A while back, I wrote an article demonstrating how to create a dropdown list for placeholders when adding a new component to presentation details in the content editor. It changes the input box to a dropdown so you don’t have to remember if your placeholder name was ‘three-left-col’ or ‘three-col-left’ or ‘three-left-column’. It was long and involved process that included decompiling the Sitecore binaries, creating custom classes, and updating the form logic for the page.
I’m pleased to announce that I have turned this functionality into my first Sitecore module! You can find it in the Sitecore Marketplace. Just download and install! Then register your placeholders in the content tree at ‘/sitecore/Layout/Placeholder Settings’ to see them appear in the dropdown list.
The Sitecore rendering dialog with an input box for placeholder name
The Sitecore rendering dialog with a dropdown for placeholder name
I’m already starting work on the next version and have plans for several more updates.
- Version 2 will change the dropdown box into an autocomplete box allowing you to choose an existing placeholder or enter a new one
- Version 3 will add the autocomplete box to the edit rendering dialog
- Version 4 will scan your views to automatically register placeholder names with Sitecore
Follow me to make sure you are the first to know when there are updates to this new module! A huge shout out to Sitecore MVP Brandon Bruno for helping me bring this module to life!
