Thread: v9 EntityControl

So I'm noticing that the EntityControl in v9 is a little limited in control of markup (unless you have source code).

Is there any reason we can't go back to using the XMLPackages (i.e. rev.categories) so we have full control over markup when skinning/customizing?

So, for example:

<asp:Literal ID="categorymenu" runat="server" Text="<%$ Tokens:XMLPackage, rev.categories%>"></asp:Literal>

asking Dev. it should at least be CSS controlled at a MINIMUM...

EntityControl can be CSS controlled. No question there. The concern lies with the old XMLPackages giving us a great deal of flexibility on HTML structure, which is needed in many cases.

I've tested the rev.categories xml package and it seems to be working. I just want to make sure we can still use these packages without problems. So far it seems ok.

XmlPackages are still supported in the Master Page Skins yes.

Actually what you end up with here is even more flexibility. We have the default entity control, you can use xmlpackages, and now with masterpages you can create your own user controls that you can load instead of our default entity control (which we plan on moving back out of the source code) or xmlpackages. While the xmlpackages do offer quite a bit of flexibility, a lot of .NET developers would rather write controls than XSLT, but those who want to keep using them for now can. In any case, we've now added one more measure of flexibility to AspDotNetStorefront

George (or anybody else)

How does the XMLPACKAGE token work? I'm trying to run a featuredproducts.xml.config package using the token and I just wind up getting InvalidRequest.aspx. I can run a package no problem that sits within the Skin_1/XmlPackages no problem, but anything in /XmlPackages/ root does not seem to work without error.

Use our XMLPackage control vs. trying to use a literal. Eg. in the ASPX page or .Master file:

Code:

<%@ Register TagPrefix="aspdnsf" TagName="XmlPackage" Src="~/Controls/XmlPackageControl.ascx" %>

<aspdnsf:XmlPackage runat="server" id="SomeID" PackageName="MyPackage.xml.config" EnforceDisclaimer="true" EnforcePassword="true" EnforceSubscription="true" AllowSEPropogation="true" />

One thing that you'll want to remember is that the old rev.* use simple string concatenation to build the entity and product links based on the ID and the SEName, so none of the rev.* xmlpackages will honor anything but the default routing engine rules. Just a heads up...

That is actually great information George. Thanks for sharing that tid-bit. Might even have to throw that on our blog for safe keeping/future finding.

We'd hope scott would add it to our manual one day also