With Sitecore CMS, you’ve always been able to pass a data source item and any number of additional parameters to control how each sublayout and rendering functions. Prior to version 6.1, you could enter parameters in the control properties dialog as key=value pairs. Sitecore parses XSL code and uses reflection to determine the parameters available for XSL and .NET presentation components. For example, if you add the IncludeDetails parameter to the default sample XSL rendering:

<xsl:param name="IncludeDetails" />

Then you will see this parameter in the control properties dialog, along with the default parameters:

Sitecore 6.1 introduces parameters templates to let you define specific user interfaces to enter parameters for each rendering and sublayout. The Presentation Components Reference manual describes parameter templates in detail, but here’s my quick summary of how to implement a parameters template:

• Create a parameters template data template that inherits from the System/Layout/Rendering Parameters/Standard Rendering Parameters data template.
• Add fields to the parameters template data template (for this example, a checkbox field named IncludeDetails).
• In the rendering or sublayout definition item, in the Editor Options section, in the Parameters Template field, select the parameters template created previously.

The fields you defined in the parameters template now appear in the new control properties dialog: