---
title: CMSUniView
related:
- https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/writing-transformations/using-hierarchical-transformations.md
---
> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).
The CMSUniView control allows you to display page data in a hierarchical structure.
- Provides a built-in data source for loading Kentico pages. You do not need to write code for retrieving and binding the data.
- Supports Kentico [transformations](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/writing-transformations.md), including [hierarchical transformations](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/writing-transformations/using-hierarchical-transformations.md).
- Supports nested controls (See [Using nested controls](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/cms-controls/cms-controls-listings-and-viewers/using-nested-controls.md)).
> **Info:** **Inherits from**: [BasicUniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/basic-controls/basicuniview.md)\
> **Web part equivalent (portal engine)**: Universal viewer
## Getting started
The following tutorial shows how to display all pages from the sample Corporate Site in a hierarchical structure using the CMSUniView control:
1. Create a new **Web form** in your web project.
2. Drag the **CMSUniView** control from the toolbox onto the form.
3. Set the following properties for the control:
- **Path**: /%
- **LoadHierarchicalData**: true
- **WhereCondition**: NodeLevel > 0
4. Add the following code marked by the **CMSUniView templates** comments between the __ tags. The overall code of the CMSUniView control should look like this:
```xml
<%-- CMSUniView templates ----------------------------------------------------------- --%>
<%# HTMLHelper.HTMLEncode(Convert.ToString(Eval("NodeName"))) %>
<%# HTMLHelper.HTMLEncode(Convert.ToString(Eval("NodeName"))) %>
<%# HTMLHelper.HTMLEncode(Convert.ToString(Eval("NodeName"))) %>
<%-- CMSUniView templates ----------------------------------------------------------- --%>
```
> **Info:** This example uses **ItemTemplates** to determine the design of the displayed pages. You can alternatively format the output using [transformations](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/writing-transformations.md).
>
> The **SubLevelPlaceHolder** control specifies where child levels are placed in the output code. For items that have descendants in the hierarchy, the child level is rendered instead of the placeholder (including the header and footer template for the new level).
5. Save the web form.
6. Right-click the web form in the Solution explorer and select **View in Browser**.
The resulting page displays a hierarchical list of the website's pages.
## Using hierarchical transformations
The following tutorial shows how to use a [hierarchical transformation](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/writing-transformations/using-hierarchical-transformations.md) to format the output of the CMSUniView control. The example displays a hierarchical list of job openings (CMS.Job pages), offices (CMS.Office pages) and their categories (CMS.MenuItem pages) from the sample Corporate Site:
1. Create a new **Web form** in your web project.
2. Drag the **CMSUniView** control from the toolbox onto the form.
3. Set the following properties for the CMSUniView:
- **Path**: /Company/%
- **ClassNames**: CMS.Office;CMS.Job;CMS.MenuItem
- **LoadHierarchicalData**: true
- **HierarchicalTransformationName**: CMS.Job.HierarchicalJobsCareer
```html
```
> **Info:** The hierarchical transformation contains individual transformations for all three page types.
4. Save the web form.
5. Right-click the web form in the Solution explorer and select **View in Browser**.
The resulting page displays the following hierarchical data:
## Configuration
You can set the following properties for the CMSUniView control:
| CMSUniView properties | Description | Sample value |
| -------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| AlternatingRange | Indicates how often the **AlternatingItemTemplate** should be used. (Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | |
| AlternatingStartPosition | Indicates the item number from which the **AlternatingItemTemplate** should start being used. (Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | |
| DataBindByDefault | Indicates whether the control automatically performs data binding during the **Init** event. (Inherited from [BasicUniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/basic-controls/basicuniview.md)) | |
| DataSource | The object from which the list of data items is retrieved. (Inherited from [BasicUniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/basic-controls/basicuniview.md)) | |
| DataSourceControl | Allows you to access the object of the data source control. | |
| DataSourceName | ID of the data source control. | |
| DelayedLoading | Indicates whether the control loads data during the **Load** event instead of the default **Init** event. | |
| EnablePaging | Indicates whether the built-in [UniPager](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/paging-controls/unipager.md) control is used to for paging. If you wish to use paging, **LoadHierarchicalData** must be set to _false_ (hierarchical data cannot be paged). | |
| HideControlForZeroRows | Indicates whether the control should be hidden when no data is loaded. The default value is False. (Inherited from [BasicUniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/basic-controls/basicuniview.md)) | |
| HideHeaderAndFooterForSingleItem | If enabled, the BasicUniView does not render the content of the **HeaderTemplate** and **FooterTemplate** for levels that only contain a single item. (Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | |
| HierarchicalDisplayMode | Sets the hierarchical display mode. _Inner_ generates sub-levels inside the level above, _Separate_ generates sub-levels outside of the upper levels. (Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | "Inner"
"Separate" |
| ItemSeparatorValue | HTML code that the control renders as a separator between the displayed items.
This property has greater priority than the transformation assigned through the **SeparatorTransformationName** property. | "" |
| LoadHierarchicalData | Indicates whether the control uses a datasource modified to a hierarchical grouped dataset. If _false_, the control binds the page data in the default format (flat structure). | |
| NestedControlsID | Enter the IDs of any [nested controls](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/cms-controls/cms-controls-listings-and-viewers/using-nested-controls.md) (CMSRepeater, CMSDataList...), separated by semicolons. | "CMSRepeaterNested;CMSDataListNested" |
| OuterData | Data generated in the **HeaderTemplate** and **FooterTemplate**. (Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | |
| PageSize | Sets the number of items displayed per page. | |
| PagerControl | Allows you to access the internal [UniPager](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/paging-controls/unipager.md) control used for paging. | |
| PagerDataItem | Gets or sets the pager data item object. (Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | |
| PagerForceNumberOfResults | If set, the DataSet containing paged items is not modified by the pager, but the pager itself behaves as if the amount of paged items were identical to this value. The value must be set to _-1_ for the property to be disabled.
(Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | |
| PagerPosition | Sets the positions of the pager (relative to the displayed data). | "Bottom"
"Top"
"TopAndBottom" |
| RelatedData | Custom data connected to the object. (Inherited from [BasicUniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/basic-controls/basicuniview.md)) | |
| RelationColumnID | Specifies the name of the column that the source data uses as an identifier (to determine parent-child relationships). (Inherited from [BasicUniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/basic-controls/basicuniview.md)) | "NodeID" |
| SelectedItemColumnName | The name of the column that should be used for to find out which item is currently selected. (Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | "DocumentID" |
| SelectedItemValue | The item whose column specified by the **SelectedItemColumn** property matches the value of this property will be designated as the currently selected item.
Typically, you will need to insert a [Macro expression](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/macro-expressions.md) in order to dynamically retrieve the appropriate value from the current context.
(Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | "{%currentpageinfo.documentid%}" |
| ShowEditDeleteButtons | Indicates if the control renders [edit and delete buttons](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/cms-controls/cms-controls-edit-mode-buttons.md) next to the displayed pages in editing modes (Page tab in the Pages application and On-site editing mode). | |
| Transformations | Allows you to assign a **HierarchicalTransformations** object representing a [hierarchical transformation](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/writing-transformations/using-hierarchical-transformations.md). The BasicUniView renders the source data according to the hierarchical transformation (instead of the ItemTemplates).
**Note**: To use a hierarchical transformation, you need to set the _Transformations_ property before calling the BasicUniView's **DataBind** method.
(Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | |
| UseNearestItemForHeaderAndFooter | Indicates whether the control provides data to the item templates (or transformations) that display the header and footer content. You can work with the data inside the code of the templates.
Header templates use the data of the first item on the given hierarchy level.
Footer templates use the data of the last item on the given hierarchy level.
The control ignores this property if the **OuterData** property is set.
(Inherited from [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md)) | |
| UseHierarchicalOrder | Indicates whether the control organizes the data according to the default hierarchical order. Only applies if **LoadHierarchicalData** is set to _true_.
The default order value is _"NodeLevel, NodeOrder"_. If you specify a value for the **OrderBy** property, the control appends it after the default order expression. | |
| ZeroRowsText | Text shown when the control is hidden by the **HideControlForZeroRows** property. (Inherited from [BasicUniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/basic-controls/basicuniview.md)) | "No records found." |
| Page filtering properties | Description | Sample value |
| ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| CheckPermissions | Indicates if the control checks the permissions of the user viewing the page. If the value is _false_ (default value) no permissions are checked.
If true, the control only loads pages for which the user viewing the page has read permissions. | |
| ClassNames | Specifies which [page types](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/defining-website-data-structure/page-types.md) the control loads and displays. Identify page types through their code names, separated by semicolons (;).
You can use the \* wildcard as a substitute for any number of characters. For example _Product.\*_ includes the page types _Product.Camera_, _Product.CellPhone_, _Product.Computer_ etc.
If the property is left empty, the control retrieves all page types by default. In the case of menu and navigation controls, only _CMS.MenuItem pages_ are loaded by default.
**Note**: If the control loads all page types (empty value), only the common data columns from the _View\_CMS\_Tree\_Joined_ view are available in the retrieved data. The specific fields of individual page types are not included. You need to keep this in mind when writing the code of transformations, WHERE conditions, ORDER BY expressions etc. | "cms.news"
"cms.news;cms.article" |
| CombineWithDefaultCulture | Indicates whether the control loads pages from the website's default culture version if the required pages are not available in the user's selected culture.
Only applies if you do not set the **TreeProvider** property manually. | |
| CultureCode | Specifies the culture code of the pages that the control loads. If not specified, the control automatically uses the preferred culture of the user viewing the page. | "en-us" |
| DataSource | Allows you to manually assign a DataSet or DataTable containing the pages that the control displays. You do not need to set this property for standard scenarios. | |
| FilterOutDuplicates | Indicates if the control filters out duplicated (linked) pages from the data. | |
| MaxRelativeLevel | Specifies the maximum number of content tree sub-levels from which the control displays pages. This number is relative, i.e. counted from the location of the page where the control is placed, not from the root of the website.
Enter _-1_ to load all child pages. | |
| Path | Path of the pages that the control loads.
**See**: [Writing page path expressions](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/loading-page-data/writing-page-path-expressions.md) | |
| SelectOnlyPublished | If enabled, the control only loads published pages. | |
| TreeProvider | Gets or sets the _TreeProvider_ object used by the control to access page data. If you do not assign a TreeProvider object, the control automatically creates a new instance. | |
| Page relationship properties | Description | Sample value |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------- |
| RelationshipWithNodeGUID | If set, the control only loads pages that are related to the page with the specified **NodeGUID**. You can find the Node GUID of pages on the **Properties -> General** tab in the Pages application.
Enter _"11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111"_ to dynamically load pages related to the **current** page. | "36f8c4bc-f702-4736-8a25-a82295668794" |
| RelatedNodeIsOnTheLeftSide | Determines whether the page specified through the **RelationshipWithNodeGUID** property is on the left or right side of the relationship.
If true, the control displays pages on the right side of the relationship.
If false, the control displays pages on the left side of the relationship. | |
| RelationshipName | Specifies the type of the page relationship. Enter the code name of the relationship. | "isrelatedto" |
| CMS Base control properties | Description | Sample value |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| CacheDependencies | List of the cache keys on which the control's cached data depends. When the specified cache items change, the control clears its cache.
Each item (dependency) must be on one line.
If you leave this property empty, the control uses default dependencies.
**See also**: [Setting cache dependencies](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching/setting-cache-dependencies.md), [Configuring caching](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching.md) | cms.user\|all |
| CacheItemName | Sets the name of the cache key used to store the control's content. If you leave the value empty, the system generates a default name containing variables, such as the control ID, the selected culture and the name of the user who loaded the page.
The system cache is shared by all pages in your application, so cache item names representing different data must be unique globally. If you have multiple controls that load the same data, you can share the cache keys between the controls (optimizes loading of content and avoids redundant data in the cache).
If the content displayed by the control depends on variables, such as URL parameters, you can set a custom name dynamically in the page's code behind.
**See also**: [Caching the data of page components](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching/caching-the-data-of-page-components.md), [Configuring caching](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching.md) | "CMSRepeaterNews" +
Request.QueryString\["id"].ToString() |
| CacheMinutes | Sets the number of minutes for which the control caches content retrieved from the database.
0 indicates that control does not cache content
-1 indicates that the control uses the site-level content caching settings
Allows you to set up caching of content so that the control doesn't have to retrieve content from the database on each request.
The caching mechanism uses absolute expiration time. This means that cache items expire after a specified time period even if the page containing the control wasn't requested.
**See also**: [Caching the data of page components](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching/caching-the-data-of-page-components.md), [Configuring caching](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching.md) | |
| FilterControl | Gets or sets the filter control used to limit the data read by the control. | |
| FilterName | Gets or sets the code name of the filter control used to limit the data read by this control. | |
| OrderBy | Gets or sets the ORDER BY clause of the SQL query that the control uses to load data. | "NewsReleaseDate DESC" |
| SelectedColumns | Database table columns that the control loads for pages, separated by commas ( , ). If null or empty, the control loads all available columns. | |
| SiteName | Specifies the code name of the Kentico website for which the control loads data. | |
| StopProcessing | If true, the control stops all processing — does not load or display any data or other HTML output. | |
| TopN | Specifies the maximum number of database records that the control loads. | |
| WhereCondition | Gets or sets the WHERE clause of the SQL query that the control uses to loads data. | "ProductPrice > 100" |
## Defining the output format
You need to define the content rendered by the CMSUniView control through [transformations](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/writing-transformations.md) or item templates (inherited from the [UniView](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/uniview.md) control).
Use the following CMSUniView properties to assign transformations. Specify transformation names in format: _._
| Transformation properties | Description |
| ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| AlternatingTransformationName | Applied to items that have an even position in the listing order. Every level in the hierarchy has its own separate alternation pattern. |
| FirstTransformationName | Applied to the first item on every level in the hierarchy. Only works for levels that contain more than one item. |
| FooterTransformationName | Rendered at the end of every level (after the last item on the level). Can be used to close encapsulating elements from the _Header_. |
| HeaderTransformationName | Rendered at the beginning of every level (before the first item on the level). Provides a convenient way to visually separate or style individual levels. |
| HierarchicalTransformationName | Assigns a [hierarchical transformation.](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/loading-and-displaying-data-on-websites/writing-transformations/using-hierarchical-transformations.md) |
| LastTransformationName | Applied to the last item on every level in the hierarchy. Only works for levels that contain more than one item. |
| SelectedFooterItemTransformationName | Used for the footer of selected items. |
| SelectedHeaderItemTransformationName | Used for the header of selected items. |
| SelectedItemTransformationName | Applied to the currently selected item (i.e. the page that is being viewed). |
| SeparatorTransformationName | Rendered between items. If hierarchical data is loaded, the separator is placed only between items on the same level (i.e. not between a parent item and its child). |
| SingleTransformationName | Applied in cases where there is only one item on a level in the hierarchy. |
| TransformationName | Applied to all displayed items that are not covered by a specialized transformation type (e.g. alternating items, first items etc.). |
### Setting the location of sublevels
If you are using the control to display hierarchical data, you can add a placeholder that specifies the position of sublevels inside the code of item transformations or templates:
- For markup (Item templates and **ASCX** transformations):
```text
```
- For **Text** transformations:
```text
{^SubLevelPlaceHolder^}
```
When displaying items that have descendants in the hierarchy, the placeholder is replaced by the child level under the given item (including the header and footer for the new level). If you do not add the placeholder, the system automatically renders child levels after the code of parent items.
**Note**: To use the sublevel placeholder, the **HierarchicalDisplayMode** property of the control must be set to **Inner** (this is the default state).
## Configuring the pager
The CMSUniView control has a built-in [UniPager](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/references/kentico-controls/generic-controls/paging-controls/unipager.md) that you can enable through the **EnablePaging** property. Define the following item templates within the CMSUniView tags to determine the design of the pager:
| Template name | Description | Sample value |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| PagerCurrentPageTemplate | Template used for the current page in the pager.
Use the following in-line code in the template:
__ - gets the current page number.
__ - gets the page URL
__ - creates a link to the page | ` <%# Eval("Page") %>` |
| PagerDirectPageTemplate | Template used for direct page changing.
Use a **TextBox** or **DropDownList** control with ID _DirectPageControl_ to register the page change event. | `
Page
of
<%# Eval("Pages") %>` |
| PagerFirstPageTemplate | Template used for the link to the first page in the pager.
Use __ to get the link to the first page. | ` ">\|<` |
| PagerLastPageTemplate | Template used for the link to the last page in the pager.
Use __ to get the URL of the last page. | ` ">>\|` |
| PagerLayoutTemplate | Template that determines the overall design of the pager. | |
| PagerNextGroupTemplate | Template used for the link to the next group of pages.
Use __ to get the URL of the next group. | ` ">...` |
| PagerNextPageTemplate | Template used for the link to the next page.
Use __ to get the URL of the next page. | ` ">>` |
| PagerPageNumbersSeparatorTemplate | Template used for the separator between page links in the pager. | `
` |
| PagerPageNumbersTemplate | Template used for page links in the pager.
Use the following in-line code in the template:
__ - gets the page number
__ - gets the URL of the page
__ - creates a link to the page | ` "><%# Eval("Page") %>` |
| PagerPreviousGroupTemplate | Template used for the link to the previous group of pages.
Use __ to get the URL of the next group. | ` ">...` |
| PagerPreviousPageTemplate | Template used for the link to the previous page.
Use __ to get the URL of the next page. | ` "><` |