7.4. Add Value Accessor Set Template

A value accessor set is the component that is used to group a set of related value accessor objects. If a value accessor is like a property in c#, a value accessor set is like a class.

There usually is no need to create a custom value accessor set. A value accessor set can hold any kind of value accessors.

While this is true at the Data Exchange Framework API layer, this is not usually the case when it comes time to configure a value accessor set.

For example, if you are configuring a value accessor set that represents the different properties you can read and write on a CRM contact, it is pretty likely that most - if not all - of your value accessors are of a specific type.

So when it comes time to configure a value accessor set, it is often helpful to only display value accessors that make sense. This is where a custom template can be helpful.

You can create a custom template that only supports certain types of value accessors. For the file system provider, it makes sense to only allow value accessors that are based on the Array Value Accessor template.

This section describes how to create the template that can represent a value accessor set that is used to define the value accessors that are used to read values from a text file.

  1. In Sitecore, open Template Manager.

  2. Navigate to Templates > Data Exchange > Providers > File System > Data Access.

  3. Add the following template:

    Name
    Array Value Accessor Set
    Base template
    Templates > Data Exchange > Framework > Data Access >
    Value Accessors > Value Accessor Set
    Location
    Templates > Data Exchange > Providers > File System > Data Access

  4. Set the icon for this template to Office/32x32/radio_button_group.png.