How to provide custom info messages in Sitecore Preview Mode

Question

I am trying to add a custom notification message to display in the preview mode in Sitecore 8 for a particular item. I have done some digging and found you can create custom notification message extending the etPageEditorNotificationsProcessor class.

As descriped in this: https://techmusingz.wordpress.com/2016/11/09/add-workflow-notifications-for-all-editable-items-on-a-sitecore-page/

I have managed to do this but the custom message only shows in the Experience Editor not the Preview mode. Does anyone know how I can accomplish this in the Preview mode please? Something similar to below:

Answer 1

Unfortunately RenderNotifications method of WebEditRibbonForm class contains check:

if (WebUtil.GetQueryString("mode") != "edit")
    return;

The simplest solution would be to override WebEditRibbonForm, replace CodeBeside from the original WebEditorRibbonForm to your custom class in sitecore\shell\Applications\WebEdit\WebEditRibbon.aspx file and write few methods like below to make sure that Sitecore renders notifications in preview mode as well:

public class ExtendedWebEditorRibbonForm : WebEditRibbonForm
{
    protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnLoad(e);
        ItemUri queryString = ItemUri.ParseQueryString();
        if (!Context.ClientPage.IsEvent)
        {
            Item item = Database.GetItem(queryString);
            if (item != null)
            {
                RenderNotifications(item);
            }
        }
    }
    private void RenderNotifications(Item item)
    {
        Assert.ArgumentNotNull(item, nameof(item));
        // in preview mode we do same what Sitecore does in edit mode 
        if (WebUtil.GetQueryString("mode") != "preview")
            return;

        List<PageEditorNotification> editorNotifications = ItemUtility.GetPageEditorNotifications(item);
        if (editorNotifications.Count == 0)
        {
            Notifications.Visible = false;
        }
        else
        {
            HtmlTextWriter output = new HtmlTextWriter(new StringWriter());
            int count = editorNotifications.Count;
            for (int index = 0; index < count; ++index)
            {
                PageEditorNotification notification = editorNotifications[index];
                string empty = string.Empty;
                if (index == 0)
                    empty += " First";
                if (index == count - 1)
                    empty += " Last";
                RenderNotification(output, notification, empty);
            }
            Notifications.InnerHtml = output.InnerWriter.ToString();
        }
    }

    private static void RenderNotification(HtmlTextWriter output, PageEditorNotification notification, string marker)
    {
        Assert.ArgumentNotNull(output, nameof(output));
        Assert.ArgumentNotNull(notification, nameof(notification));
        Assert.ArgumentNotNull(marker, nameof(marker));
        string str = Themes.MapTheme(notification.Icon ?? GetNotificationIcon(notification.Type));
        output.Write("<div class=\"scPageEditorNotification {0}{1}\">", notification.Type, marker);
        output.Write("<img class=\"Icon\" src=\"{0}\"/>", str);
        output.Write("<div class=\"Description\">{0}</div>", notification.Description);
        foreach (PageEditorNotificationOption option in notification.Options)
            output.Write("<a onclick=\"javascript: return scForm.postEvent(this, event, '{0}')\" href=\"#\" class=\"OptionTitle\">{1}</a>", option.Command, option.Title);
        output.Write("<br style=\"clear: both\"/>");
        output.Write("</div>");
    }

    private static string GetNotificationIcon(PageEditorNotificationType notificationType)
    {
        switch (notificationType)
        {
            case PageEditorNotificationType.Error:
                return "Custom/16x16/error.png";
            case PageEditorNotificationType.Information:
                return "Custom/16x16/info.png";
            default:
                return "Custom/16x16/warning.png";
        }
    }
}