The first step in any Umbraco site is to create a Document Type. A Document Type is a data container in Umbraco where you can add Properties (data fields/attributes) to input data. Each Property has a Data Type like text string, number, or rich text body. Umbraco outputs the input data using Templates.
These are some of the most common properties you would add to a Document Type:
- Page title
- Sub Heading
- Body Text
- Meta Title
- Meta Description
To create a Document Type:
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Go to Settings.
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Select ... next to the Document Types in the Settings tree. \
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Select Document Type with Template.
- Using folders can help you organise your Document Types.
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Enter a Name for the Document Type. Let's call it HomePage. You'll notice that an Alias is automatically created.
- The alias of the Document Type is automatically generated based on the property name. If you want to change the auto-generated alias, click the "lock" icon. The alias must be in camel case. For example: homePage.
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Enter the Description. For example: This is our homepage template. The description helps to identify the correct Document Type when creating new Content Nodes in the Content Section.
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Click Save. Our new Document Type is visible as a new item under Document Types.\
With the help of icons, you can identify different Document Types in the Content Tree. To add an icon:
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Select the icon placeholder next to the document name. The Select Icon dialog appears on the right-side of the website.\
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Browse through the icon list and select the icon of your choice.
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Click Submit.
To create a Document Type at the root of the Content Tree:
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Go to the Permissions tab.\
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Toggle the Allow as root button.
- If your Document Types do not have the Allow as root checked, you will not be able to create any content on your site.
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Click Save.
To add properties to your Document Type, follow these steps:
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Go to the Design tab.
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Select Add Group and enter a name for the group. For this tutorial, we will call it Content.
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Select Add property. The Property Settings dialog opens.
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Enter a Name. For example: Page Title.
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Enter a Description. For example: The main title of the page (e.g. Welcome to Widgets Ltd.).
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Select Select Editor and select the Data Type of your choice. We'll add text in the search box and select the Textstring Data Type.\
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Click Submit.
- Remember to come back and explore the list of Data Types later.
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Repeat Steps 3 to 7 using the specification below:
Name Body Text Group Content Alias bodyText Description The main content of the page. Data Type Richtext Editor -
Select Add Group to create a new group called Footer. Repeat Steps 3 to 7 using the specification below:
Name Footer Text Group Footer Alias footerText Description Copyright notice for the footer. Data Type Textstring -
Your Document Type should now look like this:
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Click Save.
We’ve now created our first Document Type. Umbraco takes the data from an instance of the Document Type (also called as Content Node) and merges it with a Template – we’ll create our template next.