Syndication web parts and widgets

Development model: MVC Portal Engine
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Syndication web parts are stored under the Syndication category in the web part catalog.

From a functional point of view, there are two basic types of syndication web parts – repeaters and feeds:

  • Syndication feeds display a feed icon with an optional text link. When clicked, the link appends a query string parameter with the feed ID to the URL and the page renders the feed.
  • Syndication repeaters change the page on which they are placed to a feed. If you place one of the syndication repeaters on a page, the page response type changes to application/xml. The retrieved data transforms into the required feed format serves as the content of the feed. This means that the page is no longer a standard HTML page – it becomes a syndication feed.

The web parts can also be divided according to the type of the data:

Basic feed web parts

These are universal web parts which can create a feed of data provided by a connected data source. Without a data source, the web parts are not functional. The data provided by the data source can be of any type, it just needs to be handled properly by the used transformation.

  • XML repeater
  • RSS repeater
  • Atom repeater
  • RSS feed
  • Atom feed

Page feed web parts

These web parts are based on the RSS feed web part, but have a built-in data source for the page types in their names. This means that you don’t need a connected data source – all you need is included in a single web part. The web parts provide “all-in-one” solutions for frequently used page types.

  • CMS RSS Feed – you can use this for pages of any type, which makes it a universal web part for any page feed
  • Events RSS Feed

Object feed web parts

Object feeds have a built-in data source, letting you create feeds from Kentico objects by adding a single “all-in-one” web part.

  • Blog comments RSS feed
  • Custom tables RSS feed
  • Media files RSS feed
  • Message board RSS feed
  • Products RSS feed
  • Forum posts RSS feed

Other syndication web parts

Custom feeds can be created using the following two web parts:

  • Query RSS feed – generates a feed based on a custom database query and transformation.
  • Web service RSS feed – transforms a dataset provided by a web service into an RSS feed.

The last web part does not create a feed, but links to an existing feed:

  • Feed link - displays the RSS icon with a link leading to a URL. Typically used for links to feeds created by syndication repeaters.

Syndication widgets

The default installation of Kentico contains a set of widgets derived from the web parts listed above. The widgets provide the same functionality, but only a limited set of properties can be configured. The following widgets are available:

  • Blog comments RSS feed
  • Events RSS Feed
  • Forum posts RSS feed
  • Media files RSS feed
  • Message board RSS feed
  • Products RSS feed

Further information

For detailed information about the properties of web parts or widgets, click the help link in the corner of the Web part (widget) properties dialog.