1. Open your DSS or DSS Preview solution in Visual Studio.
2. Right-click the Controllers folder in the Solution Explorer pane, then click Add > Controller in the context menu.
3. Select the MVC 5 Controller - Empty option, then click Add in the Add New Scaffolded Item dialog.
   Note

   Alternatively, you can create a copy of CMSPageDefaultController.cs and rename the file.
4. Enter the file name for your new controller (e.g., CustomController), then click Add in the Add Controller dialog.

   Ensure the file name includes the word "controller" at the end, and treat this file as case sensitive.

   The new controller displays in Visual Studio.
5. Make the following code changes to the controller:
   1. Ensure the namespace is Ingeniux.Runtime.Controllers.
   2. Replace Controller with CMSPageDefaultController in the public class. This allows your custom controller to inherit methods and other code from the CMSPageDefaultController.cs file.
      Note

      In most cases, inheriting from the default CMS controller is required. However, in cases where inheriting from a different controller is necessary, specify the name of that controller in the public class.
   3. Remove the code nested within the public class body.

   For example, your custom controller will look similar to the following:

   Basic custom controller example

   using System;
   using System.Collections.Generic;
   using System.Linq;
   using System.Web;
   using System.Web.Mvc;
                 
   namespace Ingeniux.Runtime.Controllers
   {
       public class CustomController : CMSPageDefaultController
       {
   
       }
   }

6. Save your custom controller file.
   Note

   If you plan to deploy or debug the solution, rebuild the solution beforehand to ensure the bin files are updated.

1. Expand the Views folder in the Solution Explorer pane to verify Visual Studio created a folder that shares the same name as your custom controller.

   For example, the corresponding views folder of CMSPageDefaultContoller.cs is CMSPageDefault. If your custom controller is named CustomController.cs, the corresponding view folder will be named Custom.

   Visual Studio automatically generates the corresponding folder after adding the custom controller. The matching of names ensures the controller and folder work together seamlessly within in the solution.

   Troubleshooting

   If Visual Studio does not generate the corresponding folder, right-click the Views folder, then click Add > New Folder in the context menu to create the folder. Follow the naming convention the example indicates, with case sensitivity in mind.
2. Right-click the folder that corresponds with your custom controller, then click Add > View in the context menu.
3. Select the MVC 5 View option, then click Add in the Add New Scaffolded Item dialog.
4. Enter the name of the parent folder (e.g., Custom) in the View Name field, then click Add.
   Visual Studio adds the view to the folder. The view name (e.g., Custom.cshtml) will be the same as the corresponding custom controller and parent folder.

   

5. Modify the new custom view to suit your needs, then save the file.

   For example, you can copy and paste the code below into your view.

   For the purposes of creating a test custom controller example, you can leave this code as is or use this as a starting point to make further modifications.

   This example uses the same layout as the one we use for CMSPageDefault views.

   @model Ingeniux.Runtime.CMSPageRequest
   @using Ingeniux.Runtime
   @{
       Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
   
       <h1>This is the Custom view</h1>
   }

   Important

   Each custom controller is limited to one view unless you configure the BaseControllerName app setting to specify the custom controller as the base controller.

1. Open the solution's Web.config file in a text editor.
2. Under the <appSettings> element, add the following setting:
   <add key="BaseControllerName" value="Custom" />

3. Specify the name of custom controller in @value attribute. This will serve as the base controller.

   For example, if the custom controller is named CustomController.cs, then enter Custom in the @value attribute.

4. Save and close web.config.

Next Steps: After configuring this setting, you can add additional views to the view folder that corresponds with the custom controller.

1. In the CMS, navigate to Administration > Schema Designer, then create a page schema with the exact same name as the view.

   For example, if the view file corresponding with your custom controller is Custom.cshtml, then name your schema Custom.

   Important

   The view name and schema name are case sensitive.

   See Creating Page Schemas for details to create the schema.

   

2. Navigate to Site > Site Tree.
3. Create a page based on the new schema, then check in the page.
4. If you add the custom controller to your DSS Preview solution, complete the following steps:
   1. Click the page's Preview tab.
   2. Reload your browser to verify the view loads and functions as expected.
5. If you add the custom controller to your DSS solution, complete the following steps:
   1. Mark for publish then publish the page to the DSS.

      See Publishing from the Site Tree for details to publish the page.

   2. In a new web browser tab, navigate to the page on the DSS to verify the view loads and functions as expected.

If the view file includes the example code from the Add View steps, you will see the <h1> content on the page.