Custom Actions

Our modules are built on an open configuration architecture, that makes them very configurable. We have developed it in this way because we know how important is for you to have the ability to customize it with new functionalities which suits you needs.

In the example presented below, we are going to show you how to create your custom action.

  • Open Visual Studio and create a new project.
  • In the Solution Explorer panel, expand References, select Browse and add a new reference to DnnSharp.Common.dll in your /bin folder of the site.
  • Add:
 using DnnSharp.Common;
 using DnnSharp.Common.Actions;
  • Implement the IActionImpl interface which exposes two methods named Execute and Init with the following signatures:
 public IActionResult Execute(ActionContext context);

 public void Init(StringsDictionary actionTypeSettings, SettingsDictionary actionSettings);

  • The names are self-explanatory, the Execute method is where you will put all your code needed to implement your desired behavior for the action needed while the Init method will be used to initialize different variables needed in the code of the method.

  • After implementing the interface IActionImpl it would be a good idea to set your properties with their respective attributes. Since we are talking about custom actions you will use the ActionParameter attribute followed by the properties it needs. The properties that will be used are as follows:

  • ApplyTokens: This enables your parameters to be automatically tokenized.

  • IsRequired: This will specify that a parameter is required for your action to properly function. Side note, our code will throw errors if a parameter is empty at runtime, however if this parameter becomes empty after the tokenization process, the action will continue executing.

  • RequiredMessage: This is the exception message that will be thrown if a field that is set as required is empty.

  • IsOutputToken: This attribute should be set to true for the action’s output parameters. The config parameter type should be Text and the C# property should be of type string. What this does is to cleanup square brackets from the value and make sure that no tokenization is applied to the value.

  • Finally, click Build, and in the /bin/Debug folder in the MYCUSTOMACTION project you will find a dll file named MyCustomAction.dll . Copy this dll to the /bin of your site.


Now that you have created your custom action, you also need to write a Config file for it. This file defines how to bring the parameters from the page all the way to your code. It is much easier to understand this part if you have the example config open and follow it as it is explained.

  • The Config file is written in JSON format, more specifically it can contain configs for multiple actions, so it is a JSON array.

  • Inside square brackets you will have to define everything that the action needs to function and you must start by opening a pair of curly braces inside of which you will define the Id of the function which must be unique and not necessarily the class name , the Title and the HelpText (these properties are JSON objects of LocalizedContent type they support multiple languages as keys followed by the desired text as a value. You can also write a default option).
  • TypeStr property specifies the class to be used for the action and has the following format: NameSpace.ClassName, DllName. This tells us where to look for your action.
  • Settings property defines various specifics about your action including the Group property.
  • Group property specifies which group of actions your custom action will appear under, for example Messages group.
  • Parameters property specifies which parameters from the frontend you want to pass on to the back-end. There are various types of parameters with their respective settings. There is one basic setting for parameters which all of them have: ShowCondition.

  • ShowCondition defines a JavaScript condition that shows/hides the parameter. You can access other parameter values of the element using the itemParameters variable. Example: itemParameters['\<parameter name\>']

    Parameter Type Description Additional settings
    Boolean Generates a checkbox that returns a true/false value N/A
    Code Generates a Textarea that accepts Javascript code CodeMirrorMode (string) - {sql; javascript; css; xml; htmlmixed}
    Textarea Generates a Textarea field N/A
    Date Simple date picker Defaults (string)- {\"Date\": \"\"}
    Time Simple time picker Defaults (string) - {\"Time\": \"12:00:00AM\"}
    DateTime Date and Time picker Defaults (string) -{\"Date\": \"\", \"Time\": \"12:00:00AM\"}
    Interval Generates a interval selection field Defaults(string) - {\"Qty\": 1, \"Unit\": \"Seconds\"}
    Items(string) - {\"Seconds\": { \"default\": \"Seconds\"}, \"Minutes\": {\"default\": \"Minutes\"}, \"Hours\": {\"default\": \"Hours\"}}
    RichText Generates a Rich Text editor N/A
    Select Dropdown which allows selection Items (object) - {}
    DefaultValue (string) - {}
    SupportsExpressions (boolean) - {true; false}
    DataSource (string) - {}
    TypeName (string) - {}
    ModuleDef (string) - {}
    Interpolate (boolean) - {true; false}
    DataSourceMethod (string) - {}
    GridModuleID (string-javascript) - {{parentObject.Parameters['Grid'].Value}}
    moduleType (string) - {}
    CheckboxList This generates a list of buttons that can be selected/unselected Items (object) - {}
    DataSourceMethod (string) - {}
    Interpolate (boolean) - {true; false}
    TableName(string-javascript) - {{parentObject.Parameters['TableName'].Value || parentObject.Parameters['TableName']}}
    SkipIdConnectionString
    Defaults
    SupportsExpressions (boolean) - {true; false}
    FilePicker Generates a list of files and allows the selection of files N/A
    FieldSelect Generates a dropdown with the selected field type (allows the selection of a single field out of the list) FieldType (string) - {"upload.single", "upload.multi"}
    SupportsExpressions (boolean) - {true; false}
    ExceptSelf (boolean) - {true; false}
    NameValueCollection Generates two (or more) text boxes that will return a Key-Value pair NameColumn (string) - {"Name"}
    ValueColumn (string) - {"Value"}
    ButtonName (string) - {}
    IsCustomData (boolean) - {true; false}
    Grid Generates a grid which allows the input mixed types of parameters Columns (array - objects) - {}
    ButtonName (string) - {}
    ModuleDef (string) - {}
    SupportsExpressions (boolean) - {true; false}
    ActionList This is an input which allows an the input of multiple actions that will be executed in order Event (string) - {}
    Text Generates a simple text input N/A
    ActionCredentials Generates an input for credentials that are used in external services(PayPal, Amazon etc.) Type (string) - {}
    Selection (boolean) - {"Single"; "Multiple"}
    StaticHelpText Displays a simple text on the frontend as a description/help text N/A

  • Additionally the Grid setting Columns is essentially an array of other types of parameters.

  • The Columns setting of the Grid parameter, as specified above, is an array. Moreover it is an array that contains parameter objects, basically each column field type is specified in the same way as a parameter. There are a few special settings that can be set on all parameter types when they are part of the Columns setting on the Grid parameter type:
Setting Description
ColSize Sets the size of the column. (if you have multiple columns, their total size must not exceed 12)
NoColumnLabel If set to true,the label above the column won’t be shown
NoLabel If set to true,the label to the left of the column won’t be shown
  • The attached zip archive named MYCUSTOMACTION.ZIP contains much more information and a configuration file for your action. You can use it as a start for creating your own action.


Also, copy the Config folder contained in the archive to the /DesktopModules/DnnSharp/Common folder in your site folder.

  • Refresh your admin page and you should see the new Group containing your example action.

  • In this example you should select a value for the dropdown when you configure the action on the site, as some of our modules (such as DnnApiEndpoint) require a value for the dropdowns to be selected.

Custom Action Example