How to skip displaying a content item in Orchard CMS?

Question

I have a content part that provides a begin timestamp and end timestamp option. These 2 fields are used to define a period of time in which the content item should be displa

Answer 1

This is a quite complex task. There are several steps needed to achieve a proper skipping of display items:

1. Create the part correctly

   There are a few pitfalls here as when coming to the task of adding a part view one might utilize Orchards date time editor in connection with the DateTime properties. But this brings a heck of a lot of additional issues to the table but these don't really relate to the question.

   If someone is interested in how to use Orchards date time editor then i can post this code too, but for now it would only blow up the code unnecessarly.

   So here we go, the part class...

   public class ValidityPart : Orchard.ContentManagement.ContentPart<ValidityPartRecord>
   {
     // public
       public System.DateTime? ValidFromUtc 
       { 
         get { return Retrieve(r => r.ValidFromUtc); }
         set { Store(r => r.ValidFromUtc, value); }
       }
   
       ...
   
       public System.DateTime? ValidTillUtc 
       { 
         get { return Retrieve(r => r.ValidTillUtc); }
         set { Store(r => r.ValidTillUtc, value); }
       }
   
       ...
   
       public bool IsContentItemValid()
       {
         var lUtcNow = System.DateTime.UtcNow;
   
         return (ValidFromUtc == null || ValidFromUtc.Value <= lUtcNow) && (ValidTillUtc == null || ValidTillUtc.Value >= lUtcNow);
       }
   
     ...
   }
   

   ...and the record class...

   public class ValidityPartRecord : Orchard.ContentManagement.Records.ContentPartRecord
   {
     // valid from value as UTC to use Orchard convention (see CommonPart table) and to be compatible with projections
     // (date/time tokens work with UTC values, see https://github.com/OrchardCMS/Orchard/issues/6963 for a related issue)  
     public virtual System.DateTime? ValidFromUtc { get; set; }
   
     // valid from value as UTC to use Orchard convention (see CommonPart table) and to be compatible with projections
     // (date/time tokens work with UTC values, see https://github.com/OrchardCMS/Orchard/issues/6963 for a related issue)  
     public virtual System.DateTime? ValidTillUtc { get; set; }
   }
   

2. Create a customized content query class

   public class MyContentQuery : Orchard.ContentManagement.DefaultContentQuery
   { 
     // public
       public ContentQuery(Orchard.ContentManagement.IContentManager aContentManager, 
         Orchard.Data.ITransactionManager aTransactionManager, 
         Orchard.Caching.ICacheManager aCacheManager,
         Orchard.Caching.ISignals aSignals,
         Orchard.Data.IRepository<Orchard.ContentManagement.Records.ContentTypeRecord> aContentTypeRepository,
         Orchard.IWorkContextAccessor aWorkContextAccessor) 
           : base(aContentManager, aTransactionManager, aCacheManager, aSignals, aContentTypeRepository)
       {
         mWorkContextAccessor = aWorkContextAccessor;
       }
   
       protected override void BeforeExecuteQuery(NHibernate.ICriteria aContentItemVersionCriteria)
       {
         base.BeforeExecuteQuery(aContentItemVersionCriteria);
   
         // note:
         //  this method will be called each time a query for multiple items is going to be executed (e.g. content items of a container, layers, menus),
         //  this gives us the chance to add a validity criteria
   
         var lWorkContext = mWorkContextAccessor.GetContext();
   
         // exclude admin as content items should still be displayed / accessible when invalid as validity needs to be editable
         if (lWorkContext == null || !Orchard.UI.Admin.AdminFilter.IsApplied(lWorkContext.HttpContext.Request.RequestContext))
         {
           var lUtcNow = System.DateTime.UtcNow;
   
           // left outer join of ValidityPartRecord table as part is optional (not present on all content types)
           var ValidityPartRecordCriteria = aContentItemVersionCriteria.CreateCriteria(
             "ContentItemRecord.ValidityPartRecord", // string adopted from foreach loops in Orchard.ContentManagement.DefaultContentQuery.WithQueryHints()
             NHibernate.SqlCommand.JoinType.LeftOuterJoin 
           );
   
           // add validity criterion
           ValidityPartRecordCriteria.Add( 
             NHibernate.Criterion.Restrictions.And(
               NHibernate.Criterion.Restrictions.Or(
                 NHibernate.Criterion.Restrictions.IsNull("ValidFromUtc"),
                 NHibernate.Criterion.Restrictions.Le("ValidFromUtc", lUtcNow)
               ),
               NHibernate.Criterion.Restrictions.Or(
                 NHibernate.Criterion.Restrictions.IsNull("ValidTillUtc"),
                 NHibernate.Criterion.Restrictions.Ge("ValidTillUtc", lUtcNow)
               )
             )
           );
         }
       }
   
     // private
       Orchard.IWorkContextAccessor mWorkContextAccessor;
   }
   

   This essentially adds a left join of the validity part fields to the SQL query (content query) and extends the WHERE statement with the validity condition.

   Please note that this step is only possible with the solution described the following issue: https://github.com/OrchardCMS/Orchard/issues/6978

3. Register the content query class

   public class ContentModule : Autofac.Module
   {
     protected override void Load(Autofac.ContainerBuilder aBuilder)
     {
       aBuilder.RegisterType<MyContentQuery>().As<Orchard.ContentManagement.IContentQuery>().InstancePerDependency();
     }
   }
   

4. Create a customized content manager

   public class ContentManager : Orchard.ContentManagement.DefaultContentManager
   {
     // public
       public ContentManager(
         Autofac.IComponentContext aContext,
         Orchard.Data.IRepository<Orchard.ContentManagement.Records.ContentTypeRecord> aContentTypeRepository,
         Orchard.Data.IRepository<Orchard.ContentManagement.Records.ContentItemRecord> aContentItemRepository,
         Orchard.Data.IRepository<Orchard.ContentManagement.Records.ContentItemVersionRecord> aContentItemVersionRepository,
         Orchard.ContentManagement.MetaData.IContentDefinitionManager aContentDefinitionManager,
         Orchard.Caching.ICacheManager aCacheManager,
         System.Func<Orchard.ContentManagement.IContentManagerSession> aContentManagerSession,
         System.Lazy<Orchard.ContentManagement.IContentDisplay> aContentDisplay,
         System.Lazy<Orchard.Data.ITransactionManager> aTransactionManager,
         System.Lazy<System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Orchard.ContentManagement.Handlers.IContentHandler>> aHandlers,
         System.Lazy<System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Orchard.ContentManagement.IIdentityResolverSelector>> aIdentityResolverSelectors,
         System.Lazy<System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Orchard.Data.Providers.ISqlStatementProvider>> aSqlStatementProviders,
         Orchard.Environment.Configuration.ShellSettings aShellSettings,
         Orchard.Caching.ISignals aSignals,
         Orchard.IWorkContextAccessor aWorkContextAccessor)
           : base(aContext, aContentTypeRepository, aContentItemRepository, aContentItemVersionRepository, aContentDefinitionManager, aCacheManager, aContentManagerSession,
               aContentDisplay, aTransactionManager, aHandlers, aIdentityResolverSelectors, aSqlStatementProviders, aShellSettings, aSignals)
       {
         mWorkContextAccessor = aWorkContextAccessor;
       }
   
       public override ContentItem Get(int aId, Orchard.ContentManagement.VersionOptions aOptions, Orchard.ContentManagement.QueryHints aHints)
       {
         var lResult = base.Get(aId, aOptions, aHints);
   
         if (lResult != null)
         {
           // note:
           //  the validity check is done here (after the query has been executed!) as changing base.GetManyImplementation() to 
           //  apply the validity critera directly to the query (like in ContentQuery) will not work due to a second attempt to retrieve the
           //  content item from IRepository<> (see base.GetManyImplementation(), comment "check in memory") when the query
           //  returns no data (and the query should not return data when the validity critera is false)
           //
           // http://stackoverflow.com/q/37841249/3936440
   
           var lWorkContext = mWorkContextAccessor.GetContext();
   
           // exclude admin as content items should still be displayed / accessible when invalid as validity needs to be editable
           if (lWorkContext == null || !Orchard.UI.Admin.AdminFilter.IsApplied(lWorkContext.HttpContext.Request.RequestContext))
           {
             var lValidityPart = lResult.As<ValidityPart>();
             if (lValidityPart != null)
             {
               if (lValidityPart.IsContentItemValid())
               {
                 // content item is valid
               }
               else
               {
                 // content item is not valid, return null (adopted from base.Get())
   
                 lResult = null;
               }
             }
           }
         }
   
         return lResult;
       }
   
     // private
       Orchard.IWorkContextAccessor mWorkContextAccessor;
   }
   

Steps 2-4 are needed when having content items whereas the content type has a Container and Containable part or even content items which are processed / displayed separately. Here you normally cannot customize the content query that is executed behind the scenes.

Steps 2-4 are not needed if you use the Projection module. But again, this brings a few other issues to the table as reported in this issue: https://github.com/OrchardCMS/Orchard/issues/6979