Sample Code for Custom C# MOSS Navigation Using PortalSiteMapProvider

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:24:05 GMT

So, The Mossman commented on my post yesterday saying that a little source around the PSMP would be nice, so just for him, here it is. I figured it would be good to build on Andrew Connell's Telerik MOSS Integration Guide, so this example shows how to create your own top-level menu in a custom server-control using the Telerik RadMenu and the PortalSiteMapProvider. I know not everybody will have the license for the Telerik RadMenu, so if you don't, hopefully you'll be able to take this example and pull out of it what you need.

Also, I posted this post on top of the one yesterday, whoops. There's a good lesson on locally saving your postings. Sorry if it's shown up new a couple of times for some of you. Wish I could figure out why...

This solution shows how you could add custom attributes on each RadMenuItem from SPField values in the PublishingPage along with a custom client-side script event handler.

Download the source for the complete control in a text file, if you'd like it.

The menu created will look like the following and will pop a JavaScript alert with the relevant PublishingPage and SPWeb GUIDs when clicked:


protected override void CreateChildControls()
{ //Get the root publishingweb web for the site PublishingWeb
rootWeb = PublishingWeb.GetPublishingWeb(SPContext.Current.Site.RootWeb); //Get
the URL of the default page in the web string defaultPageUrl
= rootWeb.DefaultPage.ServerRelativeUrl; //find the item
in the PSMP PortalListItemSiteMapNode smnHome = (PortalListItemSiteMapNode)PortalSiteMapProvider.


CurrentNavSiteMapProviderNoEncode.FindSiteMapNode(defaultPageUrl); //initialize
the RadMenu RadMenu menu = new RadMenu();
menu.ID = "MainMenu"; menu.RadControlsDir = "/_wpresources/RadMenu.Net2/4.3.2.0__bbe59a8ad3533e68/RadControls";
menu.Skin = "Outlook"; //Set
the client-side clicked event handler menu.OnClientItemClicked = "MainMenu_RadMenuItemClicked"; //create
the first menu item for the default (home) page RadMenuItem rmiHome = createMenuItem(smnHome);
menu.Items.Add(rmiHome); //iterate through each one of
the pages and subsites and create menu items for them foreach (SiteMapNode
smnTopLevelItem in smnHome.ParentNode.ChildNodes)
{ RadMenuItem rmiTopLevelItem = createMenuItem(smnTopLevelItem); //if
the current sitemap has children, create a submenu for it if (smnTopLevelItem.HasChildNodes)
{ foreach (SiteMapNode smnChildItem in smnTopLevelItem.ChildNodes)
{ RadMenuItem rmiChildItem = createMenuItem(smnChildItem); rmiTopLevelItem.Items.Add(rmiChildItem);
} } menu.Items.Add(rmiTopLevelItem); } this.Controls.Add(menu); //create
the client-side script for the RadMenuItemClicked event handler StringBuilder
sbScript = new StringBuilder(); sbScript.Append(Environment.NewLine
+ "<script language=\"javascript\">"); sbScript.Append(Environment.NewLine
+ "function MainMenu_RadMenuItemClicked(sender, eventArgs)");
sbScript.Append(Environment.NewLine + "{"); sbScript.Append(Environment.NewLine
+ "var pageGuid = eventArgs.Item.GetAttribute(\"PageGuid\");");
sbScript.Append(Environment.NewLine + "var webGuid =
eventArgs.Item.GetAttribute(\"WebGuid\");"); sbScript.Append(Environment.NewLine
+ "alert(\"WebGuid:\" + webGuid + \" PageGuid:\" + pageGuid);");
sbScript.Append(Environment.NewLine + "}"); sbScript.Append(Environment.NewLine
+ "</script>"); this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript(typeof(string), "RadMenu_MainMenu_RadMenuItemClicked",
sbScript.ToString()); } /// <summary> ///
Create a RadMenuItem from a SiteMapNode /// </summary> ///
<param name="siteMapNode">SiteMapNode used to create RadMenuItem </param> ///
<returns>RadMenuItem</returns> private RadMenuItem
createMenuItem(SiteMapNode siteMapNode) { RadMenuItem menuItem = new RadMenuItem();
menuItem.NavigateUrl = siteMapNode.Url; menuItem.Text = siteMapNode.Title; SPListItem
listItem = null; //if
the SiteMapNode is the default page, it will be a PortalWebSiteMapNode if (siteMapNode is PortalWebSiteMapNode)
listItem = getListItemFromPortalSiteMapNode((PortalWebSiteMapNode)siteMapNode); if (siteMapNode is PortalListItemSiteMapNode)
listItem = getListItemFromPortalSiteMapNode((PortalListItemSiteMapNode)siteMapNode); //create
the custom attributes on the list item if (listItem
!= null) { menuItem.Attributes.Add("PageGuid",
listItem.UniqueId.ToString("N")); menuItem.Attributes.Add("WebGuid",
listItem.Web.ID.ToString("N")); menuItem.ToolTip
= listItem.Fields["MenuItemToolTip"].GetFieldValueAsText(listItem["MenuItemToolTip"]);
} else { menuItem.Attributes.Add("PageGuid", string.Empty);
menuItem.Attributes.Add("WebGuid", string.Empty);
menuItem.ToolTip = siteMapNode.Title; } return menuItem;
} private SPListItem getListItemFromPortalSiteMapNode(PortalListItemSiteMapNode
siteMapNode) { SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Site.AllWebs[siteMapNode.WebId]; PublishingWeb
pubWeb = PublishingWeb.GetPublishingWeb(web); SPListItem pageItem = pubWeb.PagesList.Items[siteMapNode.UniqueId]; return pageItem;
} private SPListItem getListItemFromPortalSiteMapNode(PortalWebSiteMapNode
siteMapNode) { SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Site.AllWebs[siteMapNode.WebId]; PublishingWeb
pubWeb = PublishingWeb.GetPublishingWeb(web); SPListItem pageItem = null; if(pubWeb.DefaultPage
!= null) pageItem = pubWeb.PagesList.Items[pubWeb.DefaultPage.Item.UniqueId]; return pageItem;
}

Custom C# MOSS Navigation Using PortalSiteMapProvider

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:47:48 GMT

I was talking to a client who was having difficulty developing a navigation control using the methods described in most of the documentation out there, which explains creating a custom Site Map Provider which inherits from the PortalSiteMapProvider (PSMP)object. There was just no way they were going to get exactly what they were looking for in relation to what their high-priced 3rd-party designer delivered.

After taking some time to do some exploration, and being a big proponent of web server controls in the MOSS context, I knew this was the way they needed to go. I found a great post by Chris Richard on the MS ECM Team Blog that explained how the PortalSiteMapProvider deals with performance issues found often in costly navigation rendering routines. This post also explained how to use the PSMP object in custom code - something that caught my eye.

There are a few instances of the PSMP that are defined in the MOSS web.config that can be accessed through the PSM object:
PortalSiteMapProvider.CombinedNavSiteMapProvider: attached to the global or top nav menus
PortalSiteMapProvider.CurrentNavSiteMapProvider: attached to the current, or "Quick Launch" nav menu
PortalSiteMapProvider.CurrentNavSiteMapProviderNoEncode: attached to the breadcrumb nav
PortalSiteMapProvider.GlobalNavSiteMapProvider: Get the map for the global nav
PortalSiteMapProvider.WebSiteMapProvider: enumerates Web sites (SPWebs) in the site collection

Essentially, all of these object are set with the current SPContext, so they are already security-trimmed and ready to use as-is for the user currently browsing the site. The special one for me here is the CurrentNavSiteMapProviderNoEncode, which includes the pages, not just the webs. There is a limitation which Chris mentions in that this provider doesn't return the default page in a web, rather just a reference to the web itself, but that's ok - he explains a workaround to this if you're interested...

Essentially, my client's problem is that they have a left-side tree navigation, kind of. There's some interesting display logic that, like I said earlier, just doesn't work with the out-of-box implementation. Without going into what they really needed to accomplish, I figure it would be good to explain how to use the object to answer some of the common questions in a custom navigation scenario.

1) Where Am I Now?
2) Where's That Page?

Luckily, the CurrentNavSiteMapProviderNoEncode has a method that makes finding stuff pretty easy. FindSiteMapNode(). This method has three overloads, all which return a SiteMapNode object.

The first overload takes an HttpContext as a parameter and is great for finding where you're at now. The second overload takes a URL and can be used for finding any SiteMapNode given the URL provided. The third takes both a URL and an SPWeb object as context.

Here's some examples on how you use this along with the Publishing object model:

//In
a server control, find the SiteMapNode for the current HttpContext  SiteMapNode
siteNode = PortalSiteMapProvider.CurrentNavSiteMapProviderNoEncode.FindSiteMapNode(Context); ///
<summary>  /// Find SiteMapNode for PublishingWeb
object  /// </summary>  ///
<param name="web">PublishingWeb object to retrieve in PortalSiteMapProvider</param>  ///
<returns>SiteMapNode object representing given PublishingWeb object</returns>  protected SiteMapNode
GetSiteNodeForPubWeb(PublishingWeb web) { string url
= web.Url + "/" + web.DefaultPage.Url; SiteMapNode
siteNode = PortalSiteMapProvider.CurrentNavSiteMapProviderNoEncode.FindSiteMapNode(url); return siteNode;
}

The SiteMapNode object contains everything needed to walk around in the hierarchy of the PSMP, and should allow you conquer any custom display logic any tricky designer can throw at you...

Update: I added a follow-up post to this one with some Sample Code for a Custom C# MOSS Navigation Using PortalSiteMapProvider

Rich Finn - Navigation

Sample Code for Custom C# MOSS Navigation Using PortalSiteMapProvider

Custom C# MOSS Navigation Using PortalSiteMapProvider