Tagged: Sitecore

Install Sitecore 9.1 quickly in 5 easy steps

I’m participating in Sitecore Hackathon for the first time this year. One of the requirement is to have sitecore 9.1(Initial version) installed on your machine. So I want to share my experience how i quickly installed Sitecore 9.1 using SIF on developer machine in 5 easy steps. This post includes the prerequisites, preparation and installation.

Prerequisites:

OS: Windows 10, Windows Server 2016
DB:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2017 or 2016 SP2 – Supports the XM database and is the required for the xDB
- Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Sp2 – Only supports XM databases and does not support the xDB
- MongoDB Server 3.6.6 – This is required if you are going to use MongoDB for the Collection database or as a Session State Provider
IIS 10
. NET
- Sitecore XP 9.1.0 requires .NET Framework 4.7.1
- Sitecore Identity server requires .NET Core Runtime 2.1.3
- You must apply any available updates to the .NET Framework on every Sitecore installation
Search Indexing
- Solr 7.2.1 – Default search provider
- Azure Search – supported and recommended for Azure Cloud PaaS deployments only
- Lucene – Only supports content search and does not support xConnect.
Powershell 5.1 – for Installing SIF

Preparation:

Download installation package(XP Single) from here
Extract the zip file you just downloaded
Again extract this file – XP0 Configuration files 9.1.0 rev. 001564.zip

Copy your license.xml file (If you have enrolled for Hackathon, you should have received the file in email)

Now let’s begin the installation!

Step 1: Solr 7.2.1 Install

Check out Jeremy Davis’s low effort Solr installs. It’s pretty cool! https://jermdavis.wordpress.com/2017/10/30/low-effort-solr-installs/

If you want to take traditional approach(Install as service using NSSM tool), here are the steps

Download Solr from here
Install as service using NSSM tool

It opens the NSSM Service Installer like below. Fill out the fields.

Note: If you already another version of solr running, make sure to give different port name.

Solr 5 running as a service on Microsoft Windows

Step 2: Install SIF

Run the following scripts in Powershell as administrator.

Register-PSRepository -Name SitecoreGallery -SourceLocation https://sitecore.myget.org/F/sc-powershell/api/v2;
Install-Module SitecoreInstallFramework;
Install-Module SitecoreFundamentals;
Update-Module SitecoreInstallFramework;
Update-Module SitecoreFundamentals;
Import-Module SitecoreFundamentals -Force;
Import-Module SitecoreInstallFramework -Force;

Step 3: Update config files

Update the following files in the folder with the exact information – solr path, solr service name, configsets path, instance name for sitecore, SQL instance name and login credentials.

XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1

XP0-SingleDeveloper.json

xconnect-solr.json

sitecore-solr.json

Step 4: Install prerequisites

Install-SitecoreConfiguration -Path .\Prerequisites.json

Step 5: Install Sitecore 9.1

Execute the script ./XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1 (takes good amount of time to execute)
Fingers crossed!

Note: There is no ‘b’ admin password. You can get the password at the end of the script execution. Nice work Sitecore!

Notice that it installed the third site in IIS – Identity Server (New to 9.1)

Also noticed the http://[sitename]/sitecore/login now redictes to identiyserver in the URL.

Have fun exploring Sitecore 9.1!

Any questions, please leave a comment.

February 27, 2019

Sitecore

Sitecore Certification : Exam and Review

I recently took the Sitecore 9.0 Certified Platform Associate Developer exam online and passed with an overall score of 88%.

Here are the steps I have taken to become certified:

Took the Developer’s Fundamental Collection online. You can also do it through Instructor-Led or Virtual Classroom options – https://learning.sitecore.com/#homepage-learning-solutions
Went through all the modules and lab exercises. When I completed the fifth module, I received an access key in the email to book the exam.
You can book the exam in-person in the center or online. I chose online and booked the exam via https://www.webassessor.com/sitecore/index.html
This is a proctor guided exam, no book allowed. Also, the exam software Senitel says you should have an external web camera. It worked with the in-built camera on my work computer. So don’t worry about the external camera.
The exam has 50 questions and 90 minutes to complete. You can review the answers as many times as you want. I completed the exam in 30 minutes and review the answers in the next 30 minutes and I still have 30 more minutes left!
Overall I got a 88% score. Here is my Topic level scoring:

Architecture: 100%
Creating and Editing Items: 100%
Development Environment: 75%
Docs and Support: 100%
Installation: 100%
Publishing: 100%
xManagement: 100%
Field Types: 83%
Media: 100%
Templates: 85%
Versioning: 100%
Presentation: 77%
API: 100%
Modules and Packages: 100%
Performance: 100%
Search: 80%

Once you complete you exam, you will receive an email from test center with score and certification pdf file. Good luck!

Note:

Sitecore Professional Developer – This examination is for Version 8.2
Sitecore Certified Platform Associate Developer – This is for Version 9.0

January 7, 2019

Forms / Sitecore

Sitecore 9 Forms: Custom Submit Action

One of most common scenario I came across in Sitecore 9 Form is to create your custom submit action. You can achieve this in three simple steps.

Step 1: Create submit action button in Sitecore

Create the custom action button under /sitecore/system/Settings/Forms/Submit Actions.

Step 2: Create code behind class

Create a class that inherits SubmitActionBase class and override the Execute method.

public class CustomSubmitAction : SubmitActionBase<string>
{
public CustomSubmitAction(ISubmitActionData submitActionData) : base(submitActionData)
{
}

public override void ExecuteAction(FormSubmitContext formSubmitContext, string parameters)
{
Assert.ArgumentNotNull((object)formSubmitContext, nameof(formSubmitContext));

if (this.TryParse(parameters, out string target))
{
try
{
if (this.Execute(target, formSubmitContext))
return;
}
catch (ArgumentNullException ex)
{
}
}
formSubmitContext.Errors.Add(new FormActionError()
{
ErrorMessage = this.SubmitActionData.ErrorMessage
});
}

protected override bool Execute(string data, FormSubmitContext formSubmitContext)
{
Assert.ArgumentNotNull(data, nameof(data));
Assert.ArgumentNotNull(formSubmitContext, nameof(formSubmitContext));

//Prepare model here
var model = new EmailModel()
{
Email = GetValue(formSubmitContext.Fields.FirstOrDefault(f => f.Name.Equals("EmailAddress")))
};

// Call any API service call

return true;
}

private static string GetValue(object field)
{
return field?.GetType().GetProperty("Value")?.GetValue(field, null)?.ToString() ?? string.Empty;
}

protected override bool TryParse(string value, out string target)
{
target = string.Empty;
return true;
}

Step 3: Set the custom submit action fields

Update the ModelType and Error Message on the button shown below.