Data List: How to set value programmatically?

[Sven883]

Which Contentment version are you using?

V1.4.4

Which Umbraco version are you using? For example: 8.14.1 - don't just write v8

v8.6.1

Bug summary

I've got 2 custom propertyeditors made:

1. SliderFiltersDataSource

public class SliderFiltersDataSource : IDataListSource, IDataListSourceValueConverter
    {
        public Dictionary<string, object> DefaultValues => new Dictionary<string, object>();

        public IEnumerable<ConfigurationField> Fields => Enumerable.Empty<ConfigurationField>();

        public OverlaySize OverlaySize => OverlaySize.Large;

        public string Name => "Slider Filters";

        public string Description => "Data source for all available slider filters.";

        public string Icon => "icon-navigation-horizontal";

        public IEnumerable<DataListItem> GetItems(Dictionary<string, object> config)
        {
            var sliderFilters = Current.UmbracoContext.Content.GetByContentType(SliderFilterTaxonomy.GetModelContentType()).OfType<SliderFilterTaxonomy>();

            if (sliderFilters == null || !sliderFilters.Any())
            {
                return new List<DataListItem>();
            }

            return sliderFilters.Select(x => new DataListItem
            {
                Name = x.Name,
                Icon = "icon-navigation-horizontal",
                Value = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new Models.Custom.Taxonomy 
                { 
                    Id = x.Id,
                    Name = x.Name,
                    ContentTypeAlias = SliderFilterTaxonomy.ModelTypeAlias,
                    Key = x.Key,
                    Url = x.Url,
                    Parent = new Models.Custom.Taxonomy
                    {
                        Id = x.Parent.Id,
                        Name = x.Parent.Name,
                        ContentTypeAlias = SliderFiltersContainer.ModelTypeAlias,
                        Key = x.Parent.Key,
                        Url = x.Parent.Url
                    }
                })
            });
        }

        public Type GetValueType(Dictionary<string, object> config)
        {
            return typeof(Models.Custom.Taxonomy);
        }

        public object ConvertValue(Type type, string value)
        {
            return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Models.Custom.Taxonomy>(value);
        }
    }

2. CheckboxFiltersDataSource

    public class CheckboxFiltersDataSource : IDataListSource, IDataListSourceValueConverter
    {
        public Dictionary<string, object> DefaultValues => new Dictionary<string, object>();

        public IEnumerable<ConfigurationField> Fields => Enumerable.Empty<ConfigurationField>();

        public OverlaySize OverlaySize => OverlaySize.Large;

        public string Name => "Checkbox Filters";

        public string Description => "Data source for all available checkbox filters.";

        public string Icon => "icon-checkbox";

        public IEnumerable<DataListItem> GetItems(Dictionary<string, object> config)
        {
            var checkboxFilters = Current.UmbracoContext.Content.GetByContentType(CheckboxFilterTaxonomy.GetModelContentType()).OfType<CheckboxFilterTaxonomy>();

            if (checkboxFilters == null || !checkboxFilters.Any())
            {
                return new List<DataListItem>();
            }

            return checkboxFilters.Select(x => new DataListItem
            {
                Name = x.Name,
                Icon = "icon-checkbox",
                Value = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new Models.Custom.Taxonomy
                {
                    Id = x.Id,
                    Name = x.Name,
                    ContentTypeAlias = CheckboxFilterTaxonomy.ModelTypeAlias,
                    Key = x.Key,
                    Url = x.Url,
                    Parent = new Models.Custom.Taxonomy
                    {
                        Id = x.Parent.Id,
                        Name = x.Parent.Name,
                        ContentTypeAlias = CheckboxFiltersContainer.ModelTypeAlias,
                        Key = x.Parent.Key,
                        Url = x.Parent.Url
                    }
                }),
            });
        }

        public Type GetValueType(Dictionary<string, object> config)
        {
            return typeof(Models.Custom.Taxonomy);
        }

        public object ConvertValue(Type type, string value)
        {
            return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Models.Custom.Taxonomy>(value);
        }
    }
}

I created a custom app_plugin so products with old filtering are parsed to new filtering with above new slider & checkboxes.
Problem i'm having is that either way how I try to set the value, the value is always empty in the backoffice:

1. checkboxFilters property = contentment datalist
   I've tried setting the value like this:

var newCheckboxValues = new List<Models.Custom.Taxonomy>();
newCheckboxValues.Add(new Models.Custom.Taxonomy 
                    { 
                        ContentTypeAlias = CheckboxFilterTaxonomy.ModelTypeAlias,
                        Id = checkboxFilter.Id,
                        Key = checkboxFilter.Key,
                        Name = checkboxFilter.Name,
                        Url = checkboxFilter.Url,
                        Parent = new Models.Custom.Taxonomy
                        {
                            Id = checkboxFilter.Parent.Id,
                            Name = checkboxFilter.Parent.Name,
                            ContentTypeAlias = CheckboxFiltersContainer.ModelTypeAlias,
                            Key = checkboxFilter.Parent.Key,
                            Url = checkboxFilter.Parent.Url
                        }
                    });
productItem.SetValue("checkboxFilters", JsonConvert.SerializeObject(newCheckboxValues));

But that doesn't work. Ive also tried returning a array of only the names, but same result.

3. sliderFilters property= Nested content with properties: type (contentment datalist max 1 item), min (numeric), max (numeric)
   For the sliderFilter i've created a custom model:

public class NcSliderFilter
    {
        public Guid Key { get; set; }

        public string NcContentTypeAlias { get; set; }

        public int Min { get; set; }

        public int Max { get; set; }

        public Models.Custom.Taxonomy Type { get; set; }
    }

var nestedContentValue = new List<NcSliderFilter>();
var type = new Models.Custom.Taxonomy
                {
                    Id = sliderFilter.Id,
                    Name = sliderFilter.Name,
                    ContentTypeAlias = SliderFilterTaxonomy.ModelTypeAlias,
                    Key = sliderFilter.Key,
                    Url = sliderFilter.Url,
                    Parent = new Models.Custom.Taxonomy
                    {
                        Id = sliderFilter.Parent.Id,
                        Name = sliderFilter.Parent.Name,
                        ContentTypeAlias = SliderFiltersContainer.ModelTypeAlias,
                        Key = sliderFilter.Parent.Key,
                        Url = sliderFilter.Parent.Url
                    }
                };

                var ncContent = new NcSliderFilter
                {
                    Key = Guid.NewGuid(),
                    Max = product.Value<int>(availableSliderFilter),
                    Min = availableSliderFilter.Equals("liftingHeightMm") ? product.Value<int>("liftingHeightMinimumMm") : 0,
                    NcContentTypeAlias = SliderFilter.ModelTypeAlias,
                    Type = type
                };


productItem.SetValue("sliderFilters", JsonConvert.SerializeObject(nestedContentValue));

I've tried adding the value with/without serializing, but no results.
Any idea would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance

[Sven883]

Hey @leekelleher, i've gottan a bit further since my post.

this is the json data that I need:
"[\r\n \"{\\\"Id\\\":5469,\\\"Key\\\":\\\"cdb2b8c2-3ef0-4a22-8d8c-950cedfddb03\\\",\\\"Name\\\":\\\"Meeloper\\\",\\\"Url\\\":\\\"/checkbox-filter-container-nl-1-1-1-1/extra/meeloper/\\\",\\\"ContentTypeAlias\\\":\\\"checkboxFilterTaxonomy\\\",\\\"Parent\\\":{\\\"Id\\\":5468,\\\"Key\\\":\\\"4dee4dcf-26b6-41e6-b213-51617d582f32\\\",\\\"Name\\\":\\\"Extra\\\",\\\"Url\\\":\\\"/checkbox-filter-container-nl-1-1-1-1/extra/\\\",\\\"ContentTypeAlias\\\":\\\"checkboxFiltersContainer\\\",\\\"Parent\\\":null}}\",\r\n \"{\\\"Id\\\":5474,\\\"Key\\\":\\\"5a1441bb-f2b5-440a-b497-8ef2c4e2e94e\\\",\\\"Name\\\":\\\"Steekwagens\\\",\\\"Url\\\":\\\"/checkbox-filter-container-nl-1-1-1-1/type-machine/steekwagens/\\\",\\\"ContentTypeAlias\\\":\\\"checkboxFilterTaxonomy\\\",\\\"Parent\\\":{\\\"Id\\\":5473,\\\"Key\\\":\\\"70c6d8a6-6415-4935-9192-4be95b52d904\\\",\\\"Name\\\":\\\"Type machine\\\",\\\"Url\\\":\\\"/checkbox-filter-container-nl-1-1-1-1/type-machine/\\\",\\\"ContentTypeAlias\\\":\\\"checkboxFiltersContainer\\\",\\\"Parent\\\":null}}\"\r\n]"

When copy pasting this in:
productItem.SetValue("checkboxFilters", jsonDataAboveCopyPastedAsString);

It works.

But weirdly enough it doesn't work when doing this:

var serializedObject = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(newCheckboxValues, Formatting.Indented);
productItem.SetValue("checkboxFilters",serializedObject );

Any idea?

[leekelleher]

@Sven883 Thanks for posting this. There is quite a bit to unpack from your code snippets. My general approach would be to try to simplify the value of the data-source items.

From your code snippet examples, you are serializing a new Models.Custom.Taxonomy object instance to a JSON-string, which contains references to the content node's name and info about parent's node - as in the Value is capturing a snapshot of the node at that moment in time. e.g. What would happen if a category/filter was renamed? or if it was relocated to under a different parent category/filter? In that scenario, that would break the corresponding Value, it'd be out-of-sync.

When I've been working with content node data-sources for Data List, I try to use the node's .Key (Guid), or the UDI (e.g. umb://document/<guid>), then later in the ConvertValue() method, I'd use the UDI to query the content cache.

Here's an example of how I do that here: https://github.com/leekelleher/umbraco-contentment/blob/1.4.4/src/Umbraco.Community.Contentment/DataEditors/DataList/DataSources/UmbracoContentXPathDataListSource.cs#L121-L123

---

However, if you are determined to have the serialized JSON-string as the .Value, then when you want to set the property's value programmatically, you must match the value literally. Meaning that when you serialize it, it must use the same settings, e.g. Formatting.Indented, (personally, I wouldn't indent it), and all the object's inner values must match. The JSON-strings must be literally equal, otherwise the Data List editor wont be able to match them up.

I hope this helps?