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Sitecore Commerce: Before My Wondrous Adventure Begins, A Little Nostalgia

Not to brag, but I have some knowledge about everything SitecoreÂ đŸ™„đŸ€Ł. I’m not saying the knowledge is substantial by any means, but it’s something more or less😆.  For example, today, July 28th 2017, I know very little about the Sitecore Print Experience Manager and the Email Experience Manager.  However, I know how to install it! That little piece of knowledge is going to eventually growÂ đŸ€Ł. There might be some other products or modules that I have neglected, but the largest area is Sitecore Commerce.

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A Coming-of-Age Story of a Developer’s First Time with SOLR – Part 2: Installation Fun with SOLR

Before I begin I am under the assumption SOLR is going to be a diva.đŸ‘žđŸ» Why? I don’t know, guess it’s a gut feeling or a lame attempt to get a laugh. I don’t know what craziness awaits, however, I am pretty sure SOLR won’t request me to alphabetize it’s M&Ms.

SOLR gave me a list of demands that I must complete before it will start working. Those can be found here. Looking over its demands, it appears I need to use the command prompt… awesome…. not really. I dislike the cmd and I avoid it as much as possible. My dislike for the cmd is totally based on my lack of overall knowledge about its syntax and commands and my laziness to learn more. All I know is how to change directoriesđŸ‘đŸ» đŸ‘đŸ», and that’s it, everything else requires Google searches.

Disclaimer: Any errors I encounter involving the cmd will be my fault and probably for a dumb reason.  The documentation is most likely accurate. Continue reading “A Coming-of-Age Story of a Developer’s First Time with SOLR – Part 2: Installation Fun with SOLR”

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A Coming-of-Age Story of a Developer’s First Time with SOLR – Part 1: Life Before SOLR

The Olden Days, Sitecore 6x and the Dreaded Sitecore Search

Before Sitecore 7/8 and the great feature explosion (Experience Editor, DMS, EXM, DEF, etc.), Sitecore Search scared me, it was my Kryptonite. Any attempts to learn it always seemed to end with frustration and my anxiety smashing through the roof. In my weakened state, all chances of learning were now gone until I eventually recovered from my Kryptonite exposure. Continue reading “A Coming-of-Age Story of a Developer’s First Time with SOLR – Part 1: Life Before SOLR”

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A Different Approach: Injecting Resources into the Experience Editor

Welcome to the first post in a new series called “A Different Approach”. Often when I search for a solution to an issue, I find multiple posts that solve the issue in a similar fashion. Since I have a strong need to be unique, I try and come up with a different approach. In this new series, I’ll share the most common solution found, cite the source(s) and explain my unique alternate approach. In the event my approach is not all that unique and is similar to another, please inform me and comment below. I will happily update my post giving credit to the developer and providing a link to their post.

Last week in my “Mister Rogers” themed post, I presented an issue a client had with the Experience Editor and then showed you my solution to that issue. My code contained some HTML markup with custom CSS classes. In order to complete the video demo by the end of last week, I took a shortcut and hardcoded the style definitions above the markup in processor. This is unacceptable for numerous and obvious reasons.

This is a great example of a ”code smell”.

Continue reading “A Different Approach: Injecting Resources into the Experience Editor”

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Understanding Glass: The issue with the Editable Method and Paragraph Tag

Remember that time when developing for the Page Editor (now known as the Experience Editor or “EE” for short) was an afterthought or often just outright ignored? If you are like me, you’ve buried those memories hoping to forget those days even existed. Today, having a friendly Experience Editor… experience is one of the more important aspects of a successful Sitecore implementation. Whether the client has plans on using personalization, xMarketing, etc. or not, neglecting the EE is a huge mistake that’s still commonly made.

For a long time, I ignored the Page Editor. I admit it, albeit shamefully. My attention was elsewhere and some (unintentional) bad habits developed circa 2006 lasted longer than others. It wasn’t until I began my career at Paragon Consulting, Inc. in 2014 that I corrected those bad habits. I became fully aware of my sins against Sitecore’s standards and best practices and in the years since I’ve made the EE one of my main areas of focus. Continue reading “Understanding Glass: The issue with the Editable Method and Paragraph Tag”

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Apple’s LivePhotosKit, Sitecore & Glass: Chapter 4 – Rendering & Editing the Live Photo in the Experience Editor

It’s been a LONG two days, but I am finally finishing the last post in the 4-part series.   My idea took weeks longer to implement than I originally planned. I procrastinated by mistake.  I don’t know why, but I was under the impression ‘procrastinate’ was a synonym for being ‘proactive’; turns out, I was incorrect. I guess I am still capable of learning new definitions at my old age.

If you read the first three chapter in this series, you should be somewhat familiar with the important aspects of integrating LivePhoto, Sitecore and Glass. If the concepts are a lil hazy, Click here for a recap of the most important pieces that you should know more about. Continue reading “Apple’s LivePhotosKit, Sitecore & Glass: Chapter 4 – Rendering & Editing the Live Photo in the Experience Editor”

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Apple’s LivePhotosKit, Sitecore & Glass: Chapter 2 – Sitecore, Custom Fields & Code

Let’s pretend today, April 27th, a fictitious development agency’s oldest and best client finally read about the awe inspiring iPhone and its weirdest camera feature. The article mentioned Apple developed a camera feature with the ability to capture motion pictures! The client was so shocked, he fainted. When he came to, he wasted no time calling his agency contact and began demanding the ability use these Live Photos on his Sitecore site ASAP. In this “pretend” situation, I decided to solve the issue by pretending he was the type to own a ‘non-explody’ maybe even a ‘possibly-explody’ Samsung phone instead of the iPhone. No Live Photos for him and he was bummed.

You probably pretended (or ignored the 1st paragraph entirely) a more realistic scenario. The client does own an iPhone and he’s just “Live Photo’d” every product in the warehouse and he insists you upload these cool moving assets to his Sitecore/E-Commerce powered site ASAP!

Live Photos represent any new, lame piece of tech people think might help them stand out from the competition.  Who knows if it would, but our jobs as developers is to be ready, have fun and solve this types of challenges. Continue reading “Apple’s LivePhotosKit, Sitecore & Glass: Chapter 2 – Sitecore, Custom Fields & Code”

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Apple’s LivePhotosKit, Sitecore & Glass: Chapter 1 – Introduction to the Basics


April 20th, Apple released LivePhotosKit JS API that includes web support to the public.  In my opinion it’s about time.  If you are not aware of what a “Live Photo” is… please take a seat, hold tight and prepare to have your mind blown as I explain this simple concept! LOL.

A “Live Photo” is essentially a photo… PLUS MORE!  When activated, the photo switches over to play a short video that was recorded slightly before and after the picture was captured. Apple essentially combined 2 existing technologies and with the help of their great marketing team, they made this technology sound like it was new and innovative.

It’s a Doggy Birthday Extravaganza caught on vid… Live Photo!
Continue reading “Apple’s LivePhotosKit, Sitecore & Glass: Chapter 1 – Introduction to the Basics”

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“Dang it Carl!” Tips to avoid being the least favorite character on your Sitecore Project

Carl Grimes, a character from the TV show “The Walking Dead”, has to be everyone’s least favorite. He is always wandering off doing his own thing and consistently endangering himself and others in the group. Attempting to keep Carl from being “Carl”, his father gives him busy work like babysitting his sister. Carl is a teenager and his actions and mistakes reflect that. He requires a lot of handholding and supervision and it takes energy away from the more important tasks. At some point in all our careers we’ve probably worked on a project with a “Carl”. Maybe you are the “Carl” on a project. Don’t be Carl. Continue reading ““Dang it Carl!” Tips to avoid being the least favorite character on your Sitecore Project”