Editing an Archetype in Code

Often times you may want to edit an Archetype or create a new one altogether. The following example illustrates how to retrieve an Archetype from ContentService, edit it and save it back.

  1. using System.Collections.Generic;
  2. using System.Linq;
  3. using Archetype.Models;
  4. using Newtonsoft.Json;
  5. using Umbraco.Core;
  7. namespace MyApp
  8. {
  9.     public class MyClass
  10.     {
  11.         public void MyMethod()
  12.         {
  13.             //get a ref to services
  14.             var services = ApplicationContext.Current.Services;
  16.             //get a reference to the current content if an edit (or create a new node instead)
  17.             var content = services.ContentService.GetById(1234);
  19.             var currentArchetypeJson = content.GetValue<string>("myDoctypeAliasForArchetypeProperty");
  21.             //deserialize into an Archetype
  22.             var myArchetype = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ArchetypeModel>(currentArchetypeJson);
  24.             //get the current fieldsets
  25.             var currentFieldsets = new List<ArchetypeFieldsetModel>();
  26.             currentFieldsets = myArchetype.Fieldsets.ToList();
  28.             //edit some of the fieldsets or properties if you want
  29.             var someCurrentFieldsets = currentFieldsets.Where(x => x.Alias == "someFieldsetAlias");
  31.             foreach (var fieldset in someCurrentFieldsets)
  32.             {
  33.                 var property = fieldset.Properties.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Alias == "somePropertyAlias");
  35.                 if (property != null)
  36.                 {
  37.                     property.Value = "new value";
  38.                 }
  39.             }
  41.             //add some new fieldsets
  42.             currentFieldsets.AddRange(    
  43.                 new List<ArchetypeFieldsetModel>(){
  44.                 //fieldset 1 of type 'myFieldsetAlias'
  45.                 new ArchetypeFieldsetModel() { 
  46.                     Alias = "myFieldsetAlias",
  47.                     Properties = new List<ArchetypePropertyModel>()
  48.                     {
  49.                         //property 1 of type 'myFieldsetAlias'
  50.                         new ArchetypePropertyModel() {
  51.                             Alias = "myPropertyAlias",
  52.                             Value = ""
  53.                         },
  54.                         new ArchetypePropertyModel() {
  55.                             Alias = "myPropertyAlias2",
  56.                             Value = ""
  57.                         },
  58.                         new ArchetypePropertyModel() {
  59.                             Alias = "myPropertyAlias3",
  60.                             Value = ""
  61.                         }
  62.                     },
  63.                     Disabled = false,
  64.                 },
  65.                 //fieldset 2 of type 'myFieldsetAlias'
  66.                 new ArchetypeFieldsetModel() { 
  67.                     Alias = "myFieldsetAlias",
  68.                     Properties = new List<ArchetypePropertyModel>()
  69.                     {
  70.                         new ArchetypePropertyModel() {
  71.                             Alias = "myPropertyAlias",
  72.                             Value = ""
  73.                         },
  74.                         new ArchetypePropertyModel() {
  75.                             Alias = "myPropertyAlias2",
  76.                             Value = ""
  77.                         },
  78.                         new ArchetypePropertyModel() {
  79.                             Alias = "myPropertyAlias3",
  80.                             Value = ""
  81.                         }
  82.                     },
  83.                     Disabled = false,
  84.                 }
  85.                 //keep adding as you like
  86.             });
  88.             //add our edited fieldsets to the Archetype
  89.             myArchetype.Fieldsets = currentFieldsets;
  91.             //generate the json that needs to be saved
  92.             var json = myArchetype.SerializeForPersistence();
  94.             //use ContentService or MemberService etc to save it to a node
  95.             content.SetValue("myDoctypeAliasForArchetypeProperty", json);
  96.             services.ContentService.Save(content);
  97.         }
  98.     }
  99. }

Note if you want to create an Archetype instead of loading it, just instantiate a new ArchetypeModel instead of loading and deserializing it.