Umbraco UI Builder is installed via the NuGet package manager by issuing the following command in your web project.

dotnet add package Umbraco.UIBuilder

If you wish to install Umbraco UI Builder into a class library without the UI elements, you can add a reference to the Umbraco.UIBuilder.Startup package instead.

dotnet add package Umbraco.UIBuilder.Startup

Alternatively, you can also find and install the NuGet package via the NuGet Package Manager graphical user interface (GUI) in Visual Studio.

Installing a License

See the Licensing page for details on how to install a license.

In this section, we have summarized the changes to Umbraco UI Builder released in each version. Each version is presented with a link to the UI Builder issue tracker showing a list of issues resolved in the release. We also link to the individual issues themselves from the detail.

If there are any breaking changes or other issues to be aware of when upgrading they are also noted here.

Release History

This section contains the release notes for Umbraco UI Builder 13 including all changes for this version.

13.1.5 (June 17th 2024)

• Fixed an issue that did not allow a readonly field to be added multiple times to an editor #105

13.1.4 (May 13th 2024)

• Added support for using properties of nested objects as searchable #97

You can read more about this in the searchable properties article.

13.1.3 (May 8th 2024)

• Fixed an issue with the UdiConverter affecting child collections #99

13.1.2 (April 23rd 2024)

• Fixed an issue with nested objects in collection entities #97

• Fixed an issue with the UdiConverter causing website configuration binding to return incorrect values #96

13.1.1 (March 18th 2024)

• Fixed an issue where the database is getting disposed in a UIBuilder repository, causing an error when Forms tries to save the form submission after the workflow is complete Umbraco.Forms.Issues#1179.

• Allow renaming the heading of the implicit Name column by calling the SetNameProperty method overload.

You can read more about this in the basics article.

• Use CsvHelper library with the built in ExportEntityAction.

• Update CsvHelper version dependency.

13.1.0 (March 6th 2024)

• All updates listed under 13.1.0-rc1 and 13.1.0-rc2.

13.1.0-rc2 (February 26th 2024)

• Upgrade from 13.0.3 to 13.1.0-rc1 breaks existing custom repository. #91

While working with a custom repository, the entity ID type converter defaulted to the newly registered UdiConverter instead of Int32Converter. With the current update, the required converter will be picked in a different order.

13.1.0-rc1 (February 20th 2024)

Umbraco UI Builder 13.1 is the first release since launch adding new features. We've focussed on improving the experience when working with related collections, addressing some additional use cases that widen the scope of the product. This includes the possibility to retrieve child collections entities or use an Umbraco entity as foreign key.

• Related Collections

This feature provides support for managing many-to-many relationships by configuring main, related and junction entities.

You can read more about this in the related collections article.

• Retrieve Child Collections

This feature addresses a one-to-many relationship context. Having a parent collection with child sub-collections, one might need to retrieve the child collections only, without fetching the details of the parent.

You can read more about this in the retrieve child collections article.

• Implementation of a UdiConverter

This update addresses the configuration of collections that use as foreign key a reference to an Umbraco entity. If the FK type is Integer, the persisted value defaults to 0. This is because the UDI value of the entity cannot be converted from String to Int. Based on the UDI value, we are retrieving and persisting the Id of the Umbraco entity.

A use case can be found in the Github issue #86.

13.0.3 (February 20th 2024)

• Dependency version update for Umbraco.Licenses

13.0.2 (January 26th 2024)

• Doesn't work after upgrading to 13.0.3 #88

• Dependency issue when installing UIBuilder alongside Umbraco Commerce in a v13 Umbraco website #82

• Dependency issue when installing UIBuilder alongside uSync in a v13 Umbraco website #85

• Fields in Sidebar are not included when creating item #82

13.0.1 (January 11th 2024)

• Fix built-in export/import actions errors #84

• Update list view editorState to support integration with Contentment Data Types #83

13.0.0 (December 13th 2023)

• Upgraded to run again Umbraco v13 and .NET 8

• Upgraded all 3rd party dependencies

• Nullable references

Legacy release notes

You can find the release notes for Konstrukt in the Change log file on Github.

Umbraco UI Builder is a commercial product. You can run an Umbraco UI Builder unrestricted locally without the need a license. Running Umbraco UI Builder on a public domain will display a warning banner in the backoffice and will limit usage to a single editable collection. To remove these restrictions, you'll need to have a valid license.

How does it work?

Licenses are sold per backoffice domain and will also work on all subdomains. If you have alternative staging/qa environment domains, additional domains can be added to the license on request.

Let's say that you have a license configured for your domain, mysite.com, and you've requested two development domains, devdomain.com and devdomain2.com.

The license will cover the following domains:

• localhost

• *.local

• *.mysite.com

• www.mysite.com

• devdomain.com

• www.devdomain.com

• devdomain2.com

• www.devdomain2.com

What does a license cover?

There are a few differences as to what the licenses cover:

• A single license covers the installation of Umbraco UI Builder in 1 production backoffice domain, as well as in any requested development domains.

• The production domain includes all subdomains (e.g. *.mysite.com).

• The development domains work with or without the www subdomain.

• The license allows for an unlimited number of editable collections.

• The license also includes localhost and *.local as a valid domain.

Configuring your license

You can look at the pricing, features, and purchase a license on the Umbraco UI Builder page. On this page, you can fill out the form with your project details and requirements. A member of the Sales team will manage this process. In the process, you will need to provide all domains you wish to have covered by the license such as primary and staging/QA domains. You should then receive a license code to be installed in your solution.

Add additional domains

If you require to add additional domains to the license, reach out to the sales team. They will manage your request and take care of the process.

Installing your license

Once you have received your license code it needs to be installed on your site.

1. Open the root directory for your project files.

2. Locate and open the appSettings.json file.

3. Add your Umbraco UI builder license key to Umbraco:Licenses:Umbraco.UIBuilder:

"Umbraco": {
  "Licenses": {
    "Umbraco.UIBuilder": "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY"
  }
}

Verify the license installation

You can verify that your license is successfully installed by logging into your project's backoffice and navigating to the settings section. Here you will see a license dashboard which should display the status of your license.

Validating a license without an outgoing Internet connection

Some Umbraco installations will have a highly locked down production environment, with firewall rules that prevent outgoing HTTP requests. This will interfere with the normal process of license validation.

On start-up, and periodically whilst Umbraco is running, the license component used by Umbraco UIBuilder will make an HTTP POST request to https://license-validation.umbraco.com/api/ValidateLicense.

If it's possible to do so, the firewall rules should be adjusted to allow this request.

If such a change is not feasible, there is another approach you can use.

You will need to have a server, or serverless function, that is running and can make a request to the online license validation service. That needs to run on a daily schedule, making a request and relaying it onto the restricted Umbraco environment.

To set this up, firstly ensure you have a reference to Umbraco.Licenses version 13.1 or higher. If the version of UIBuilder you are using depends on an earlier version, you can add a direct package reference for Umbraco.Licenses.

Then configure a random string as an authorization key in configuration. This is used as protection to ensure only valid requests are handled. You can also disable the normal regular license checks - as there is no point in these running if they will be blocked:

  "Umbraco": {
    "Licenses": {
      "Umbraco.UIBuilder": "<your license key>"
    },
    "LicensesOptions": {
      "EnableScheduledValidation": false,
      "ValidatedLicenseRelayAuthKey": "<your authorization key>"
    }

Your Internet enabled server should make a request of the following form to the online license validation service:

POST https://license-validation.umbraco.com/api/ValidateLicense
{
    "ProductId": "Umbraco.UIBuilder",
    "LicenseKey": "<your license key>",
    "Domain": "<your licensed domain>"
}

The response should be relayed exactly via an HTTP request to your restricted Umbraco environment:

POST http://<your umbraco environment>/umbraco/licenses/validatedLicense/relay?productId=<product id>&licenseKey=<license key>

A header with a key of X-AUTH-KEY and value of the authorization key you have configured should be provided.

This will trigger the same processes that occur when the normal scheduled validation completes ensuring your product is considered licensed.

Umbraco UI Builder tries its best to mimic the content pipeline as closely as possible whilst sticking to public and supported APIs. This is so that the Data Type suite can be used fully for editing properties. There are some features in the Umbraco Core that are locked away in internal methods. This means that some features may not be fully supported. Below is a list of known issues to date.

Property Editors

Tags

Whilst we have support for persisting the tag's value, we don't currently have the ability to write these tags to the cmsTags DB table. This is all handled via a tagsRepository which is internal so we currently can't save to it as core does.

Multi-Node Tree Picker

When using a Multi-Node Tree Picker with an XPath filter, only filters starting with the $root placeholder will be valid. This is because all other placeholders expect the property editor to be placed on a content node, with that node being used as context.

RTE Macros

Macros in Rich Text Editors don't appear to work properly due to the preview mechanism. They save and run on the front end, but you'll get an error notification in the backoffice as it tries to render a preview.

This article shows how to manually upgrade Umbraco UI Builder to run the latest version. When upgrading Umbraco UI Builder, be sure to also consult the version specific upgrade notes to learn about potential breaking changes and common pitfalls.

Get the latest version of Umbraco UI Builder

To upgrade to the latest version of Umbraco UI Builder you can use:

• NuGet

• Visual Studio

NuGet

• NuGet installs the latest version of the package when you use the dotnet add package Umbraco.UIBuilder command unless you specify a package version: dotnet add package Umbraco.UIBuilder --version <VERSION>

• After you have added a package reference to your project by executing the dotnet add package Umbraco.UIBuilder command in the directory that contains your project file, run dotnet restore to install the package.

Visual Studio

1. Go to Tools -> NuGet Package Manager -> Manage NuGet Packages for Solution... in Visual Studio, to upgrade Umbraco UI Builder:

2. Select Umbraco.UIBuilder.

3. Select the latest version from the Version drop-down and click Install.

4. When the command completes, open the .csproj file to make sure the package reference is updated:

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="Umbraco.UIBuilder" Version="xx.x.x" />
</ItemGroup>

If you are using one or more of the below sub-packages, they also need to be upgraded as well:

Umbraco UI Builder can be configured directly via the AddUIBuilder extension method on IUmbracoBuilder.

AddUIBuilder

To configure Umbraco UI Builder via the AddUIBuilder extension method, you can look at the Program.cs file at the root of your web project. From within this file, before the call to AddComposers() you can add the AddUIBuilder configuration.

Alternatively, if your project is upgraded from earlier versions, you can add the configuration to the Startup.cs file.

The AddUIBuilder extension method accepts a single parameter, a delegate function with one of the Umbraco UI Builder configuration builder arguments. With this, you can call the relevant fluent APIs to define your solution.

This guide provides a step-by-step approach to migrating a default Konstrukt solution to Umbraco UI Builder.

Key changes

Before outlining the exact steps, there are a few key changes to be aware of.

These changes will dictate the steps to take in the process of migrating to Umbraco UI Builder.

Project, Package, and Namespace changes

Step 1: Replace dependencies

In this first step, we will be replacing all existing Konstrukt dependencies with Umbraco UI Builder dependencies.

1. Remove any installed Konstrukt packages:

1. Delete the Konstrukt App_Plugins folder:

1. Install Umbraco.UIBuilder:

1. Compile your project against .NET 7.0.

Step 2: Update namespaces and entity names

Step 3: Update your configuration

Step 4: Finalizing the migration

1. Delete any obj/bin folders in your projects to ensure a clean build.

2. Recompile all projects and ensure all dependencies are restored correctly

3. Delete the existing Konstrukt license files in the umbraco\Licenses folder.

4. Add your new Umbraco.UIBuilder license key to the appSettings.json file:

1. Run the project.

This section will guide you through the key steps necessary to get you started with Umbraco UI Builder.

It is assumed that you have an Umbraco 10+ website configured, and ready to install Umbraco UI Builder.

System Requirements

At this time, the minimum requirements for using Umbraco UI Builder are as follows:

• Umbraco CMS version 10.0/12.0+

• SQL Server Database (SQLite is fine for testing, but not recommended for live deployments)

Versioning

This is an add-on product to Umbraco CMS. Umbraco UI Builder follows the .

This page covers specific upgrade documentation for when migrating to major 13 of Umbraco UI Builder.

Version Specific Upgrade Notes History

Version 13 contains a number of breaking changes from the previous, Konstrukt product.

See the for full details.

Legacy version specific upgrade notes

You can find the version specific upgrade notes for versions out of support in the .

Umbraco UI Builder is the Umbraco v10+ backoffice UI builder for custom data structures configured via a fluent API.

If you have a custom data store that you want to content manage from within Umbraco, then you can use Umbraco UI Builder. With some lines of code, you can configure a custom administration UI, and reuse many core components with a consistent look and feel.

With Umbraco UI Builder, custom backoffice integrations can now take a matter of minutes, rather than days.

Using the Documentation

This documentation is aimed at developers who have at least a basic understanding of Umbraco, as well as C#/MVC principles.

Use the main menu to dive deeper into Umbraco UI Builder and get to know all of its features in detail. You can then jump to the specific topic you are interested in to find out more.

Getting Help

If you require assistance you can use our support channels to seek assistance.

Before you get to know Umbraco UI Builder, you need to become familiar with the Umbraco UI and a few of its concepts. This is because Umbraco UI Builder reuses these same concepts for constructing its UI.

1. Section A distinct area of the Umbraco backoffice. 2. Tree A hierarchical structure to help organize a section. 3. Dashboard An intro screen for a section, usually with useful links for that section.

4. List View A list-based view of items in a tree node.

5. Editor The main content editing area is made up of tabs, fieldsets, and fields.

6. Context Apps A contextual section of a given editor UI. 7. Tabs A tabbed container of content.

8. Menu Item A context menu item + action.

9. Bulk Action An action to perform on multiple list view items at once.

There are different areas of the Umbraco UI that Umbraco UI Builder can be injected into. Before you get to managing your actual content you need to choose which area makes the most sense to present that data in. Then you can review how to go about configuring that particular type of area.

Choose an area type from the list below to find out more.

A dashboard is a view that is displayed at the root of a section and contains welcome information. It also includes useful tools relevant to the given section. When there are multiple dashboards to display in a section these are presented in a tabbed layout to allow you to switch between the dashboards.

Defining a dashboard

AddDashboard(string name, Lambda dashboardConfig = null) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Adds a dashboard with the given name.

AddDashboardBefore(string beforeAlias, string name, Lambda dashboardConfig = null) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Adds a dashboard with the given name before the dashboard with the given alias.

AddDashboardAfter(string afterAlias, string name, Lambda dashboardConfig = null) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Adds a dashboard with the given name after the dashboard with the given alias.

Changing a dashboard alias

SetAlias(string alias) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Sets the alias of the dashboard.

Optional: When adding a new dashboard, an alias is automatically generated from the supplied name for you. However, if you need a specific alias you can use the SetAlias method to override this.

Changing when a dashboard should display

Changing when a dashboard is displayed is controlled via an inner config. Options on the inner config are ShowForUserGroup and HideForUserGroup to control the visibility of the dashboard for given user groups. You can call these config methods multiple times to add multiple role configurations.

By default, will pre-filter dashboards to display only on the section it is defined in. This will be combined with the SetVisibility config to decide when to display the dashboard.

SetVisibility(Lambda visibilityConfig) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Sets the dashboard visibility config.

Setting the collection of a dashboard

Dashboards are only able to display a single collection. If you need to display multiple collections, then you need to configure multiple dashboards.

SetCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

SetCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, Lambda fkFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, string iconSingular, string iconPlural, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

There is a lot that can be configured from the collection config, but what follows are the core basics. You can find more configuration options about specific topics from the other configuration sections in the main menu.

Defining a collection

You can define a collection by calling one of the AddCollection methods on a given Tree or parent Folder config builder instance.

AddCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a collection to the given container with the given names and description and default icons. An ID property accessor expression is required so that Umbraco UI Builder knows which property is the ID property.

// Example
folderConfig.AddCollection<Person>(p => p.Id, "Person", "People", "A collection of people", collectionConfig => {
    ...
});

AddCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, string iconSingular, string iconPlural, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a collection to the given container with the given names, description and icons. An ID property accessor expression is required so that Umbraco UI Builder knows which property is the ID property.

// Example
folderConfig.AddCollection<Person>(p => p.Id, "Person", "People", "A collection of people", "icon-umb-users", "icon-umb-users", collectionConfig => {
    ...
});

Changing a collection alias

SetAlias(string alias) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the alias of the collection.

Optional: When creating a new collection, an alias is automatically generated from the supplied name for you. However, if you need a specific alias you can use the SetAlias method to override this.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetAlias("person");

Changing a collection icon color

SetIconColor(string color) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the collection icon color to the given color. Possible options are black, green, yellow, orange, blue or red.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetIconColor("blue");

Defining an entity name

Within Umbraco, it is expected that an entity has a name property. So we need to let Umbraco UI Builder know which property to use for the name. If the entity doesn't have a name property, then it needs to know how to construct a name from an entity's other properties. We do this by using either the SetNameProperty or SetNameFormat methods on a Collection config builder instance.

SetNameProperty(Lambda namePropertyExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets which property of your entity to use as the name property. Property must be of type string. By defining a property as the name property, its value will be used as the label for the entity in trees and list views. It will also be editable in the header region of the editor interface. The property will also automatically be added to the searchable properties collection and be used for the default sort property.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetNameProperty(p => p.Name);

SetNameProperty(Lambda namePropertyExpression, string heading) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets which property of your entity to use as the name property and what custom heading should the list view column heading be. Property must be of type string. By defining a property as the name property, its value will be used as the label for the entity in trees and list views. It will also be editable in the header region of the editor interface. The property will also automatically be added to the searchable properties collection and be used for the default sort property.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetNameProperty(p => p.Name, "Person Name");

SetNameFormat(Lambda nameFormatExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets a format expression to use to dynamically create a label for the entity in things like trees and list views. By providing a name format it is assumed there is no single name property available on the entity. And as such none of the default behaviors described for the SetNameProperty method will apply.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetNameFormat(p => $"{p.FirstName} {p.LastName}");

Defining a default sort order

SetSortProperty(Lambda sortPropertyExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets which property of our entity to sort against, defaulting to ascending sort direction.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetSortProperty(p => p.FirstName);

SetSortProperty(Lambda sortPropertyExpression, SortDirection sortDirection) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets which property of our entity to sort against in the provided sort direction.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetSortProperty(p => p.FirstName, SortDirection.Descending);

Defining time stamp properties

SetDateCreatedProperty(Lambda dateCreatedProperty) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets which property of our entity to use as the date created property. Property must be of type DateTime. When set and a new entity is saved via the repository, then the given field will be populated with the current date and time.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetDateCreatedProperty(p => p.DateCreated);

SetDateModifiedProperty(Lambda dateCreatedProperty) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets which property of our entity to use as the date modified property. Property must be of type DateTime. When set and an entity is saved via the repository, then the given field will be populated with the current date and time.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetDateModifiedProperty(p => p.DateModified);

Configuring soft deletes

By default, in Umbraco UI Builder any entity that is deleted via the Umbraco UI Builder repository is definitively removed from the system. The SetDeletedProperty method can be used if needed to keep the records in the data repository despite having them marked as deleted. This is so they do not show the the UI.

SetDeletedProperty(Lambda deletedPropertyExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets which property of our entity to use as the deleted property flag. Property must be of type boolean or int. When a deleted property is set, any delete actions will set the deleted flag instead of deleting the entity. For boolean based properties, deleted entities will have a value of True when deleted. For int based properties, deleted entities will have a UTC Unix timestamp value of the date the entity was deleted. In addition, any fetch actions will also pre-filter out any deleted entities.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetDeletedProperty(p => p.Deleted);

Disabling create, update or delete features

DisableCreate() : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Disables the option to create entities on the current collection. An entity could be created via code and only then editing is allowed in the UI for example.

// Example
collectionConfig.DisableCreate();

DisableCreate(Predicate<CollectionPermissionContext> disableExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Disables the option to create entities on the current collection if the given runtime predicate is true. An entity could be created via code and only then editing is allowed in the UI.

// Example
collectionConfig.DisableCreate(ctx => ctx.UserGroups.Any(x => x.Alias == "editor"));

DisableUpdate() : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Disables the option to update entities on the current collection. An entity can be created, but further editing is not allowed.

// Example
collectionConfig.DisableUpdate();

DisableUpdate(Predicate<CollectionPermissionContext> disableExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Disables the option to update entities on the current collection if the given runtime predicate is true. An entity can be created, but further editing is not allowed.

// Example
collectionConfig.DisableUpdate(ctx => ctx.UserGroups.Any(x => x.Alias == "editor"));

DisableDelete() : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Disables the option to delete entities on the current collection. Useful if the data needs to be retained and visible. See also configuring soft deletes.

// Example
collectionConfig.DisableDelete();

DisableDelete(Predicate<CollectionPermissionContext> disableExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Disables the option to delete entities on the current collection if the given runtime predicate is true. Useful if the data needs to be retained and visible. See also configuring soft deletes.

// Example
collectionConfig.DisableDelete(ctx => ctx.UserGroups.Any(x => x.Alias == "editor"));

MakeReadOnly() : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the collection as read-only and disables any Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations from being performed on the collection via the UI.

// Example
collectionConfig.MakeReadOnly();

MakeReadOnly(Predicate<CollectionPermissionContext> disableExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the collection as read-only if the given runtime predicate is true. It also disables any Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations from being performed on the collection via the UI.

// Example
collectionConfig.MakeReadOnly(ctx => ctx.UserGroups.Any(x => x.Alias == "editor"));

Set the visibility of the collection

SetVisibility(Predicate<CollectionVisibilityContext> visibilityExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the runtime visibility of the collection.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetVisibility(ctx => ctx.UserRoles.Any(x => x.Alias == "editor"));

Changing a collection connection string

By default, Umbraco UI Builder will use the Umbraco connection string for its database connection. However, you can change this by calling the SetConnectionString method on a Collection config builder instance.

SetConnectionString(string connectionStringName) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the connection string name for the given collection repository.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetConnectionString("myConnectionStringName");

Field Views allow you to customize the markup used by a field when displayed in a list view. Field Views are implemented as .NET Core View Components that are passed a single FieldViewsContext argument with information about the entity/field being rendered.

Defining a field view

You can define a field view in one of two ways.

1. A basic view file for the built in FieldView view component

The simplest way to define a field view for non-complex fields is to place a view file in the /Views/Shared/Components/FieldView folder with the following markup.

@model Umbraco.UIBuilder.Web.Models.FieldViewContext
<!-- Insert your markup here -->

When registering a basic file view you can pass the name of the view file (excluding the .cshtml file extension) to the relevant API method.

2. A complete custom view component

To define a more complex field view you can create your own view component class (which can use dependency injection for any required dependencies). This can be done by using the following signature:

// Example
public class MyComplexFieldViewViewComponent : ViewComponent
{
    public async Task<IViewComponentResult> InvokeAsync(FieldViewContext context)
    {
        // Do your custom logic here

        return View("Default", model);
    }
}

For the view element of your component, based on the example above, you would place a file Default.cshtml into the /Views/Shared/Components/MyComplexFieldView folder with the following markup:

@model Namespace.Of.Model.Returned.By.Custom.ViewComponent
<!-- Insert your markup here -->

The field view context

Field view components are passed a FieldViewContext object with the following information:

public class FieldViewContext
{
    public string ViewName { get; set; }
    public object Entity { get; set; }
    public string PropertyName { get; set; }
    public object PropertyValue { get; set; }
}

Setting the field view of a list view field

A field view is assigned to a list view field as part of the list view configuration. For more information you can check the List View Documentation.

Retrieving child collections in one-to-many relationships with UI Builder, can be achieved with the support of child repositories. One-to-many relations are where one parent entity of a collection is associated with multiple entities from another.

Models Representation

The models would look like this:

[TableName("Students")]
[PrimaryKey("Id")]
public class Student
{
    [PrimaryKeyColumn]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    public string FirstName { get; set; }

    public string LastName { get; set; }

    public string Email { get; set; }
}

[TableName("StudentProjects")]
[PrimaryKey("Id")]
public class StudentProject
{
    [PrimaryKeyColumn]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public int StudentId { get; set; }
}

Child Repositories

You can create child repository instances via the IRepositoryFactory and use them to retrieve information from the child collection.

public class StudentProjectController : Controller
{
    private readonly IRepositoryFactory _repositoryFactory;

    public StudentProjectController(IRepositoryFactory repositoryFactory)
    {
        _repositoryFactory = repositoryFactory;
    }

    public IActionResult Index(int projectId)
    {
        var childRepository = _repositoryFactory.GetChildRepository<int, StudentProject, int>(projectId);

        var list = childRepository.GetAll();

        var count = childRepository.GetCount();

        var listPaged = childRepository.GetPaged();

        return View(list);
    }
}

In this guide, you can find the necessary steps needed for a basic implementation using Umbraco UI Builder to manage a single custom database table.

Set up the database

Out of the box, Umbraco UI Builder works using PetaPoco as the persistence layer as this is what ships with Umbraco. If you prefer, it is possible to use a custom Repository. However, for getting started, it is expected that you are using this default strategy.

Start by setting up a database table for your model (you might want to populate it with some dummy data as well while learning). We’ll use the following as an example:

CREATE TABLE [Person] (
    [Id] int IDENTITY (1,1) NOT NULL,
    [Name] nvarchar(255) NOT NULL,
    [JobTitle] nvarchar(255) NOT NULL,
    [Email] nvarchar(255) NOT NULL,
    [Telephone] nvarchar(255) NOT NULL,
    [Age] int NOT NULL,
    [Avatar] nvarchar(255) NOT NULL
);

Set up your model

With the database table setup, we then need to create the associated Poco model in our project.

[TableName("Person")]
[PrimaryKey("Id")]
public class Person
{
    [PrimaryKeyColumn]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string JobTitle { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; }
    public string Telephone { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
    public string Avatar { get; set; }
}

Configure Umbraco UI Builder

With the database and model setup, we can now start to configure Umbraco UI Builder itself. The entry point for the Umbraco UI Builder configuration is via the AddUIBuilder extension method. On this method, we call on the IUmbracoBuilder instance within the Program.cs class.

builder.CreateUmbracoBuilder()
    .AddBackOffice()
    .AddWebsite()
    .AddDeliveryApi()
    .AddComposers()
    .AddUIBuilder(cfg => {
        // Apply your configuration here
    })
    .Build();

For our example, we will use the following configuration:

...
.AddUIBuilder(cfg => {

    cfg.AddSectionAfter("media", "Repositories", sectionConfig => sectionConfig
        .Tree(treeConfig => treeConfig
            .AddCollection<Person>(x => x.Id, "Person", "People", "A person entity", "icon-umb-users", "icon-umb-users", collectionConfig => collectionConfig
                .SetNameProperty(p => p.Name)
                .ListView(listViewConfig => listViewConfig
                    .AddField(p => p.JobTitle).SetHeading("Job Title")
                    .AddField(p => p.Email)
                )
                .Editor(editorConfig => editorConfig
                    .AddTab("General", tabConfig => tabConfig
                        .AddFieldset("General", fieldsetConfig => fieldsetConfig
                            .AddField(p => p.JobTitle).MakeRequired()
                            .AddField(p => p.Age)
                            .AddField(p => p.Email).SetValidationRegex("[a-zA-Z0-9_.+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9-]+.[a-zA-Z0-9-.]+")
                            .AddField(p => p.Telephone).SetDescription("inc area code")
                        )
                        .AddFieldset("Media", fieldsetConfig => fieldsetConfig
                            .AddField(p => p.Avatar).SetDataType("Upload File")
                        )
                    )
                )
            )
        )
    );

})
...

Access your UI

With your configuration defined and your project compiled, there is one last step to perform before you can access your UI. And that is to give your backoffice user account permission to access the newly defined section. To do this you'll need to login to the backoffice, head to the user's section, and update the user group. There you will need to make sure that your user belongs to the allowed access.

With the permissions set, you can refresh your browser and you should now see your new section available in the site navigation.

Summary

As you can see, with little code you can start to create powerful interfaces for your custom data structures.

A summary dashboard is automatically displayed at the root of a defined Umbraco UI Builder section. It displays summaries of collections found within it that are told to display on the dashboard. It also provides quick links to jump to that collections list view. It can also add quickly a new entry to that collection (if the collection isn't read-only).

Showing a collection on a summary dashboard

Showing a collection in the summary dashboard is controlled via the collection configuration.

ShowOnSummaryDashboard() : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the collection to display on the summary dashboard.

// Example
collectionConfig.ShowOnSummaryDashboard();

Context Apps in Umbraco UI Builder are analogous to Content Apps in Umbraco. They allow you to provide contextual apps that appear in the editor UI of content. From Umbraco UI Builder's perspective, defining context apps allows you to expose collections as content apps. This is where a collection has a relation to the content in question. An example could be something like blog post comments which are linked to individual blog posts. Exposing these as a content app allows them to be managed in context next to the blog post they are linked to.

Defining a context app

You can define a context app by calling one of the AddContextApp methods on a WithTreeConfigBuilder instance.

AddContextApp(string name, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app with the given name and default icon.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextApp("Comments", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextApp(string name, string icon, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app to the Umbraco menu with the given name and icon.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextApp("Comments", "icon-chat", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextAppBefore(string beforeAlias, string name, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app with the given name and default icon before the context app with the given alias.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextAppBefore("umbContent", "Comments", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextAppBefore(string beforeAlias, string name, string icon, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app to the Umbraco menu with the given name and icon before the context app with the given alias.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextAppBefore("umbContent", "Comments", "icon-chat", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextAppAfter(string afterAlias, string name, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app with the given name and default icon after the context app with the given alias.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextAppAfter("umbContent", "Comments", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextAppAfter(string afterAlias, string name, string icon, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app to the Umbraco menu with the given name and icon after the context app with the given alias.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextAppAfter("umbContent", "Comments", "icon-chat", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

Changing a context app alias

SetAlias(string alias) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Sets the alias of the context app.

Optional: When adding a new context app, an alias is automatically generated from the supplied name for you. However, you can use the SetAlias method to override this if you need a specific alias.

// Example
contextAppConfig.SetAlias("comments");

Changing a context app icon color

SetIconColor(string color) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Sets the context app icon color to the given color. Possible options are black, green, yellow, orange, blue or red.

// Example
contextAppConfig.SetIconColor("blue");

Changing when a context app should display

Changing when a context app is displayed, is controlled by a delegate method which is passed a ContextAppVisibilityContext instance. This method contains a Source property which holds a reference to the source object that the content app is being displayed on (i.e., an IContent instance). It also holds a reference to a UserGroups collection of the currently logged-in user's user groups. You can use any value from those to return a boolean result which sets whether to display the context app or not.

By default, Umbraco UI Builder will pre-filter context apps to only display on the tree it is defined in. This will be combined with the SetVisibility config to decide when to display the context app.

SetVisibility(Func<ContextAppVisibilityContext, bool> visibilityExpression) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Sets the context app visibility delegate.

// Example
contextAppConfig.SetVisibility(appCtx => appCtx.Source is IContent content && content.ContentType.Alias == "blogPost");

Adding a collection to a context app

Context apps can consist of one or more collections. If a context app contains multiple collections, the collection list views will be displayed in tabs within the context app.

AddCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, Lambda fkFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a collection to the current content app with the given names, descriptions and default icons. An ID property accessor expression is required so that Umbraco UI Builder knows which property is the ID property. A foreign key property accessor is also required so that the Umbraco UI Builder knows which property holds the Umbraco nodes UDI value. You can read more about this in the Collections documentation.

// Example
contextAppConfig.AddCollection<Comment>(p => p.Id, p=> "Comment", "Comments", "A collection of comments", collectionConfig => {
    ...
});

AddCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, Lambda fkFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, string iconSingular, string iconPlural, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a collection to the current context app with the given names, description and icons. An ID property accessor expression is required so that Umbraco UI Builder knows which property is the ID property. A foreign key property accessor is also required so that Umbraco UI Builder knows which property holds the Umbraco nodes UDI value. You can read more about this in the Collections documentation.

// Example
contextAppConfig.AddCollection<Comment>(p => p.Id, "Comment", "Comments", "A collection of comments", "icon-chat", "icon-chat", collectionConfig => {
    ...
});

A folder can appear in either a tree or as a sub folder to other folders. Folders can contain either other (sub)folders or collections.

Defining a folder

You can define a folder by calling one of the AddFolder methods on a given Tree or parent Folder config builder instance.

AddFolder(string name, Lambda folderConfig = null) : FolderConfigBuilder

Adds a folder to the current tree with the given name and a default folder icon.

// Example
treeConfig.AddFolder("Settings", folderConfig => {
    ...
});

AddFolder(string name, string icon, Lambda folderConfig = null) : FolderConfigBuilder

Adds a folder to the current tree with the given name + icon.

// Example
treeConfig.AddFolder("Settings", "icon-settings", folderConfig => {
    ...
});

Changing a folder alias

SetAlias(string alias) : FolderConfigBuilder

Sets the alias of the folder.

Optional: When creating a new folder, an alias is automatically generated from the supplied name for you. However, if you need a specific alias you can use the SetAlias method to override this.

// Example
folderConfig.SetAlias("settings");

Changing a folder icon color

SetIconColor(string color) : FolderConfigBuilder

Sets the folder icon color to the given color. The options that are possible are black, green, yellow, orange, blue or red.

// Example
folderConfig.SetIconColor("blue");

Adding a sub folder to a folder

AddFolder (string name, Lambda folderConfig = null) : FolderConfigBuilder

Adds a sub folder to the current folder with the given name and a default folder icon.

// Example
folderConfig.AddFolder("Categories", subFolderConfig => {
    ...
});

AddFolder (string name, string icon, Lambda folderConfig = null) : FolderConfigBuilder

Adds a sub folder to the current folder with the given name + icon.

// Example
folderConfig.AddFolder("Categories", "icon-tags", subFolderConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a collection to a folder

AddCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a collection to the current folder with the given names, descriptions, and default icons. An ID property accessor expression is required so that Umbraco UI Builder knows which property is the ID property. For more information check the Collections documentation.

// Example
folderConfig.AddCollection<Person>(p => p.Id, "Person", "People", "A collection of people", collectionConfig => {
    ...
});

AddCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, string iconSingular, string iconPlural, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a collection to the current folder with the given names, description and icons. An ID property accessor expression is required so that Umbraco UI Builder knows which property is the ID property. For more information check the Collections documentation.

// Example
folderConfig.AddCollection<Person>(p => p.Id, "Person", "People", "A collection of people", "icon-umb-users", "icon-umb-users", collectionConfig => {
    ...
});

A collection is the cornerstone Umbraco UI Builder config and it represents a collection of entities for a given data model. From this config object, you can configure everything about how this collection integrates into the UI. You can also configure how it should display in a list view as well as how it should be edited.

Get started by reviewing the basics of collection configuration.

A tree is a hierarchical structure that helps organize a section into logical sub-sections. A tree is accessed in the main side panel of the Umbraco interface. In Umbraco UI Builder, a section may only have a single tree definition. However, you can use folder nodes to help organize the tree structure as you need it.

Configuring a Umbraco UI Builder section tree

The tree configuration for Umbraco UI Builder sections is a sub-configuration of a Section config builder instance and is accessed via its Tree method.

Tree(Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Accesses the tree config of the given section.

// Example
sectionConfig.Tree(treeConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a tree to an existing section

The tree configuration for existing sections is a sub-configuration of a WithSection config builder instance and is accessed via one of its AddTree methods.

AddTree(string name, string icon, Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Adds a tree to the current section.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddTree("My Tree", "icon-folder", treeConfig => {
    ...
});

AddTree(string groupName, string name, string icon, Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Adds a tree to the current section in a group with the given name.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddTree("My Group", "My Tree", "icon-folder", treeConfig => {
    ...
});

AddTreeBefore(string treeAlias, string name, string icon, Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Adds a tree to the current section before the tree with the given alias.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddTreeBefore("member", "My Tree", "icon-folder", treeConfig => {
    ...
});

AddTreeAfter(string treeAlias, string name, string icon, Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Adds a tree to the current section after the tree with the given alias.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddTreeAfter("member", "My Tree", "icon-folder", treeConfig => {
    ...
});

Changing the tree icon color

SetIconColor(string color) : TreeConfigBuilder

Sets the trees icon color to the given color. The options that are possible are black, green, yellow, orange, blue or red.

// Example
collectionConfig.SetIconColor("blue");

Adding a group to a tree

AddGroup(string name, Lambda groupConfig = null) : GroupConfigBuilder

Adds a group to the current tree with the given name.

// Example
treeConfig.AddGroup("Settings", groupConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a folder to a tree/group

AddFolder(string name, Lambda folderConfig = null) : FolderConfigBuilder

Adds a folder to the current tree/group with the given name and a default folder icon. For more information check the Folders documentation.

// Example
treeConfig.AddFolder("Settings", folderConfig => {
    ...
});

AddFolder(string name, string icon, Lambda folderConfig = null) : FolderConfigBuilder

Adds a folder to the current tree/group with the given name + icon. For more information check the Folders documentation.

// Example
treeConfig.AddFolder("Settings", "icon-settings", folderConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a collection to a tree/group

AddCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a collection to the current tree/group with the given names, descriptions, and default icons. An ID property accessor expression is required so that Umbraco UI Builder knows which property is the ID property. For more information check the Collections documentation.

// Example
treeConfig.AddCollection<Person>(p => p.Id, "Person", "People", "A collection of people", collectionConfig => {
    ...
});

AddCollection<TEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, string iconSingular, string iconPlural, Lambda collectionConfig = null) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a collection to the current tree/group with the given names, description and icons. An ID property accessor expression is required so that Umbraco UI Builder knows which property is the ID property. For more information check the Collections documentation.

// Example
treeConfig.AddCollection<Person>(p => p.Id, "Person", "People", "A collection of people", "icon-umb-users", "icon-umb-users", collectionConfig => {
    ...
});

Extending an existing tree

You can extend existing trees adding Umbraco UI Builder context apps and virtual sub trees by calling the WithTree method of a WithSectionConfigBuilder instance.

WithTree(string alias, Lambda treeConfig = null) : WithTreeConfigBuilder

Starts a sub-configuration for the existing Umbraco tree with the given alias.

// Example
sectionConfig.WithTree("content", withTreeConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a context app to an existing tree

AddContextApp(string name, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app with the given name and default icon. For more information check the Context App documentation.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextApp("Comments", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextApp(string name, string icon, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app to the Umbraco menu with the given name and icon. For more information check the Context App documentation.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextApp("Comments", "icon-chat", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextAppBefore(string beforeAlias, string name, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app with the given name and default icon before the context app with the given alias. For more information check the Context App documentation.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextAppBefore("umbContent", "Comments", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextAppBefore(string beforeAlias, string name, string icon, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app to the Umbraco menu with the given name and icon before the context app with the given alias. For more information check the Context App documentation.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextAppBefore("umbContent", "Comments", "icon-chat", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextAppAfter(string afterAlias, string name, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app with the given name and default icon after the context app with the given alias. For more information check the Context App documentation.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextAppAfter("umbContent", "Comments", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

AddContextAppAfter(string afterAlias, string name, string icon, Lambda contextAppConfig = null) : ContextAppConfigBuilder

Adds a context app to the Umbraco menu with the given name and icon after the context app with the given alias. For more information check the Context App documentation.

// Example
withTreeConfig.AddContextAppAfter("umbContent", "Comments", "icon-chat", contextAppConfig => {
    ...
});

A section is a distinct area of the Umbraco backoffice, such as content, media, etc. The section is accessed via a link in the main menu at the top of the Umbraco interface. Umbraco UI Builder allows you to define multiple sections in order to organise the management of your models into logical sections.

Defining a section

You can define a section by calling one of the AddSection methods on the root level UIBuilderConfigBuilder instance.

AddSection(string name, Lambda sectionConfig = null) : SectionConfigBuilder

Adds a section to the Umbraco menu with the given name.

// Example
config.AddSection("Repositories", sectionConfig => {
    ...
});

AddSectionBefore(string beforeAlias, string name, Lambda sectionConfig = null) : SectionConfigBuilder

Adds a section to the Umbraco menu with the given name before the section with the given alias.

// Example
config.AddSectionBefore("settings", "Repositories", sectionConfig => {
    ...
});

AddSectionAfter(string afterAlias, string name, Lambda sectionConfig = null) : SectionConfigBuilder

Adds a section to the Umbraco menu with the given name after the section with the given alias.

// Example
config.AddSectionAfter("media", "Repositories", sectionConfig => {
    ...
});

Changing a section alias

SetAlias(string alias) : SectionConfigBuilder

Sets the alias of the section.

Optional: When adding a new section, an alias is automatically generated from the supplied name for you. However, if you need a specific alias you can use the SetAlias method to override this.

// Example
sectionConfig.SetAlias("repositories");

Configuring the section tree

Tree(Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Accesses the tree config of the current section. For more information check the Trees documentation.

// Example
sectionConfig.Tree(treeConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a dashboard to the section

AddDashboard(string name, Lambda dashboardConfig = null) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Adds a dashboard with the given name. For more information check the Dashboards documentation.

// Example
sectionConfig.AddDashboard("Team", dashboardConfig => {
    ...
});

AddDashboardBefore(string beforeAlias, string name, Lambda dashboardConfig = null) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Adds a dashboard with the given name before the dashboard with the given alias. For more information check the Dashboards documentation.

// Example
sectionConfig.AddDashboardBefore("contentIntro", "Team", dashboardConfig => {
    ...
});

AddDashboardAfter(string afterAlias, string name, Lambda dashboardConfig = null) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Adds a dashboard with the given name after the dashboard with the given alias. For more information check the Dashboards documentation.

// Example
sectionConfig.AddDashboardAfter("contentIntro", "Team", dashboardConfig => {
    ...
});

Extending an existing section

You can extend existing sections by adding Umbraco UI Builder trees and dashboards, context apps, and virtual subtrees. This can be done by calling the WithSection method on the root level UIBuilderConfigBuilder instance.

WithSection(string alias, Lambda sectionConfig = null) : WithSectionConfigBuilder

Starts a sub-configuration for the existing Umbraco section with the given alias.

// Example
config.WithSection("member", withSectionConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a tree to an existing section

AddTree(string name, string icon, Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Adds a tree to the current section. For more information check the Trees documentation.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddTree("My Tree", "icon-folder", treeConfig => {
    ...
});

AddTree(string groupName, string name, string icon, Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Adds a tree to the current section in a group with the given name. For more information check the Trees documentation.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddTree("My Group", "My Tree", "icon-folder", treeConfig => {
    ...
});

AddTreeBefore(string treeAlias, string name, string icon, Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Adds a tree to the current section before the tree with the given alias. For more information check the Trees documentation.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddTreeBefore("member", "My Tree", "icon-folder", treeConfig => {
    ...
});

AddTreeAfter(string treeAlias, string name, string icon, Lambda treeConfig = null) : TreeConfigBuilder

Adds a tree to the current section after the tree with the given alias. For more information check the Trees documentation.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddTreeAfter("member", "My Tree", "icon-folder", treeConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a dashboard to an existing section

AddDashboard (string name, Lambda dashboardConfig = null) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Adds a dashboard with the given name. For more information check the Dashboards documentation.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddDashboard("Team", dashboardConfig => {
    ...
});

AddDashboardBefore (string beforeAlias, string name, Lambda dashboardConfig = null) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Adds a dashboard with the given name before the dashboard with the given alias. For more information check the Dashboards documentation.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddDashboardBefore("contentIntro", "Team", dashboardConfig => {
    ...
});

AddDashboardAfter (string afterAlias, string name, Lambda dashboardConfig = null) : DashboardConfigBuilder

Adds a dashboard with the given name after the dashboard with the given alias. For more information check the Dashboards documentation.

// Example
withSectionConfig.AddDashboardAfter("contentIntro", "Team", dashboardConfig => {
    ...
});

A child collection is a container for a given data model that is tied to a parent collection data model. It shares all of the Collections config builder API except child collections cannot contain further child collections.

Defining a child collection

You define a child collection by calling one of the AddChildCollection methods on a given collection config builder instance.

AddChildCollection<TChildEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, Lambda fkFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, Lambda childCollectionConfig = null) : ChildCollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a child collection to the current collection with the given names and description and default icons. A property accessor expression is required for both the entity ID field and FK (Foreign Key) field of the entity.

// Example
collectionConfig.AddChildCollection<Child>(c => c.Id, c => c.ParentId, "Child", "Children", "A collection of children", childCollectionConfig => {
    ...
});

AddChildCollection<TChildEntityType>(Lambda idFieldExpression, Lambda fkFieldExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, string description, string iconSingular, string iconPlural, Lambda childCollectionConfig = null) : ChildCollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a child collection to the current collection with the given names, description and icons. A property accessor expression is required for both the entity ID field and FK (Foreign Key) field of the entity.

// Example
collectionConfig.AddChildCollection<Child>(c => c.Id, c => c.ParentId, "Child", "Children", "A collection of children", "icon-umb-users", "icon-umb-users", childCollectionConfig => {
    ...
});

Configuring a child collection

Child collections share the same API as the Collection config builder API, except child collections cannot contain further child collections. For more information check the core collections documentation.

A list view is a list-based view of a collection entity providing features: pagination for large collections, custom data views, searching, and bulk actions.

Configuring a list view

The list view configuration is a sub-configuration of a Collection config builder instance and is accessed via its ListView method.

ListView(Lambda listViewConfig = null) : ListViewConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Accesses the list view config of the given collection.

// Example
collectionConfig.ListView(listViewConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a field to the list view

AddField(Lambda propertyExpression, Lambda fieldConfig = null) : ListViewFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Adds the given property to the list view.

// Example
listViewConfig.AddField(p => p.FirstName, fieldConfig => {
    ...
});

Changing the heading of a field

SetHeading(string heading) : ListViewFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the heading for the list view field.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetHeading("First Name");

Formatting the value of a field

SetFormat(Lambda formatExpression) : ListViewFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the format expression for the list view field.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetFormat((v, p) => $"{v} years old");

Setting the view of a field

With field views, you can customize the markup the list view's field so you can show richer visualizations of the field's content. For more information you can check the Field Views Documentation.

SetView(string viewComponentName) : ListViewFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the view component for the list view field.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetView("ImageFieldView");

SetView<TView>() : ListViewFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the view component for the list view field.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetView<ImageFieldView>();

Setting the visibility of a field

SetVisibility(Predicate<ListViewFieldVisibilityContext> visibilityExpression) : ListViewFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the runtime visibility of the list view field.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetVisibility(ctx => ctx.UserGroups.Any(x => x.Alias == "editor"));

Changing the page size

SetPageSize(int pageSize) : ListViewConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the number of items to display per page for the given list view.

// Example
listViewConfig.SetPageSize(20);

A child collection group is a container for other child collections. Its purpose is mainly to provide a logical grouping of multiple child collections to help with organization and an improved user experience.

Defining a child collection group

You can define a child collection group by calling one of the AddChildCollectionGroup methods on a given collection config builder instance.

AddChildCollectionGroup(string name, Lambda childCollectionGroupConfig = null) : ChildCollectionGroupConfigBuilder

Adds a child collection group to the current collection with the given name and default icon.

// Example
collectionConfig.AddChildCollectionGroup("Family", childCollectionGroupConfig => {
    ...
});

AddChildCollectionGroup(string name, string icon, Lambda childCollectionGroupConfig = null) : ChildCollectionGroupConfigBuilder

Adds a child collection group to the current collection with the given name and icon.

// Example
collectionConfig.AddChildCollectionGroup("Family", "icon-users", childCollectionGroupConfig => {
    ...
});

An editor is the user interface used to edit an entity and is made up of tabs and property editors.

Configuring an editor

The editor configuration is a sub-configuration of a Collection config builder instance and is accessed via its Editor method.

Editor(Lambda editorConfig = null) : EditorConfig<TEntityType>

Accesses the editor config of the given collection.

// Example
collectionConfig.Editor(editorConfig => {
    ...
});

Adding a tab to an editor

AddTab(string name, Lambda tabConfig = null) : EditorTabConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a tab to the editor.

// Example
editorConfig.AddTab("General", tabConfig => {
    ...
});

Configuring a sidebar to a tab

A slidebar is a smaller area that is displayed to the right of the main editor. The sidebar can also contain fieldsets and fields in the same way tabs can. However, it is a much more limited display area so you'll need to choose your field types carefully. The sidebar is a great location to display entity metadata.

Sidebar(Lambda sidebarConfig = null) : EditorTabSidebarConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Configures the sidebar for the tab.

// Example
tabConfig.Sidebar(sidebarConfig => {
    ...
});

Setting the visibility of a tab

SetVisibility(Predicate<EditorTabVisibilityContext> visibilityExpression) : EditorTabConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the runtime visibility of the tab.

// Example
tabConfig.SetVisibility(ctx => ctx.EditorMode == EditorMode.Create);

Adding a fieldset to a tab

AddFieldset(string name, Lambda fieldsetConfig = null) : EditorFieldsetConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds the given fieldset to the tab.

// Example
tabConfig.AddFieldset("Contact", fieldsetConfig => {
    ...
});

Setting the visibility of a fieldset

SetVisibility(Predicate<EditorFieldsetVisibilityContext> visibilityExpression) : EditorFieldsetConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the runtime visibility of the fieldset.

// Example
fieldsetConfig.SetVisibility(ctx => ctx.EditorMode == EditorMode.Create);

Adding a field to a fieldset

AddField(Lambda propertyExpression, Lambda propertyConfig = null) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Adds the given property to the editor.

// Example
fieldsetConfig.AddField(p => p.FirstName, fieldConfig => {
    ...
});

Changing the label of a field

By default, Umbraco UI Builder will build the label from the property name, including splitting camel case names into sentence cases. However, you can set an explicit label if preferred.

SetLabel(string label) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the label for the editor field.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetLabel("First Name");

Hiding the label of a field

Sometimes you may have a field editor that would work better in full width. You can achieve this by explicitly hiding the field label.

HideLabel() : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Hides the label for the editor field.

// Example
fieldConfig.HideLabel();

Adding a description to a field

SetDescription(string description) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the description for the editor field.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetDescription("Enter your age in years");

Changing the Data Type of a field

By default, Umbraco UI Builder will automatically choose a relevant Data Type for basic field types. However, if you wish to use an alternative Data Type then you can override this.

SetDataType(string dataTypeName) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Set the Data Type of the current field to the Umbraco Data Type with the given name.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetDataType("Richtext Editor");

SetDataType(int dataTypeId) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Set the Data Type of the current field to the Umbraco Data Type with the given id.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetDataType(-88);

Setting the default value of a field

SetDefaultValue(TValueType defaultValue) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the default value to a known constant.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetDefaultValue(10);

SetDefaultValue(Func defaultValueFunc) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the default value via a function that gets evaluated at time of entity creation.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetDefaultValue(() => DateTime.Now);

Making a field required

MakeRequired() : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Makes the given field required.

// Example
fieldConfig.MakeRequired();

Validating a field

SetValidationRegex(string regex) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Defines the regular expression to use when validating the field.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetValidationRegex("[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\\.[A-Z]{2,4}");

Making a field read-only

MakeReadOnly() : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Makes the current field read-only disabling editing in the UI.

// Example
fieldConfig.MakeReadOnly();

MakeReadOnly(Func<TValueType, string> format) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Makes the current field read-only disabling editing in the UI. Provides a custom formatting expression to use when rendering the value as a string.

// Example
fieldConfig.MakeReadOnly(distanceProp => $"{distanceProp:## 'km'}");

MakeReadOnly(object dataTypeNameOrId) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Makes the current field read-only disabling editing in the UI. Provides the name or id of a datatype to use when in read-only mode.

// Example
fieldConfig.MakeReadOnly("myReadOnlyEditor");

MakeReadOnly(Predicate<EditorFieldReadOnlyContext> readOnlyExp) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Makes the current field read-only disabling editing in the UI if the given runtime predicate is true.

// Example
fieldConfig.MakeReadOnly(ctx => ctx.EditorMode == EditorMode.Create);

MakeReadOnly(Predicate<EditorFieldReadOnlyContext> readOnlyExp, Func<TValueType, string> format) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Makes the current field read-only disabling editing in the UI if the given runtime predicate is true. Provides a custom formatting expression to use when rendering the value as a string.

// Example
fieldConfig.MakeReadOnly(ctx => ctx.EditorMode == EditorMode.Create, distanceProp => $"{distanceProp:## 'km'}");

MakeReadOnly(Predicate<EditorFieldReadOnlyContext> readOnlyExp, object dataTypeNameOrId) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Makes the current field read-only disabling editing in the UI if the given runtime predicate is true. Provides the name or id of a datatype to use when in read-only mode.

// Example
fieldConfig.MakeReadOnly(ctx => ctx.EditorMode == EditorMode.Create, "myReadOnlyEditor");

Setting the visibility of a field

SetVisibility(Predicate<EditorFieldVisibilityContext> visibilityExpression) : EditorFieldConfigBuilder<TEntityType, TValueType>

Sets the runtime visibility of the field.

// Example
fieldConfig.SetVisibility(ctx => ctx.EditorMode == EditorMode.Create);

Related collections add support for editing many-to-many relationships with UI Builder. These are found when multiple entities from one collection are associated with multiple entities from another. They are modeled in a database via two tables related to a junction table.

A classic example is with Students and Courses. Each course has many students, and each student takes many courses.

Collections Representation

A representation of your collections would look like this:

And the entities would be represented using the following Models:

Defining a related collection

You can get started with related collection through a two step process:

1. Add collection definition

2. Add related collection entity picker and definition

Collection definition

Define a related collection by calling the AddRelatedCollection method on a given collection config builder instance.

AddRelatedCollection<TEntityType, TRelatedEntityType, TJunctionEntityType>(Expression<Func<TRelatedEntityType, object>> idPropertyExpression, string nameSingular, string namePlural, Action<RelationConfigBuilder<TBuilder, TEntity, TRelatedEntityType, TJunctionEntityType>> relationConfig)

Adds a related collection to the current collection with the given names, descriptions, and default icons. A property accessor expression is required for the entity ID field of the entity. The relation configuration will define the junction entity by specifying the references to parent and child entities.

Configuring a related collection entity picker

Define the child collection entity picker by calling the AddRelatedCollectionPickerField method on the parent collection fieldset config.

AddRelatedCollectionPickerField<TValueType>(string alias, string dataTypeName, string label)

Adds an entity picker with the specified Data Type name to the editor of the parent collection.

Defining repository methods

IEnumerable GetRelationsByParentIdImpl(int parentId, string relationAlias)

Retrieves the related collections based on the ID of the parent entity.

StudentCourse SaveRelationImpl(StudentCourse entity)

Adds a new related collection to the current parent entity.

Beyond listing collection entities, if you need to be able to locate specific entities within a collection then Umbraco UI Builder provides a search API.

Get started by reviewing how to define searchable properties.

Data views allow you to define multiple, pre-filtered views of the same data source. This can be useful when entities exist in different states and you want a way to toggle between them.

Defining data views

AddDataView(string name, Lambda whereClauseExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a data view with the given name and where clause filter expression. Expression must be a boolean expression.

AddDataView(string group, string name, Lambda whereClauseExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds a data view with the given group, name and where clause filter expression. Expression must be a boolean expression.

Data views builders allow you to create a collection data views list dynamically at run time. By default, Umbraco UI Builder will use the hard-coded data views defined in your Umbraco UI Builder config. However, if you need to build your data views list dynamically, then this is when you'd use a data views builder.

When Umbraco UI Builder resolves a data views builder it will attempt to do so from the global DI container. This means you can inject any dependencies that you require for your builder. If there is no type defined in the DI container, Umbraco UI Builder will fall-back to manually instantiating a new instance of value mapper.

Defining a data views builder

To define a data views builder you can create a class that inherits from the base class DataViewsBuilder<TEntityType> and implements the abstract methods.

The required methods are:

• GetDataViews: Returns the list of data views to choose from.

• GetDataViewWhereClause: Returns the boolean where clause expression for the given data views alias.

Setting the data views builder of a collection

SetDataViewsBuilder<TDataViewsBuilder>() : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the collections data views builder which allows you to define the data views dynamically at run time.

SetDataViewsBuilder(Type dataViewsBuilderType) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the collections data views builder which allows you to define the data views dynamically at run time.

SetDataViewsBuilder(DataViewsBuilder<TEntityType> dataViewsBuilder) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the collections data views builder which allows you to define the data views dynamically at run time.

Searchable properties allow you to define any String based properties on a model. They will be searchable via Umbraco UI Builder's list view and entity picker search controls.

You can also use any String based property of nested objects of a model, as long as the parent object is not null.

Defining searchable properties

AddSearchableProperty(Lambda searchablePropertyExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Adds the given property to the searchable properties collection.

Beyond there might be times when you need to be able to create specific views of a collection's data. To help with this Umbraco UI Builder has different filtering mechanisms available.

Choose a filtering method from the list below to find out more.

If you want to work with a subset of data within a given collection then this is where the global filters come in handy. These allow you to define a filter to apply to all queries for a given collection.

Applying a global filter

Applying a global filter is controlled via the configuration.

SetFilter(Lambda whereClauseExpression) : CollectionConfigBuilder<TEntityType>

Sets the filter where clause expression. Expression must be a boolean expression.