How To Restrict The Blocks Allowed Within A Content Area In Episerver

In this tutorial, you will learn how to add validation to an Episerver content area. This validation will allow you to restrict what blocks content editors can add into the CMS. A big part of any Episerver solution architect duties is designing a backend that is easy to use. In a well-designed system, content editors should not be allowed to add blocks into pages where they have not been designed or tested to be used. As of Episerver 8 adding this type of restriction is easy using the [AllowedTypes]. If you want to learn how to use this attribute, read on 🔥🔥🔥

AllowedTypes

The [AllowedTypes] attribute is a new Episerver 8 attribute that gives a lot more flexibility in restricting what can be done within the editor. Some common use-cases for the [AllowedTypes] attribute are:

• Define what block types are allowed to be added into a content area
• Restrict a subset of blocks that are not allowed
• Add validation using interfaces

The code to implement the [AllowedTypes] attribute is shown below:

All you need to do is decorate the Episerver property you want to restrict with AllowedTypes and pass in the types you want to allow 💥

AvailableContentTypes

If you are using Episerver 7.5 and below, you will be stuck with either using the [AvailableContentTypes] attribute or implementing a custom solution. An example of how to use the [AvailableContentTypes] attribute is shown below:

Custom Validation

It is also possible to create a custom validation using either ValidationAttribute or the IValidate interface. An example of a custom validator that manually checks the block type is shown below:

If you want to learn more about custom validation, I recommend reading this or this

You now have the power to restrict blocks as you need. Happy Coding 🤘