Building an Umbraco 7 backoffice extension – Part III

The previous post (Part II) showed how to populate the content tree of a custom Umbraco backoffice section. This one presents a way for content managers to quickly handle each post pending approval, which means we’re going to create our own AngularJS controller and view.

AngularJS is a MVC javascript framework mainly mantained by Google which primary goal is to aid in the development of single-page applications. It’s use on the Umbraco backoffice was the most notable change when Umbraco 7 was first released.

When the content manager selects one node pending approval we want him to be able to take three quick actions:

• get some information about that node;
• quickly access it in the content section;
• quickly publish it.

New Angular controllers and views must be placed in a specific Umbraco directory, following a specific directory structure:

• the main directory must reside at ~\App_Plugins\ApproveIt – the plugin name
• the views and controllers must reside at App_Plugins\ApproveIt\backoffice\approvalTree\ – the tree controller name

First things first:

Create a package manifest so that Umbraco knows there are new javascript files available, and place it in the root of App_Plugins\ApproveIt directory.

{
	javascript: [
		'~/App_Plugins/ApproveIt/backoffice/approvalTree/edit.controller.js',
		'~/App_Plugins/ApproveIt/approval.resource.js'
	]
}

Then we must create the javascript files referenced by the manifest and the respective angular view.

angular.module("umbraco.resources")
	.factory("approvalResource", function ($http) {
	    return {
	        getById: function (id) {
	            return $http.get("backoffice/ApproveIt/ApprovalApi/GetById?id=" + id);
	        },
	        publish: function (id) {
	            return $http.post("backoffice/ApproveIt/ApprovalApi/PostPublish?id=" + id);
	        }
	    };
	});

This javascript file provides a new Angular Service that can then be used by Angular controllers. This service is no more than a facade for the ApprovalApiController created on Part II. The methods it connects to are created further on.

angular.module("umbraco").controller("Approval.ApprovalEditController",
	function ($scope, $routeParams, approvalResource, notificationsService, navigationService) {

	    $scope.loaded = false;

	    if ($routeParams.id == -1) {
	        $scope.node = {};
	        $scope.loaded = true;
	    }
	    else {
	        approvalResource.getById($routeParams.id).then(function (response) {
	            $scope.node = response.data;
	            $scope.loaded = true;
	        });
	    }

	    $scope.publish = function (node) {
	        approvalResource.publish(node.Id).then(function (response) {
	            $scope.node = response.data;
	            $scope.contentForm.$dirty = false;
	            navigationService.syncTree({ tree: 'approvalTree', path: [-1, -1], forceReload: true });
	            notificationsService.success("Success", node.Name + " has been published");
	        });
	    };

	});

This Angular controller is called when the Approve It section is being used:

• If no node is selected (for instance, when we access this section for the first time) we do nothing;
• If a node is selected ($routeParams.id != -1) we request the node details through our approval.resource service facade
• Finally, the quick publish method is also implemented here. This methods calls the ApprovalResource service which then invokes the publish method of the ApprovalApiController.

<form name="contentForm"
      ng-controller="Approval.ApprovalEditController"
      ng-show="loaded"
      ng-submit="publish(node)"
      val-form-manager>
    <umb-panel>
        <umb-header>
            <div class="span7">
                <umb-content-name placeholder="@placeholders_entername"
                                  ng-model="node.Name" />
            </div>
            <div class="span5">
                <div class="btn-toolbar pull-right umb-btn-toolbar">
                    <umb-options-menu ng-show="currentNode"
                                      current-node="currentNode"
                                      current-section="{{currentSection}}">
                    </umb-options-menu>
                </div>
            </div>
        </umb-header>
        <div class="umb-panel-body umb-scrollable row-fluid">
            <div class="tab-content form-horizontal" style="padding-bottom: 90px">
                <div class="umb-pane">

                    <umb-control-group label="Name" description="Content's name">
                        <input type="text" class="umb-editor umb-textstring" ng-model="node.Name" required />
                    </umb-control-group>

                    <div class="umb-tab-buttons" detect-fold>
                        <div class="btn-group">
                            <a class="btn" ng-href="#/content/content/edit/{{node.Id}}">
                                Show
                            </a>
                        </div>
                        <div class="btn-group">
                            <button type="submit" data-hotkey="ctrl+s" class="btn btn-success">
                                Publish
                            </button>
                        </div>
                    </div>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </umb-panel>
</form>

The node view presents the waiting approval page name and two buttons: one to quickly navigate to it’s details and another to publish it.

Finally, we need to update the ApprovalApiController.cs to include two new methods:

public IContent GetById(int id)
{
    IContent content = ApplicationContext.Services.ContentService.GetById(id);
    return content;
}

public IContent PostPublish(int id)
{
    IContent node = ApplicationContext.Services.ContentService.GetById(id);
    ApplicationContext.Services.ContentService.Publish(node);

    return node;
}

• GetById: returns the node details to the angular view
• PostPublish: publishes the node being viewed

By following these steps we are able to create a complete new Umbraco backoffice section that provides us with a way to manage every site content waiting approval for publishing:

If you want to see how this plugin as been evolving, you can check its source code in github: https://github.com/ViGiLnT/ApproveIt. You can also download the plugin ready to be installed at Umbraco’s extensions repository: https://our.umbraco.org/projects/backoffice-extensions/approve-it/. Other Umbraco 7 tutorials and information can be found here: http://umbraco.github.io/Belle.