Query notation for the sitecore 'source' field in template builder

Question

I am trying to set the the source field of a template using the query notation (or xpath - whichever works), but none of them seems to be working.

My content tree is a multisite content tree:

France
--Page 1
----Page1A
-------Page1AA
--Page 2
--Page 3
--METADATA
----Regions

US
--Page 1
----Page1A
-------Page1AA
--Page 2
--Page 3
--METADATA
----Regions

Each site has its own METADATA folder, and I want it so that when adding a page inside each of the main country nodes, I want the values to reflect whatever is in the METADATA of that site. I have two different fields for now - a droplink and a treelistex field. So I thought I can just get the parent item that is a country site, and get the metadata folder for that. When I put the following query in both the fields, I get different results:

 query:./ancestor::*[@@templatename='CountryHome']/METADATA/Regions/*

• For the droplink field, I get only the first Region (one item)
• For the treelistex field, I get the entire content tree

I then tried to modify the query a little bit and took the 'query' notation out

 ./ancestor::*[@@templatename='CountryHome']/METADATA/Regions/*

If I go to the developer center/xpath builder, and set the context node to any item underneath the main country site, it returns me exactly what I need, but when I put this in the source, I get the entire content tree in both the cases.

Help!

Kaduna

Answer 1

What you have here should work with the Droplink field. Perhaps you are referring to Droptree?

query:./ancestor::*[@@templatename='CountryHome']/METADATA/Regions/*

As for the TreelistEx, I don't think the default Treelist fields support Sitecore query. However, this article describes how to create a custom TreeList that supports it.

Cauda

ahh yes, I have a droptree, not droplink. That sucks though - the manuals all say that any fields with 'source' field should work. So this doesn't work on droptree? – Kaduna

I found the different fields support different variations of the query syntax. It seems they have been developed completely independently. Best is to submit a ticket with sitecore. – Adjustment

Answer 2

Fields that support Sitecore Query

Where you can use the syntax query: or fast: (for FastQuery):

• Droplist
• Grouped Droplist
• DropLink
• Grouped Droplink
• Checklist
• Multilist
• Droptree

Fields that support Parameterized Datasource

Where you can use enhanced syntax with Parameterized datasource query:

• Droptree †
• Treelist
• TreelistEx

† Droptree only supports the Datasource and DatabaseName parameters.

The enhanced query string syntax includes the following parameters:

• Datasource
• DatabaseName
• AllowMultipleSelection
• IncludeItemsForDisplay
• ExcludeItemsForDisplay
• IncludeTemplatesForSelection
• ExcludeTemplatesForSelection
• IncludeTemplatesForDisplay
• ExcludeTemplatesForDisplay

These are used like this: Datasource=/sitecore/content/home/Products/&IncludeTemplatesForDisplay=Product Category&ExcludeTemplatesForSelection=Product Description&IncludeTemplatesForSelection=Product Category

Mark Ursino has a great post on how to use this kind of syntax here.

Marrilee

Thanks for the response! In the end, I made the custom field that supports xpath, and used that. But this is definitely useful for simpler queries.. – Kaduna

BTW - that blog you posted the link to is Mark Ursino's blog :) Brian Pederson's blog is very informative as well.. – Kaduna

The exclude parameters don't seem to work on Droptree but they do in Treelist. Ugh! – Rochus

SDN says only TreeList and TreeListEx support parameterized data source. Making Droptree officially totally useless. – Rochus

As of SC 6.6 Droptree accepts a SC query with the query: format. Just confirmed in a project I'm working on. – Caerleon