My First Umbraco Datatype - Part 1: Setting up Visual Studio

by Ove Andersen Published: 5/12/2010 7:05:59 PM

Until now I have been using Doc2Form as a comment/contact form on my blog. Recently however, I have started to get some spam comments (Probably because of the increased visitor rate after my "My First Umbraco Usercontrol" article). I'm not very fond of spam, so I decided to implement a reCAPTCHA control for use with Doc2Form.

Part 1a: Setting up Visual Studio 2010

First, we need to create a new Web Application. To ease the process of setting up the datatype in Visual Studio 2010, I created a template which you can download here.

First, install the template you just downloaded by double- clicking on it. If the file has a .zip extension, rename it to .vsix.

Then create a new Web Application by clicking "File" -> "New Project" -> "Visual C#" -> "Umbraco Abstract Datatype". You can name the datatype whatever you like. My project is called "EyeCatchReCaptcha".

Now you are ready to create your first custom Umbraco datatype!

Part 1b: Setting up Visual Studio 2008/2010

First, create a new Web Application (You can find it by clicking "New Project" -> "ASP.NET Web Application"). You can call it whatever you like.

Then you need to copy some files from Umbraco to your "bin" folder. Not all of the following files are necessary, but I included them just in case.

umbraco.dll
umbraco.editorControls.dll
umbraco.DataLayer.dll
cms.dll
interfaces.dll
businesslogic.dll

You also need a copy of reCAPTCHA, which you can find here.

You also need to add references to these files. You can do this by right- clicking the "References" folder and press "Add Reference". Then you go to the "Browse" pane, and locate the .dll files you just copied.