Microsoft Content Management Server Development : Managing Channels and Postings with the PAPI - Moving Postings

You can change the parent container of a posting by moving it. Postings can be moved in both the Web Author (using the Move Posting option) and Site Manager (dragging and dropping postings from one channel to another). Once moved, postings require moderator approval if any are assigned for the destination channel.

The PAPI provides the Posting.MoveTo() method to move postings using code. One common application of the method is to automatically approve postings that are moved. When reorganizing large numbers of postings, it is often quicker to write a script to automate the move and to approve them immediately instead of performing these steps manually.

To see how the Posting.MoveTo() method is used within code, we’ll create a Move Posting dialog for CMS Explorer:

1. Add a new web form to the CMSExplorer project. Name the new web form MovePosting.aspx.

2. In Design view, drag and drop the Styles.css file from Solution Explorer onto the form.

3. Toggle to HTML view. Add the following code for a table with four rows between the <form> tags.

   <table>
   <tr>
     <td colspan="2">
       <h1>Move Posting</h1>
       <h2>Original Path: (Add Literal for displaying the path here)</h2>
     </td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td>Destination Channel:</td>
     <td>(Add the text box for the Destination Channel here)</td> <tr>
     <td colspan="2">(Add the Label for displaying error messages here)</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td colspan="2" align="right">
       (Add the Move Posting button here)
       <INPUT type="button" value="Close"
         onclick="javascript:window.close();">
     </td>
   </tr>
   </table>

4. In Design view, add controls and arrange them as shown in the diagram below:

   Control	Property Property	Value
   Literal	ID	litCurrentPosting
   TextBox	ID	txtDestination
   Button	ID	btnMove
   	Text	Move Posting
   Label	ID	lblErrorMessage
   	Text	(empty string)

   
   

   

5. Double-click on the form to get to the code-behind file. As before, import the Microsoft.ContentManagement.Publishing namespace. In the Page_Load() event handler, populate the litCurrentPosting Literal with the path of the posting to be moved.

   
   

   . . . code continues . . .
   // MCMS PAPI
   

   using Microsoft.ContentManagement.Publishing;
   

   
   namespace CmsExplorer
   {
     /// <summary>
     /// Summary description for MovePosting.
     /// </summary>
     public class MovePosting : System.Web.UI.Page
     {
       protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox txtDestination;
       protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.Label lblErrorMessage;
       protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button btnMove;
       protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.Literal litCurrentPosting;
   
       private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
       {
         // display the path of the posting to be moved
   

   Posting currentPosting;
   currentPosting = CmsHttpContext.Current.Searches.GetByGuid(
   Request.QueryString["CMSObjectGuid"]) as Posting;
   if (currentPosting != null)
   litCurrentPosting.Text = currentPosting.Path;
   else
   lblErrorMessage.Text = "Requested posting does not exist.";
   

       }
   
       #region Web Form Designer generated code
           . . . code continues . . .
       #endregion
     }
   }
   
   					  

6. Toggle to Design view and double-click on the btnMove button. In the btnMove_Click() event handler, add the following code:

   private void btnMove_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
   {
     CmsHttpContext cmsContext = CmsHttpContext.Current;
   

   // get the posting to be moved
   Posting currentPosting = cmsContext.Searches.GetByGuid(
   Request.QueryString["CMSObjectGuid"]) as Posting;
   if (currentPosting != null)
   {
   try
   {
   // get the destination channel
   Channel destination;
   destination = cmsContext.Searches.GetByPath(
   txtDestination.Text) as Channel;
   if (destination != null)
   {
   // check if we can create postings
   if (!destination.CanCreatePostings)
   throw new Exception("Current user does not have permissions "
   + " to create postings in channel: "
   + destination.Path);
   currentPosting.MoveTo(destination);
   // you can approve the posting
   // or set its properties here
   // e.g. currentPosting.Approve();
   cmsContext.CommitAll();
   // display the success message
   lblErrorMessage.Text = "Posting moved successfully!";
   }
   else
   {
   lblErrorMessage.Text = "Invalid Destination Channel";
   }
   }
   catch(Exception ex)
   {
   // rollback the changes
   cmsContext.RollbackAll();
   // after a rollback it is required to dispose of the CMS context
   cmsContext.Dispose();
   // display the error message
   lblErrorMessage.Text = ex.Message;
   }
   }
   else
   {
   lblErrorMessage.Text = "Requested posting does not exist.";
   }
   }
   

The Posting.MoveTo() method accepts the destination channel as an input parameter. In the code above, we use the Searches.GetByPath() method to get the destination channel based on the path entered in the txtDestination textbox. If the channel exists, we pass it in as an input parameter to the Posting.MoveTo() method.

Let’s see the move in action. First, if you haven’t already done so, build the CMSExplorer project, then:

1. Open http://localhost/CMSExplorer.

2. Click on MyNewChannel.

3. Click on the Edit button of the MyPosting posting and click Move.

4. In the Move Posting dialog, enter /Channels/MyNewChannel2/ as the destination channel. Click Move Posting.

And MyPosting gets moved from MyNewChannel to MyNewChannel2.

Moving postings does not modify any of their placeholder or property values. However, if there are moderators assigned to the destination channel, the posting would be in a “Waiting For Moderator Approval” state. At the same time, the LastModifiedBy and LastModifiedDate properties of the moved posting are modified to indicate the person who executed the move and the date and time that the operation was performed.