Custom Reset Layout in Content and Experience Editor Modes

February 9, 2018 Rodrigo Peplau 0

Recently I had to customize the code that triggers when a Reset Layout is executed. If you ever had to attach any code to it, this post is for you!

You know, that sympathetic prompt:

The first thing you need to know is that Content Editor and Experience Editor does that differently, so let’s go for them:

Round 1 – Content Editor

Content Editor uses a command for that (pagedesigner:reset), which is natively implemented by the class Sitecore.Shell.Applications.Layouts.PageDesigner.Commands.Reset. We first need to create a class that will inherit from the original, so we don’t lose the original behavior, and implement our custom logic on it.

Create a Command class like this:

using System.Web.Mvc;
using Sitecore.Shell.Applications.Dialogs.ResetLayout;
using Sitecore.Web.UI.Sheer;

namespace MyProject.Commands
{
    public class ResetLayoutCommand : Sitecore.Shell.Applications.Layouts.PageDesigner.Commands.Reset
    {
        protected override void Run(ClientPipelineArgs args)
        {
            // Runs the default behaviour
            base.Run(args);

            // Skips if the Reset Layout prompt is not submited or results is undefined
            if (!args.IsPostBack || string.IsNullOrEmpty(args.Result) || args.Result == "undefined")
                return;

            // Takes the item that has been reset
            var itemReset = DeserializeItems(args.Parameters["items"])[0];

            // And here is where your custom logic will be implemented
            // .....
        }
    }
}

Then we override the default command with our class in a config patch like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">
    <sitecore>
        <commands>
            <command patch:instead="*[@name='pagedesigner:reset']" name="pagedesigner:reset" resolve="true" 
                type="MyProject.Commands.ResetLayoutCommand, MyProject"/>
        </commands>
    </sitecore>
</configuration>

And this is how we run the first leg. But it is not over yet, let’s go for…

Round 2 – Experience Editor

Experience Editor, on the other hand, uses a different approach for that. It has a request node named “ExperienceEditor.ResetLayout.Execute” under <sitecore.experienceeditor.speak.requests> that we need to replace. This request node is implemented by the native class Sitecore.ExperienceEditor.Speak.Ribbon.Requests.ResetLayout.Execute, which again we are going to inherit.

So our Request class will be like this:

using System;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using Sitecore.Diagnostics;
using Sitecore.ExperienceEditor.Speak.Attributes;
using Sitecore.ExperienceEditor.Speak.Server.Responses;
using Sitecore.Shell.Applications.Dialogs.ResetLayout;

namespace MyProject.ExperienceEditor
{
    public class ResetLayout : Sitecore.ExperienceEditor.Speak.Ribbon.Requests.ResetLayout.Execute
    {
        [HasItemPermissions(Id = "{BE98D7F0-7404-4F97-8E4C-8FEF4ACA5DA3}", Path = "/sitecore/content/Applications/WebEdit/Ribbons/WebEdit/Advanced/Layout/Reset")]
        public override PipelineProcessorResponseValue ProcessRequest()
        {
            // Instantiates the returning object and 
            var processorResponseValue = new PipelineProcessorResponseValue();

            try
            {
                // Executes the default RESET LAYOUT process
                processorResponseValue = base.ProcessRequest();

                // Takes the item that has been reset
                var itemReset = RequestContext.Item;

                // And here is where your custom logic will be implemented
                // ..... (OF COURSE, DON'T DUPLICATE YOUR LOGIC!)
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Log.Error(
                    $"[ResetLayout] Cannot execute post Layout Reset operations to item '{RequestContext.Item.Paths.Path}'", e, GetType());
            }
            return processorResponseValue;
        }
    }
}

And finally we patch it again with a config file like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">
    <sitecore>
        <sitecore.experienceeditor.speak.requests>
            <request patch:instead="*[@name='ExperienceEditor.ResetLayout.Execute']"
                name="ExperienceEditor.ResetLayout.Execute"
                type="MyProject.ExperienceEditor.ResetLayout, MyProject" />
        </sitecore.experienceeditor.speak.requests>
    </sitecore>
</configuration>

And that’s all… You now have your custom code being triggered by both Content Editor and Experience Editor!

Categories: Content Edition Experience, Development, Experience Editor