sitecore / helix.examples

Developer-focused examples of implementing the Sitecore Helix practices.

Welcome to the Sitecore Helix Examples Repository

The Sitecore Helix Examples are demonstrations of Sitecore Helix practices across various tooling and business scenarios. They are intended to demonstrate a wider variety of implementation types / requirements than existing examples. Information on the available examples and installation can be found in the documentation.

What is Sitecore Helix?

Sitecore Helix is a collection of recommended practices and conventions for the solution architecture of Sitecore product implementations.

Visit helix.sitecore.net to learn more.

Are Helix Examples supported by Sitecore?

Sitecore maintains the Helix documentation and Helix Examples, but example code is not supported by Sitecore Product Support Services. Please do not submit support tickets regarding Helix Examples.

How can I get help with Helix Examples?

For usage questions regarding Helix Examples installation or code, or questions about Helix, please utilize Sitecore Stackexchange or #helix on Sitecore Community Slack.

You can use GitHub to submit issues for Helix Examples, but please do not submit usage questions.

helix.examples's Issues

Add Sitecore admin password to final output after install

Unable to build solution: This specific WebPublishMethod(FileSystem) is not yet supported on msbuild command line

Clone the repo, open Helix Basic Unicorn solution in the Visual Studio and try to build it. Build fails:

Severity	Code	Description	Project	File	Line	Suppression State
Error		Target WebFileSystemPublish Failed	Website			
Severity	Code	Description	Project	File	Line	Suppression State
Error		This specific WebPublishMethod(FileSystem) is not yet supported on msbuild command line.  Please use Visual Studio to publish.	Website			

It should not fail. It should not require any setup steps (except probably nuget restore) to build the solution.

[VS2017/19]

SIF execution continues after failed msbuild

SIF continued to Unicorn deploy despite error during build:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v16.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets(3000,5): error : Copying file C:\dev\Hel
ix.Examples\helix-basic-unicorn\src\Foundation\Serialization\website\App_Config\Include\Unicorn\Unicorn.UI.IdentityServer.config.disabled to obj\Debug\Package\PackageTmp\App_Confi
g\Include\Unicorn\Unicorn.UI.IdentityServer.config.disabled failed. Could not find file 'C:\dev\Helix.Examples\helix-basic-unicorn\src\Foundation\Serialization\website\App_Config\
Include\Unicorn\Unicorn.UI.IdentityServer.config.disabled'. [C:\dev\Helix.Examples\helix-basic-unicorn\src\Deployment\Website\Website.csproj]
WARNING: FAILED to build "C:\dev\Helix.Examples\helix-basic-unicorn\build\..\src\Deployment\Website\Website.csproj". Please check the build log
"C:\Users\nwe\AppData\Local\Temp\Website.csp
WARNING: roj.msbuild.log" for details.

Debug.Assert throws popup windows

Hey guys, I've never used Debug.Assert(...) before, usually I just use old good Assert.ArgumentNotNull(). There is some strange behavior with this debug asserts. When tests run (no mapper if it's NCrunch or VS), popup window appears:

Any clue why is that and if it makes sense to switch to Sitecore.Diagnostics.Assert?
BTW, if the argument is null then ArgumentNullException is expected.

Basic Company - POC - Simple MVC rendering implementation

Ensure build and deploy process is working as expected by implementing a simple MVC layout and rendering. After implementing, a full uninstall / reinstall should result in a site with those renderings present.

Automatically set Publish Path for Basic Company - Unicorn

HPP-based publish is currently hardcoded to C:\inetpub\wwwroot\helix-basic-unicorn.dev.local. This won't change for most people, but if they do, the initial publish will work (as the path is passed in to MSBuild), but from Visual Studio it will still build to the above path.

Doesn't seem like we can override this in Local.pubxml.user? Would be nice to be able to "patch" this in a file that is ignored by git.

Basic Company - Product Detail

Implement necessary components to create the Basic Company product detail page.

• Product Heading
• Product Details (does not need "buy" button)
• Related Products

https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687136/handoff
https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687138/handoff

Clean up repro structure

• Move examples themselves into a subfolder
• Rename helix.templates

Document TDS Requirement for TDS Examples

You need TDS installed to build/install TDS-based examples.

Successful install but failed build doesn't update menu

If an instance installs, but then build or sync fails, an uninstall is still required, but menu state does not update.

Validation/prerequisites error

Hey guys. I am having issues running the installer, despite that I;ve followed all the steps and made sure all the prerequisites are in place.

Does this trigger anything to you?

I do have all these in place and the configuration should be good

SQL Server 2016 SP2
Apache Solr 7.5.0 with SSL enabled
.NET Framework 4.7.2

Also the connections appear to be fine:

Thank you in advance

Should there be a Foundation.ContentSearch module?

Only one Feature uses Content Search! Might be a good demonstration of avoiding premature optimization.

(And it's worth double checking whether the Products module even needs that config customization...)

Implement multi-instance installation

• Create a menu system for choosing instances to install
• Implement global config for SQL, Solr, etc
• Update install and uninstall script/config for multiple instances / shared code
• Method of detecting/listing instances and their install status
• Wire up install/uninstall to menu
• Prompted configuration/setup for SQL, Solr, etc
• Move prereq check/script into global menu
• Add instance URLs to end of install (or better yet, open it)

Basic Company - Services Page

Implement the necessary renderings for the Basic Company services page.

• Testimonial (should be just an image w/ overlaying text, not video)
• Accordion

https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687149/handoff
https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687152/handoff

Basic Company - Helix violations

• Datasource templates are not interface templates (low)
• Datasource locations on renderings point to content tree, creating Feature > Project reference (medium)
• Datasource locations are all shared, no local datasources (medium)

Update packages in Basic Company front-end templates

Hopefully a bulma update will resolve these security alerts?

https://github.com/Sitecore/Helix.Examples/network/alerts

Basic Company - Render images with mh/mw

Do some basic image resizing to Desktop rez to avoid full rez download.

Basic Company - Unicorn - Simplify configs via base config

Via @kamsar :

[11:39 AM] Kam Figy
you can avoid needing to re-specify the targetdatastore, for example, if you use a base config that sets that
​[11:39 AM] Kam Figy
$(layer) and $(module) are allowed variables in the base path
​[11:40 AM] Kam Figy
though iirc it's expecting Layer.Module as a config name for that to work

https://kamsar.net/index.php/2017/02/Unicorn-4-Part-III-Configuration-Enhancements/

[11:45 AM] Kam Figy
in many cases you could probably also have a base layer config, that would automatically include i.e. /templates/$(layer)/$(module or some such
​[11:45 AM] Kam Figy
then the predicates on each module would lose the type attribute and become additive for any customizations to the module

Helixbase doing this:
https://github.com/muso31/Helixbase/blob/master/src/Foundation/Serialization/code/App_Config/Include/Foundation/Foundation.Serialization.Base.config
https://github.com/muso31/Helixbase/blob/master/src/Feature/Hero/code/App_Config/Include/Feature/Feature.Hero.Serialization.config

Remove FakeDb nuget package reference

In SC9+ unit testing goes better without FakeDb (yep, that's me saying that)... Just get rid of this NuGet package.

Use SDK-style project format

Is there any reason to use old .NET Framework project format? SDK-style projects are much easier to maintain. Especially in Helix solutions that usually contain numerous projects.

Basic Company - Convert to TDS, Project-per-module

• Add TDS projects and bring in items
• Enable TDS validations?
• Refactor build scripts to be shared across projects
• Refactor overall structure as needed

Basic Company - Home Page

Implement the necessary components to construct the Basic Company home page.

• Hero (can leave out CTA button)
• Promo Card
• Section Header

https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687128/handoff
https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687130/handoff

Basic Company - Create prerequisites / validation script

This would be called explicitly before install, it would:

• Ensure SIF is installed
• Validate SOLR config
• Other existing checks from Habitat install script
• Run SIF's Prerequisites config

Basic Company - Product List

Implement the necessary components to implement the Basic Company product listing page.

• Hero (adjust as needed for inner page)
• Product List

Product list should be search-driven from a bucket, but does not need to be paginated at this time.

https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687142/handoff
https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687145/handoff

Basic Company - Install and Build

Set up the initial Basic Company example, project-per-module w/ Unicorn, with HPP and SIF-based scripts for install, build, and Unicorn deploy.

Create Visual Studio project templates for the LaubPlusCo extension.

Upgrade to Sitecore 9.2

Basic Company - Clean up unused configs, folders

Remove folders and configs generated by template projects which are not currently being used.

Basic Company - Implement contentFiles fix for PackageReference

Add Kieran's contentFiles fix for Unicorn et al. to minimize impact of PackageReference.

Update to Sitecore 9.3

Basic Company - News List

Implement the necessary components to implement the Basic Company news list page.

• Section Header (should work as-is)
• Featured Article
• Sidebar Layout
• Article Archive (should be search-driven from bucket, does not require pagination)
• Promo Card (should work as-is)

https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687132/handoff
https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687133/handoff

Basic Company - Remove ContentSearch Foundation module?

This may not be needed. Its only purpose is enabling deep template indexing, and I don't think that's actually needed by the Products module (_Product template only one level deep from Product).

Basic Company - Update to new design assets

Switch to t-shirt company

https://marvelapp.com/b6i502e/screen/54763888/handoff

Basic Company - Convert to spaces

Currently tabs. The horror, the horror.

Basic Company - News Detail

Implement the renderings necessary for the Basic Company news detail page.

• Hero (should work as-is)
• News Article (with some sort of author repository)
• Related Articles

https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687126/handoff
https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687127/handoff

Install - SIC task to write config patch for source path

Useful for Unicorn path

Support for Containerized/Remote Solr

Not everyone installs Solr locally, should the examples support that? Requires modifications to the builtin SIF configs.

Basic Company - Unicorn - Document modules

The purpose and scope of each module should be documented in a README.

Basic Company - Build / Sync script

Would be nice to have a script which just runs and build/publish and sync's Unicorn, especially when adding a new module or pulling from source control.

Basic Company - Front-end Work Area

Set up a simple front-end development environment for creating a Bulma-based HTML template for the Basic Company. Assume a front-end-to-backend handover of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript typical of an agency environment, where the front-enders do not know Sitecore or Helix.

Automatic download of install zip

Both Habitat Home and sitecore-docker just allow you to fill in your Sitecore u/p, and it downloads the install package(s) for you. This could remove a step for installation.

Should only ask if they have not placed the zip in the assets folder already (thus avoiding the download time).

Cant install helix example with unicorn

OS: Windows 10, When installing helix unicorn via install.ps1 I get the following error:

"Install-SitecoreConfiguration : Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Projects\Helix.Examples\install-modules\unicorn\MicroCHAP.dll' or one of its dependencies. Operation is not supported. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131515) At C:\Projects\Helix.Examples\examples\helix-basic-unicorn\build\install.ps1:50 char:9 + Install-SitecoreConfiguration @singleDeveloperParams *>&1 | T ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,Install-SitecoreConfiguration"

While the dll file is in this directory (cloned directly from master)

How can I circumvent this?

SQL Principal name is always passed as 'sitecore'

In helix.examples.psm1, the SQL command contains a WHERE clause

spU.name = 'sitecore'

It should be the user name passed in powershell or value read from settings.user.ps1

Basic Company - Convert to TDS, Consolidated

• Consolidate at least the Feature layer
• Add FxCop rules
• Consolidate TDS items
• Enable TDS validation

Running install.ps1 throws error

Steps to reproduce

1. Run .\install.ps1
2. Enter $SqlServer, $SqlAdminUser ... $SolrService variables
   Actual result: error is thrown:

Exception calling "ReadKey" with "0" argument(s): "Cannot read keys when either application does not have a console or when console input has
been redirected from a
file. Try Console.Read."
At C:\Sources\Helix.Examples\install-modules\helix.examples.menu.psm1:38 char:5
$null = [Console]::ReadKey()
CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperationException

Expected result: no exception

Basic Company - Header and Footer

Implement header and footer including top navigation driven from site hierarchy.

• Footer can be simplified to just a copyright, which updates automatically with the current year.

https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687128/handoff
https://marvelapp.com/5b1jaja/screen/53687130/handoff

Add config patch for site host name to install process

So that if it's changed in settings, it doesn't matter.

Basic Company - Move remaining PS install/build steps into SIF tasks

Minimize the content of the install script, put as much as possible into SIF tasks.

Change "Deployment" layer to "Environment"

Most applicable to Unicorn/HPP example. This is more in line with what the community is naming these instance-level modules.

Basic Company - Create/consolidate MVC SitecoreHelper Extensions

Enough of these to merit a Foundation module, until we can get them into the product.

• Fields by ID
• Media URL
• Item URL
• ??

Need to create Foundation module, add references, remove existing uses, ensure ID-based field rendering is used in all Views.

Root README with install instructions and description of each example

This should include at a minimum:

• How to install
• Scope of each example site (including those not done yet)
• Where/how each site varies from Helix practices, if applicable