Every so often I find myself having to delete all Sitecore items in a folder except for one — the reason for this eludes me at the moment, but it does make an appearance once in a while (if this also happens to you, and you remember the context for why it happens, please share in a comment) — and it feels like it takes ages to delete all of these items: I have to step through all of these items in the Sitecore content tree, and delete each individually .

When this happens I usually say to myself “wouldn’t it be cool to have something like the ‘Close All But This’ feature found in Visual Studio?”:

I always forget to write this idea down, but did remember it a couple of days ago, and decided to build something to save time when deleting all items in a folder except for one.

To delete all items in a folder, we need a way to get all sibling items, and exclude the item we don’t want to delete. I decided to create a custom pipeline to do this, and defined the following parameter object for it:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

using Sitecore.Data.Items;
using Sitecore.Pipelines;

namespace Sitecore.Sandbox.Pipelines.GetSiblings
{
    public class GetSiblingsArgs : PipelineArgs
    {
        public Item Item { get; set; }

        public IEnumerable<Item> Siblings { get; set; } 
    }
}

Now that we have the parameter object defined, we need a class with methods that will compose our custom pipeline for grabbing sibling items in Sitecore. The following class does the trick:

using System.Linq;

using Sitecore.Diagnostics;

namespace Sitecore.Sandbox.Pipelines.GetSiblings
{
    public class GetSiblingsOperations
    {
        public void EnsureItem(GetSiblingsArgs args)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(args, "args");
            if (args.Item == null)
            {
                args.AbortPipeline();
            }
        }

        public void GetSiblings(GetSiblingsArgs args)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(args, "args");
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(args.Item, "args.Item");
            args.Siblings = (from sibling in args.Item.Parent.GetChildren()
                             where sibling.ID != args.Item.ID
                             select sibling).ToList();
        }
    }
}

The EnsureItem() method above just makes sure the item instance passed to it isn’t null, and aborts the pipeline if it is.

The GetSiblings() method gets all siblings items of the item — it just grabs all children of its parent, and excludes the item in question from the resulting collection using LINQ.

Now that we have a way to get sibling items, we need a way to delete them. I decided to build another custom pipeline to get sibling items for an item — by leveraging the pipeline created above — and delete them, and created the following parameter object for it:

using System.Collections.Generic;

using Sitecore.Data.Items;
using Sitecore.Web.UI.Sheer;

namespace Sitecore.Sandbox.Shell.Framework.Pipelines.DeleteSiblings
{
    public class DeleteSiblingsArgs : ClientPipelineArgs
    {
        public Item Item { get; set; }

        public bool ShouldDelete { get; set; }

        public IEnumerable<Item> Siblings { get; set; } 
    }
}

The following class contains methods that will be used it our custom client pipeline to delete sibling items:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

using Sitecore.Data.Items;
using Sitecore.Diagnostics;
using Sitecore.Pipelines;
using Sitecore.Web.UI.Sheer;

using Sitecore.Sandbox.Pipelines.GetSiblings;

namespace Sitecore.Sandbox.Shell.Framework.Pipelines.DeleteSiblings
{
    public class DeleteSiblingsOperations
    {
        private string DeleteConfirmationMessage { get; set; }
        private string DeleteConfirmationWindowWidth { get; set; }
        private string DeleteConfirmationWindowHeight { get; set; }

        public void ConfirmDeleteAction(DeleteSiblingsArgs args)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(args, "args");
            Assert.ArgumentNotNullOrEmpty(DeleteConfirmationMessage, "DeleteConfirmationMessage");
            Assert.ArgumentNotNullOrEmpty(DeleteConfirmationWindowWidth, "DeleteConfirmationWindowWidth");
            Assert.ArgumentNotNullOrEmpty(DeleteConfirmationWindowHeight, "DeleteConfirmationWindowHeight");
            if (!args.IsPostBack)
            {
                SheerResponse.YesNoCancel(DeleteConfirmationMessage, DeleteConfirmationWindowWidth, DeleteConfirmationWindowHeight);
                args.WaitForPostBack();
            }
            else if (args.HasResult)
            {
                args.ShouldDelete = AreEqualIgnoreCase(args.Result, "yes");
                args.IsPostBack = false;
            }
        }

        public void GetSiblingsIfConfirmed(DeleteSiblingsArgs args)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(args, "args");
            if (!args.ShouldDelete)
            {
                args.AbortPipeline();
                return;
            }
            
            args.Siblings = GetSiblings(args.Item);
        }

        protected virtual IEnumerable<Item> GetSiblings(Item item)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(item, "item");
            GetSiblingsArgs getSiblingsArgs = new GetSiblingsArgs { Item = item };
            CorePipeline.Run("getSiblings", getSiblingsArgs);
            return getSiblingsArgs.Siblings;
        }

        public void DeleteSiblings(DeleteSiblingsArgs args)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(args, "args");
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(args.Siblings, "args.Siblings");
            DeleteItems(args.Siblings);
        }

        protected virtual void DeleteItems(IEnumerable<Item> items)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(items, "items");
            foreach (Item item in items)
            {
                item.Recycle();
            }
        }

        private static bool AreEqualIgnoreCase(string one, string two)
        {
            return string.Equals(one, two, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase);
        }
    }
}

The ConfirmDeleteAction() method — which is invoked first in the custom client pipeline — asks the user if he/she would like to delete all sibling items for the item in question.

The GetSiblingsIfConfirmed() method is then processed next in the pipeline sequence, and ascertains whether the user had clicked the ‘Yes’ button — this is a button in the YesNoCancel dialog that was presented to the user via the ConfirmDeleteAction() method.

If the user had clicked the ‘Yes’ button, sibling items are grabbed from Sitecore — this is done using the custom pipeline built above — and is set on Siblings property of the DeleteSiblingsArgs instance.

The DeleteSiblings() method is then processed next, and basically does as named: it deletes all items in the Siblings property of the DeleteSiblingsArgs instance.

Now that we are armed with our pipelines above, we need a way to call them from the Sitecore UI. The following command was built for that purpose:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

using Sitecore;
using Sitecore.Data.Items;
using Sitecore.Diagnostics;
using Sitecore.Pipelines;
using Sitecore.Shell.Framework.Commands;

using Sitecore.Sandbox.Pipelines.GetSiblings;
using Sitecore.Sandbox.Shell.Framework.Pipelines.DeleteSiblings;

namespace Sitecore.Sandbox.Shell.Framework.Commands
{
    public class DeleteAllButThis : Command
    {
        public override void Execute(CommandContext context)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(context, "context");
            DeleteSiblings(context);
        }

        private static void DeleteSiblings(CommandContext context)
        {
            Context.ClientPage.Start("uiDeleteSiblings", new DeleteSiblingsArgs { Item = GetItem(context) });
        }

        public override CommandState QueryState(CommandContext context)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(context, "context");
            if (!HasSiblings(GetItem(context)))
            {
                return CommandState.Hidden;
            }

            return CommandState.Enabled;
        }

        private static bool HasSiblings(Item item)
        {
            return GetSiblings(item).Any();
        }

        private static IEnumerable<Item> GetSiblings(Item item)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(item, "item");
            GetSiblingsArgs getSiblingsArgs = new GetSiblingsArgs { Item = item };
            CorePipeline.Run("getSiblings", getSiblingsArgs);
            return getSiblingsArgs.Siblings;
        }

        private static Item GetItem(CommandContext context)
        {
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(context, "context");
            Assert.ArgumentNotNull(context.Items, "context.Items");
            return context.Items.FirstOrDefault();
        }
    }
}

The command above will only display if the context item has siblings — we invoke the pipeline defined towards the beginning of this post to get sibling items. If none are returned, the command is hidden.

When the command executes, we basically just pass the context item to our custom pipeline that deletes sibling items, and sit back and wait for them to be deleted (I just lean back, and put my feet up on my desk).

I then strung everything together using the following configuration include file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">
  <sitecore>
    <commands>
      <command name="item:DeleteAllButThis" type="Sitecore.Sandbox.Shell.Framework.Commands.DeleteAllButThis, Sitecore.Sandbox"/>
    </commands>
    <pipelines>
      <getSiblings>
        <processor type="Sitecore.Sandbox.Pipelines.GetSiblings.GetSiblingsOperations, Sitecore.Sandbox" method="EnsureItem" />
        <processor type="Sitecore.Sandbox.Pipelines.GetSiblings.GetSiblingsOperations, Sitecore.Sandbox" method="GetSiblings" />
      </getSiblings>
    </pipelines>
    <processors>
      <uiDeleteSiblings>
        <processor type="Sitecore.Sandbox.Shell.Framework.Pipelines.DeleteSiblings.DeleteSiblingsOperations, Sitecore.Sandbox" method="ConfirmDeleteAction">
          <DeleteConfirmationMessage>Are you sure you want to delete all sibling items and their descendants?</DeleteConfirmationMessage>
          <DeleteConfirmationWindowWidth>200</DeleteConfirmationWindowWidth>
          <DeleteConfirmationWindowHeight>200</DeleteConfirmationWindowHeight>
        </processor>
        <processor type="Sitecore.Sandbox.Shell.Framework.Pipelines.DeleteSiblings.DeleteSiblingsOperations, Sitecore.Sandbox" method="GetSiblingsIfConfirmed"/>
        <processor type="Sitecore.Sandbox.Shell.Framework.Pipelines.DeleteSiblings.DeleteSiblingsOperations, Sitecore.Sandbox" method="DeleteSiblings"/>
	    </uiDeleteSiblings>
    </processors>
  </sitecore>
</configuration>

I also had to wire the command above to the Sitecore UI by defining a context menu item in the core database. I’ve omitted how I’ve done this. If you would like to learn how to do this, check out my first and second posts on adding to the item context menu.

Let’s see this in action.

I first created some items to delete, and one item that I don’t want to delete:

I then right-clicked on the item I don’t want to delete, and was presented with the new item context menu option:

I was then prompted with a confirmation dialog:

I clicked ‘Yes’, and then saw that all sibling items were deleted:

If you have any suggestions on making this better, please drop a comment.

Until next time, have a Sitecoretastic day!