The Block Editors are property editors that enabled you to build advanced editor tools using a set of predefined Document Types.
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.
Umbraco CMS currently ships with two Block Editors: the Block List and the Block Grid.
Learn how to create custom views for the blocks used in your Block Grid or Block List property editors.
Get an overview of available configurations for the label properties.
An intro to achieving content variance at block level.
In a variant context, a Block Editor behaves like any other Umbraco property editor by default. The Blocks contained within the editor "belong" to the Document variant, and there is no connection between Blocks across variants.
In other words, both Block content and structure can vary between each Document variant.
This is the desired behavior for many cases. However, in some cases it is preferable to have a shared Block structure across all variants, where only the Block content varies.
This is known as Block Level Variance:
Block Level Variance is achieved when:
The Document Type is configured for variance, and
The Block Editor property is not configured for variance, and
The Block Editor property editor is configured to use Element Types that do vary.
When adding a new variant Block to one Document variant, it is automatically added to all variants of the Document.
The Block will start out in an "unexposed" state for all other Document variants than the one where it was added. It will remain like that for each variant until it is edited in that variant.
The "unexposed" state is visualized by a dimmed-down icon and title (or likely a missing title, if Umbraco Flavored Markdown is used):
"Unexposed" Blocks are omitted from the published Document output. So, you do not need to worry about defensive coding to avoid rendering these Blocks.
It is entirely possible to mix and match variance and invariance within the scope of Block Level Variance. Invariance is fully supported, both at Block level and at Block property level.
Invariance within Block Level Variance follows the same rules as invariance at Document level:
Invariant content is added to and updated across all Document variants.
Invariant content is explicitly published for all published Document variants when one or more variants are published.
Consider a Document with English and Danish language variants, which is published in both languages.
An editor opens the English variant.
They add an invariant Block, and
They re-publish the English variant.
Result: The new block will appear in both the English and Danish published content.
An editor opens the Danish variant.
They update an invariant property value in a variant Block, and
They re-publish the Danish variant.
Result: The updated property value appears in both the English and Danish published content.
The Block Editor structure is invariant for Block Level Variance. This means that the structure follows the same rules for invariance as outlined in the section above.
In other words: If an editor changes the order of the Blocks in one Document variant, it changes for all Document variants. The change is applied to all published Document variants, as soon as one or more variants are published.
Alias: Umbraco.BlockGrid
Returns: BlockGridModel
The Block Grid property editor enables editors to layout their content in the Umbraco backoffice. The content is made of Blocks that can contain different types of data.
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.
When testing out the property editor, you can use a set of predefined Blocks. The option will only be possible when there are no other Data Types using the Block Grid property editor.
Create a new Data Type.
Select the Block Grid as the Property editor.
Install the "Sample Configuration".
4 Blocks will be added to the property, ready for testing.
The Block Grid property editor is configured via the Data Types backoffice interface.
To set up the Block Grid property editor, follow these steps:
Navigate to the Settings section in the Umbraco backoffice.
Click ... next to the Data Types folder.
Select Create -> New Data Type.
Select Block Grid from the list of available property editors.
You will see the configuration options for a Block Grid property editor as shown below:
The Data Type editor allows you to configure the following properties:
Blocks - Defines the Block Types available for use in the property. For more information, see Setup Block Types.
Amount - Sets the minimum and/or the maximum number of Blocks that should be allowed at the root of the layout.
Live editing mode - Enabling this option will allow you to see the changes as you are editing them.
Editor width - Overwrites the width of the property editor. This field takes any valid CSS value for "max-width". For example: 100% or 800px.
Grid Columns - Define the number of columns in your Block Grid. The default is 12 columns.
Layout Stylesheet - Replaces the built-in Layout Stylesheet. Additionally, you can retrieve the default layout stylesheet to use as a base for your own inspiration or for writing your own stylesheet.
Create Button Label - Overwrites the label on the Create button.
Block Types are based on Element Types. These can be created beforehand or while setting up your Block Types.
Once you have added an Element Type as a Block Type on your Block Grid Data Type you have the option to configure it.
Examples and more details about configuring the Label property
Blocks can also be grouped. This is visible in the Block Catalogue and can also be used to allow a group of Blocks in an Area.
Each Block has a set of properties that are optional to configure. These are described below.
Customize the user experience for your content editors when they work with the Blocks in the Content section.
Label - Defines a label for the appearance of the Block in the editor. The label can use AngularJS template-string-syntax to display values of properties.
Label example: "My Block {{myPropertyAlias}}" will be shown as: "My Block FooBar".
You can also use more advanced expression using AngularJS filters, like {{myPropertyAlias | limitTo:100}} or for a property using Richtext editor {{myPropertyAlias | ncRichText | truncate:true:100}}. It is also possible to use properties from the Settings model by using {{$settings.propertyAlias}}.
Get more tips on how to use AngularJS filters in Umbraco CMS from this community-made Umbraco AngularJS filter cheat sheet.
Content model - Presents the Element Type used as model for the Content section of this Block. This cannot be changed but you can open the Element Type to perform edits or view the properties available. Useful when writing your Label.
Settings model - Adds a Settings section to your Block based on a given Element Type. When selected you can open the Element Type or choose to remove the Settings section again.
Customize the Blocks size in the Grid. If you define multiple options, the Block becomes scalable.
By default, a Block takes up the available width.
A Block can be resized in two ways:
When a Block is placed in an Area, it will fit to the Areas width. Learn more about Areas.
A Block can have one or more Column Span options defined.
A Column Span option is used to define the width of a Block. With multiple Column Span options defined, the Content Editor can scale the Block to fit specific needs.
Additionally, Blocks can be configured to span rows, this enables one Block to be placed next to a few rows containing other Blocks.
Available column spans - Defines one or more columns, the Block spans across. For example: in a 12 columns grid, 6 columns is equivalent to half width. By enabling 6 columns and 12 columns, the Block can be scaled to either half width or full width.
Available row spans - Defines the amount of rows the Block spans across.
See the scaling blocks section of this article for an example of how scaling works.
These properties refer to how the Block is presented in the Block catalogue when editors choose which Blocks to use for their content.
Background color - Defines a background color to be displayed beneath the icon or thumbnail. Example: #424242.
Icon color - Changes the color of the Element Type icon. Example: #242424.
Thumbnail - Pick an image or Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file to replace the icon of the Block in the catalogue.
The thumbnails for the catalogue are presented in the format of 16:10. We recommend a resolution of 400px width and 250px height.
Allow in root - Determines whether the Block can be created at the root of your layout. Turn this off if you only want a Block to appear within Block Areas.
Allow in areas - Determines whether the Block can be created inside Areas of other Blocks. If this is turned off it can still be allowed in Block Areas by defining specific allowed Blocks.
Blocks can nest other Blocks to support specific compositions. These compositions can be used as a layout for other Blocks.
To achieve nesting, a Block must have one or more Areas defined. Each Area can contain one or more Blocks.
Each Area has a size, defined by column and rows spans. The grid for the Areas are based on the same amount of columns as your root grid, unless you choose to change it.
To scale an Area, click and drag the scale-button in the bottom-right corner of an Area.
Grid Columns for Areas - Overwrites the amount of columns used for the Area grid.
Areas - Determines whether the Block can be created inside Areas of other Blocks.
Alias - The alias is used to identify this Area. It is being printed by GetBlockGridHTML() and used as name for the Area slot in Custom Views. The alias is also available for CSS Selectors to target the HTML-Element representing an Area.
Create Button Label - Overwrites the Create Button Label of the Area.
Number of blocks - Determines the total number of Blocks in an Area.
Allowed block types - When this is empty, all Blocks with Permissions for creation in Areas, will be available. This can be overwritten by specifying the allowed Blocks. Define the types of Blocks or Groups of Blocks that are allowed. Additionally, you can also set how many Blocks of each type/group should be present.
When allowing a Group of Blocks, you might want to require a specific amount for a certain Block of that Group. This can be done by adding that Block Type to the list as well and set the requirements.
These properties are relevant when working with custom views or complex projects.
Custom view - Overwrites the AngularJS view for the block presentation in the Content editor. Use this view to make a more visual presentation of the Block or make your own editing experience by adding your own AngularJS controller to the view.
Notice that any styling of a Block is scoped. This means that the default backoffice styles are not present for the view of this Block.
Custom stylesheet - Pick your own stylesheet to be used by the Block in the Content editor.
Overlay editor size - Sets the size for the Content editor overlay for editing this block.
Hide content editor - Hides the UI for editing the content in a Block Editor. This is only relevant if you made a custom view that provides the UI for editing of content.
When viewing a Block Grid property editor in the Content section for the first time, you will be presented with the option to Add content.
Clicking the Add content button opens up the Block Catalogue.
The Block Catalogue looks different depending on the amount of available Blocks and their catalogue appearance.
Click the Block Type you wish to create and a new Block will appear in the layout.
More Blocks can be added to the layout by clicking the Add content button. Alternatively, use the Add content button that appears on hover to add new Blocks between, besides, or above the existing Blocks.
To delete a Block, click the trash icon which appears on the mouse hover.
Blocks can be rearranged using the click and drag feature. Move them up or down to place them in the desired order.
Moving a Block from one Area to another is done in the same way. If a Block is not allowed in the given position, the area will display a red color and not allow the new position.
If a Block has multiple size options it can be scaled via the UI. This appears in the bottom left corner of the Block.
The Block is resized using a click-and-drag feature. Moving the mouse will change the size to the size options closest to the mouse pointer.
Rendering the stored value of your Block Grid property editor can be done in two ways:
You can choose to use the built-in rendering mechanism for rendering Blocks using a Partial View for each block.
The default rendering method is named GetBlockGridHtmlAsync() and comes with a few options - for example:
In the sample above "myGrid" is the alias of the Block Grid editor.
If you are using ModelsBuilder, the example will look like this:
To use the GetBlockGridHtmlAsync() method, you will need to create a Partial View for each Block Type. The Partial View must be named using the alias of the Element Type that is being used as Content Model for the Block Type.
These Partial View files need to go into the Views/Partials/blockgrid/Components/ folder.
Example: Views/Partials/blockgrid/Components/MyElementTypeAliasOfContent.cshtml.
The Partial Views will receive a model of type Umbraco.Cms.Core.Models.Blocks.BlockGridItem. This model contains Content and Settings from your block, as well as the configured RowSpan, ColumnSpan, and Areas of the Block.
The Partial View for the Block is responsible for rendering its own Block Areas. This is done using another built-in rendering mechanism:
Here you will need to create a Partial View for each Block Type within the Block Area. For the name, use the alias of the Element Type that is being used as Content Model for the Block Type.
These Partial Views must be placed in the same folder as before, (Views/Partials/blockgrid/Components/), and will receive a model of type Umbraco.Cms.Core.Models.Blocks.BlockGridItem.
The following is an example of a Partial View for a Block Type of type MyElementTypeAliasOfContent.
If you are using ModelsBuilder, you can make the property rendering strongly typed by letting your view accept a model of type BlockGridItem<T>. For example:
Using the default rendering together with your layout stylesheet will provide what you need for rendering the layout.
If you like to use the Default Layout Stylesheet, you must copy the stylesheet to your frontend. You can download the default layout stylesheet from the link within the DataType, we recommend putting the file in the css folder, example: wwwroot/css/umbraco-blockgridlayout.css.
A set of built-in Partial Views are responsible for rendering the Blocks and Areas in a Block Grid. If you want to tweak or change the way the Block Grid is rendered, you can use the built-in Partial Views as a template:
Clone the views from <a href="https://github.com/umbraco/Umbraco-CMS/">GitHub</a>. They can be found in /src/Umbraco.Cms.StaticAssets/Views/Partials/blockgrid/
Copy the cloned views to the local folder Views/Partials/blockgrid/
Make changes to your copied views. The entry point for GetBlockGridHtmlAsync() is the view default.cshtml
The built-in value converter for the Block Grid property editor lets you use the block data as you like. Call the Value<T> method with a type of BlockGridModel to have the stored value returned as a BlockGridModel instance.
BlockGridModel contains the Block Grid configuration (like the number of columns as GridColumns) whilst also being an implementation of IEnumerable<BlockGridItem> (see details for BlockGridItem above).
The following example mimics the built-in rendering mechanism for rendering Blocks using Partial Views:
If you do not want to use Partial Views, you can access the block item data directly within your rendering:
The default layout stylesheet is using CSS Grid. This can be modified to fit your implementation and your project.
To make additions or overwrite parts of the default layout stylesheet, import the default stylesheet at the top of your own file.
You need to copy the Default Layout Stylesheet to your frontend. You can download the default layout stylesheet from the link within the DataType, we recommend putting the file in the css folder, example: wwwroot/css/umbraco-blockgridlayout.css.
In this case, you would have to write the layout from scratch.
You are free to pick any style, meaning there is no requirement to use CSS Grid. It is, however, recommended to use CSS Grid to ensure complete compatibility with the Umbraco backoffice.
When extending or writing your own layout, you need to know the structure and what data is available.
For example: You can use the below HTML structure:
Building Custom Views for Block representations in Backoffice is based on the same API for all Block Editors.
Read about building a Custom View for Blocks here
In this example, we will be creating content programmatically for a "spot" Blocks in a Block Grid.
On a Document Type add a property called blockGrid.
Then add as editor Block Grid.
In the Block Grid add a new block and click to Create new Element Type
Name this element type spotElement with the following properties:
A property called title with the editor of Textstring
A property called text with the editor of Textstring
Then on the Settings model click to add a new Setting.
Then click to Create new Element Type.
Name this element type spotSettings with the following properties:
A property called featured with the editor of True/false.
The raw input data for the spots looks like this:
The resulting JSON object stored for the Block Grid will look like this:
For each item in the raw data, we need to create:
One contentData entry with the title and text.
One settingsData entry with the featured value (the checkbox expects "0" or "1" as data value).
One layout entry with the desired column and row spans.
All contentData and layoutData entries need their own unique Udi as well as the ID (key) of their corresponding Element Types. In this sample, we only have one Element Type for content (spotElement) and one for settings (spotSettings). In a real life scenario, there could be any number of Element Type combinations.
First and foremost, we need models to transform the raw data into Block Grid compatible JSON. Create a class called Model.cs containing the following:
By injecting ContentService and ContentTypeService into an API controller, we can transform the raw data into Block Grid JSON. It can then be saved to the target content item. Create a class called BlockGridTestController.cs containing the following:
For the above code IContent? content = _contentService.GetById(1203); change the id with your content node that is using the Block Grid.
In order to test this implementation, run the project and add /umbraco/api/blockgridtest/create after your domain name. If the result shows as Saved then check your content node and you will see the 2 spotElement contents.
This can also be tested via Postman as well if preffered.
Alias: Umbraco.BlockList
Returns: IEnumerable<BlockListItem>
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.
Block List is a list editing property editor, using Element Types to define the list item schema.
The Block List replaces the obsolete Nested Content editor.
The Block List property editor is configured in the same way as any standard property editor, via the Data Types admin interface.
To set up your Block List Editor property, create a new Data Type and select Block List from the list of available property editors.
Then you will see the configuration options for a Block List as shown below.
The Data Type editor allows you to configure the following properties:
Available Blocks - Here you will define the Block Types to be available for use in the property. Read more on how to set up Block Types below.
Amount - Sets the minimum and/or maximum number of blocks that should be allowed in the list.
Single block mode - When in Single block mode, the output will be BlockListItem<> instead of BlockListModel
Live editing mode - Enabling this will make editing of a block happening directly to the document model, making changes appear as you type.
Inline editing mode - Enabling this will change editing experience to inline, meaning that editing the data of blocks happens at sight as accordions.
Property editor width - Overwrite the width of the property editor. This field takes any valid css value for "max-width".
Block Types are Element Types which need to be created before you can start configuring them as Block Types. This can be done either directly from the property editor setup process, or you can set them up beforehand and add them to the block list after.
Once you have added an element type as a Block Type on your Block List Data Type you will have the option to configure it further.
Each Block has a set of properties that are optional to configure. They are described below.
By configuring the properties in the group you can customize the user experience for your content editors when they work with the blocks in the Content section.
Label - Define a label for the appearance of the Block in the editor. The label can use AngularJS template string syntax to display values of properties. Examples and more details about labels and AngularJS templates.
Custom view - Overwrite the AngularJS view for the block presentation in the Content editor. Use this to make a more visual presentation of the block or even make your own editing experience by adding your own AngularJS controller to the view.
Custom stylesheet - Pick your own stylesheet to be used for this block in the Content editor. By adding a stylesheet the styling of this block will become scoped. Meaning that backoffice styles are no longer present for the view of this block.
Overlay editor size - Set the size for the Content editor overlay for editing this block.
It is possible to use two separate Element Types for your Block Types. Its required to have one for Content and optional to add one for Settings.
Content model - This presents the Element Type used as model for the content section of this Block. This cannot be changed, but you can open the Element Type to perform edits or view the properties available. Useful when writing your Label.
Settings model - Add a Settings section to your Block based on a given Element Type. When picked you can open the Element Type or choose to remove the settings section again.
These properties refer to how the Block is presented in the Block catalogue, when editors choose which Blocks to use for their content.
Background color - Define a background color to be displayed beneath the icon or thumbnail. Eg. #424242.
Icon color - Change the color of the Element Type icon. Eg. #242424.
Thumbnail - Pick an image or SVG file to replace the icon of this Block in the catalogue.
The thumbnails for the catalogue are presented in the format of 16:10, and we recommend a resolution of 400px width and 250px height.
These properties are relevant when you work with custom views.
Force hide content editor - If you made a custom view that enables you to edit the content part of a block and you are using default editing mode (not inline) you might want to hide the content-editor from the block editor overlay.
When viewing a Block List editor in the Content section for the first time, you will be presented with the option to Add content.
Clicking the Add content button brings up the Block Catalogue.
The Block Catalogue looks different depending on the amount of available Blocks and their catalogue appearance.
Click the Block Type you wish to create and a new Block will appear in the list.
Depending on whether your Block List Editor is setup to use default or inline editing mode you will see one of the following things happening:
In default mode you will enter the editing overlay of that Block:
In inline editing mode the new Blocks will expand to show its inline editor:
More Blocks can be added to the list by clicking the Add content button or using the inline Add content button that appears on hover between or above existing Blocks.
To reorder the Blocks, click and drag a Block up or down to place in the desired order.
To delete a Block click the trash-bin icon appearing on hover.
Rendering the stored value of your Block List property can be done in two ways.
You can choose to use the built-in rendering mechanism for rendering blocks via a Partial View for each block.
The default rendering method is named GetBlockListHtml() and comes with a few options to go with it. The typical use could be:
"MyBlocks" above is the alias for the Block List editor.
If using ModelsBuilder the example can be simplified:
Example:
To make this work you will need to create a Partial View for each block, named by the alias of the Element Type that is being used as Content Model.
These partial views must be placed in this folder: Views/Partials/BlockList/Components/. Example: Views/Partials/BlockList/Components/MyElementTypeAliasOfContent.cshtml.
A Partial View will receive the model of Umbraco.Core.Models.Blocks.BlockListItem. This gives you the option to access properties of the Content and Settings section of your Block.
In the following example of a Partial view for a Block Type, please note that the MyElementTypeAliasOfContentand MyElementTypeAliasOfSettings should correspond with the selected Element Type Alias for the given model in your case.
Example:
With ModelsBuilder:
A built-in value converter is available to use the data as you like. Call the Value<T> method with a generic type of IEnumerable<BlockListItem> and the stored value will be returned as a list of BlockListItem entities.
Example:
Each item is a BlockListItem entity that contains two main properties Content and Settings. Each of these is a IPublishedElement which means you can use all the value converters you are used to using.
Example:
In some cases, you might want to use the Block List Editor to hold some data and not necessarily render a view since the data should be presented in different areas on a page. An example could be a product page with variants stored in a Block List Editor.
In this case, you can extract the variant's data using the following, which returns IEnumerable<IPublishedElement>.
Example:
If using ModelsBuilder the example can be simplified:
Example:
If you know the Block List Editor only uses a single block, you can cast the collection to a specific type T using .OfType<T>() otherwise the return value will be IEnumerable<IPublishedElement>.
Building Custom Views for Block representations in Backoffice is the same for all Block Editors. Read about building a Custom View for Blocks here
Previous versions of Umbraco used AngularJS expressions and filters for advanced label rendering.
With the removal of AngularJS in Umbraco 14, this has been replaced using native web components. Advanced label rendering is done using .
When configuring a Block, the label property allows you to define a label for the appearance of the Block in the editor. The label can use Umbraco Flavored Markdown (UFM) syntax to display values of properties. Example: My Block {=myPropertyAlias} will be shown as: My Block FooBar.
Currently, Umbraco 14.1 only supports rendering a block's content properties. Special variables like $index, $contentTypeName, $settings, and so on will be expanded in upcoming releases.
In the meantime, you can create your own custom UFM components. For more information, see the article. From there, you will be able to consume the UMB_BLOCK_ENTRY_CONTEXT to access the entire data of a block item.
