10 Super Useful SilverStripe Documentation Pages

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11 April 2009 | Aram Balakjian | SilverStripe

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Since I started learning SilverStripe I have come across a number of very useful documentation pages which were not very easy to find (at least not as easy as they could be). So here is a list of 10 official documentation pages which I always find myself referring back to.

Page-Types

Explains the principles behind a page type and how to use them to structure your data into a Model and Controller. It also covers adding/removing inherited CMS fields.

Form Field Types
An index of all the different types of form field you can use within SilverStripe without any custom modules. It's a great resource that makes creating CMS fields and forms a simple copy and paste affair.

Built in Page Controls
Ever wondered what variables & methods you have available to you when building a template in SilverStripe? Well this page lists them all and also provides a pretty comprehensive explanation of the most commonly used, such as $LinkingMode and $CurrentMember.

Customising the Hierarchy
Gives you a list of all the different options you have to control the structure of the hierarchy, such as setting default child pages or defining create permissions.

GD Functions
This page lists all the functions you can use to manipulate images, both in the template and in your controller.

DataModel
Goes through the principles and the implementation of DataModels in SilverStripe, an essential concept if you want to do anything beyond a basic site.

DataObjectDecorator
Covers the very powerful and useful topic of decorating a class, where by you add database fields and CMS fields from an external class called a DataObjectDecorator.

ModelAdmin
This great new feature in 2.3 allows you to create a custom interface for managing large numbers of DataModels. This page will get you started.

Recipes
A great resource for short tutorials and code snippets. Lot's of cool stuff in there from adding pagination to building a site tree style menu.

Modules: DataObjectManager
This fantastic new module created by Aaron Carlino adds a wealth of new features to the ComplexTableField. It really is an essential module to consider when building a site with any sort of DataObject relationship. This page takes you through setting up the different types of manager their their related Objects. There are also a couple great new form fields that become available when installing the module, including a popup HTML editor field and a jQuery calendar field.