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Develop CMS Plugins

⏱ 30 minutes advanced

Why develop a CMS plugin

Section titled “Why develop a CMS plugin”

Plugins extend the CMS without modifying core code. You might build a plugin to add a custom admin tool, integrate a third-party service, or provide reusable functionality across multiple sites. Plugins package as NuGet packages, making them easy to share and version.

What you will do

Section titled “What you will do”
  1. Create a class library project for the plugin
  2. Build a custom admin tool with a controller and view
  3. Register the plugin with the CMS menu system
  4. Package the plugin as a NuGet package

Set up the plugin project

Section titled “Set up the plugin project”

Create a separate class library so the plugin can be distributed independently.

Create the plugin project
bash 
# Create a class library for the plugin
dotnet new classlib -n MySite.Plugin.ContentAudit -f net8.0

# Add Optimizely CMS dependencies
cd MySite.Plugin.ContentAudit
dotnet add package Optimizely.CMS.Core
dotnet add package Optimizely.CMS.UI
dotnet add package Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures

Build a custom admin tool

Section titled “Build a custom admin tool”

Admin tools appear in the CMS admin section. Start with a controller that inherits from Controller and register it as a menu item.

Admin tool controller
csharp 
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authorization;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Optimizely.Cms.Core;
using Optimizely.Cms.Core.Repositories;

namespace MySite.Plugin.ContentAudit.Controllers;

[Authorize(Roles = "CmsAdmins")]
public class ContentAuditController : Controller
{
    private readonly IContentRepository _contentRepo;
    private readonly IContentTypeRepository _typeRepo;

    public ContentAuditController(
        IContentRepository contentRepo,
        IContentTypeRepository typeRepo)
    {
        _contentRepo = contentRepo;
        _typeRepo = typeRepo;
    }

    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        var contentTypes = _typeRepo.List();
        var audit = contentTypes.Select(ct => new ContentTypeInfo
        {
            Name = ct.DisplayName ?? ct.Name,
            InstanceCount = CountInstances(ct.ID),
            HasController = HasRegisteredController(ct)
        }).ToList();

        return View(
            "~/Views/ContentAudit/Index.cshtml", audit);
    }

    private int CountInstances(int typeId) =>
        _contentRepo
            .GetDescendents(ContentReference.RootPage)
            .Count();

    private bool HasRegisteredController(
        ContentType ct) => true; // Simplified
}

Register as a CMS menu item

Section titled “Register as a CMS menu item”

Use the [MenuItem] attribute so the tool appears in the CMS admin navigation.

Menu provider for the plugin
csharp 
using Optimizely.Cms.Shell.Navigation;

namespace MySite.Plugin.ContentAudit;

[MenuProvider]
public class ContentAuditMenuProvider : IMenuProvider
{
    public IEnumerable<MenuItem> GetMenuItems()
    {
        var menuItem = new UrlMenuItem(
            "Content Audit",
            MenuPaths.Global + "/cms/admin/contentaudit",
            "/ContentAudit")
        {
            IsAvailable = request => true,
            SortIndex = 100,
            AuthorizationPolicy =
                CmsPolicyNames.CmsAdmin
        };

        return new[] { menuItem };
    }
}

The tool now appears in the admin menu under a “Content Audit” link.

Add a Razor view

Section titled “Add a Razor view”
Admin tool view
html 
@model IList<MySite.Plugin.ContentAudit.ContentTypeInfo>

<div class="epi-padding">
    <h1>Content Type Audit</h1>
    <table class="epi-default">
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>Content Type</th>
                <th>Instances</th>
                <th>Has Controller</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            @foreach (var ct in Model)
            {
                <tr>
                    <td>@ct.Name</td>
                    <td>@ct.InstanceCount</td>
                    <td>@(ct.HasController ? "Yes" : "No")</td>
                </tr>
            }
        </tbody>
    </table>
</div>

Register services in an initialization module

Section titled “Register services in an initialization module”

If your plugin needs dependency injection, register services during startup.

Plugin initialization module
csharp 
using Optimizely.Cms.Framework.Initialization;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;

namespace MySite.Plugin.ContentAudit;

[InitializableModule]
public class ContentAuditInitialization : IConfigurableModule
{
    public void ConfigureContainer(
        ServiceConfigurationContext context)
    {
        context.Services
            .AddScoped<IAuditService, AuditService>();
    }

    public void Initialize(InitializationEngine context) { }
    public void Uninitialize(InitializationEngine context) { }
}

Package as NuGet

Section titled “Package as NuGet”
NuGet package spec
xml 
<PropertyGroup>
    <PackageId>MySite.Plugin.ContentAudit</PackageId>
    <Version>1.0.0</Version>
    <Description>Content type audit tool for Optimizely CMS</Description>
    <Authors>Your Team</Authors>
    <PackageTags>optimizely;cms;plugin;audit</PackageTags>
</PropertyGroup>

Run dotnet pack --configuration Release to create the .nupkg file. Publish it to your internal NuGet feed or nuget.org.

Common issues

Section titled “Common issues”
IssueCauseFix
Menu item not showingMissing [MenuProvider] attributeAdd the attribute to your menu provider class
View not found at runtimeView not embedded or path wrongUse full path starting with ~/Views/
Authorization errorWrong policy nameUse CmsPolicyNames.CmsAdmin for admin tools