SDL Tridion GetListKeywords using Anquilla Framework - tridion

Question

I'm writing a GUI extension and using the Anquilla framework to get a list of Keywords within a Category. I'm obtaining an XML document for the list of keywords then working with that document within my extension.
My problem is that the returned XML doesn't contain the Keyword's 'Description' value. I have the Title and Key etc.
My original code looks like this:
var category = $models.getItem("CATEGORYTCMID:);
var list = category.getListKeywords();
list.getXml();
A typical node returned is this:
<tcm:Item ID="tcm:4-1749-1024"
Type="1024" Title="rate_one" Lock="0" IsRoot="true"
Modified="2012-12-17T23:01:59" FromPub="010 Schema"
Key="rate_one_value" IsAbstract="false"
CategoryTitle="TagSelector"
CategoryID="tcm:4-469-512" Icon="T1024L0P0"
Allow="268560384" Deny="96" IsNew="false"
Managed="1024"/></tcm:ListKeywords>
So I've tried using a Filter to give me additional column information:
var filter = new Tridion.ContentManager.ListFilter();
filter.columns = Tridion.Constants.ColumnFilter.EXTENDED;
var list = category.getListKeywords(filter);
Unfortunately this only gives the additional XML attributes:
IsShared="true" IsLocalized="false"
I'd really like the description value to be part of this XML without having to create a Keyword object from the XML. Is such a thing possible?
cough any ideas? cough

Answer 1

I'm afraid you'll have to load the Keyword itself to get the Description.
It's not used in any lists, so it's not returned in the XML.

Answer 2

You could always create a List Extender to add this information to the list, but try to be smart about it since this extender will execute everytime a GetList is called.
Won't save you from having to open every keyword in the list, but you'll be doing it server-side (with Core Service/NetTcp for instance) which will probably be easier and faster than opening each keyword with Anguilla.

Answer 3

In this instance I only need the one keyword, so I simply get it from the CMS. Getting an object in Anguilla is a bit weird, here's the code:
In your main code area:
var selectedKy = $models.getItem("TcmUriOfKeywordHere");
if (selectedKy.isLoaded()) {
p.selectedKy = selectedKy;
this.onselectedKyLoaded();
} else {
$evt.addEventHandler(selectedKy, "load", this.onselectedKyLoaded);
selectedKy.load();
}
It's worth noting how I store the keyword in the properties of the item, so I can obtain it in the onselectedKyLoaded function
The function called once the item is loaded
ContentBloom.ExampleGuiExtension.prototype.onselectedKyLoaded = function (event) {
var p = this.properties;
var selectedDescription = p.selectedKy.getDescription();
// do what you need to do with the description :)
};
I resolved this, thanks to the answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12805939/1221032 - Cheers Nuno :)