Try our conversational search powered by Generative AI!

Anders Hattestad
Feb 18, 2014
  5620
(1 votes)

Query content of inherit type or those that implements an interface

Sometimes when I do import jobs, I check if a content type have a specific property. If a page exists I update it, and if not I create a new. Other times I want to find some pages that inherits form a basepage type and get those pages that have some properties set.
To find a page if it exists with testKey I used

var items = ContentModelUsage.Service.ListContentOfContentType(
    ContentTypeRepository.Service.Load<MyPageType>())
        .Select(x =>
        x.ContentLink.CreateReferenceWithoutVersion())
    .Distinct()
    .Select(x => ContentLoader.Service.Get<MyPageType>(x))
    .OfType<MyPageType>()
    .Where(p => !p.IsDeleted)
    .Where(p => p.MyTestProperty == testKey)
    .ToList();

The problem with this code is that it is slow. I could of course grab all items, and select on that collection, but then I need to update the list with new items. The ListContentOfContentType takes in my case 350ms to execute, and the Get takes practical zero ms (after first time). Therefore, what I will do is to cache the ListContentOfType, but clear it content is added or removed.

Another problem is that the above code does not find content that inherits MyPageType, or implements an interface.

I therefore made myself a method that finds all content types that is, or inherits or implements an interface.

public static List<ContentType> GetContentTypesOfType(Type inheritTypeOrInterface)
{
    var list = ContentTypeRepository.Service.List().
        Where(
            p => p.ModelType != null &&
            (
                p.ModelType.IsSubclassOf(inheritTypeOrInterface) ||
                p.ModelType == inheritTypeOrInterface ||
                (inheritTypeOrInterface.IsInterface && inheritTypeOrInterface.IsAssignableFrom(p.ModelType))
            )
        ).
        ToList();
    return list;
}

In addition, used that to find all content reference for a type or interface

public static IList<ContentReference> GetReferenceOf(Type inheritTypeOrInterface)
{

    var list = GetContentTypesOfType(inheritTypeOrInterface);
    var result = new List<ContentReference>();
    foreach (var contentType in list)
    {
        var subResult = GetUsagesSpesificType(contentType);
        if (subResult != null)
            result.AddRange(subResult);
    }
    return result;

}
public static IList<ContentReference> GetUsagesSpesificType(ContentType contentType)
{

    var cacheKey = CacheKeyStart + contentType.ModelType;
    var result = EPiServer.CacheManager.Get(cacheKey) as CacheResult;
    if (result == null)
    {
        if (contentType != null)
        {
            var allItems = ContentModelUsage.Service.ListContentOfContentType(contentType).
                Select(x => x.ContentLink.CreateReferenceWithoutVersion()).
                Distinct().ToList();
            result = new CacheResult(allItems);

        }
        else
        {
            result = new CacheResult(null);

        }
        EPiServer.CacheManager.Add(cacheKey, result, System.Web.Caching.CacheItemPriority.BelowNormal);

    }
    return result.GetList();
}

I cache the result for the specific contentType but not for the aggregate list. This is because it is difficult to clear the cache of those aggregate lists. I can therefore easy make a method that returns all content of a specific type or interface.

public static List<T> GetContentOf<T>(ILanguageSelector selector) 
{
    var result = new List<T>();
    foreach (var item in ContentLoader.Service.GetItems(GetReferenceOf(typeof(T)), selector))
        if (item is T)
            result.Add((T)item);;
    return result;
}

The only thing I need now is to clear the cache if new content is added or deleted.

public void Initialize(EPiServer.Framework.Initialization.InitializationEngine context)
{
    DataFactory.Instance.CreatedContent += Instance_ClearCache;
    DataFactory.Instance.DeletedContent += Instance_ClearCache;
}

void Instance_ClearCache(object sender, ContentEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Content != null)
    {
        var contentType=ContentTypeRepository.Service.Load(e.Content.GetOriginalType());
        if (contentType != null)
        {
            var cacheKey = CacheKeyStart + contentType.ModelType;
            EPiServer.CacheManager.Remove(cacheKey);
        }
    }
}

So it can be used to find pages that inherits from a base pagetype that have a BasePropertyName equals to shouldBe

var items3 = FindContent.GetContentOf<BasePageType>(LanguageSelector.MasterLanguage()).
    Where(p => !p.IsDeleted).
    Where(p => p.BasePropertyName == shouldBe);

var items4 = FindContent.GetContentOfExcludeDeleted<IHaveInterface>(LanguageSelector.MasterLanguage()).
    Where(p => p.InterfaceName==shouldBe);

The complete code is here

Feb 18, 2014

Comments

Please login to comment.
Latest blogs
From Procrastination to Proficiency: Navigating Your Journey to Web Experimentation Certification

Hey there, Optimizely enthusiasts!   Join me in celebrating a milestone – I'm officially a certified web experimentation expert! It's an exhilarati...

Silvio Pacitto | May 17, 2024

GPT-4o Now Available for Optimizely via the AI-Assistant plugin!

I am excited to announce that GPT-4o is now available for Optimizely users through the Epicweb AI-Assistant integration. This means you can leverag...

Luc Gosso (MVP) | May 17, 2024 | Syndicated blog

The downside of being too fast

Today when I was tracking down some changes, I came across this commit comment Who wrote this? Me, almost 5 years ago. I did have a chuckle in my...

Quan Mai | May 17, 2024 | Syndicated blog

Optimizely Forms: Safeguarding Your Data

With the rise of cyber threats and privacy concerns, safeguarding sensitive information has become a top priority for businesses across all...

K Khan | May 16, 2024

The Experimentation Process

This blog is part of the series -   Unlocking the Power of Experimentation: A Marketer's Insight. Welcome back, to another insightful journey into...

Holly Quilter | May 16, 2024

Azure AI Language – Sentiment Analysis in Optimizely CMS

In the following article, I showcase how sentiment analysis, which is part of the Azure AI Language service, can be used to detect the sentiment of...

Anil Patel | May 15, 2024 | Syndicated blog