Portal Engine Questions on portal engine and web parts.
Version 5.x > Portal Engine > Using Kentico as framework for bespoke workflow-type system View modes: 
User avatar
Member
Member
james-microsec.co - 11/20/2010 12:34:08 PM
   
Using Kentico as framework for bespoke workflow-type system
Hi all,
My apologies if this is not the right area to post this - please let me know where I should post if this is the case.

I've got a requirement from a customer who needs a CMS solution - so that they can keep their website up to date themselves. So far so good - Kentico looks ideal.

However, they also need a quite bespoke web application - liinked to the main website - which allows their business to operate a workflow-type application. No need to go into the details here - I've developed similar systems before, and have a good handle on it.

Normally I'd design this using ASP.NET and ORM (usually NHibernate), with its own custom database at the back end, naturally. Is there a way to have such a custom system make use of the power of Kentico? Ideally, I'd like to use Kentico for the front end, but access the workflow database rather than custom tables in the Kentico database.

Is this possible, or can configure Kentico to allow me to create custom tables with foreign keys etc. between them?

Sorry if this sounds vague!



User avatar
Member
Member
Jeffrey H. - 11/22/2010 1:42:29 PM
   
RE:Using Kentico as framework for bespoke workflow-type system
Sure you can. Kentico is just an ASP.NET application so anything you would do in ASP.NET can be done in Kentico. Just design your application as a combination of web parts, or create a custom Module if you need administrative UI in the backend. We have done this a few times and its fairly easy, just use CMSDesk as an example.

Good luck

User avatar
Kentico Support
Kentico Support
kentico_zdenekc - 11/25/2010 4:24:27 PM
   
RE:Using Kentico as framework for bespoke workflow-type system
Hello,

Yes, as Jeffrey says (thanks for the post), you can add your own webparts or modules with required logic.

To advise more about custom tables possibilities (and extending the standard database), we would probably need more details about your aim.
Generally, many information can be found in API programming and Kentico CMS internals chapter of our DevGuide, for example:
Data layer,
Customizing system objects with custom data or objects,
and also the webinars and blog of our CTO, e.g. one post about customization options (for 4.1 but still with valuable info).

Best regards,
Zdenek C