Using BBCode in forum posts

Bulletin Board code (BBCode) is a lightweight markup language designed to let users format text of their messages. It is used in many forums on the web, not just on websites created with Kentico. Its tags are similar to HTML tags, and are entered in square brackets.

Users can use BBCode in their forum posts only if it is enabled. You have to allow the use of BBCode when editing a forum or forum group in the Forums application, on the General tab in the Editor settings section.

URLs in BBCode

All URLs in macros (URL, IMG) are validated as URLs to avoid XSS, and resolved into their absolute URL equivalents. The following URL formats can be used:

  • www.google.com – URL starting with www.
  • http://devnet.kentico.com – URL starting with protocol
  • ~/CMSDesk/default.aspx – virtual path
  • ../default.aspx – relative URLs
  • /Kentico/default.aspx – server relative URL

API for BBcode

You can resolve BBCode in the ASPX or codebehind code. To resolve all BBcode macros in a string, use the following method:




string CMS.Helpers.DiscussionMacroHelper.ResolveDiscussionMacros(string inputText)


Alternatively, you can use the CMS.Helpers.DiscussionMacroHelper class to resolve macros with particular settings using the ResolveMacros method.