Working with EPT documents 2: Create and edit

These small samples shows how you can write code work with EPT document from a Content Studio Web page.

Create an EPT document

The following code snippet shows how easy it is to create a new EPT document by using SyncronizedEPTDocument class, fill the document with some data and eventually publish it.

The SyncronizedEPTDocument class makes it easy for programmers to read and optionally update the content of EPT documents without needing to worry about whether or not every field in the schema is present or not. This is true even when you create a new document - all fields defined in the schema will be added automatically for you. In addition to that, the often tedious process of checking in and out document is taken care of by the object automatically.

int categoryId = 168;
try
{
   using(septd = new SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, 
                                            CS_UserSessionId, 
                                            categoryId, 
                                            "My news item"))
   {
        //Add data to the fields
        septd["Header"] = "An exciting event";
        septd["Intro"] = "This is the introduction";
        septd["Text"] = "This is the actual text";
        //Create the document
        septd.Save();
        //Publish it by using the approve method
        septd.Approve();
        septd.Close();
   }
   Response.Write("The document has been created successfully");
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
   Response.Write("Could not create the document: " + Server.HtmlEncode(ex.Message));     
}

VB.NET

Dim categoryId As Integer = 168
Try
   Using septd As New SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, _
                                             CS_UserSessionId, _
                                             categoryId, _
                                             "My news item")
        'Add data to the fields
        septd("Header") = "An exciting event"
        septd("Intro") = "This is the introduction"
        septd("Text") = "This is the actual text"
        'Create the document
        septd.Save()
        'Publish it by using the approve method
        septd.Approve()
        septd.Close()
   End Using
   Response.Write("The document has been created successfully")
Catch ex As Exception
   Response.Write("Could not create the document: " & Server.HtmlEncode(ex.Message))    
End Try

Update the value of an EPT document field

As with the preceding example you can use the SyncronizedEPTDocument class also to update the content of one or more field values in an EPT document.

Note

The metadata fields of the EPT document is maintained by Content Studio based on the meta data of the document and does not exists in the standard fields collection of the SyncronizedEPTDocument class. In order to be able to read these values you use one of the type safe meta data functions.

GetMetaFieldAsString

GetMetaFieldAsDateTime

GetMetaFieldAsInteger

The sample demonstrates this by reading the CS_PublishData meta data field of the actual document and write it out on the page.

int documentID = 4372;
using (SyncronizedEPTDocument septd = new SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, 
                                                                 CS_UserSessionId, 
                                                                 documentID))
{
    //Update the content of a EPT field named "Header"
    septd["Header"] = "An exciting event updated";
    septd.Save();
    //Get the publish date of the document from one of the meta data fields and print it.
    DateTime dt = septd.GetMetaFieldAsDateTime("CS_PublishDate");
    Response.Write("The document was published at " + dt.ToString());
}

VB.NET

Dim documentID As Integer = 4372
Using septd As New SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, _
                                          CS_UserSessionId, _
                                          documentID)
    'Update the content of a EPT field named "Header"
    septd("Header") = "An exciting event updated"
    septd.Save()
    'Get the publish date of the document from one of the meta data fields and print it.
    Dim dt As DateTime = septd.GetMetaFieldAsDateTime("CS_PublishDate");
    Response.Write("The document was published at " + dt.ToString())
End Using

Create new documents and reuse the schema

This sample shows a more advanced usage of the SyncronizedEPTDocument class where a document and a second child document are created.
For efficency, the schema is reused between the two creation operations and in order to be able to supply a parent document to the second document, a CSDocument object is supplied to the Save method.C#

try
{
  int categoryID = CS_InsertedCategoryId;
  int parent = 0;
  SchemaFieldCollection schema = null;
  using(SyncronizedEPTDocument septd = new SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, 
                                                                  CS_UserSessionId, 
                                                                  categoryID, 
                                                                  "My news item"))
  {
    //Add some text
    septd["Header"] = "An exciting event";
    septd["Intro"] = "This is the introduction";
    septd["Text"] = "This is the actual text";
    septd.Save();
    septd.Approve();
    //Save the schema so it can be reused for efficency. 
    //By doing this Content Studio does not have to reload the same schema 
    //and build the same field collection again.
    schema = septd.SchemaFields;
    //Get the document id so we can use it as parent document later
    parent = septd.DocumentID;
    septd.Close();
  }
  //Create a second, child document
  using(SyncronizedEPTDocument septd = new SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, 
                                                                  CS_UserSessionId, 
                                                                  categoryID, 
                                                                  "My child item", 
                                                                  schema))
  {
    //Add some text
    septd["Header"] = "Another exciting event";
    septd["Intro"] = "This is another introduction";
    septd["Text"] = "This is another actual text";
    //document properties such as ParentDocumentID can be 
    //supplied by using the CSDocument class
    CSDocument props = new CSDocument();
    props.ParentDocumentID = parent;
    septd.Save(props);
    septd.Approve();
    septd.Close();
  }
  Response.Write("Success");
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
  Response.Write("Failed: " + Server.HtmlEncode(ex.Message));  
}

VB.NET

Try
  Dim categoryID As Integer = CS_InsertedCategoryId
  Dim parent As Integer = 0
  Dim schema As SchemaFieldCollection = Nothing
  Using septd As New SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, _
                                            CS_UserSessionId, _
                                            categoryID, _
                                            "My news item")
    'Add some text
    septd("Header") = "An exciting event"
    septd("Intro") = "This is the introduction"
    septd("Text") = "This is the actual text"
    septd.Save()
    septd.Approve()
    'Save the schema so it can be reused for efficency. 
    'By doing this Content Studio does not have to reload the same 
    'schema and build the same field collection again.
    schema = septd.SchemaFields
    'Get the document id so we can use it as parent document later
    parent = septd.DocumentID
    septd.Close()
  End Using
  'Create a second, child document
  Using septd As New SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, _
                                            CS_UserSessionId, _
                                            categoryID, _
                                            "My child item", _
                                            schema)
    'Add some text
    septd("Header") = "Another exciting event"
    septd("Intro") = "This is another introduction"
    septd("Text") = "This is another actual text"
    'document properties such as ParentDocumentID can be 
    'supplied by using the CSDocument class
    CSDocument props = new CSDocument()
    props.ParentDocumentID = parent
    septd.Save(props)
    septd.Approve()
    septd.Close()
  End Using
  Response.Write("Success")
Catch ex As Exception
  Response.Write("Failed: " & Server.HtmlEncode(ex.Message))  
End Try

Update properties of a document

You cannot update the metadata fields in an EPT document since these fields are generated automatically when the document is saved by Content Studio. Instead you update properties on the document itself and all properties to update must be supplied in a CSDocument object to the Save method. The idea is that you set only the properties you want to change, such as Keywords and PublishDate, and the rest are not changed.

Starting with Content Studio version 5.1 there is a possibility to change the FileExtension of an EPT document as well. In earlier versions of the product the file extension for EPT documents where hardcoded to .xml but version 5.1 changes this so that the allowed file extension is controlled by a policy in global policy file. By default only the .ept and .xml file extensions are allowed but this can be further restricted by a category level policy. For more information concerning document policies see Security or Security policies

The following sample shows how to update change the FileExtension and the Keywords of an EPT document

This sample only works in Content Studio version 5.1 and later.

int documentID = 4372;
using (SyncronizedEPTDocument septd = new SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, 
                                                                 CS_UserSessionId, 
                                                                 documentID))
{
    //Update the file extension and the keywords of an EPT document
    CSDocument props = new CSDocument();
    props.FileExtension = ".ept";
    props.Keywords = "Music, violin, piano, sonata"; 
    septd.Save(props);
    septd.Approve();
    septd.Close();
}

Dim documentID As Integer = 4372
Using septd As SyncronizedEPTDocument = New SyncronizedEPTDocument(CS_ConnectionId, _
                                                                   CS_UserSessionId, _
                                                                   documentID)
    'Update the file extension and the keywords of an EPT document
    Dim props As New CSDocument()
    props.FileExtension = ".ept"
    props.Keywords = "Music, violin, piano, sonata" 
    septd.Save(props)
    septd.Approve()
    septd.Close()
End Using