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Sitefinity Building Parts > Modules > Forums > Forums Public Controls

Glossary Item Box

This topic provides a description of the public controls of the Forums module available in Page Edit mode:

Forums Public Controls

Figure 1

When using the Forums public controls, make sure you add a script manager in the .master file as shown below:
   <asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server">
   </asp:ScriptManager>

This is required since the introduction of RadEditor for ASP.Net AJAX.

 

Forums

Description 

This is the universal Forums public control - it requires minimal settings for displaying forums. All that needs to be done to display all forums is add the Forums control to a page.

 

For more on forum items creation and manipulation, see Forums Overview

 

The Forums public control is a ready-to-use control for handling forums. When added to a page, it lists all forums, and provides links to pages that display each of the forums, their threads and their posts.

 

Figure 2 shows what the control displays after it is added to the page - all forums. If the forums are categorized, they are ordered by categories.  

Forums Public Controls - Forums Display of All Forums

Figure 2

 

Figure 3 shows what the control displays after clicking on one of the forum titles, in this case - Movies. A forum contains a number of threads. 

Forums Public Controls - Forums Display of All Threads

Figure 3

 

Figure 4 shows what the control displays after clicking on one of the thread titles, in this case - Lord of the Rings. A thread contains a number of posts. 

Forums Public Controls - Forums Display of All Posts

Figure 4

 

 

Setting the Public Controls

Following are some basic settings that need to be made to work with the Blog Posts control:

  1. Behavior section: Visible should be True

 

There are also several properties in the Misc section that allow for the setting of a page for each of the other available public controls of the Forums module. These are:

  1. EditPostPage - page that contains the Edit Post control
  2. AllForumsPage - page that contains the Forums List control
  3. SingleForumPage - page that contains the Single Forum control
  4. SingleThreadPage - page that contains the Single Thread control

 

There is one property that allows for setting a page that will require the user to login before posting to the forum:

  1. LoginPage - page that contains the Login control (available in the toolbox, Login section)

 

Figure 5 illustrates the available sections for the properties of Forums:

 Forums Public Controls - Forums Properties Sections

Figure 5 

 

The Other Forums Public Controls - Separate Functionality

The Forums control provides complete functionality for using all parts of the forums module. However, in order to customize the display of forums or display only a single forum part (for example, just a list of threads), you need to use a separate control. That is why there are four more controls for the Forums module:

 

These four controls are connected in a workflow that is demonstrated in Figure 6. Each of the blue rectangles represents a stage that a user goes through when performing a certain action (the yellow arrows). The different public controls for Forums serve to provide the functionality needed at each of these states. Every control provides functionality for the state with the corresponding name

Figure 6

 

The Forums public control provides the whole workflow, unlike the rest of the controls.

 

Forums List

Description 

This is the Forums public control that displays a list of forums (see Figure 2)

In order to enable the links to each of the forums, a setting needs to be made as explained in the following section.

 

Setting the Public Controls

Following are some basic settings that need to be made to work with the Forums List control:

  1. Behavior section: Visible should be True
  2. Misc section: SingleForumPage should be set to a page that contains the Single Forum control
  3. Data section: ProviderName should contain the name of the provider; in this case - Sitefinity  

 

Figure 7 illustrates the available sections for the Properties of Forums List:

 Forums Public Controls - Forum List Properties Sections

Figure 7

 

Single Forum

Description 

This is the Forums public control that displays a single forum which contains a number of threads (see Figure 3)

In order to enable the links to each thread, a setting needs to be made as explained in the following section.

 

Setting the Public Controls

Following are some basic settings that need to be made to work with the Single Forum control:

  1. Behavior section: Visible should be True
  2. Misc section: AllForumsPage should be set to a page that contains the Forums List control
  3. Misc section: SingleThreadPage should be set to a page that contains the Single Thread control
  4. Misc section: EditPostPage should be set to a page that contains the Edit Post control
  5. Data section: ProviderName should contain the name of the provider; in this case - Sitefinity  

 

There will be no visible content in the control even after making the above-mentioned settings. The content will be available only in live mode according to the workflow illustrated in Figure 6.

 

Figure 8 illustrates the available sections for the properties of Single Forum:

Forums Public Controls - Single Forum Properties Sections

Figure 8

 

Single Thread

Description 

This is the Forums public control that displays a single thread which contains a number of posts (see Figure 4)

In order to enable the links to each post, a setting needs to be made as explained in the following section.

 

Setting the Public Controls

Following are some basic settings that need to be made to work with the Single Forum control:

  1. Behavior section: Visible should be True
  2. Misc section: SingleForumPage should be set to a page that contains the Single Forum control
  3. Misc section: EditPostPage should be set to a page that contains the Edit Post control  

 

There will be no visible content in the control even after making the above-mentioned settings. The content will be available only in live mode according to the workflow illustrated in Figure 6.

 

Figure 9 illustrates the available sections for the properties of Single Thread:

Forums Public Controls - Single Thread Properties Sections

Figure 9

 

 

Edit Post

Description 

This is the Forums public control that allows for editing a post. When a user clicks on the Edit link of a post, a new page with an editor appears. Figure 10 shows what is displayed when the Edit link of the first post of "Lord of the Rings" thread (Figure Figure 4) is clicked:  

Forums Public Controls - Edit Post Display of Posts Editor

Figure 10

 

Setting the Public Controls

Following are some basic settings that need to be made to work with the Edit Post control:

  1. Behavior section: Visible should be True
  2. Misc section: SingleForumPage should be set to a page that contains the Single Forum control
  3. Misc section: SingleThreadPage should be set to a page that contains the Single Thread control

 

There will be no visible content in the control even after making the above-mentioned settings. The content will be available only in live mode according to the workflow illustrated in Figure 6.

 

There is one property that allows for setting a page that will require the user to login before posting to the forum:

  1. LoginPage - page that contains the Login control (available in the toolbox, Login section)

 

Figure 11 illustrates the available sections for the properties of Edit Post:

Forums Public Controls - Edit Post Properties Sections

Figure 11

 

See Also