Execute conversion and cleanup

With our code to convert articles in place, we need a way to trigger execution.

In this example, we’ll show a proof-of-concept for a simple controller that executes the code when you visit the provided URL.

Regardless of the approach you take, make sure to create a backup of your database prior to running the conversion, in case something goes wrong.

Define a controller

Returning to the ~/OneTimeCode folder, add a new controller with a single GET action on the path ConvertArticles.

Call our ArticleConverter code and pass the resulting collection of ConversionAttempt objects as the model.

Supply the path to a view which we will implement in the next step.

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace TrainingGuides.Web.OneTimeCode;

public class ConvertArticlesController(ArticleConverter articleConverter) : Controller
{
    [HttpGet("/ConvertArticles")]
    public async Task<IActionResult> Test()
    {
        var attempts = await articleConverter.Convert();
        return View("~/OneTimeCode/ConvertArticlesView.cshtml", attempts);
    }
}

Add a view

With the controller in place, we can display the results in a simple view.

@using TrainingGuides.Web.OneTimeCode

@model IEnumerable<ConversionAttempt>

@{
    Layout = null;
}

@foreach (ConversionAttempt attempt in Model)
{
    <div style="border-bottom:1px solid black; margin-bottom:5px; padding-bottom:20px; margin-top:5px;">
        <strong>OldArticle:</strong>
        <div>@($"{attempt.OldArticle.ArticleTitle} ({attempt.OldArticle.SystemFields?.ContentItemGUID}) ({attempt.OldArticle.SystemFields?.ContentItemCommonDataContentLanguageID})")</div>
        <ul style="color:grey">
            @foreach (string log in attempt.LogMessages)
            {
                <li>@log</li>
            }
        </ul>
        <ul style="color:red">
            @foreach (var error in attempt.Exceptions)
            {
                <li>@error.Message</li>
            }
        </ul>
    </div>
}

Visit the endpoint

Make sure you create a backup of your database before executing the code

Now, you can run the project and trigger the code by visiting the /ConvertArticles path in your browser.

You can see the results in the admin UI:

Clean up

Now our pages point to our new schema-based articles instead of our original Article items, but the old items still exist. Moreover, references to the Article type exist in several places throughout the solution, like generated classes, widgets, services, and the code we just executed.

Delete old Article items

If you filter the Content hub listing by the old Article content type, you can use the mass actions to delete several items at a time.

Alternately, you can extend our existing code to Delete the articles after they are successfully converted.

Consider references from other content types

Before you delete a content type, we recommend taking inventory of any other types that reference it, which you did not choose to update via code. This serves as a refresher on the other functionality touched by the type.

The ClassFormDefinition column of the CMS_Class table stores field and form control configuration for content types, including content types assigned to the Combined content selector. Xperience stores this data as an array of content type GUIDs:

...
<AllowedContentItemTypeIdentifiers>["17a2abf5-c412-4cee-8b6b-e5209bcd3e8c","8afff782-a445-4e6b-a237-821fca0db4fb","da713409-64bd-4bdd-bf21-3ec8294ab1b6"]</AllowedContentItemTypeIdentifiers>
...

To find your content type’s GUID, check its row in the CMS_Class table.

SELECT ClassDisplayName, ClassName, ClassGuid FROM CMS_Class WHERE ClassName = 'TrainingGuides.Article'

Then, you can use the GUID in a query to find other content types that reference it.

SELECT ClassDisplayName, ClassName, ClassFormDefinition FROM CMS_Class
WHERE ClassFormDefinition LIKE '%YOUR_GUID_HERE%'

Reusable field schemas are defined in the CMS.ContentItemCommonData class. You can determine which fields belong to which schemas by matching the value of their kxp_schema_identifier element to the guid attribute of a schema element.

...
<schema guid="c3b4896f-ba7c-4b75-9cd4-47afa7489ff1" name="ArticleSchema">
    <properties>
        <fieldcaption>Article schema</fieldcaption>
    </properties>
</schema>
<field allowempty="true" column="ArticleSchemaTitle" columnprecision="0" columnsize="300" columntype="text" enabled="true" guid="7f920142-174c-41cd-8e92-cc40e80aabdb" visible="true">
    <properties>
        <explanationtextashtml>False</explanationtextashtml>
        <fieldcaption>Title</fieldcaption>
        <fielddescriptionashtml>False</fielddescriptionashtml>
        <kxp_schema_identifier>c3b4896f-ba7c-4b75-9cd4-47afa7489ff1</kxp_schema_identifier>
    </properties>
    <settings>
        <controlname>Kentico.Administration.TextInput</controlname>
    </settings>
</field>
...

If you discover a reference you’d like to change to point to new items, as we did with page references and related articles in our code, you can restore a backup and further expand the one-time code.

Delete the old content type

Once you’re sure everything has been properly migrated to the new content type, you can delete the old one from the listing view in the Content types application.

At this point, you’ve completed the transformation of your Article content model. The old content types no longer exist alongside the new ones, and you can move forward with schema-based articles only.

Get rid of the one-time code

After a successful conversion, you no longer need the ArticleConverter code, so you can delete all the files we’ve created throughout this example, and remove the reference to the ArticleConverter class from ServiceCollectionExtensions.cs.

Remove the content type from your code

You likely reference the old content type throughout your application, for example, in repositories, facades, services, widgets, etc.

If you navigate to the generated class file for your type (TrainingGuides.Entities/ReusableContentTypes/Article for our example) you can use your IDE to find all references to the type and its members throughout the solution.

Depending on which of our training materials you’ve followed along with and which branch you started with, you’ll find code that utilizes the Article type alongside the IArticleSchema in several places, including the ArticlePageService, ArticlePageServiceTests ArticleEmailWidgetModelMapper, and NatureSpotlightEmailService.