Category Archives: DD4T

Changes in DD4T 2.1 for Java

Version 2.1 of DD4T has seen many improvements and changes with respect to the DD4T 2.0.X branch. While most changes are compatible with 2.0.X, it is recommended to upgrade your web application to the 2.1.X version. The main reason is that the 2.0.X releases will be discontinued and active development on it has stopped. Additionally, new versions of the DD4T Template Building Blocks may push new data formats or properties to the front end and these will only be incorporated in the DD4T 2.1 branch. New implementations are further encouraged to use the latest version, even if you already have published DD4T 1.0 XML or DD4T 2.0.X / 2.1.X Json in your Broker database, in order make use of the latest support for libraries, Tridion and fixed issues.

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Customizing binary paths in DD4T

Tridion has a rather particular way to deal with so-called binary files (images, PDFs, Word documents etc). When published, these files are placed in one folder (typically called ‘images’). To avoid conflicts between different binaries with the same file name, a unique ID is appended to the name of the file. A typical URL of a published binary file would be something like http://mysite.com/images/my-image_tcm3-123.png.

But what if you want to make your own rules for binary paths? And what if you are using the DD4T framework as well? In this post I will explain how to customize the paths to your binaries in DD4T.

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Going polymorph with ViewModels in DD4T Java 2.0

Plato (~423 BC – ~347 BC) was a pretty smart guy. Among his many ideas and thoughts, his Theory of Forms had an immense influence on how we perceive and solve the philosophical Problem of universals. It basically comes down to the idea that every physical object has one or more essences (or Forms) and that if that object would not have that Form, it would not be that object: a dog is Mammal, but a giraffe is also a Mammal. What makes both animals Mammals? It’s, simply put, the Idea of the Mammal.

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