Alternatives of custom URL

Question

I am working on providing content editors a functionality where;

1. They select a Keyword from a Category in field1 of Component.
2. field2 Category will be based on Keyword selected in field1.

I used custom URL for this functionality and I am using Core Service to get the Category to be put in drop-down. I am saving the selected value for field1 in text file to be used for field2 dropdown, due to that the application is providing unexpected results if more that one editor are editing the Components. I tried following code to make sure that at any instance only one editor access the text file:

window.dialogArguments.controller.getItem().getLockedById()

but it will not work as the Component is not yet saved and userID or componentID is not yet created.

I have exhausted all the options available with custom URL to get it working correctly so I am now looking for better option than custom URL. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Answer 1

An alternative to a Custom URL would be a UI extension written with the Anguilla Framework, but that is certainly less trivial than using a Custom URL.

A Custom URL is focussed on the current field, or collection of fields in case of an embedded Schema (the one where the Custom URL is called from), which you get through window.dialogArguments.getFields(). But you can access any field of the Component and get its data.

Something like this example could could help you along I think (assuming the XML name of field1 from your question is xml_fieldname_field1):

// custom url called from field2
var field2 = window.dialogArguments.getFields();
var field2values = field2.getValues();

// get values of field1
var field1 = window.dialogArguments.container.getField('xml_fieldname_field1');
var field1values = field1.getValues();

So as you see, you have all the values you need in a single Custom URL call, and this will allow you to do exactly what you need without storing anything for a specific session or user.

Answer 2

As an alternative to CustomURL, the tree view option used with a Category with nested keywords is the built-in functionality to let an editor select an option based on another option.

But to @PeterK's points I've never seen the need to persist a selection as described in the question. If a field is set, you have the value in the field.

The cookbook and docs (and @Bart's answer) have examples of working with the fields from a Custom URL.

Answer 3

I think the below logic is causing the issues for you,

I am saving the selected value for field1 in text file to be used for field2 dropdown

To resolve the issue, try to store field1's selected value in browser's localstorage/sessionstorage instead of saving it in the text file.

Edit: If your custom URL is served by any serverside technology like ASP.NET, JSP, etc., you can persist the session values between the pages using it rather using the localstorage