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Hi Peter

I think this is 'head on the nail' one of the missing features with items. The ability to keep large repositories of items in the tree without having them represented in the actual tree.

We have 2 solutions on the drawing board for this - one is a better experience of named itemlists, the other is using a folder in the tree to show sub items as a list in the content area instead of including them in the tree. (If that makes sense to you).

Using named itemlists would not page the items actual pages with page properties and would not be able to be published in the navigation and meta data would not be editable. Very suitable for very large repositories, like all houses for sale in DK etc.

Using pages (as items) displayed in lists in the content area, would give the items the possibility of going into the navigation tree and meta data would be editable. Very suitable for relatively large repositories, like news, all the cars a dealer has for sale, 1000 events and stuff like that.

And we probably should support both versions.

Would these features cover your needs? And which is highest priority for you?

BR Nicolai

Presenting the data in the website isn't the problem at all.
I can use item publishers, or map to my own view model and present the items any way I want.

The only problem is the managing of the items.
Named item lists 'seem' to do what I want functionally, which is:

• Have a list of my items
• Sort them by column
• Search throug them
• Click a row and edit the detail
• Paging

But it is set up in a way no content editor can use it ...
It uses popup editors within popup editors and they can not be resized.

Our client refuses to accept this way of item editing and I have to agree with them, it is unmanageble this way.
For our next sprint we are going to customize it all, but I think  for a content management system it should be elementary to have such a feature ...

This is something we run into almost every solution and often we fall back to the "Pages in content" solution, which really isn't what we want either ...
I just hoped anyone would have a working solution to this, I supposed we're not the only ones handling large quantities of "items" ...

This is what I mean with popup within popup, try to do this on a small screen resolution like our client:

Maybe when this list opens in the content part of the cms and the edit screen opens in the content part of the cms, the problem would be gone.
Then we just have to figure out a way the content manager can find the list.
Perhaps some links from the modules page directly to your lists of item ....

So updating the named item lists features would be highest priority of the two options, but I agree, they should both be supported.

Hi Peter

Thanks for clarifying. So we could basically move the windows into the content area instead of the pop-ups - and it would be a great help?

BR Nicolai

Hi Guys,

I have been struggling with the same issue for a while already. I think both solutions have their benefits and use cases.

Sometimes you need to publish the item types in pages for a better and cleaner URL, while sometimes you just need a way to maintain a dictionary easily.

I for one have used the Item Relations and with a custom control I can probably get the same (or close) behavior as in the Item Relations. The only downside is that I cannot publish the items with Item Publisher unless they are visible somewhere. Pages, Paragraphs or ItemLists. Maybe you should also consider a way for accomodating this type of listing as well .

Anyway, I support any improvement of these functionalities because the way they are now, is not taking advantage of the whole range of possibilities.

Thank you,

Adrian

That would be a great start Nicolai.
But please give your system a functional review on this topic.
As Adrian states, the way they are now, is not taking advantage of the whole range of possibilities :)
I am convinced that if you want us to use items for bulk data, a proper way to manage them is a requirement.

Thanks for so far.

Agreed!

Will do so.

BR Nicolai

Hi Nicolai

I have had the same thoughts like Peter and Adrian about named itemlists (the current place in the backend and the popup editors) and would very much like to have the possibility of having: ".... a folder in the tree to show sub items as a list in the content area instead of including them in the tree" as you write. In this way it will be much more intuitive for the editor to find the items he or she want's to manage. But remember to keep the search and sort facilities of columns if you make the solution with items as a list in the content area. Because these features are indispensable.

Great, thank you for the input.

It has been added to the backlog and will be arriving within a few months.

Thanks, Nicolai

An addition question on this topic.

I have several item lists, for example for news items (which is a list that dates back many years so it is not page based).
For the item type the check option for item urls is set, but I can't seem to get friendly urls for these non-page items which that option does suggest.

Something like @Dynamicweb.Frontend.SearchEngineFriendlyURLs.GetFriendlyUrl(newsItem.GetString("ItemPublisher:Item.DetailsUrl").TrimStart('/')) just renders /nl-nl/nieuws?itemId=NewsItem:12396

Is there a way to get friendly urls for named item list items?

Hi Peter

You have to also enable the item url provider from the customized URLs section....

BR Nicolai

Do you mean this setting?
That was already set ...

Yes, that one.

Try to avoid calling GetFriendlyUrl from your template. That should not be needed....

BR Nicolai