Optimizely CMS Development

Overview

This skill covers core Optimizely CMS (formerly Episerver) development patterns including content types, initialization modules, and the content API.

Content Types

Page Types

using EPiServer.Core; using EPiServer.DataAnnotations; using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

[ContentType( GUID = "f8d47a38-5b23-4c8e-9f12-3a7e8b9c2d1f", DisplayName = "Article Page", Description = "Standard article page with heading and body content", GroupName = "Content")] public class ArticlePage : PageData { [Display( Name = "Heading", Description = "Main heading for the article", GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content, Order = 100)] [Required] public virtual string Heading { get; set; }

[Display(
    Name = "Main Content",
    GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,
    Order = 200)]
public virtual XhtmlString MainBody { get; set; }

[Display(
    Name = "Published Date",
    GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,
    Order = 300)]
public virtual DateTime? PublishedDate { get; set; }

}

Block Types

[ContentType( GUID = "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890", DisplayName = "Hero Block", Description = "Full-width hero section")] public class HeroBlock : BlockData { [Display(Name = "Heading", Order = 10)] [Required] public virtual string Heading { get; set; }

[Display(Name = "Subheading", Order = 20)]
public virtual string Subheading { get; set; }

[Display(Name = "Background Image", Order = 30)]
[UIHint(UIHint.Image)]
public virtual ContentReference BackgroundImage { get; set; }

[Display(Name = "Call to Action", Order = 40)]
public virtual Url CallToActionUrl { get; set; }

}

Content Areas with Restrictions

[Display(Name = "Main Content Area", Order = 100)] [AllowedTypes(typeof(TextBlock), typeof(ImageBlock), typeof(VideoBlock))] public virtual ContentArea MainContentArea { get; set; }

[Display(Name = "Sidebar Blocks", Order = 200)] [AllowedTypes(typeof(TeaserBlock), typeof(LinkListBlock))] [MaxItems(3)] public virtual ContentArea SidebarArea { get; set; }

Initialization Modules

Configurable Module

using EPiServer.Framework; using EPiServer.Framework.Initialization; using EPiServer.ServiceLocation; using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;

[InitializableModule] [ModuleDependency(typeof(ServiceContainerInitialization))] public class DependencyResolverInitialization : IConfigurableModule { public void ConfigureContainer(ServiceConfigurationContext context) { context.Services.AddScoped<IArticleService, ArticleService>(); context.Services.AddScoped<ISearchService, SearchService>(); }

public void Initialize(InitializationEngine context)
{
    // Initialization logic
}

public void Uninitialize(InitializationEngine context)
{
    // Cleanup logic
}

}

Content Events Module

[InitializableModule] [ModuleDependency(typeof(EPiServer.Web.InitializationModule))] public class ContentEventsInitialization : IInitializableModule { public void Initialize(InitializationEngine context) { var events = context.Locate.ContentEvents(); events.PublishedContent += OnPublishedContent; events.SavingContent += OnSavingContent; }

private void OnPublishedContent(object sender, ContentEventArgs e)
{
    // Handle content published event
}

private void OnSavingContent(object sender, ContentEventArgs e)
{
    // Handle content saving event
}

public void Uninitialize(InitializationEngine context)
{
    var events = context.Locate.ContentEvents();
    events.PublishedContent -= OnPublishedContent;
    events.SavingContent -= OnSavingContent;
}

}

Content API

IContentLoader (Cached Reads)

public class ArticleService : IArticleService { private readonly IContentLoader _contentLoader;

public ArticleService(IContentLoader contentLoader)
{
    _contentLoader = contentLoader;
}

public T Get<T>(ContentReference contentLink) where T : IContent
{
    return _contentLoader.Get<T>(contentLink);
}

public IEnumerable<T> GetChildren<T>(ContentReference parentLink) where T : IContent
{
    return _contentLoader.GetChildren<T>(parentLink);
}

// Batch loading - more efficient than loading one by one
public IEnumerable<IContent> GetItems(IEnumerable<ContentReference> contentLinks)
{
    return _contentLoader.GetItems(contentLinks, new LoaderOptions());
}

}

IContentRepository (Write Operations)

public class ContentManager { private readonly IContentRepository _contentRepository;

public ContentManager(IContentRepository contentRepository)
{
    _contentRepository = contentRepository;
}

public ContentReference CreatePage<T>(ContentReference parentLink, string name) where T : PageData
{
    var page = _contentRepository.GetDefault<T>(parentLink);
    page.Name = name;
    return _contentRepository.Save(page, SaveAction.Publish);
}

public void UpdateContent(IContent content)
{
    var writableContent = content.CreateWritableClone();
    // Make changes
    _contentRepository.Save(writableContent, SaveAction.Publish);
}

}

Scheduled Jobs

[ScheduledPlugIn( DisplayName = "Content Cleanup Job", Description = "Removes expired content", GUID = "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012")] public class ContentCleanupJob : ScheduledJobBase { private readonly IContentRepository _contentRepository;

public ContentCleanupJob(IContentRepository contentRepository)
{
    _contentRepository = contentRepository;
}

public override string Execute()
{
    var processedCount = 0;

    // Job logic here
    OnStatusChanged($"Processing... {processedCount} items");

    return $"Completed. Processed {processedCount} items.";
}

}

Property Value Converters

public class TagListPropertyConverter : PropertyValueConverterBase { public override object Convert(object value, Type targetType) { if (value is string tags) { return tags.Split(',').Select(t => t.Trim()).ToList(); } return new List<string>(); } }

Best Practices

• Always use GUIDs on content types for serialization

• Use IContentLoader for reads (cached)

• Use IContentRepository for writes only

• Batch load content instead of loading in loops

• Bound queries with Take() to prevent loading thousands of items

• Use constructor injection instead of ServiceLocator