umbraco core since v4.8.

An effort was made to get UrlPicker/Multi-UrlPicker into the Umbraco core for v6.2.0 - but a pull request has been sitting there since September 2013; I'm not sure what the current state of that is. There has been talk of developmeny of a v7 version directly in the core, (but I'm not involved with that).

Re: XSLT extensions - you can use them in Razor, (they are just static .NET methods). They existed long before the Razor macro engine was available, (hence the name) ... If we were to "re-start" an extension method library/collection project, we'd give it a more appropriate name :-)

Thanks for all the feedback so far. The general feeling is that we break apart uComponents into stand-alone components and bring focus to the much-needed property-editors.

Cheers,
- Lee

Hi Lee,
I am not sure if you have seen my Screenr on my Proof of Concept for Umbraco NuGet package repo.

I would suggest that each piece of functionality in uComponents for V7 is a separate NuGet Package. So each property editor is it's own Package and then have a main NuGet package to install them all using dependencies to select the individual property editors.

But this way would allow starter kit developers to use some parts of uComponent property editors rather than the entire lot which may not be needed, allowing for finer control.

Just my 2 cents on the subject.

Cheers,
Warren

Cannot live without Notes and UrlPicker/MultiUrlPicker. Never understood why something along the line of Notes wasn't ever provided as a core offering, I use it several times in pretty much every site I work on, by far more than any of the other uComponents data types. And waiting patiently for UrlPicker/MultiUrlPicker to one day get built in.

DataType Grid has been great for me for many reasons, acting in several capacities other than what it was probably intended for, such as a "poor man's Document Container Type" and a nice alternative to "Embedded Content".

Recently also have been really loving the RelationLinks, makes things much nicer for our editors to know what's been picked by what.

I have also used FilePicker once or twice, would love to see this actually as another tab on the UrlPicker though to be honest instead of a separate data type.

I know there are a ton more I haven't even looked at yet... Really love and appreciate all the hard work you've put into it, Lee. (And everyone else who has contributed!)

Thanks!

Components I use most often:

• Textstring array
• Multi-URL picker
• Data Type Grid
• URL Picker
• Multi-Node Tree Picker
• Property Picker
• uQuery

The beauty of uComponents is that is offers excellent components for speeding up the development of any project. It would be hard to imagine Umbraco 7 without uComponents.

For now there is enough stuff in uComponents, or you could say missing from Umbraco 7, to stick with V6 for my new projects. So either U7 becomes richer or uComponents comes with a V7 version.

@Lee: Is there a plan yet?

Sandor

Hi Sandor,

For me the ultimate goal is to make the core (v7) better; e.g. rich property editors that meet the needs of the content-editors. In some ways uComponents is an incubator for that process - many of the popular data-types were moved across to the Umbraco core.

As for uComponents for v7, we've started off the process - created a Trello board, got the GitHub repository ready... things are slowly coming together. Next it needs contributions.

Cheers,
- Lee

Datatype Grid, definitely. Even though Umbraco 7 has the new List View feature, I don't find it a good fit for all situations. For storing simple tabular data it simply seems redundant to create extra Document Types when a Datatype Grid will do. I hope this makes it to Umbraco 7.

I second the request for a schedule datepicker with start/end values. That sounds quite useful.

Hi Asbjørn,

Not sure if you've heard about the Archetype property editor that is currently in development? There]s a video demo if you want to know more.

As for a date-range picker... Dan has already made it! :-) Diplo Date Range Picker

Cheers,
- Lee

Wow! Archetype! Thanks for the link, Lee... Hadn't seen or heard of this one yet. The quick video demo leaves me wanting for more...

I do love me my uComponents DataType Grid and even Embedded Content from time to time, but this looks like a pretty nice improvement overall. Can't wait until v7 is mature and complete enough for me to finally switch to!

@Funka! Yes, totally - I'm a big fan of Archetype, I'm already using it extensively in an upcoming project (even though it is still in alpha, I've been sending PRs).

If anyone's interested, we created a quick data type replacement for the uComponents Sql drop down list that works with v7

Hi Summit, that's great news! Are you considering open-sourcing it?

Cheers,
- Lee

Sure - I can definitely do that.  I'm going to make some minor changes to it first, but I'll post it shortly and add a link here.

I always use the Url Picker, Multi Url picker and less often the JSON Drop down (that was a life saver).  I also use the SQL drop down regularly.

For those interested, here's the SQL Dropdown List for v7: http://our.umbraco.org/projects/backoffice-extensions/sql-dropdown-list-for-v7

For those interested, here's Data type Grid for v7  :
http://our.umbraco.org/projects/backoffice-extensions/u7-grid-data-type
Include support of Rich text editor & Multiple media picker. 

@gilad - that's great! Are you considering open-sourcing it?

Not sure if this will help or not, but http://toodledo.github.io/ADE/ might be nice, Pre made datatypes in angular, dates, numeric etc look interesting and the lists too.

@Ste - great find, nice one! (Bookmarked for future use) #h5yr

Hi Lee,
thanks.

The package is already open-source while it's contains only not minify Js/Css/Html.
It is also open for collaboration.

Cheers. 

Any news on uComponents for Umbraco 7?

Maybe we could start with just a few datatypes, and then add more later?

We would like to have

• Togglebox
• Url picker
• Multi url picker

It seems a shame that nothing is available after several months.

I think it would be a good idea to drop all legacy datatypes, that is, only include datatypes that are actually maintained.

Hey Allan,

Funnily enough, I wrote a blog post about it the other day: http://leekelleher.com/2014/03/25/ucomponents-futures-umbraco-7/.

The main reason why it's in a stalemate situation is that my workload is very heavy and no one else has taken over the project.

You'll see throughout the links in this thread, other people have released v7 clones of various uComponents - which is great!

As with the original uComponents, if/when we develop data-types/property-editors that we want to share with the world, then we will do, 100%! But at this point in time, I haven't had a need for any of the uComponents data-types in my current v7 websites.

Cheers,
- Lee

I'm needing the Notes and TextString array right now. :-(

Did you see the nuPickers project (https://our.umbraco.org/projects/backoffice-extensions/nupickers)?  That's the v7 port of uComponents.

@Matt Taylor - this is a good alternative to Notes - http://tooorangey.co.uk/posts/editor-notes-for-umbraco-7/

Hi Zac, yes I have nuPickers installed but I don't think I can use it to easily generate two dumb textboxes side by side like the Old TextString Array. It's all datadriven stuff unless I'm missing the obvious?

I didn't know about that package Dan, so thanks.

Matt

Maybe this will work for a TextString array replacement? https://our.umbraco.org/projects/backoffice-extensions/key-value-editor

Hi Matt

Have you tried with Sortable String List, U7 Grid Data Type or There is no spoon (matrix editor) ?

You could also try with this example to build a list of links (or what you need in your case - a custom property editor) http://blog.imulus.com/kevin-giszewski/umbraco-7-the-sortable-dynamic-angular-property-editor-example

And of course Archetype for more complex scenarios :)

/Bjarne

Thanks Zac and Bjarne,

Lots of good packages I had not seen. They offer more functions than I need for this situation so I'm going to use those resources to build my own property editor. :-)

Regards, Matt

@Matt

If you only need one dimension (column), I think Sortable String List is great, otherwise the example from Imulus could be an option if you have specific columns, where the Matrix editor is more flexible and it is very similar to the Textstring Array in uComponents.

You can also just grab the source and extend them to your needs.

/Bjarne

Thanks Bjarne,

I used the Imulus example to create the following:

It's working well. I just need to work out some of the advanced stuff like validation. :-)

Regards, Matt

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