Package Manifest
The package.manifest
JSON file format is used to describe one or more custom Umbraco property editors, grid editors or parameter editors. This page outlines the file format and properties found in the JSON.
Sample Manifest
This is a sample manifest, it is always stored in a folder in /App_Plugins/{YourPackageName}
, with the name package.manifest
Sample Manifest with Csharp
You can also register your files by implementing a IManifestFilter
instead of creating a package.manifest
. Create a ManifestFilter.cs
file and implement the IManifestFilter
interface. Then define the composer using the IComposer
interface.
For a functional example, you will need to register the editor and create the HTML
, JS
, and CSS
files in the App_Plugins/Suggestions
folder. You can find some examples of registering the editor in the Suggestions.cs
file and within the files in the App_Plugins
folder. For more information, see the Creating a Property Editor article.
Root elements
The manifest can contain seven root collections, none of them are mandatory:
Telemetry elements
From version 9.2, some additional root elements were added. Their purpose is to control and facilitate telemetry for the package but none of these are mandatory. The properties are:
name
- Allows you to specify a friendly name for your package that will be used for telemetry, if no name is specified the name of the folder will be used insteadversion
- The version of your package, if this is not specified there will be no version specific information for your packageallowPackageTelemetry
- Allows you to entirely disable telemetry for your package if set to false, defaults to true.
Example package.manifest
Property Editors
propertyEditors
returns an array of property editor definitions, each object specifies an editor to make available to data types as an editor component. These editors are primarily property editors for content, media and members. They can also be made available as a macro parameter editor.
The basic values on any editor are alias
, name
and editor
. These three must be set. Furthermore the editor value is an object with additional configuration options, it must contain a view value.
alias
The alias of the editor, this must be unique, its recommended to prefix with your own "namespace".name
The name visible to the user in the UI, should also be unique.editor
Object containing editor configuration (see below).isParameterEditor
enables the property editor as a macro parameter editor can betrue
/false
.prevalues
Configuration of editor prevalues (see below).defaultConfig
Default configuration values (see below).icon
A CSS class for the icon to be used in the 'Select Editor' dialog: e.g.icon-autofill
.group
The group to place this editor in within the 'Select Editor' dialog. Use a new group name or alternatively use an existing one such asPickers
.defaultConfig
Provides a collection of default configuration values, in case the property editor is not configured or is using a parameter editor, which doesn't allow configuration. The object is a key/value collection and must match theprevalues
fields keys.
Editor
editor
Besides setting a view, the editor can also contain additional information.
view
Path to the HTML file to use for rendering the editor.hideLabel
Turn the label on or off by usingtrue
orfalse
, respectively.valueType
Sets the database type the value is stored as, by default it'sstring
.validation
Object describing required validators on the editor.supportsReadOnly
Sets whether the editor supports read-only mode, if set to true, the editor is expected to have its own implementation of the read-only mode.isReadOnly
Disables editing the value.
valueType
sets the kind of data the editor will save in the database, its default setting is string
. The available options are:
STRING
Stores the value as an nvarchar in the databaseDATETIME
Stores the value as datetime in the databaseTEXT
Stores the value as ntext in the databaseINT
Stores the value as a bigint in the databaseJSON
Stored as ntext and automatically serialized to a dynamic object
Pre Values
preValues
is a collection of prevalue editors, used for configuring the property editor, the prevalues object must return an array of editors, called fields
.
Each field contains a number of configuration values:
label
The label shown on the Data Type configuration screendescription
Help text displayed underneath the labelkey
The key the prevalue is stored under (see below)view
Path to the editor used to configure this prevalue (see below)
key
on a prevalue, determines where it's stored in the database. If you give your prevalue the key "wolf" then this key will be used in the prevalue table.
It also means when this property editor is used on a property, the prevalue will be exposed on the model's configuration object. This occurs inside the property editor's controller, as shown below:
view
config value points the prevalue editor to an editor to use. This follows the same concept as any other editor in Umbraco, but with prevalue editors there are a couple of conventions.
If you specify a name like boolean
then Umbraco will look at /wwwroot/umbraco/views/prevalueeditors/boolean/boolean.html
for the editor view. If you wish to use your own, you specify the path like /App_Plugins/{YourPackageName}/prevalue-editor.html
.
Default Config
The defaultConfig object provides a collection of default configuration values in case the property editor is not configured or is using a parameter editor. This object is a key/value collection and must match the prevalue field keys.
Grid Editors
Similar to how the propertyEditors
array defines one or more property editors, gridEditors
can be used to define editors specific to the grid. Setting up the default richtext editor in the Umbraco grid could look like:
However the default grid editors are already configured. You can see the Grid Editors page for more information on grid editors.
Parameter Editors
parameterEditors
returns an array of editor objects, each object specifies an editor to make available to macro parameters as an editor component. These editors work solely as parameter editors and will not show up on the property editors list.
The parameter editors array follows the same format as the property editors described above. However, it cannot contain prevalues since there are no configuration options for macro parameter editors.
JavaScript
javascript
returns a string[] of JavaScript files to load on application start
CSS
css
returns a string[] of css files to load on application start
Bundling
bundleOptions
is an enumerable type that expects one of the following values:
Default
- The default bundling behavior for assets in the package folder where the assets will be bundled with the typical packages bundle.None
- The assets in the package will not be processed at all and will all be requested as individual assets and will effectively be a bundle that has composite processing turned off for both debug and production.Independent
- The packages assets will be processed as its own separate bundle. (In debug, files will not be processed)
JSON Schema
The package.manifest JSON file has a hosted online JSON schema file. This allows editors such as Visual Studio, Rider, and Visual Studio Code to have autocomplete/intellisense support when creating and editing package.manifest files. This helps to avoid mistakes or errors when creating your package.manifest files.
Setting up Visual Studio 2015+
To associate the hosted JSON schema file to all package.manifest files you will need to perform the following inside of Visual Studio 2015.
Tools -> Options
Browse down to Text Editor -> File Extension
Add
manifest
into the Extension boxSelect
JSON Editor
from the dropdown and add the mappingOpen a
package.manifest
file and ensure in the top left hand corner you see the schema with the URL set tohttp://json.schemastore.org/package.manifest
. You can also add the schema inline in the json file (see below).
Setting up JetBrains Rider 2019+
To associate the hosted JSON schema file to all package.manifest files you will need to perform the following inside of Visual Studio 2015.
File -> Settings
Browse down to Editor -> File Types -> JSON
Add
package.manifest
to the list of file pattern names.Browse down to Languages & Frameworks -> Schemas and DTDs -> JSON Schema Mappings
Add new by clicking the
+
symbolAdd
package.manifest
as NameAdd
https://json.schemastore.org/package.manifest
as the Schema File or URL, or choosepackage.manifest
from the Remote Schema URlsAdd
package.manifest
as File path patternOpen a
package.manifest
file and ensure in the bottom tool bar you see the schema is detected aspackage.manifest
.
Setting up Visual Studio Code
To associate the hosted JSON schema file to all package.manifest files you will need to perform the following inside of Visual Studio Code editor.
File -> Preferences -> Settings. The Settings window opens.
In the User tab, go to Extensions -> JSON -> Schemas.
Select Edit in settings.json from the Schemas section.
Add the following snippet in the
settings.json
file:
Adding inline schema
Editors like Visual Studio can use the $schema
notation in your file.
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