Inserting the Recommendation server control onto a page

Prerequisite

You must have installed the server controls. See Installing server controls into Visual Studio Toolbox.

1. In Visual Studio, choose View > Toolbox.
2. Click the Ektron server control tab to display the server controls.
3. Drag the Recommendation server control and drop it into the desired location on the page.

   NOTE: You also can place the cursor on the page where you want the server control, then double click the server control that you want.

   <CMS:Recommendation ID="Recommendation1" runat="server" />

4. Click on Recommendation in the code to display and modify the control’s properties using the Properties window of Visual Studio. The page is updated as you modify the property values.
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Recommendation properties

The following are Ektron-specific server controla server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified. properties. For information about native .NET properties such as font, height, width and border style, use Visual Studio^® help.

• CacheInterval (Double)

  The number of seconds that a server controla server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified.’s data is cached. The default is 0 (zero). For example, if you want to cache the data for 5 minutes, set to 300. See also: Caching with server controls.

• CustomXml (Code-behind Only) (String)

  Lets you inject custom XML into the generated XML before being processed by the XSLTExtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations. Enter a string of XML that you want to make available to the XSLT as follows:

  <root><customXml>custom-xml-inserted-here</customXml></root>

  See also: Displaying custom XML in Ektron’s server controls.

• DefaultProductID (Integer)

  Enter a default product ID that contains either cross sell or up sell products. To make the server control dynamic, enter zero (0) in this property and set the DynamicProductParameter to QueryString parameter used to pass the product’s ID.

• DisplayXslt (String)

  If desired, enter a relative or absolute path to an Xslt that determines the display of the page. By default, the control uses Recommendation.xsl. This file is located in siteroot\Workarea\Xslt\Commerce.

  WARNING! Files stored in the siteroot\Workarea folder are overwritten (or deleted) when you upgrade Ektron. To avoid problems, copy the default file to a folder outside the siteroot\workarea folder then edit it. If there is no default file, create the file outside the siteroot\workarea folder. Next, in this property, enter the path to that file relative to the site root folder.

• DoInitFill (Boolean)

  By default, Fill occurs during the Page_Init event. Set to false if you want to postpone the fill-action until later. In this case, Fill is automatically called during the Page Render event. You might do this if you need to set or change a property on the control in code-behind and have it render with your changes shown.

• DynamicCartParameter (String)

  The QueryString parameter name which is used to pass the product ID to the Cart server control. For example, if your QueryString parameter for products is Product, enter that in this property. Then, when customers click Add to Cart, this parameter is passed with the product’s ID Web form containing the Cart server control.

• DynamicProductParameter (String)

  The QueryString parameter name which is used to pass the product ID to the product details page. For example, if your QueryString parameter for products is ID, enter that in this property. Then, when customers click a product’s title, this parameter is passed with the product’s ID to the product details page.

• Hide (Boolean)

  Hides or displays the output of the control in design time and run time.

  • True. Hide the control output.
  • False. Display the control output.
• Language (Integer)

  If the template on which this server control resides includes a language selection control, and you want to let the customer select the language, enter zero (0). Otherwise, click the field, then the ellipsis button () and a popup box appears. Select a language from the list. This property shows results in design-time (in Visual Studio) and at run-time (in a browser).

• PageSize (Integer)

  Specify the number of items to show per page when a customer views recommendations. If the number of items exceeds the quantity defined in this property, the list is paged and the customer can use the paging navigation system to move through the list.

• RecommendationType (EkEnumeration.RecommendationType)

  The type of recommendation to show. Choices are:

  • CrossSell. Related products that a customer might be interested in. For example, if you are selling Denim Jackets, you might want to cross sell them pants or shirts.
  • UpSell. Products that improve on the product being purchased. For example, if you are selling 7 megapixel digital cameras, you show a 10 megapixel digital camera.
• Stylesheet (String)

  Specify the path to a style sheet for use with this server control. Leave blank to use the default style sheet. To use a custom style sheet, place it in a folder outside the siteroot\workarea folder then edit it. Next, in this property, enter the path to the custom style sheet relative to the site root folder.

• SuppressWrapperTags (Boolean)

• Suppresses the output of the span/div tags around the control.

  • True. Suppress wrap tags.
  • False (default). Allow wrap tags.
• TemplateCart (String)

  The URL to navigate to when a customer clicks Add to Cart. The path can be relative or absolute. When a path is entered, the Add to Cart button appears next to the product and allows a customer to add the product directly to their cart.

• TemplateProduct (String)

  Specify the URL that contains the Product server control. This allows a customer to see the details of the product when the product link is clicked. The path can be relative or absolute.

Enabling the Add to Cart button

Customers can add a product to their cart directly from the Recommendation server control by clicking Add to cart next to a product. This link appears below the price and allows them to skip the product’s information page and add the product directly to their cart.

By default, this button appears when the following conditions are met:

• The product is buyable. That is, there is a check mark in the Buyable property for a product in the Workarea.
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• The product has an In Stock quantity of at least one.
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• The TemplateCart property has a cart’s template location defined.

In addition, if a product has an alias path associated with it, you need to:

• Make sure the TemplateCart property’s path is relative to the site root. For example:

  TemplateCart="Developer/Commerce/CartDemo.aspx"

• Add the following to the code-behind page. This example is in C#:

  protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
  { Utilities.RegisterBaseUrl(this.Page); }