How to fail publishing of a page in Tridion Event System?

Question

[TcmExtension("PageEventHandlerExtension")]
public class PageEventHandler : TcmExtension
{
    public PageEventHandler()
    {
        Subscribe();
    }

    public void Subscribe()
    {
        EventSystem.Subscribe<Page, PublishOrUnPublishEventArgs>(PagePublishOrUnpublishAction, EventPhases.Initiated);
    }

    private static void PagePublishOrUnpublishAction(Page page, PublishOrUnPublishEventArgs args, EventPhases phase)
    {
        if (page.Metadata==null)
        {
            throw new PublisherException(new LocalizableMessage(Resources.Properties.DoNotPublish));
        }
    }
}

In above method in Tridion Event System I am trying to forcefully terminate the publishing of a page.

While debugging I was able to hit the statement which is throwing the exception, but even then the item gets published successfully. Am I doing it the wrong way, if yes how can I fail the publishing of an item?

Answer 1

When using the following example, I'm perfectly able to stop publishing:

using Tridion.ContentManager.CommunicationManagement;
using Tridion.ContentManager.Extensibility;
using Tridion.ContentManager.Extensibility.Events;
using Tridion.ContentManager.Publishing;
using Tridion.Localization;

namespace Example
{
    [TcmExtension("ExampleEventHandlerExtension")]
    public class EventHandler : TcmExtension
    {
        public EventHandler()
        {
            EventSystem.Subscribe<Page, PublishOrUnPublishEventArgs>(PagePublishOrUnpublishAction, EventPhases.Initiated);
        }

        private static void PagePublishOrUnpublishAction(Page page, PublishOrUnPublishEventArgs args, EventPhases phase)
        {
            if (page.Title.ToLower().Contains("do not publish"))
            {
                throw new PublisherException(new LocalizableMessage(Properties.Resources.ResourceManager, "DoNotPublishError", new object[] {page.Id}));
            }
        }
    }
}

In the details of the error it is not showing the ID of the Page, so not quite sure if I set the object[] correctly in the LocalizableMessage (you might have to play a bit with it, maybe it needs more objects, or the entire Page?).

By using Properties.Resources.ResourceManager I can just use the resources I have compiled in my DLL, which would allow for localizing the error message also.

Furthermore, be sure to register the DLL correctly in the Tridion.ContentManager.config and restart the SDL Tridion Content Manager COM+ application and Publisher and Service Host services (after deploying the DLL to the right location and updating the config, or after every rebuild of it).

Answer 2

I am not exactly sure about the purpose for you want to fail the page publishing using event system. You could just create a simple TBB which will do your job, Instead for writing event handler,

Create a TBB something like Fail Publishing and then attach it to the page template.

[TcmTemplateTitle("Fail Publishing")]
 public class FailPublish : TemplateBase
    {
        public override void Transform(Engine engine, Package package)
        {
            base.Transform(engine, package);
            throw new Exception("REASON FOR MAKING THE PUBLISH FAIL")); 
        }
    }

you can check for some metadata field before throwing the exception.