Custom Views for Block List

Custom Views are used to overwrite the presentation of a Block. We can improve the editing experience by providing a better representation of the Blocks content. It could be a presentation of how it will look on the front end or the specific properties available.

This article is a work in progress and may undergo further revisions, updates, or amendments. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

Creating the Document Type

For this tutorial, we will set-up a simple document type and create a new property using Block List as the property editor.

To create a Document Type:

Go to Settings.
Select the ... next to the Document Types in the Settings tree.
Select Document Type with Template.
- Using folders can help you organize your Document Types.
Enter a Name for the Document Type. Let's call it Product. You'll notice that an Alias is automatically created.
Click Add Group and Enter a Name for the group. Let's call it Product Details.
Add the following properties: \
Add another group called Features and a property with the following specification:
Name Features
Alias
features
Data Type
Block List
Click Save. Your document type should look like:

Name	Features
Alias	features
Data Type	Block List

Creating the Content Node

To create the Content Node:

Go to the Permissions tab of the root content node and select Add Child in the Allowed child node types. The Choose Child Node window appears.
Select the Product document type and click Save.
Go to Content.
Select ... next to the root content node and select Product.
Enter the Name for the article. We are going to call it Product.
Fill the required details in the Product page and click Save.

Configuring the Block List Editor

To configure the Block List editor:

Go to Settings and open the Product document type.
Click on the Block List property we created earlier. You'll see the Block list editor's configuration, as shown below:
Document Type

In the Configuration section, we can add Available Blocks, define the range of blocks that can be added, control the live and inline editing mode, or set the property editor width. The Available Blocks in the Block List editor configuration differentiates it from the other property editors. The list you create with the Block List editor is based on one or more blocks. Each block is based on an Element Type.

To add blocks to our Block List editor:

Click Add in the Available Blocks. The Pick Element Type window opens. From here, you have the option to select an existing Element Type, if any, or you can create a new Element Type from the configuration screen.
For this tutorial, we will Create a new Element Type.
Setup a new Element type called Feature and use the following configuration:
Property Name Alias Editor
Name
featureName
Textstring
Details
details
Textarea
Image
image
Media Picker
Click Save and Close. The block configuration window opens. For more information on the block configuration, see the Setup Block Types section.
Similarly, I'll set up another block called Hero.
Toggle Live Editing mode and select Submit.

Property Name	Alias	Editor
Name	featureName	Textstring
Details	details	Textarea
Image	image	Media Picker

Creating Custom Views for blocks

We can improve the editing experience by overwriting the default representation of our block entries with a custom view. This can be used to provide a more detailed representation of the block. You can make the content look as it will on the frontend or highlight specific values for data overview.

A Custom View is a Web Component registered as a Backoffice Extension.

Let us create an example-block-custom-view.ts file with the following code:

example-block-custom-view.ts

import { html, customElement, LitElement, property, css } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/external/lit';
import { UmbElementMixin } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/element-api';
import type { UmbBlockDataType, UmbBlockEditorCustomViewElement } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/extension-registry';

@customElement('example-block-custom-view')
export class ExampleBlockCustomView extends UmbElementMixin(LitElement) implements UmbBlockEditorCustomViewElement {

    @property({ attribute: false })
    content?: UmbBlockDataType;

    override render() {
        return html`
            <h5>My Custom View</h5>
            <p>Headline: ${this.content?.headline}</p>
        `;
    }

    static override styles = [
        css`
            :host {
                display: block;
                height: 100%;
                box-sizing: border-box;
                background-color: #dddddd;
                border-radius: 9px;
                padding: 12px;
            }
        `,
    ];
}

export default ExampleBlockCustomView;

This is a TypeScript file. It is recommended to follow the documentation on how to compile TypeScript.

Assigning the View to a Block Type

Now that we have created our Web Component, let us register it to show up on our block:

{
    type: 'blockEditorCustomView',
    alias: 'Example.blockEditorCustomView.Product',
    name: 'Example Block Editor Custom View for Product Block of Block List Editors',
    element: () => import('./example-block-custom-view.js'),
    forContentTypeAlias: 'product',
    forBlockEditor: 'block-list',
}

While the forContentTypeAlias and forBlockEditor parameters are optional, they also accept arrays. They can therefore be used to declare a custom view for multiple blocks. The code snippet below shows an example of such an array:

    forContentTypeAlias: ['product', 'anotherContentTypeAlias'],

Read about extension-manifest to learn how to register an Extension Manifest.

Once registered, the Block will be represented by the given Web Component.

Adding Content to the Blocks

To add content to the blocks:

Go to the Content section and select Product.
Select Add Content in the Features group. The Add Content displays the blocks we created earlier.
Select Feature. The Feature window opens.
Enter the Name and Details in the Feature window. You will notice you can view the content as you type. This is because we have enabled the Live editing mode.
Click Confirm.

Creating `Settings` section for Blocks

Now, we have overwritten the AngularJS view for the content editor's block presentation by using our own view. Let's create a Settings section to control the data alignment of the block. To do this, we need to add a Settings model to our block configuration.

To add a Settings model:

Go to Product in the Settings tree.
Click the cog wheel next to Features.
Select the Product - Features - Block List. The Editor Settings window opens.
Select Feature from the Available Blocks configuration.
Select Settings Model in the Data Models section. The Attach a settings Element Type window opens.
Select Create new Element Type.
- Enter a Name for the element type. Let's say Feature Settings.
- Give it an icon.
- Click Add Group and Enter a Name. Let's call it Settings.
- Click Add Property and Enter a Name. Let's call it Block Alignment. An alias blockAlignment is generated.
- Select Dropdown List as the editor. The Editor Settings window opens.
- In the Add options field, add left, center and right as values.
- Click Submit.
Click Submit.
Click Save and Close.
Click Submit until you reach the Product document type.
Click Save.

We need to update the example-block-custom-view.ts file with the following configuration:

example-block-custom-view.ts

import { html, customElement, LitElement, property, css } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/external/lit';
import { UmbElementMixin } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/element-api';
import type { UmbBlockDataType, UmbBlockEditorCustomViewElement } from '@umbraco-cms/backoffice/extension-registry';

@customElement('example-block-custom-view')
export class ExampleBlockCustomView extends UmbElementMixin(LitElement) implements UmbBlockEditorCustomViewElement {

    @property({ attribute: false })
    content?: UmbBlockDataType;

    @property({ attribute: false })
    settings?: UmbBlockDataType;

    override render() {
        return html`
            <div class="${this.settings?.blockAlignment ? 'align-' + this.settings?.blockAlignment : undefined}">
                <h5>My Custom View</h5>
                <p>Headline: ${this.content?.headline}</p>
                <p>Alignment: ${this.settings?.blockAlignment}</p>
            </div>
        `;
    }

    static override styles = [
        css`
            :host {
                display: block;
                height: 100%;
                box-sizing: border-box;
                background-color: #dddddd;
                border-radius: 9px;
                padding: 12px;
            }

            .align-center {
                text-align: center;
            }
            .align-right {
                text-align: right;
            }
        `,
    ];
}

export default ExampleBlockCustomView;