An editor template is a partial view file that provides the code to generate a portion of an overall view. In this case, the editor template is a C# razor file (.cshtml). The code in an editor template runs at application runtime on the web server to generate a portion of the HTML for the final web page.

All editor templates are located in an EditorTemplates subfolder. In particular, ASP.Net MVC automatically searches for editor templates in the following locations, in the order listed (relative to the MVC project root):

Where:

The Unisys-supplied editor templates are placed in the folder Views\Shared\EditorTemplates. Therefore, you can override an editor template by copying it from Views\Shared\EditorTemplates to one of the other folders in the search chain. For example, if you wanted to create your own customized version of the BootstrapFormGroup editor template, you would copy the file Views\Shared\EditorTemplates\BootstrapFormGroup.cshtml to the folder Views\<controllername>\EditorTemplates and edit the copy.

BootstrapForm Editor Template

The BootstrapForm editor template is the template responsible for generating a bootstrap form (refer to http://getbootstrap.com/css/#forms) for one model. The following example is an excerpt from this template (subject to change):

...
    foreach (string scaffoldProperty in GetEligibleProperties(Model.GetType(), String.Empty, Model.GetType().ToString()))
    {
        @Html.Editor(scaffoldProperty, "BootstrapFormGroup")
    ...

Therefore, this template automatically finds all properties that should be scaffolded and uses the BootstrapFormGroup editor template to generate the markup for each property.

BootstrapFormGroup Editor Template

The BootstrapFormGroup editor template is the template responsible for generating a bootstrap form group (refer to http://getbootstrap.com/css/#forms) for one particular model property. This template is invoked from the BootstrapForm editor template, as well as directly from view files generated by the Unisys View Model Form (Bootstrap Form Groups) template. Therefore, by default, this editor template is used by all views generated using either the Unisys View Model Form (Bootstrap Form) template or Unisys View Model Form (Bootstrap Form Groups) template.

The following example illustrates an excerpt from this template (subject to change):

 ...
    // determine UIHint
    string hint = ViewData.ModelMetadata.TemplateHint;
    if (hint == null)
    {
        hint = "";
    }

    switch (hint.ToLower())
    {
        case "datasource":
            break;

        case "alertbox":
        case "hidden":
            @Html.Partial("EditorTemplates/" + hint)
            break;

        case "checkbox":

            <div class="form-group">
                <div class="col-md-offset-2 col-md-10">
                    @Html.Partial("EditorTemplates/" + hint)
                    @Html.uuiLabel()
                </div>
            </div>
            break;

        case "checkboxlist":
        case "combobox":
        case "listbox":
        case "dropdownlist":
        case "image":
        case "radiobuttonlist":
        case "switch":
        case "textbox":
        case "barcodereader":
        case "contactaddress":
        case "contactemail":
        case "contactphone":
            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.uuiLabel(new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
                <div class="col-md-10">
                    @Html.Partial("EditorTemplates/" + hint)
                    @Html.ValidationMessage(@ViewData.ModelMetadata.PropertyName, new { data_valmsg_for = @Html.NameForModel() })
                </div>
            </div>
            break;
        ...

This template looks at the UIHint and generates differently formatted bootstrap form groups, depending on the type of control. For example, a hidden field does not have a label; a checkbox has a label on the right; other controls have a label on the left and include client side validation.

UIHint Editor Templates

Unisys also supplies an editor template for each different possible setting of the UIHint annotation; therefore, there is an editor template for each possible ControlStyle that you can configure in an ePortal client message.

Refer to the following topics for more information:

The name of the editor template file is <uihintname>.chstml, where <uihintname> is the value of the UIHint attribute.

Each UIHint editor template is responsible for generating the edit control for a single style of control. Note that this template should not include generating a label or validation, just the edit control (such as a checkbox or textbox).

You can also create your own custom controls by supplying a custom UIHint value and writing your own corresponding editor template.

Creating Custom Editor Templates

You can create a custom editor template to change the code that is generated when you run your application. The easiest way to do this is to copy one of the existing Unisys editor templates and make modifications as needed.

You might want to use a custom editor template in the following cases.

Updating the Code Generation for an Existing Editor Template

To change one of the existing Unisys-supplied editor templates, do the following:

Creating a New Editor Template for a Custom Control

When you edit client messages, you specify the ControlStyle. If none of the ControlStyle choices that Unisys supplies fit your needs, you can define your own custom control by selecting Custom for ControlStyle and providing a UIHint value that matches your custom control name. Refer to Controlling the Look and Feel in All Data Source Projects for more information.

To create a new custom control based on a Unisys-supplied editor template, do the following: