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Using Page Properties Dynamically in Initial Page Template(AEM)

Forum|Forum|9 months ago
May 7, 2025
3 replies
694 views

Is there a way to use page property values in the initial template? For example, I’ve added a text component in initial/.content.xml—can I dynamically use the page title from the page properties as the text value in this component?

Best answer by SantoshSai

Hi @abilashra,

I think, you cannot dynamically set values like the page title in the initial/.content.xml because that XML is static and processed at template creation time, before the page is created - so dynamic values like jcr:title from page properties aren’t available yet.

May be you could try below 2 options:

1. Use HTL to reference page title at runtime

Instead of hardcoding a value in .content.xml, let the HTL (Sightly) template read the page title dynamically:

<h1>${pageProperties['jcr:title']}</h1>

No need to modify your model or text component logic.
Only works if your component supports rendering via HTL.

2. Use a custom page creation workflow or listener

If you truly want to populate the component’s property (e.g., text) with the page title at creation time, you’ll need to:

Write a custom page creation event listener or workflow step.
Programmatically read the page’s jcr:title and write it into the text property of the embedded component node.

Example logic (in a servlet or listener):

Node textNode = page.getContentResource("root/text").adaptTo(Node.class);
String title = page.getProperties().get("jcr:title", "");
textNode.setProperty("text", title);

I don't think you can reference ${pageProperties['jcr:title']} directly in .content.xml like:

text="${pageProperties['jcr:title']}"  <!-- This won't work -->

because the XML is not evaluated dynamically.

Hope that helps!

giuseppebaglio

Level 10

Yes, it can be done by updating the logic of the text component.

You can inject into your Sling Model the object currentPage:

String pageTitle;
@SlingObject
private Page currentPage
...

@PostConstruct
    protected void init() {
        this.pageTitle = (String) currentPage.getProperties().get("jcr:title");
}
...

public String getPageTitle() {
   return this.pageTitle;
}
...

<div data-sly-use.model="com.project.your.sling.Model"
     class="text-component">
    <h1>${model.pageTtile}</h1>
</div>

or with HTL you can directly leverage the global object pageProperties like so:

<h1>${pageProperties['jcr:title']}</h1>

A

AbilashRaAuthor

@giuseppebaglio ,
Thank you so much for the reply. I don’t want to edit the text component since it’s used on many other pages—I just want to update the template by setting a default value for the text component.

SantoshSai

Accepted solution

Community Advisor

Hi @abilashra,

I think, you cannot dynamically set values like the page title in the initial/.content.xml because that XML is static and processed at template creation time, before the page is created - so dynamic values like jcr:title from page properties aren’t available yet.

May be you could try below 2 options:

1. Use HTL to reference page title at runtime

Instead of hardcoding a value in .content.xml, let the HTL (Sightly) template read the page title dynamically:

<h1>${pageProperties['jcr:title']}</h1>

No need to modify your model or text component logic.
Only works if your component supports rendering via HTL.

2. Use a custom page creation workflow or listener

If you truly want to populate the component’s property (e.g., text) with the page title at creation time, you’ll need to:

Write a custom page creation event listener or workflow step.
Programmatically read the page’s jcr:title and write it into the text property of the embedded component node.

Example logic (in a servlet or listener):

Node textNode = page.getContentResource("root/text").adaptTo(Node.class);
String title = page.getProperties().get("jcr:title", "");
textNode.setProperty("text", title);

I don't think you can reference ${pageProperties['jcr:title']} directly in .content.xml like:

text="${pageProperties['jcr:title']}"  <!-- This won't work -->

because the XML is not evaluated dynamically.

Hope that helps!

Santosh Sai

AmitVishwakarma

Community Advisor

Hi @abilashra ,

You cannot use ${pageProperties['jcr:title']} or any dynamic reference in .content.xml:

text="${pageProperties['jcr:title']}"   <!-- This does NOT work -->

Because .content.xml is processed only once when the page is created from the template—and it is treated as static content. At that time, the actual page properties like jcr:title are not yet available for interpolation.

Solution:

To auto-populate the text property of the component based on the page title during page creation, you must use an Event Listener or Page Creation Workflow. Here’s how.

Option 1: Use a Page Creation Listener (Recommended for AEM 6.5)

Try below steps:

Create a listener (OSGi component) that listens for page creation events.

Read the jcr:title of the page.

Write that value into the text property of the component.

Sample Java Code:

@Component(immediate = true,
           service = EventHandler.class,
           property = {
             EventConstants.EVENT_TOPIC + "=" + PageEvent.EVENT_TOPIC
           })
public class PageCreationListener implements EventHandler {

    @Reference
    private ResourceResolverFactory resolverFactory;

    @Override
    public void handleEvent(Event event) {
        PageEvent pageEvent = PageEvent.fromEvent(event);
        for (String path : pageEvent.getAddedPaths()) {
            if (!path.contains("/content")) {
                continue;
            }
            try (ResourceResolver resolver = resolverFactory.getServiceResourceResolver(
                    Collections.singletonMap(ResourceResolverFactory.SUBSERVICE, "datawriter"))) {

                PageManager pageManager = resolver.adaptTo(PageManager.class);
                Page page = pageManager.getPage(path);
                if (page == null) return;

                String pageTitle = page.getProperties().get("jcr:title", "");
                Resource textComponent = resolver.getResource(page.getPath() + "/jcr:content/root/text");

                if (textComponent != null) {
                    ModifiableValueMap props = textComponent.adaptTo(ModifiableValueMap.class);
                    props.put("text", pageTitle);
                    resolver.commit();
                }
            } catch (Exception e) {
                // log error
            }
        }
    }
}

This runs once at page creation, so it doesn’t impact runtime or page performance.

Option 2: Workflow Step (Alternate Approach)

If you use a custom page creation workflow, add a process step that does the same logic as above—reading the title and updating the component.

Note on Permissions:

Ensure the service user (e.g., datawriter) has write access to the component node. Configure it via /system/console/jcrresolver and /home/users/system.

Regards,
Amit

A

AbilashRaAuthor

Thank You @santoshsai @amitvishwakarma @giuseppebaglio ,
All the approaches work fine. I got the idea from all of them, retrieved the template type, and then, only for that template type, set the text property as the page title in the Sling model. I can't mark all the answers as correct above, but thanks to everyone!

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