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Site Specific Insert Option Rules For Sitecore
I recently had the need to add a new template type for a single site on my multi-site system and wanted to be able to provide insert options for this template on content folders only in this site. The...
View ArticleAdding Fields To The Link Database
This article details how to add fields to the Link Database, how Sitecore uses the FieldTypes.config to add items to the Link Database, issues with the DelimitedField type and how to create your own...
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Sitecore Caching Manager Updated
I've recently updated the Caching Manager module on the Sitecore Marketplace. The improvements were focused on the UI which I've made to mimic the native design of the content editor. It's a lot more...
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Sitecore Data Importer Updated
I recently spent some good quality time working to update the Data Importer Module. It's an incredibly useful tool and I wanted to address some feedback about it so that users can better understand...
View ArticleBrowser Language Detection In Sitecore
I recently had a request to detect the browser language for a multilingual site I support. Now this certainly isn't anything new and here's the canonical/obligatory John West post written about it. I'm...
View ArticleLinq to Sitecore
I wanted to write up an article that elaborates on a presentation I gave on some but not all of the new features that will be upcoming in Sitecore 7. Mostly I'm going to focus on the updates around...
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Field Suite Images Field
I've been using the FieldSuite, which was built by Sitecore MVP, superhero and all around good guy, Tim Braga, for about 8 months now and have come to really like a lot of its featues but there was one...
View ArticleSitecore Custom User Properties
In a recent Sitecore build I had to store the pages that a user saved as a "Favorite" throughout the site. The site was an intranet so everyone had a user within Sitecore, which helped. The next...
View ArticleSitecore Manager and Helper Classes
As a follow up to my Sitecore Util Classes post, I randomly did a search through the Sitecore 6.4.1 kernel for Manager and Helper classes and as it turns out this time I hit a gold mine. Like my...
View ArticleDesigning a Page Editor Experience: 1 - Setting up the Code
Shout OutAs a shout out, this series started because I was recently speaking with Mark Ursino and he gave me a demonstration of a recent build where he had taken advantage of a few really slick...
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Designing a Page Editor Experience: 2 - Sublayout fields
After you've decided what components your pages will be broken up into and created the sublayouts (renderings or server controls) each extending your base class, you can begin working on the setup...
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Designing a Page Editor Experience: 3 - Placeholder Settings
Placeholder settings are used to create predefined insert options for components (sublayouts, renderings and web controls). You have two basic approaches to use: setting the placeholder key on the...
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Designing a Page Editor Experience: 4 - Personalization and Multivariate Testing
One of the nicest features that came along in the last few Sitecore versions was the rules engine. Along with that power was the ability to harness the conditional sublayout rendering to change the...
View ArticleSheer UI: 1 - A Tale of Two Systems
 PrefaceMy journey began with a rebuild of a Sheer UI Wizard. I didn't build it, but I was about to learn to. After finding a dearth of literature on Sheer and realizing the documentation was a little...
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Sheer UI: 2 - Hello World
With the previous article explaining a bit about what Sheer UI is, setting up a hello world will make much more sense. For this, I'm going to setup the XML control and supporting class file and then...
View ArticleSheer UI: 3 - Syntax and Controls
The previous articles explained what Sheer UI was and how to do basic integrations into your system but what else can it do? There's a good deal of syntax that is supported and a number of useful...
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Sheer UI: 4 - Building a Wizard
PrefacioI've finally come full circle. I initially intended to write about a pre-existing wizard that I rebuilt before I found out about xaml controls. Ignore the irony about writing a series on using...
View ArticleTestStar - A Web and Unit Testing SDK
DiatribeI began working with web testing years ago with the MS Test framework when I got a version of Visual Studio that allowed it's use. I started small and began building simple ping tests. Over...
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Musings of a Sitecore Developing Man
PrologueThis article is about the theory of template development. A topic, which at its best, is dry and wonkish. My goal is to provoke thought and discussion but mostly to prevent others from having...
View ArticleData Importer Updated
For those of you unfamiliar with it, the Data Importer is a Sitecore module on the Sitecore Marketplace. It's a tool that allows you to import data into Sitecore. It was originally built to import...
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Sitecore Extranet Module
AntecedentFriends, romans, countrymen... et al, the Setting Up a Sitecore Extranet article I wrote in 2011 is one of my most trafficked. It occurred that many of you could benefit from the additional...
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I, Sitecore: Integrating machine learning
I've more recently released a video recap of the presentation I gave to the New England Sitecore User Group.HomageYou've unlocked a door with a key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension. A...
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Symposium 2014: Rise of the Machines
Viva Las Vegas!I'm now watching mountains drift beneath the wing of my plane (sunglasses on). I'm leaving Las Vegas richer not poorer. You could say, I've just had quite an amazing Sitecore Experience...
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Adventures in Unit Testing
Watch transcription.I'm quite literally, so furiously, thinking of ways to explain the funky stuff inside my brain. I couldn't explain! You might understand though. In fact, I'd wager you will. So I...
View ArticleDI, IOC, TDD, OMG WTF; WHY?!?!?!
Why: adverb; for what reason or purpose. It may come as a surprise to some of you that I'm not an Automata. Surprise! I'm a human being. Unlike a robot or even a cyborg, I can't instantaneously learn...
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An Old Trope
Not a very long time ago, in a repository not particularly far away....It is a period of automation and obsolescence. Sitecore developers committing code, day and night, globally. Spiraling like the...
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Sitecore Dictionary Redux
I always knew Sitecore provided Dictionary support for a long time but I also knew there were, shall we say, scalability problems. Like, let's say, general user access (it was located under the system...
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Sitecore Upgrade : The Art of War
When you enter a battlefield, be it land, mind or disk, be aware (wink):"No plan survives contact with the enemy" -Helmuth von Moltke the ElderThat's not to say you should have no plan though. Quite...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 1 : Nick Wesselman
I've just released the first episode of Catching Exceptions featuring Nick Wesselman. Enjoy!Â
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How a Poster is Born
Last December, before a soul crushing winter had fully descended on Boston, Sitecore sponsored a posh Meetup at Stoddards pub. While mixing it up, I ended up talking to Rick Cabral about making some...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 2 : Sean Holmesby
I've just released the second episode of Catching Exceptions featuring Sean Holmesby. Follow up with Sean here:Twitter: @seanholmesby website: www.seanholmesby.comÂ
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 3 : Lars Floe Nielsen
I know I've been neglecting my blog but it's for a good reason. I had the good fortune to travel to the Netherlands and attend SUGCON 2015 (while meeting a ton of great people). During that trip I...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 4 : Pieter Brinkman
I've released the fourth episode of Catching Exceptions featuring Pieter Brinkman. He's your inside man, developer advocate and community evangelist at Sitecore! Â Follow up with Pieter here:Twitter:...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 5 : Robbert Hock
I've released the fifth episode of Catching Exceptions featuring Robbert Hock. If you're looking for a 'Die Hard' technology partner, you've found the right guy. Â Follow up with Robbert here:Twitter:...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 6 : Stephen Pope
I've released the sixth episode of Catching Exceptions featuring Stephen Pope. If you've always wanted to know how a career in graphic design can lead to software, now you know.Follow up with Stephen...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 7 : Mike Edwards
I've released the seventh episode of Catching Exceptions featuring Mike Edwards. Find out what motivated him to become a problem solver.Follow up with Mike here:Twitter: @mikeedwards83 website: glass.luÂ
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 8 : Adam Najmanowicz
I've released the eighth episode of Catching Exceptions featuring Adam Najmanowicz. Find out why, when he wanted to play video games, he had to work for it.Follow up with Adam here:Twitter: @adamnaj...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 9 : Martina Welander
I've released the ninth episode of Catching Exceptions featuring Martina Welander. Find out where she earned her geeky street cred!Follow up with Martina here:Twitter: @mhwelander Visit her website:...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 10 : Mike Reynolds
Just in time for SUGCON North America is the tenth episode of Catching Exceptions featuring Mike Reynolds. Find out where he got his l33t h@x0r skills.Follow up with Mikey here:Twitter:...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions SUGCON North America 2015
I put together a special episode of Catching Exceptions for SUGCON North America 2015Â to try to capture some small part of what it was all about. It was a wild ride with a lot of great speakers (I may...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 11 : John West
Hot off the presses, Catching Exceptions featuring John West, blogging extraordinaire and developer advocate. Hear a little bit about Silicon Valley back when it was still just a valley. For more:...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 12 : Pavel Veller
Watch Catching Exceptions episode 12 with Pavel Veller, Director of Research and Developer at BrainJocks. Find out what keeps him up at night. For more: Follow him at: https://twitter.com/pveller...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 13 : Brian Beckham
Watch Catching Exceptions episode 13 with Brian Beckham, brainy athlete and founder of BrainJocks. For more: Follow him at: https://twitter.com/brainjocks Visit: http://brainjocks.comÂ
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 14 : Akshay Sura
Watch Catching Exceptions episode 14 with Akshay Sura. Organizer of the Sitecore hackathon and one of the leads behind SUGCON North America. Find out who helped him break into the industry. For more:...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 15 : Corey Caplette
Watch Catching Exceptions episode 15 with Corey Caplette, CTO and early adopter at Velir. Find out how calculated his career decision was. For more: Follow him at: https://twitter.com/cjcaplette Visit:...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 16 : Dan Solovay
Watch Catching Exceptions episode 16 with Dan Solovay, Lead Architect at XCentium. Find out how he programmed his way from stalemate to checkmate. For more: Follow him at:...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 17 : Martin Davies
Watch Catching Exceptions episode 17 with Martin Davies, a Technical Consultant at Kagool. Find out how mere mortals can find their way into tech careers. For more: Follow him at:...
View ArticleCatching Exceptions Episode 18 : Mark Servais
Watch Catching Exceptions episode 18 with Mark Servais, Director of Software Research and Development at XCentium. Find out what shiny thing is fascinating him these days. For More: Follow:...
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Sitecore Cognitive Services
For a few years now I've been working to raise awareness how machine learning could be used with Sitecore to make web applications a much more powerful experience. Microsoft has recently made my work a...
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Sitecore Chat Bot: Ole
As a follow up to my work on Sitecore Cognitive Services where I demonstrated an image search driven by Microsoft Cognitive Services, I've developed another interesting utility that builds off of LUIS,...
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