Overview

Each document in Kentico CMS is of some type. Each document type has its own:

•	fields (data structure)

•	editing form layout

•	transformations (design)

•

queries

and other settings.

Document types are fully customizable - you can add, modify and delete custom fields. The advantage of using custom document types is that you can define custom structure of documents and store content (data) separated from design. This can be done in Site Manager -> Development -> Document types.

Transformations are pieces of code that determine how Kentico CMS documents, or certain parts of them, are rendered by listing web parts and controls. They take raw data from the Kentico CMS database and transform it into the form you wish it to appear in. This makes them a crucial tool when displaying documents and document related data on the pages of your website. Transformations can be accessed in Site Manager -> Development -> Document types -> Edit () <document_type>, on the Transformations tab.

•	If you would like to learn about the functionality of transformations and/or would like to see examples of the code, please refer to the Development -> Document types and transformations -> Transformations topic in the Developer's Guide.

•	If you would like to learn how to define a new document type, please refer to the Defining a new document type topic in the same section of the Developer's Guide.

•	If you would like to see an example of writing transformations for a particular document type, please refer to the Writing transformations topic.

•	If you would like to learn how to add your own functions to transformations, please refer to the Adding custom functions to transformations topic.

•	To learn how to add context menus to web parts displaying Users or Groups, please refer to the Context menus in transformations topic.

Kentico CMS E-commerce Guide contains several examples of the use of document types and transformations. See e.g. Integration with your existing Kentico CMS web site -> Web parts -> Random products, Customizing the product fields -> Defining a new product type or Customizing product design in the same section of the E-commerce Guide. Please note that these practical examples do not concern the whole functionality of the Document types and transformations section but focus on its specific application.

You will need to have the E-commerce Site sample website installed to follow Kentico CMS E-commerce Guide.

A number of practical examples of the use of document types and transformations are available in Kentico CMS Community Site Guide; please note that these examples are again specific applications within the context of the Community Site sample website. See e.g. Part 2 -> Creating the Blogs section -> Creating the Blogs page in Kentico CMS Community Site Guide.

Please note that Kentico CMS Personal Site Guide also contains several topics where the use of document types is mentioned.

Page url: http://devnet.kentico.com/docs/5_5r2/contexthelp/index.html?document_types_overview.htm