Priority-based IPageService for page metadata, head tags, and messages

[sachatrauwaen]

Summary

Add a simple, priority-driven API for setting page title/description/keywords/canonical URL, injecting head tags and meta tags, and collecting user-visible messages. This formalizes page composition logic and decouples it from the rendering pipeline, supporting both the current WebForms pipeline and the new MVC pipeline.

Motivation

• Unify page composition: Provide a single abstraction for metadata, head elements, and messages across pipelines.
• Deterministic ordering: Ensure consistent output using explicit priorities.
• Progress toward MVC/Core: Keeps page state management out of WebForms, easing the hybrid transition.
• Testability: A small, mockable surface that’s easy to unit test.
• Skin and module developers can use this serive to contribute to the page elements

Scope

• Interfaces and models:
  • IPageService
  • PageMessage, PageMessageType
  • PageMeta
  • PageTag
  • PagePriority

Proposed API

• Title/SEO
  • void SetTitle(string value, int priority = PagePriority.Default)
  • void SetDescription(string value, int priority = PagePriority.Default)
  • void SetKeyWords(string value, int priority = PagePriority.Default)
  • void SetCanonicalLinkUrl(string value, int priority = PagePriority.Default)
  • string GetTitle(), string GetDescription(), string GetKeyWords(), string GetCanonicalLinkUrl()
• Head content
  • void AddToHead(PageTag tagItem)
  • List<PageTag> GetHeadTags()
  • void AddMeta(PageMeta metaItem)
  • List<PageMeta> GetMetaTags()
• Messages
  • void AddMessage(PageMessage messageItem)
  • List<PageMessage> GetMessages()
• Maintenance
  • void Clear()
• Priority model
  • PagePriority.Site = 10, PagePriority.Page = 20, PagePriority.Default = 100, PagePriority.Module = 200
• Message model
  • PageMessageType: Success, Warning, Error, Info
  • PageMessage: Heading, Message, MessageType, IconSrc, Priority
• Meta/head models
  • PageMeta: Name, Content, Priority
  • PageTag: Value, Priority

Example usage

pageService.SetTitle("Products", PagePriority.Page);
pageService.SetDescription("Browse our product catalog.", PagePriority.Page);
pageService.SetCanonicalLinkUrl("https://www.mysite.com/products", PagePriority.Page);

pageService.AddMeta(new PageMeta("viewport", "width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0", PagePriority.Site));
pageService.AddToHead(new PageTag("<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="114x114" href="apple-icon-114.png" type="image/png" />", PagePriority.Page));

pageService.AddMessage(new PageMessage(
    "Saved", "Your product was updated.", PageMessageType.Success, "", PagePriority.Default));

Rendering contract

• The renderer (WebForms default.aspx , MVC layout) must:
  • Pick the highest-priority values for title/description/keywords/canonical link.
  • Render GetMetaTags() and GetHeadTags() in ascending Priority order.
  • Render GetMessages() in ascending Priority order, with styling determined by PageMessageType.

In default.aspx

• OnPrerender : set values of PageService

Between the will skins and modules contributions to the pageservice executed with custom info like meta tags

Convenience extensions (Library/Services/Pages/PageExtensions.cs)

These helpers provide simpler overloads for common operations:

// Head content
void IPageService.AddToHead(string tag, int priority = PagePriority.Default);
void IPageService.AddMeta(string name, string content, int priority = PagePriority.Default);

// Messages (default type: Info)
void IPageService.AddMessage(string heading, string message, int priority = PagePriority.Default);

// Messages with explicit type
void IPageService.AddMessage(string heading, string message, PageMessageType messageType, int priority = PagePriority.Default);
void IPageService.AddMessage(string heading, string message, PageMessageType messageType, string iconSrc, int priority = PagePriority.Default);

// Convenience by type
void IPageService.AddSuccessMessage(string heading, string message, int priority = PagePriority.Default);
void IPageService.AddErrorMessage(string heading, string message, int priority = PagePriority.Default);
void IPageService.AddWarningMessage(string heading, string message, int priority = PagePriority.Default);
void IPageService.AddInfoMessage(string heading, string message, int priority = PagePriority.Default);

// Mapping helper for UI layer
DotNetNuke.UI.Skins.Controls.ModuleMessage.ModuleMessageType PageMessageType.ToModuleMessageType();

Example:

pageService.AddToHead("<link rel=\"preload\" href=\"/fonts/ui.woff2\" as=\"font\" type=\"font/woff2\" crossorigin>", PagePriority.Site);
pageService.AddMeta("robots", "max-image-preview:large", PagePriority.Page);

pageService.AddSuccessMessage("Saved", "Settings updated successfully.");
pageService.AddWarningMessage("Heads up", "This feature is experimental.", PagePriority.Page);

Fixes #6737

[mitchelsellers]

Moving this content to the right place.

One additional consideration here is the long-standing behavior that modules have been using to override the title property of the default page object and how we handle this.

This for example has been the suggested pathway for years.

var dnnPage = (CDefault) this.Page;
dnnPage.Title = $"Register for {eventDetail.Name} | MyCompany";

I assume that this process will break this behavior

[sachatrauwaen]

One additional consideration here is the long-standing behavior that modules have been using to override the title property of the default page object and how we handle this.

This for example has been the suggested pathway for years.

var dnnPage = (CDefault) this.Page;
dnnPage.Title = $"Register for {eventDetail.Name} | MyCompany";

I assume that this process will break this behavior

Yes, you are right this break actually this behavior.

I can maybe include the value of the changed dnnPage.Title in the pageService in the PreRender of the page with a certain priority.
So it will be used untill someone add a title with heiger priority in the pageService.

[mitchelsellers]

@sachatrauwaen looking at this API structure this looks great. I'm curious with regards to the existing API's that would be replaced here.

1. Can we get an accounting of all of them and get them updated with an [Obsolete] attribute
2. Can we validate that all would use the same logic

[sachatrauwaen]

@mitchelsellers with regards to the existing API's

1. Can we get an accounting of all of them and get them updated with an [Obsolete] attribute

The only API that exist is Skin.AddPageMessage.
And the new api is a hight level api that use Skin.AddPageMessage to render the messages.
I mark Skin.AddPageMessage [Obsolete] and put one Skin.AddPageMessage internal.

2. Can we validate that all would use the same logic

I redirect all code outside of the Skin class to the new api

3. Mark MemebershipModule.OnUnverifiedUserSkinInit obsolete, not used in dnn
   Is this ok ?

[bdukes]

This looks good to me. Let's switch from Obsolete to DnnDeprecated, but otherwise I think this is good.

[bdukes]

3. Mark MemebershipModule.OnUnverifiedUserSkinInit obsolete, not used in dnn
   Is this ok ?

So long as the method is unused, I think marking it obsolete is great. Thanks!