Here I’m trying to document the solution that might help others who face the same issue as me.

To begin with, first I started to learn about Docker and then about Sitecore with Docker. I had watched some videos on YouTube and Pluralsight course on Docker and read GitHub Gists from fellow Sitecore community Devs before starting with anything and then started with installing and playing with Docker shortly and followed this course as per my understanding of everything so far.

Getting Started with Docker with Sitecore

Steps:

1. Install Docker for Windows
2. Clone Docker for Sitecore repository
3. Executed below commands, trying to get the vanilla Sitecore up and running in docker.

> Open powershell window in administrator mode

> CD into directory where you cloned the repository in my case it was 'C:\Projects\docker-images\'

> .\Build.ps1 -SitecoreUsername SITECORE_DEV_EMAIL -SitecorePassword SITECORE_DEV_PASSWORD -SitecoreVersion 9.3.0 -Topology xp -WindowsVersion 1803 -IncludeSpe

# I had edited Build.ps1 to allow '1803' windows version here because it matched with my windows OS version at that point

> .\Set-LicenseEnvironmentVariable.ps1 -Path C:\license\license.xml

> docker image ls

> cd .\windows\tests\9.3.x

> docker-compose -f .\docker-compose.xp.yml up

Got stuck on this Docker error

At this point, I got stuck with error message as below:

Pulling sql (sitecore-xp-sqldev:9.3.0-windowsservercore-ltsc2019)…
 ERROR: The image for the service you're trying to recreate has been removed. If you continue, volume data could be lost. Consider backing up your data before continuing.
 Continue with the new image? [yN]<strong>y</strong>
 Pulling sql (sitecore-xp-sqldev:9.3.0-windowsservercore-ltsc2019)…
 ERROR: pull access denied for sitecore-xp-sqldev, repository does not exist or may require 'docker login': denied: requested access to the resource is denied

First Fix: Windows Update

As I checked in the #docker channel in the Sitecore Slack and learned that I had to update my Windows OS to at-least 1903 version so I spent next day or two waiting for system updates to complete. Please note: The time taken depends on your machine and internet speed.

If you are thinking how to check Windows OS version?

Check this out. Press Windows Key + I and then click on System tile then click on About from left navigation and it should show your system version as below –

This is noteworthy – After system update I tried Build.ps1 with new version i.e. 1903 (earlier it was 1803) as below, it started doing more than what was done in last time so that was good sign:

.\Build.ps1 -SitecoreUsername SITECORE_DEV_EMAIL -SitecorePassword SITECORE_DEV_PASSWORD -SitecoreVersion 9.3.0 -Topology xp -WindowsVersion 1903 -IncludeSpe

This time Build.ps1 took around 2-3 hours to complete and once it completed I tried docker-compose -f .\docker-compose.xp.yml up command again and still had the same error at this point.

Final Fix: Update environment file

Another quick chat in slack and I found the final fix. Update .env file under /windows/tests/9.3.x/ folder as below:

I had to update WINDOWSSERVERCORE_VERSION from ltsc2019 to 1909 and NANOSERVER_VERSION from 1803 to 1909. I think these values got messed up when I was first trying to get it to work.

Quick note: Here I’m trying to setup Sitecore XP0 (XP standalone) for version 9.3.0 that is why I’m using ‘9.3.x’ folder so this folder can be different for you based what version you are targeting.

Finally, I re-ran the docker-compose -f .\docker-compose.xp.yml up command again and there it started composing without the error.

That is all to resolve the said error with docker-compose.

Finally, I was able to see my vanilla Sitecore instance from browser at http://localhost:44001/ locally. Please note that the port number here depends on the configuration as I kept the default values that came from https://github.com/Sitecore/docker-images it is port 44001 here.

Also, It is advised to use docker-compose with flag -d which will cut down the verbose logging seen in console and from what I’m hearing it’s called Detached mode.

Start following #docker channel in Sitecore Slack for more fun stuff.

Thanks to Michael West, Aaron Bickle, and Dylan Young for all the help…

Happy Sitecoring!

Fix:

• Open the \**Website Root**\sitecore\shell\Controls\Rich Text Editor\EditorPage.aspx file
• Add the following attribute to the <telerik:radeditor ID="Editor" inside of the EditorPage.aspx file
  • ExternalDialogsPath="~/sitecore/shell/controls/rich text editor/Dialogs/"
• Clear browser cache

Sitecore Support reference for this fix is # 228508

Note that I was using Sitecore SXA version 1.8.1 when I got this issue.

Issue is the VariantSection template in Rendering Variant is missing some items on the IsLink field that is Droplink just on VariantSection template.

Sitecore Support has provided the package that installs the missing items. If anyone needs, I have shared the link at the end of this post.

Screenshot showing the issue is as below:

After applying the fix it should look as below:

Just in case if you need Sitecore public reference number for this issue is 326111

Download Sitecore Support Package (326111-items.zip)

Its been very long time that I have written any blog posts and in meantime there has been significant changes in Umbraco and its documentation on ASP.NET MVC.

Few updates on this topic before I start,

1. ASP.NET MVC is now enabled out of the box rather than WebForms in Umbraco.
2. This blog series was first started with Umbraco version 7.1.1 but concept is same in latest version 7.2.8 also.
3. Documentation on ASP.NET MVC support for Umbraco has improved a lot.

In this post we will see how to develop website using Umbraco CMS and ASP.NET MVC.

In the Introduction post you can read the brief on this blog series.

Before starting please note that this may take a while to understand the concept wholly but let us try & understand, also you can refer Umbraco documentation such as Implementing Custom controller.

There are two parts of this story ASP.NET MVC side and Umbraco side.

First Part of this story – ASP.NET MVC

First let us see what we have in ASP.NET MVC part of the story. So we have three basic things to know. It is possible that you know these things already so you may skip to next section –

1. Model
2. View
3. Controller

Brief for each of these is –

Model

Model is POCO which contains getter and setter properties and sometimes we have ViewModel for certain complex scenarios.

View

View is just outputting html. View is written in Razor sharp syntax in .cshml or ASP.NET syntax in .aspx

Controller

Controller is C# class. It is the main class which controls how the request would be served. It knows what Model and View will go together, How to validate incoming request and application data whereabouts. As you might know that there are many ways controller works; it all depends on requirements and skill-set of the developers working on the solution.

Second PART OF THIS STORY – Umbraco Page

Now second part of the story – Creating a page in Umbraco. So we have three basic things here to know,

1. Document Type
2. Template
3. Content Item

Brief for each of these is –

Document Type

Document Type is the definition content item. Like we define database table and columns in SQL, here we define the properties that we require in a Page. Each Document Type has Standard Values associated with it. Standard Values are to define default property values that gets initialized as a new Content is created. We can image this like constructor of a Class. For sake of simplicity Standard Values are not depicted in the diagram.

Now to we will see how Document Type looks like as we talk about this.

Above image shows the properties of Document Type. For example purpose here Document Type ‘HelloWorld’ has one property defined as ‘Page Title’. To use this property in code we refer this using Alias i.e. ‘pageTitle’, which is also shown in the image above.

Template

Template is the Layout definition content item. Template file extension can be .aspx and .cshml depending on configuration. We can imagine ‘Template’ as two-dimensional thing, one is Logical i.e. Content Item and other is Physical i.e. html file (.chtml or .aspx). As shown in diagram each Template has association with Content Item and both exists independently.

Here is how Template looks like.

In the image above we can see how Template in Umbraco is directly related to View in Visual Studio. To make a clear understanding here, two different screens are stitched together in the image.

Content Item

To create new Page we need to create Content Item. Content Item is the central part of all three, sometimes also referred as Web Page. Content Item is based on Document Type and presentation is controlled by Template. Also I have noticed practices to define Content Items which does not have any functional presentation, it means they are nothing but just Data Repository which can be reused anywhere in the Website such as Navigation, Contact Information, Office Address, etc.

So here is how Content Item looks like.

Reference Book

Read Information Architecture for more regarding how to structure and re-purpose data in Content Management System.

Refer above UML diagram to understand the relationship of Document Type, Template and Content Item.

I hope everything is clear until this point. Now comes the Final part where we see how the ASP.NET MVC and Umbraco work together.

Final Part of the Story – ASP.NET MVC + Umbraco

Here we will try to relate each concept from ASP.NET MVC to Umbraco,

MVC Model== C# Model

There is no special requirement for creating Model classes. However by default Umbraco layout uses RenderModel class in Controllers but no hard dependency.

MVC Controller== Document Type Name

Document Type name suffixed with ‘Controller’ becomes Controller.

For example Document Type with name ‘HelloWorld’ becomes ‘HelloWorldController’ Controller.

By default Controller inherits from SurfaceController but if we intend to write custom logic within Controller then it should inherit from RenderMvcController

MVC Action method name== Template Name

Controller should always have default Action ‘Index’ and otherwise we can create Action with any name e.g. ‘GetProducts’ Action.

Note that if Umbraco engine is not able to map request to any defined Actions in the Controller then default action ‘Index’ of that Controller class will get executed.

Concluding

Therefore, each Content Item of Umbraco maps uniquely to one Controller and one View only. We can change which View should get executed for particular Content Item by selecting appropriate Template directly on Content Item or at the Document Type.

Here is the final output how this whole stuff looks like and This just starting of the entire story that we can build with Umbraco and ASP.NET MVC.

I hope this helps you and do comment for any suggestions or questions.

Related articles

• Razor Template System – Templating with C# (Content Management)
• Enumerating .NET MVC Application Endpoints with Roslyn

In the Introduction post you can read the brief roadmap about posts on Umbraco CMS and MVC development. Part 2 of this series describes about Umbraco installation and IIS configurations.

For this post I have used Visual Studio 2013 but 2012 version will also do. This version of Umbraco is using .NET Framework 4.5

Step 1 – Create Blank Solution for UMBRACO CMS

Start Visual Studio and use the shortcut for create new project i.e. Ctrl+Shift+N

Create a Blank Visual Studio Solution.

In Visual Studio 2013, Navigate to ‘Visual C#‘ > ‘Web’ > Select ‘ASP.NET Web Application‘ as can be seen in the screen below.

Note: If you are using Visual Studio 2012 or else the step to create Blank Solution may be different. For example in Visual Studio 2012 you can navigate to ‘Visual C#’ > ‘Web’ > Select ‘ASP.NET MVC 5 Empty Project’.

Considering you have followed the Part 2 regarding Umbraco Installation and Site root folder; keep the backup of the Umbraco site root folder specifically web.config, Global.asax and ‘Views’ folder.

Then uncheck the option for “Create directory for solution”

Set the Location to the Umbraco site root folder.

Set the Solution name. Here we have created Solution with name “UmbracoMvc” and then click “OK”

Next in the “New ASP.NET Project” dialog, Select template “Empty” and tick the “MVC” check box option

Then click “OK”.

Step 2 – Verify the Solution Structure and Physical Files

After this you can verify the folder structure is created as below screen. Here “Umbraco” is the Solution Folder and “UmbracoMvc” is the Project Folder.

After we create blank solution, Visual Studio replaces the existing Umbraco web.config and other imp. files due to this behaviour of VS; we need to restore the files and folders (shown in below screen) from the original version that we have in backup, that we took in previous step, to “UmbracoMvc” project folder.

Now we have successfully created blank solution and recovered the files needed. So we need to verify that the Umbraco site is still working at URL ‘http://UmbracoMvc/’.

STEP 3 – Include NECESSARY files in the Solution

Open Visual Studio’s Solution Explorer and select option “Show All Files” highlighted in screen below.

Next include the files and folder as required but do not include the folders named “Umbraco” and “Umbraco_Client” because those part we will not work. I have shown in below screen what I have included in my solution.

STEp 4 – Umbraco MVC Configurations

In Umbraco MVC, we generally not define routes. For this reason we will clean up the routes definition from “RouteConfig.cs” as shown in screen below.

Next we will configure the Umbraco site for default rendering to MVC as shown in the screen below.

Open the “umbracoSettings.config” from “Config” folder and change the template’s default Rendering to “Mvc”.

Note: This will affect the creation of new Templates from Umbraco Client/Administration region. Also in new version of Umbraco default rendering is ‘Mvc’, so you can skip this part for Umbraco version 7.1.1

Conclusion

So we have completed the exercise to Create Visual Studio Solution for Umbraco Web development and we also did configurations for ASP.NET MVC 5 version. After this much you can add the source files and folders to any Source Control that works for you. Your Team will love to work in Umbraco CMS after these efforts.

In the next post we will see the how Umbraco CMS works with MVC or in other words how to cook the ASP.NET MVC recipe in Umbraco and also migration points for converting existing ASP.NET MVC sites to Umbraco MVC.

Keep sharing your ideas and suggestions in the comments.

Liked this post? Then spread this post to your friends.

Related articles

• Using ASP.NET MVC in Umbraco 4
• Umbraco CMS with ASP.NET MVC – Part 1 Introduction
• Umbraco CMS with ASP.NET MVC – Part 2 Installation
• Umbraco MVC: Regionalisation of Error Messages
• Revisiting using ASP.NET MVC in Umbraco 4

In previous Introduction post here you can read the brief roadmap about posts on Umbraco MVC.

Step 1 – Download Latest Umbraco release

Download fresh installation of Umbraco CMS from Official Umbraco Site. For this post Umbraco version 7.1.1 is used and use full source code release package highlighted in bold “UmbracoCms.7.1.1.zip” in screen below.

Step 2 – Extract the package

After downloading release package in ‘.zip’ format extract the package to temporary location.

Step 3 – Setup the website in IIS

After extracting the release package, the next step is to copy the extracted content to IIS web root directory by creating new folder for the Umbraco MVC website or configure the extracted folder in IIS directly in next steps.

The extracted content will look something as shown below screenshot

Now Add a new Website in IIS. To open IIS manager you may use the cmd command ‘inetmgr.exe’.

Now the Add Website configuration dialog will show up. Configure the Website as below with local domain binding ‘umbracomvc’ on port ’80’

Now the IIS Website is configured.

Step 4 – Create Local-only domain binding

We have configured the IIS Website with local binding definition in above steps but to correctly resolve and browse host name ‘http://umbracomvc/’ we need to configure the hosts entry in the local system with local IP address. Hosts file configuration and file path is shown in screenshot below.

Note: Open the notepad or notepad++ in Administrator mode. Additionally after this configuration use the cmd command ‘ipconfig /flushdns’

Step 5 – Start Umbraco Installation

After above steps browse the website in browser at URL ‘http://umbracomvc/’ (refer ‘Host Name’ configured in IIS Website Configuration Dialog for the URL if changed in your case). When browsing for first time Umbraco will automatically initiate the Installation wizard and ask for following – Configure the licence (if any), Database connection, User credentials for Umbraco Admin, Starter Kit theme.

Few excerpts from the installation wizard are shown below:

1. Installation Welcome screen

2. Select ‘No thanks, do not install a Starter Kit’ in Starter Kit Selection Step

3. Final step screen

4. Verify the Umbraco Admin panel access at http://UmbracoMvc/Umbraco/ with configured user credentials in Installation wizard

Note: Above Installation wizard screenshot were captured using Umbraco CMS version 7.0.4 but later upgraded to Umbraco CMS version 7.1.1

Conclusion

In this post we went thru steps to download & install Umbraco CMS on local system. In the next post we will see how to create Visual Studio Solution for this website.

I hope this post was easy to understand and screenshot images helped you to visually connect with the minimum required steps.

If you liked this kindly like or subscribe. Keep comments flowing if you have any ideas or suggestions.

Related articles

• Umbraco CMS with ASP.NET MVC – Part 1 Introduction
• 5 Reasons You Should Consider Umbraco For Your Next CMS
• Umbraco MVC: Regionalisation of Error Messages

This post describes about agenda and upcoming articles regarding building a simple website using Umbraco CMS with ASP.NET MVC framework.

In this Series of Posts on Umbraco we will be learning about…

1. Installation of Umbraco CMS
2. Setup Visual Studio Solution
3. Concept of MVC Recipe in Umbraco
4. Information Architecture in Umbraco
5. Presentation Architecture in Umbraco

Precap on Article Series

Installation of Umbraco CMS

In this post, we will see how to set up Umbraco CMS using Siteroot zip package, required configuration in IIS, and creating local-only domain name in ‘hosts’ file.

SETUP Visual Studio Solution with Umbraco CMS

In this post, we will to see creating Visual Studio solution for Umbraco CMS. This step will help us in understanding how to version control source files of the CMS then we will be moving slowly in .NET Developer’s comfort zone which is ‘Visual Studio’.

Concept MVC Recipe in Umbraco CMS

In this post you will get the concept of how ASP.NET MVC works in Umbraco CMS. And put all Umbraco things together for better utilizing the CMS abilities in ASP.NET MVC framework. Thus this post will be more on theoretical part with some appealing pictures.

Information Architecture in Umbraco CMS

In this article we will get to know about importance of Information Architecture, also known as ‘IA’ in CMS world. We will see how to define Information Architecture based on sample HTML5 site that I have randomly picked from the Internet for simplicity.

Presentation Architecture in Umbraco CMS

This article will dive into technical details of coding the website. Through this post we will complete the website building with Umbraco and MVC. And learn little something about debugging Umbraco sites in Visual Studio.

Concluding

So guys this was all about a precap on the upcoming articles on building a very simple website using Umbraco CMS with ASP.NET MVC framework.

Later on I will link all the respective articles in the series to make it easy to navigate on this topic.

Till then keep reading and if you like this post please like, comment and share.

Cheers

Related articles

• Umbraco CMS Development Services!!!!!!!!!
• Learning Umbraco
• Building Umbraco with Benjamin Howarth
• DotNetNuke vs Umbraco Fight the more popular ASP.NET CMS war
• Umbraco 6 deployed to production, pages render blank

Note: This post is purely about Serialization and not regarding how to write Serializable POCO classes.

Image Illustration

POST Index

1. Serialization
   • Definition
   • Conversion
   • Steps Involved
   • Source Code
2. Deserialization
   • Definition
   • Conversion
   • Steps Involved
   • Source Code
3. Uses
4. Download Source code

For Serialization

DEFINITION

Serialization is the process of translating data structures or object state into a format that can be stored (for example, in a file or memory buffer, or transmitted across a network connection link) and reconstructed later in the same or another computer environment. Also known as deflating or marshalling.

Source: Wikipedia

Conversion

POCO class to String

Steps

1. Input POCO class instance
2. Declare Encoding such as ASCII, UTF-8, and BigEndianUnicode, or else
3. Declare Stream for In-Memory Serialization
4. Declare Serializer
5. Execute Serialization method
6. Fetch the serialized XML
7. Output is String value ( XML value )

Source Code

public static string XmlSerialize(T sourceValue) where T : class
{
	// If source is empty, throw Exception
	if (sourceValue == null)
		throw new NullReferenceException("sourceValue is required");

	// Define encoding
	var encoding = Encoding.ASCII;

	// Declare the resultant variable
	string targetValue;

	// Using MemoryStream for In-Process conversion
	using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
	{
		// Declare Stream with required Encoding
		using (var streamWriter = new StreamWriter(memoryStream, encoding))
		{
			// Declare Xml Serializer with source value Type (serializing type)
			var xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(sourceValue.GetType());

			// Perform Serialization of the source value and write to Stream
			xmlSerializer.Serialize(streamWriter, sourceValue);

			// Grab the serialized string
			targetValue = encoding.GetString(memoryStream.ToArray());
		}
	}

	// Return the resultant value;
	return targetValue;
}

FOR DESERIALIZATION

DEFINITION

The opposite operation of Serialization, i.e. extracting a data structure from a series of bytes, is deserialization. Also known as inflating or unmarshalling.

Source: Wikipedia

CONVERSION

String to POCO Class

STEPS

1. Input String value ( XML value )
2. Declare Encoding
3. Declare Serializer
   • Same Serializer class is used for Serializing and Deserializing
4. Declare Stream for In-Memory Deserialization
5. Execute Deserialization method
6. Type cast the return Object to POCO type
7. Output is POCO class instance

Source CODE

public static T XmlDeserialize(string sourceValue) where T : class
{
	// If source is empty, throw Exception
	if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(sourceValue))
		throw new NullReferenceException("sourceValue is required");

	// Define encoding
	var encoding = Encoding.ASCII;

	// Declare the resultant variable
	T targetValue;

	// Declare Xml Serializer with target value Type (serialized type)
	var xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));

	// Get the source value to bytes with required Encoding
	byte[] sourceBytes = encoding.GetBytes(sourceValue);

	// Using MemoryStream for In-Process conversion
	using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream(sourceBytes))
	{
		// Read stream into XML-based reader
		using (var xmlTextReader = new XmlTextReader(memoryStream))
		{
			// Perform Deserialization from the stream and Convert to target type
			targetValue = xmlSerializer.Deserialize(xmlTextReader) as T;
		}
	}

	// Return the resultant value;
	return targetValue;
}

Uses

1. For Deep Cloning the objects
2. For integrating with RESTful API and Remoting Services
3. For persisting the User Data for Offline apps which later uses various Synchronization methods
4. In .NET apps, Serialization is used for saving and accessing settings from web.config or app.config
5. Remote procedure calls ( RPC )
6. In Distributed Memory Applications, such AppFabric for Windows Server which is used for Middle tier caching in Load balancing situation
7. For Data Exchange in cross-platform applications such as .NET apps integration with Android apps or Windows Phone apps.

Download Source Code

Related articles

• Xml Serialization
• Serializing an object into XML, Soap and Binary
• How to Serialize objects to XML without namespace and declaration
• Generic Xml Serializer
• XML Deserialization with invalid character
• A StreamExtension class good to have when working with XML de/serializing
• Serialization (C# and Visual Basic)

Introduction

Everyone want to be a Good Person, and Team Manager. Building healthy culture, promoting innovation and bringing team together are key indicators of a successful manager.

This post talks about five recurring misconceptions related to team management that team manager make which produce opposite results and overcoming those such as: unhealthy workplaces, unmotivated employees and frustrated teams.

Here are those points of managing team that will help you turn around the way that you supervise and manage team.

Myth #1

The paycheck is the reward. That should be enough.

A paycheck will not motivate your team members to move mountains and people do need good paycheck to eat, but an “A” performance generally requires more than just that. A team member vested in the relationship with his team and team manager will be happier and as a result more productive, more innovative and stay loyal as the company grows and changes. Usually appreciating their work efforts from members will motivate them and increase efficiency and work satisfaction within teams.

Myth #2

They work for me.

It is your job to make your team members successful. A good team manager strives to eliminate obstacles for the team members. Try spending a day figuring out what you can do to make your team’s life easier. What obstacles can you remove to help your team meet their goals and achieve their deliverable? Yes, they are working for company as employee, but a good manager is also a servant of his team members.

Myth #3

I’ve told them this multiple times, they should be doing it already.

Many people have a difficult time keeping track of verbal suggestions and To-dos. Verbal feedback is much more effective when paired with written feedback. Try adding a followup email to your verbal suggestions. A quick email can serve as a good reference point if the problem persists, can create a paper trail of known issues to use for more formal feedback. This allows the team members to go back and see a history of their progress. Yes, sometimes person may forget, but accountability is essential to good management and it is your job to hold yourself and other accountable so as to get final things done on time.

Myth #4

My team’s mistakes cost me money.

Mistakes teams make are typically unintentional and are an opportunity to improve existing systems. While some large mistakes can be very costly. The small day-to-day mistakes you deal with as a team manager are perfect opportunities to understand flaws in your system. This upfront cost of identifying a hole in your system will save you money long-term if instead of blaming someone, you use it as a way to give them feedback and improve the team efficiency and accuracy.

Myth #5

It’s faster for me to do it myself, than to train someone else to do it.

Training takes time, but the time saved after your team knows the ropes can give you more time to focus on more complicated tasks. Once the team knows that how to drive certain things it can enable you to work on new things and creating new opportunities for you and your team. Moreover you will be always operating at maximum capacity.

Concluding to be Good TEAM Manager

When faced with challenges, a team manager should identify how these challenges fit within the context of growing their projects, business and creating a stronger organizational structure. By trying these strategies, each obstacle sheds light on a learning opportunity to improve your managing skills, and learn about yourself and your team. Adopting these alternative views of the five common myths of team management is a great place to start your journey to becoming a great team manager.

Related articles

• The Right Management Team Transforms Chaos Into Calm
• Learning How To Manage Teams Effectively
• How Many People Can You Manage as a Manager?
• Manage Your Management Team
• Managing Remote Teams: Top 4 Tips for Success
• 6 Signs of a Great Manager

1. Introduction
2. Assumptions
3. Code Generation Steps using Sitecore Rocks
4. Image Guided Steps for Code Generation using Sitecore Rocks
5. Conclusion
6. Reference Links

Introduction

This post will guide you on how to work with code generation using Sitecore Rocks.

Assumptions

• You have already setup Sitecore site visual studio solution.
  • If not then you may follow the steps mentioned here on John West’s Blog or Check out Sitecore training series on YouTube – Sitecore Training : Developer Fundamental Series – Creating Visual Studio Project For Sitecore.
• Installed and Configured Sitecore Rocks with Visual Studio solution for Sitecore site.
  • If not then check the Sitecore training series on YouTube –
    • Sitecore Rocks Training: Installation Series – Sitecore Rocks Visual Studio Plug-in Installation
    • Sitecore Rocks Training : Installation Series – Creating a Sitecore Rocks Connection
    • Sitecore Rocks Training : Installation Series – Installing Sitecore Rocks from VSIX
    • Sitecore Rocks Training : Installation Series – Sitecore Rocks Windows Desktop Installer

Code Generation Steps using Sitecore Rocks

For Code generation using Sitecore Rocks the steps are:

1. Setup the Sitecore site using .exe installer or Siteroot zip – available from Sitecore SDN.
2. Setup Sitecore site in Visual studio solution – Creating .sln file.
3. Install Sitecore Rocks (if not already installed).
4. Connect the Visual studio solution with Sitecore site using Hard Rock web service exposed by Sitecore.
5. Create new StronglyTypedItems file in Sitecore visual studio solution, extension will be .scx, with appropriate name – for example “CodeGenerationFile.scx”.
6. Right-click on created file “CodeGenerationFile.scx” and execute the command ‘Run Custom Tool’ for code generation.

Note: Check YouTube video series linked in assumption section for information on how to install and setup Sitecore Rocks and Sitecore Visual studio solution.

Image Guided Steps for Code Generation using Sitecore Rocks

The visual steps for Sitecore Rocks code generation are as below:

Conclusion

Code generation with Sitecore Rocks is very easy to follow. After generating code using Sitecore Rocks, developers may move the classes to relatively named class files by themselves or using command ‘Move class to file’ using ReSharper tool.

Reference Links

• Sitecore Training YouTube channel
• Question on Stackoverflow for how to use Sitecore Rocks for Code Generation
• Blog post – Sitecore Rocks Visual Studio Add Item Templates
  
• Blog post – Creating Sitecore Visual Studio Solution

Do comment if you like this post or have any opinions.

Related articles

• How to use Sitecore Nuget
• Sitecore MVC and Ninject Part One
• Fixing up Sitecore.Nuget connections
• Reusability of Code in Sitecore 6.6/7
• Glimpse for Sitecore