How to control placement of a JSP ComponentPresentation after execution by ComponentPresentationAssembler.getContent()?

Question

The Content Delivery API documentation states that the getContent() method of the com.tridion.dynamiccontent.ComponentPresentationAssembler class returns an empty string after executing a JSP ComponentPresentation, i.e. "In the case of a JSP ComponentPresentation, the JSP ComponentPresentation is executed and "" is returned."

My question is: if a "" (empty string) is returned after the JSP ComponentPresentation is executed (assuming executed to evaluate things like dynamic component link tags, UGC tags and P&P tags), then how do I control the placement of the Component Presentation on my page?

Answer 1

Seems like a documentation bug to me. I just tried this on a JSP and got the expected results.

<%
ComponentPresentationAssembler cpa = new ComponentPresentationAssembler(28);
String content = cpa.getContent(2729,2747);
out.write("Output is: " + content);
%>

You may want to open a ticket for a documentation defect.

Answer 2

Two Options are there:

1) NOT Recommended: write your css classes and hard code such that they define the layout and placement of your CP on the page

2) Recommended: Follow below process:

• Create a Placeholder Schema with no Field
• Create as many placeholder component as sections you want to define (one column, two column, three column etc.), say - Container 1, Container 2, Container 3 etc.
• In your page, put all these container components and put respective component presentations after that
• Write a C# TBB and append it in your Page Template with the logic to identify components lying in Section 1 (all those components which you have added after Container 1 placeholder component), and similarly for Section 2 and Section 3.
• With respective IDs, push them on the Stack
• Now you know in your DWT, in which section which all Component Presentation you have to show, so write your DWT template in that way

Feel free for any clarification.