iStern Blog

The datasource location specified on layouts is limited to Sitecore paths.

But working with multisite solutions it is sometimes necessary to have some items stored locally under Site.

This could be done fairly easy hooking in to the Sitecore pipeline “getRenderingDatasource”, found in the web.config under
“/configuration/sitecore/pipelines/getRenderingDatasource”

Below I’ve inserted my own

“PT.Framework.Pipelines.GetDatasourceLocation,PT.Framework.Pipelines”

<getRenderingDatasource>
 <processor type="Sitecore.Pipelines.GetRenderingDatasource.GetDatasourceLocation, Sitecore.Kernel" />
 <processor type="PT.Framework.Pipelines.GetDatasourceLocation,PT.Framework.Pipelines" />
 <processor type="Sitecore.Pipelines.GetRenderingDatasource.SetFallbackDatasourceLocations, Sitecore.Kernel" />
 <processor type="Sitecore.Pipelines.GetRenderingDatasource.GetDatasourceTemplate, Sitecore.Kernel" />
 <processor type="Sitecore.Pipelines.GetRenderingDatasource.GetTemplatesForSelection, Sitecore.Kernel" />
 <processor type="Sitecore.Pipelines.GetRenderingDatasource.CheckDialogState, Sitecore.Kernel" />
 <processor type="Sitecore.Pipelines.GetRenderingDatasource.GetDialogUrl, Sitecore.Kernel" />
 </getRenderingDatasource>

The code for this step is really simple:

</pre>
public void Process(GetRenderingDatasourceArgs args)
 {
 Assert.IsNotNull(args, "args");
 DatasourceLocation = args.RenderingItem["Datasource Location"];
 if(QueryInDataSourceLocation())
 ProcessQuery(args);
 }

private void ProcessQuery(GetRenderingDatasourceArgs args)
 {
 ContextItemPath = args.ContextItemPath;
 ContentDataBase = args.ContentDatabase;
 Item datasourceLocation = ResolveDatasourceRootFromQuery();
 if (datasourceLocation != null)
 args.DatasourceRoots.Add(datasourceLocation);
 }

private bool QueryInDataSourceLocation()
 {
 return DatasourceLocation.StartsWith(_query);
 }

private Item ResolveDatasourceRootFromQuery()
 {
 string query = DatasourceLocation.Replace(_query, ContextItemPath);
 return ContentDataBase.SelectSingleItem(query);
 }

private string DatasourceLocation { get; set; }
 private string ContextItemPath { get; set; }
 private Database ContentDataBase { get; set; }
 private const string _query = "query:.";
<pre>

Now you can write queries like “./ancestor-or-self::*[@@templatekey=’site’]/Spots”

Update – Multiple datasource locations

Since one might want to have multiple Datasource Roots i made a change to the code so you can separate queries with the “|” delimiter. Note the normal sitecore path is still working and handled by the
“Sitecore.Pipelines.GetRenderingDatasource.GetDatasourceLocation”.

Now you can write

query:./ancestor-or-self::*[@@templatekey=’main section’]/QueryGlobal|/sitecore/content/GlobalSpots|query:./ancestor-or-self::*[@@templatekey=’site’]/Spots

public class GetDatasourceLocation
 {
 public void Process(GetRenderingDatasourceArgs args)
 {
 Assert.IsNotNull(args, "args");
 DatasourceLocation = args.RenderingItem["Datasource Location"];
 ContextItemPath = args.ContextItemPath;
 ContentDataBase = args.ContentDatabase;
 DatasourceRoots = args.DatasourceRoots;
 if(QueryInDataSourceLocation())
 ProcessQuerys(args);
 }

private void ProcessQuerys(GetRenderingDatasourceArgs args)
 {

ListString possibleQueries = new ListString(DatasourceLocation);
 foreach (string possibleQuery in possibleQueries)
 {
 if (possibleQuery.StartsWith(_query))
 ProcessQuery(possibleQuery);
 }

 }
 private bool QueryInDataSourceLocation()
 {
 return DatasourceLocation.Contains(_query);
 }

private void ProcessQuery(string query)
 {

 Item datasourceLocation = ResolveDatasourceRootFromQuery(query);
 if (datasourceLocation != null)
 DatasourceRoots.Add(datasourceLocation);
 }

private Item ResolveDatasourceRootFromQuery(string query)
 {
 string queryPath = query.Replace(_query, ContextItemPath);
 return ContentDataBase.SelectSingleItem(queryPath);
 }

private string DatasourceLocation { get; set; }
 private string ContextItemPath { get; set; }
 private Database ContentDataBase { get; set; }
 private List<Item> DatasourceRoots { get; set; }
 private const string _query = "query:.";

}