KB

Apr 7, 2021
Hands on with Sitecore Experience Edge for Content Hub
One of the exciting news in Sitecore world recently was the release of Sitecore Experience Edge for Content Hub (Experience Edge for XM is coming later this year, so will focus on Content Hub for now). If you haven't heard the news yet, I strongly recommend watching this Youtube video to see it in real actions. And here is the official Experience Edge™ for Content Hub documentation for a more thorough understanding.

To get a hands on demo experience with Sitecore Experience Edge for Content Hub, please talk to your Sitecore contacts for accessing the Content Hub Sandbox portal. The information below also applies to Production setup, just ignore the parts related to sandboxes.
1. You should receive the instructions and accesses to create a sandbox Content Hub environment, just enure the following when creating the sandbox
2. When CH sandbox is up and running, head to Settings->PublishingSettings and ensure 'Publishing enabled' is ticked and Save.
3. Ensure that there are Content Collections and Content that are in Final state (This is for viewing them in Delivery API)
4. Ensure that the Content Collections and Content have the green tick cloud icon that says 'Published to delivery platform'
5. You can generate API tokens from Settings->API Keys or from the Content Collections
6. The URL to GraphQL IDE is https://[[Your demo instance hostname]]/api/graphql/preview/ide/
7. Delivery API endpoint for demo containers is https://edge-beta.sitecorecloud.io/api/graphql/v1
8. Preview API endpoint for demo container is https://[[Your demo instance hostname]]/api/graphql/preview/v1
Note: For Production, the Delivery API endpoint is https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/api/graphql/v1

You can use Postman to test Delivery and Preview APIs too. Below is an export of a Postman collection:

{
'info': {
'_postman_id': '66f4925b-b6f0-4ed1-bea3-bdb09ba57045',
'name': 'Experience Edge For CH',
'schema': 'https://schema.getpostman.com/json/collection/v2.1.0/collection.json'
},
'item': [
{
'name': 'Preview API',
'request': {
'method': 'POST',
'header': [
{
'key': 'X-GQL-Token',
'value': '',
'type': 'text'
}
],
'body': {
'mode': 'graphql',
'graphql': {
'query': '{\r\n allM_ContentCollection {\r\n results {\r\n contentCollectionName\r\n id\r\n publishStatus\r\n contentCollectionToContent{\r\n results{\r\n content_Name\r\n content_PublicationDate\r\n publishStatus\r\n }\r\n }\r\n }\r\n }\r\n}',
'variables': ''
},
'options': {
'raw': {
'language': 'json'
}
}
},
'url': {
'raw': 'https:///api/graphql/preview/v1',
'protocol': 'https',
'host': [
''
],
'path': [
'api',
'graphql',
'preview',
'v1'
]
}
},
'response': []
},
{
'name': 'Delivery API - Beta',
'request': {
'method': 'POST',
'header': [
{
'key': 'X-GQL-Token',
'value': '',
'type': 'text'
}
],
'body': {
'mode': 'graphql',
'graphql': {
'query': '{\r\n allM_ContentCollection {\r\n results {\r\n contentCollectionName\r\n id\r\n publishStatus\r\n contentCollectionToContent{\r\n results{\r\n content_Name\r\n content_PublicationDate\r\n publishStatus\r\n }\r\n }\r\n }\r\n }\r\n}',
'variables': ''
},
'options': {
'raw': {
'language': 'json'
}
}
},
'url': {
'raw': 'https://edge-beta.sitecorecloud.io/api/graphql/v1',
'protocol': 'https',
'host': [
'edge-beta',
'sitecorecloud',
'io'
],
'path': [
'api',
'graphql',
'v1'
]
}
},
'response': []
}
]
}

3 variables are:
1. hostname
2. PreviewToken
3. DeliveryToken
Have fun!
Feb 17, 2021
2021
The past year has been a weird year. It went by without much me feeling the time passing. Things happened around the world, but something also happened in our personal life.

2020 was not too bad to be honest. We are positive people and of course 2021 will be even better.
Nov 4, 2020
Sitecore Application Insights Setup Checklist in Azure App Services
Collected from different places. For my own references:

Azure Application Insights
1. Daily Volume Cap
Sitecore
1. App_Config/ConnectionStrings.config
2. App_Config/Sitecore/Azure/Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.config
3. App_Config/Sitecore/Azure/Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.Counters.config
4. Web.config
5. ApplicationInsights.config
Sitecore Showconfig
1. <setting name='ApplicationInsights.Role' value='Single' patch:source='Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.config'/>
2. <setting name='ApplicationInsights.Tag' value='' patch:source='Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.config'/>
3. <setting name='ApplicationInsights.DeveloperMode' value='false' patch:source='Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.config'/>
4. <pipelines>
     <initialize>
     <processor type='Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.Logging.RemoveSitecoreTraceListeners, Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights' patch:source='Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.config'/>
     <processor type='Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.TelemertyInitializers.InjectTelemertyInitializers, Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights' patch:source='Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.config'/>
     <processor type='Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.TelemertyInitializers.AppInsightsInitializer, Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights' patch:source='Sitecore.Cloud.ApplicationInsights.config'/>
Log files
- App_Data/logs/xxxx/azure.log.2020xxxx.0xxxx5.txt
Sep 10, 2020
Sitecore Installation Framework and Sitecore Versions Compatibility Table

Probably not a problem that people typically have, but if you try to install multiple Sitecore versions (before Sitecore 10, which can be done using Docker now) on the same machine, you get weird errors due to incorrect Sitecore Installation Framework(SIF) version. So here is a table to help you to use the right version of SIF.
Sitecore
Sitecore Installation Framework
9.0.x
1.2.1
9.1
2.0.0
9.1.1
2.1.0 or later
9.2.0
2.1.0 or later
9.3.0
2.2.0
10.0.0
2.3.0
And a cheatsheet for SIF.

Add PowerShell repository for installing SIF

Register-PSRepository -Name SitecoreGallery -SourceLocation https://sitecore.myget.org/F/sc-powershell/api/v2

Install the latest version of SIF

Install-Module SitecoreInstallFramework

See all the versions of SIF installed

Get-Module SitecoreInstallFramework –ListAvailable

Install a specific version of SIF

Install-Module -Name SitecoreInstallFramework -RequiredVersion x.x.x

Use a particular version of SIF for installation - this is important when installing

Import-Module -Name SitecoreInstallFramework -Force -RequiredVersion x.x.x

There is an official Sitecore KB compatibility page containing the same information:

https://kb.sitecore.net/articles/541788

And finally, if you haven’t tried, I strongly recommend giving Docker a try for Sitecore 10 at least. It’s super easy!
Jul 22, 2020
Synonyms Support with Azure Search in Sitecore SXA Search Component
If you tried to enable Synonyms support with Azure Search in Sitecore, you probably have seen this article: https://blogs.perficient.com/2019/11/12/programmatically-creating-synonym-maps-in-azure-search-with-sitecore/. Which provided details on how to use Sitecore to store and create the Synonym Map in Azure Index.

However, after creating the Synonym maps in Azure, you may find that it doesn't work with the SXA Search component. In this post, I will talk about why and how to resolve the issue in Sitecore SXA, which will help you to understand how non-SXA works too.

Assume that you have succesfully setup Synonym Map on sxacontent field for "home resident". When doing a search for "home" using the SXA Search component, Sitecore generate a search query like below:

&search=sxacontent:(/.*home.*/)&$filter=(latestversion_1 and (path_1/any(t:t eq 'ed5230a06c234cd6a88c73daee6d5b5b')) and searchable)&queryType=full&$skip=0&$top=5

The problem is that Azure Search does not expand Synonyms on wildcard queries:

Synonym expansions do not apply to wildcard search terms; prefix, fuzzy, and regex terms aren't expanded.

Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/search-synonyms#impact-of-synonyms-on-other-search-features

The suggestion is to combine the wildcard with a simple fixed query, which means the above query should look like this:

&search=((sxacontent:(/.*home.*/) OR sxacontent:(home)))&$filter=(latestversion_1 and (path_1/any(t:t eq 'ed5230a06c234cd6a88c73daee6d5b5b')) and searchable)&queryType=full&$skip=0&$top=5

Note:
1. Based on information collected, regular wildcard query also work (which is sxacontent:("*home*")), however, it produces a different result than the regex wildcard, so it's not discussed here.
2. If queryType is changed to simple in the query, the original query also works. It is not easy to change, so not considered here.
Now we know what kind of query needs to be generated. The next step is to make Sitecore SXA to generate the query.

The place to modify is "ContentPredicate" method in Sitecore.XA.Foundation.Search.Services.SearchService. Out of the box code looks like this:

protected virtual Expression<Func<ContentPage, bool>> ContentPredicate(string content)
    {
        Expression<Func<ContentPage, bool>> expression = PredicateBuilder.True<ContentPage>();
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(content))
        {
            return expression;
        }
        foreach (string item in content.Split().TrimAndRemoveEmpty())
        {
            string t = item;
            expression = expression.And((ContentPage i) => i.AggregatedContent.Contains(t));
        }
        return expression;
    }

A logical solution is just adding "|| i.AggregatedContent == t" but the tricky part is that since AggregatedContent is sxacontent filed in the index, and it's a string array. When you use string comparison on it, it builds the query as a filter instead of what we wanted. Here is an example of what that query looks like if you change the line to "expression = expression.And((ContentPage i) => i.AggregatedContent.Contains(t) || .AggregatedContent == t);"

&$filter=(latestversion_1 and (search.ismatchscoring('sxacontent:(/.*home.*/)', null, 'full', null) or (sxacontent/any(t:t eq 'home'))) and (path_1/any(t:t eq 'ed5230a06c234cd6a88c73daee6d5b5b')) and searchable)&$top=2147483647

This causes an exception in Azure Search because sxacontent is not defined as a filterable field. Even if you make sxacontent a filterable, Synonym doesn't work because Azure Search doesn't support expanding it in filters.

A number of solutions:

One: If instead of sxacontent field, you have a custom index field that is just a string type, above code works (with a different field name of course)

Two: you can overwrite Sitecore.ContentSearch.Azure.Query.SearchQueryBuilder.Contains to always use both regex wildcard and normal wildcard with an OR. Since SearchQueryBuilder is not directly exposed in DI, it will take a fair bit amount of work to replace it, it won't be an easy solution.

An example of how to do this can be referenced in this support ticket: https://github.com/SitecoreSupport/Sitecore.Support.147386/releases/tag/9.0.1.0. Check out the classes in repo that have to be duplicated, note that it may not be exactly the same to the version of Sitecore you have.

Three: Use "MatchWildcard" in Linq. The code looks like this:

public class SearchService : Sitecore.XA.Foundation.Search.Services.SearchService
    {
        protected override Expression<Func<ContentPage, bool>> ContentPredicate(string content)
        {
            var expression = PredicateBuilder.True<ContentPage>();
            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(content))
            {
                return expression;
            }
            foreach (var t in content.Split().TrimAndRemoveEmpty())
            {
                expression = expression.And((ContentPage i) => i.AggregatedContent.Contains(t) || i.AggregatedContent.MatchWildcard(t));
            }
            return expression;
        }
    }

Above code generates exactly the query we wanted. It may seem a bit weird and even feels like a "bug". But looking at the offcial documentaion on this page ( https://doc.sitecore.com/developers/92/sitecore-experience-manager/en/linq-to-sitecore.html):

MatchWildcard
results = queryable.Where(i => i.Template.Where(i => i.Template.MatchWildcard("H?li*m")));

The intention of MatchWildcard is to accept an expression with custom wildcard defined and just pass it as it is to the query. That's why it worked for our case. To be honest this may not seem the best fit for this method however comparing to the effort having to go through in solution two to overwrite the Sitecore Azure provider, this saves a huge amount of effort and has less potential impact to the site. I'd prefer this approach out of the three here.

The solution has been tested with Sitecore 9.2.0 with SXA 1.9 only. However I checked the code in Sitecore 9.3, in theory it should also work, best to double check.
May 20, 2020
Sitecore Website Federated Authentication with Azure AD B2C with OpenID Connect
Apr 24, 2020
Evernote, Jekyll Static Site, Azure Storage, Azure CDN, Cloudflare and Azure DevOps
Apr 23, 2020
Cannot disable QoS in ASUS Wireless Router Web GUI
Apr 4, 2020
Azure DevOps - Cloud Warmup for Sitecore
Mar 1, 2020
Sitecore Patch Finder
Feb 17, 2020
Sitecore Helix Documentation version 2 in ePub format
Oct 31, 2019
Use one license.xml for all local Sitecore instances with SymbolicLink
Sep 20, 2019
Where is Site Order stored in Sitecore SXA Site Manager Powershell tool
Sep 11, 2019
Model Rendering Variant doesnt work with custom Sitecore SXA rendering
Apr 28, 2019
Common Causes and Troubleshooting Sitecore App Restarts on Azure Web App Services
Apr 9, 2019
Sitecore 9.1 Initial Release with Identify Server User Boost Feature Patch
Apr 8, 2019
Sitecore Solr Linq Error RANGE_GOOP while using String CompareTo
Feb 20, 2019
Missing sxacontent_txm in Sitecore SXA Solr Index with Commerce Installed
Feb 12, 2019
Generating static 500 error html pages using SXA in Sitecore
Dec 18, 2018
Whitelist Hosted Agent IP address in AzureDevOps pipeline (For Sitecore Unicorn Sync)
Oct 5, 2018
Setup Postman with Local Sitecore xConnect services
Jun 29, 2018
Evil Inline Aspx Pages for Sitecore Development
Mar 22, 2018
Fast Query return null in Sitecore instances
Mar 20, 2018
Sitecore Campaign Creator API 500 error caused by Sitecore Instance Manager
Mar 14, 2018
Delivery instance doesn't clear cache with Sitecore Publishing Service
Mar 3, 2018
Use the same session database for both Priavte and Shared Session States in Sitecore
Feb 26, 2018
How to handle different Sitecore Module instllation scenarios with WebDeploy approach
Feb 26, 2018
All about Sitecore.Cloud.Integration.Bootload
Feb 19, 2018
Blogging from Evernote
Dec 16, 2017
TTS with Google Home on Home Assistant stopped working
Aug 21, 2017
Deploy Sitecore Azure AppService Packages on Local IIS
Jul 2, 2017
Google Home working with Yeelight with Xiaomi Smart Wireless Switch
Jun 28, 2017
Thoughts on Sitecore Experience Accelerator
Apr 9, 2017
Sitecore Consulting in the most down-to-earth way
Aug 27, 2016
Issues while setting up Continuous Integration and Delivery with Visual Studio Team Services for Xamarin.iOS Apps
Jul 7, 2016
Warning in Sitecore Media Library Folder Grid View
May 3, 2016
Sitecore Content/MVT Testing doesn't update in Delivery Instances
May 1, 2016
HockeyApp, Azure Mobile Engagement and Visual Studio Application Insights
Apr 18, 2016
1 MB file upload size limit for WFFM on CD instance
Mar 15, 2016
Sitecore web.config include patching sub-folder orders
Mar 6, 2016
Sitecore Shell Content Testing Web API returns 404/403 error while creating page tests/content tests
Mar 5, 2016
Hello From The Engine
Mar 4, 2016
A New Back Engine for Blog
Jan 28, 2016
AnyoneHue? - Monitor multiple people with WIFI for Philips Hue controlling
Jan 6, 2016
Converting Chinese to Pinyin/Quanpin in Xamarin IOS development
Oct 10, 2015
Get Sitecore Item SiteInfo
Jun 3, 2015
Root Australia Vodafone Samsung Galaxy Note 4(N910G) Android Lollipop 5.0.1
Apr 27, 2015
Input Method On Galaxy Note 4 Keep Reverting Back To Default
Apr 13, 2015
Onda v820w flash os - Booting to droidboot.img failed
Apr 6, 2015
Amazon Unlimited Cloud, Windows Home Server, Netflix and VPN
Mar 23, 2015
Sitecore session expires(timeout) quickly(1 min) when not logged in
Mar 18, 2015
Browser requests page twice
Mar 14, 2015
From mobile
Mar 13, 2015
Focusing on content
Jan 12, 2015
Section references in Sitecore config files with ref attribute
Jan 10, 2015
Powerline Ethernet Adapters
Jan 5, 2015
TDS project build fail in Teamcity with VS 2012 runner
Dec 17, 2014
Sonos with Airsonos on Windows and Mac
Dec 16, 2014
Google Tag Manager causing placeholder issues in IE 8
Dec 12, 2014
Must have softwares after reinstalling windows
Dec 10, 2014
Multi-Site solution deployments in Azure
Dec 7, 2014
Schedule tasks not running on CDS in Sitecore
Dec 7, 2014
IncludeTemplates and ExcludeTemplates warning for custom index of Sitecore
Dec 6, 2014
Sitecore Redirect Manager
Dec 3, 2014
Sitecore Indexes media url with /sitecore/shell
Oct 11, 2014
IIS Http error 500.19 with web.config

Sitecore	Sitecore Installation Framework
9.0.x	1.2.1
9.1	2.0.0
9.1.1	2.1.0 or later
9.2.0	2.1.0 or later
9.3.0	2.2.0
10.0.0	2.3.0