In our case we wanted the author name displayed with each book in content blocks, product page, and category pages.
We also wanted fields for flash video paths and a field for program air dates.
This works if you create one type property and designate only that type property as visible to drop-shippers.
You can then populate that one type property on the product page with XML code in the text box.
For example enter: <customfields><authorname>Sample Name</authorname><videopath>Sample Video Path</videopath></customfields>
Here is the code: (modified version of code provided by the forum about a year ago to include XML parsing)
Imports BVSoftware.Bvc5.Core
Imports System.Collections.ObjectModel
Imports System
Imports System.Xml
Imports System.IO
'Author Display Name
Dim adnid As String = LocalProduct.ProductTypeId
Dim productTypePropertiesValues As New Collection(Of String)
Dim props As Collections.Generic.List(Of Catalog.ProductProperty) = Catalog.ProductType.FindPropertiesForType(adnid)
Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
Dim xmlsb As New StringBuilder()
xmlsb.Append("<div class=""authorname"">")
For Each prop As Catalog.ProductProperty In props
productTypePropertiesValues.Add(Catalog.InternalProduct.GetPropertyValue(LocalProduct.Bvin, prop.Bvin))
Next
For i As Integer = 0 To (props.Count - 1)
If props(i).DisplayToDropShipper Then
Dim currentValue As String = Catalog.ProductProperty.GetProductTypePropertyValue(props(i), productTypePropertiesValues(i))
' If text property is empty, do not display
If (props(i).TypeCode = Catalog.ProductPropertyType.TextField) AndAlso (currentValue = String.Empty) Then
Continue For
End If
If currentValue <> String.Empty Then
sb.Append(currentValue)
End If
End If
Next
Try
Dim XMLText As New XmlTextReader(New StringReader(sb.ToString))
While (XMLText.Read())
If (XMLText.LocalName.Equals("authorname")) Then
xmlsb.Append(XMLText.ReadElementString("authorname"))
End If
End While
Catch ex As Exception
End Try
xmlsb.Append("</div>")
Me.authordisplayname.Text = xmlsb.ToString
'End Author Display Name