Sitecore 8.2 Certification

Front 1

How does Sitecore support the three pillars of a CMS: data definition, content, and presentation?

Back 1

Templates define the data, items are the content, and layouts & components make up the presentation.

Front 2

Describe some xWeb Content Management System features that separate Sitecore from other systems.

Back 2

AIDA: Analytics, Gain Insights, Make Decisions, Automate

Front 3

What is Sitecore's easy-to-use authoring tool and what functionality does it provide?

Back 3

Experience Editor allows content authors to add or edit content and make look and feel (style) changes.

Front 4

Which interface would an author use to see and edit items in a tree structure?

Back 4

Content Editor is used by developers to create and define templates, items, layouts, and components. Some content authors may also use Content Editor.

Front 5

What is the dashboard like interface where a user can see all of the interfaces they have permissions to in the Sitecore Experience Platform?

Back 5

Launchpad

Front 6

What are some of the other interfaces in the Sitecore Experience Platform?

Back 6

Experience Editor, Content Editor, Media Library, Marketing Control Panel, Campaign Creator, Control Panel, User Manager, Role Manager, etc.

Front 7

What is defined in a template?

Back 7

Field sections and fields

Front 8

Whate are some of the field types used in a template?

Back 8

Text (single line, mutlitline, RTF), Media, General Link, Multilist, Treelist, Checklist, Date/Datetime, Checkbox

Front 9

What field type would you use to store formatted HTML?

Back 9

Rich Text

Front 10

What happens if you use the same field section in a template as the field section name used in its parent template?

Back 10

The field sections merge. It is best practice to use unique field names and field section names to avoid confusion and unexpected merging.

Front 11

What is the name of the template that all templates inherit from?

Back 11

Standard Template, which includes system fields which are normally hidden.

Front 12

When would you use a template that inherits from another template?

Back 12

When fields are repeated, the same fields could be put in a template. Then other templates would inherit from it.

Front 13

What would you use the Field source for in a Rich Text Field?

Back 13

Field source defines the toolbar configuration for the Rich Text Editor.

Front 14

What would you use the Field source for in an Image field?

Back 14

Field source defines browsing location in the media library.

Front 15

What would you use the Field source for in a single line text?

Back 15

GUID

Front 16

What would you use the Field source for in a link field type (droplink)?

Back 16

Field source defines the choices an editor can select from

Front 17

What are the benefits of template inheritance?

Back 17

Template inheritance reduces duplication and makes maintenance easier.

Front 18

What are two best practices to make content editing easier when you are creating templates?

Back 18

1. Set icons 2. Use editor-friendly names so content authors can understand what fields are for.

Front 19

Where do you go to see what template the item comes from?

Back 19

On the content item, expand Quick Info section. The template path is listed next to the Template label.

Front 20

Where can you view all the templates the item is inheriting?

Back 20

In Content Editor, on the template, go to the Inheritance tab.

Front 21

How do you handle two fields named the same so they don't merge?

Back 21

Rename one of them.

Front 22

Why should admin users not create content with their admin account?

Back 22

Admins bypass workflow. Also, they would not see any Content Editor warnings.

Front 23

What action must content authors take before modifying content?

Back 23

Lock the item.

Front 24

What must be defined so content authors can create content?

Back 24

Insert options.

Front 25

Why do you create Standard values?

Back 25

To define default values and settings for an item.

Front 26

Where are insert options set as a best practice?

Back 26

Standard Values. Select the item from the tree, then click on the Configure tab in the ribbon. In the Insert Options group on the ribbon, click Assign. In the modal that is shown, select the template(s) that can be used.

Front 27

When do tokens get replaced?

Back 27

On creation of the content item.

Front 28

What happens when you set a field as shared?

Back 28

There will be only one version of the content item for all languages.

Front 29

What happens when you set a field as unversioned?

Back 29

There will be a unique version of the item for each language.

Front 30

If you manually delete text from a field, will the field be "empty" or revert to the standard values?

Back 30

It will be empty.

Front 31

What are some of the tokens available for use on standard values?

Back 31

$name, $date, $now

Front 32

What happens when a content author locks an item?

Back 32

No one else can edit it until the user unlocks it.

Front 33

What is an alternative to hard coding text in the presentation? Why would you choose this alternative?

Back 33

Add the text to the Dictionary and then reference the Dictionary to get the text [(i.e. Sitecore.Globalization.Translate.Text("myButtonText")]. This will allow you to have the appropriate language's version of the text displayed on the site.

Front 34

What are Sitecore's main databases?

Back 34

Core, Master, Web

Front 35

Which database is used for creating content?

Back 35

Master

Front 36

Which database is used on the live site?

Back 36

Web

Front 37

How do you get content from where it is created to the live site?

Back 37

Use publish. If a workflow is set up, the workflow must be in an approved state for the content item to be published. Publish pushes the data from Master to Web.

Front 38

What is stored in the Core database?

Back 38

UI Definitions and membership tables.

Front 39

Why would you need to run a full republish?

Back 39

Standing up a new instance of the Content Delivery servers.

Front 40

Will publishing restrictions automatically publish content at that exact time?

Back 40

No. It will publish with the next publish done on the site during the publishing restrictions date. If the date is already passed, then it will not publish.

Front 41

What happens if a user creates content against the Web database because they need it to go live immediately?

Back 41

That change will be overwritten on the next publish. It will also bypass approval workflow rules.

Front 42

What does checking the "Publish related items" do during a publish?

Back 42

It publishes any items, like media items, links to other content, etc. when that item is published.

Front 43

What is the difference between incremental publishing and republishing?

Back 43

Incremental - publishes items that have a marked status in the publish queue.

Republish - copies all items from Master to Web

Smart - publishes all items that have changed since the last publication.

Front 44

What cache is cleared when you publish?

Back 44

Output cache is automatically cleared when you publish. These are in the config file under the events publish:end and publish:end:remote.

Front 45

When an item is deleted from Master and then published, what is the result in the Web database?

Back 45

The item is deleted

Front 46

What happens automatically when you publish?

Back 46

Publishing queue is not deleted, but the last published date/time is updated in db so more incremental publishes can be done.

Output Cache is automatically cleared.

Front 47

What two types of data are stored in the publishing queue?

Back 47

Historical items and current items that need to be published. Sitecore uses the date/time of the last publish in dbo.Properities to determine what "current items" are.

Front 48

In a component, what is the data source field used for?

Back 48

The data source location limits the component a content author can select in Experience Editor to a certain location within the tree.

Front 49

Can placeholders have other placeholders inside of them?

Back 49

Yes.

Front 50

Why is it a good idea to limit the use of Rich Text fields?

Back 50

Rich Text fields give too much control to the content author which could potential break the layout of the site. They should be used sparingly.

Front 51

What do you need to do to allow users to add and remove components from a placeholder using the Experience Editor?

Back 51

Create a placeholder settings item.

Front 52

What happens when you request a page that has no layout defined in the presentation details?

Back 52

Layout not found error.

Front 53

Why do you define Presentation Details on Standard Values if the Standard Values item is never going to be mapped to the requested URL?

Back 53

This sets the default presentation details which can be overridden on inheritted items.

Front 54

Can you edit an item in the Experience Editor when there are no presentation details set on the item?

Back 54

No

Front 55

Which fields are editable inline using the Experience Editor?

Back 55

Text, Image, Date / Datetime, General Link

Front 56

Why would you use the DisableWebEdit parameter when rendering a field?

Back 56

For fields that are displayed in the head tag. Could be for other scenarios.

Front 57

How does Sitecore define a type of item?

Back 57

Template are what define the schema for an item including fields, field type, and field sections.

Front 58

What is the name of the feature that makes WCM possible in Sitecore?

Back 58

Experience Mangement (xManagement) which includes Content Editor and Experience Editor. From infrastructure side, it includes Content Management and Content Delivery.

Front 59

What do you need in addition to the Experience Mangement to take full advantage of the Sitecore Experience Platform?

Back 59

Analytics and Marketing features.

Front 60

Are all items pages in a Sitecore project?

Back 60

All items are not pages. Items that are pages are configured for viewing in the browser using the Presentation Details setting.

Front 61

What is the recommended version of Visual Studio for Sitecore development?

Back 61

Visual Studio 2012 or later. If using Sitecore Rocks, then use Visual Studio 2013 or later

Front 62

What tools can you use to install Sitecore?

Back 62

Sitecore Instance Manager (SIM), EXE which runs a wizard, or the ZIP manual install.

Front 63

What additional databases are required when running xDB?

Back 63

Collection database, reporting database, search index. Collection DB uses MongoDB

Front 64

When you set up multiple site structures in the content tree, what is the recommended practice for handling content that will be shared between sites?

Back 64

In the content tree, create separate folders and home items for each site. Shared content should be placed outside of any site structure. Also, the SiteDefinition.config needs updated to include the new site.

Front 65

What types of Visual Studio projects does Sitecore support?

Back 65

webforms or MVC

Front 66

How can you make your Visual Studio project portable?

Back 66

Project is created in a separate folder structure and then deployed to c:\intepub\wwwroot\[sitename]\WebSite.

Front 67

What is the difference between publishing and deploying?

Back 67

Publishing is referring to Sitecore's content publishing mechanism. Deploying refers to Visual Studio code deployments.

Front 68

Name some attributes that can be configured in the site node for a website (SiteDefinition.config).

Back 68

rootPath, startItem, hostName, contentStartItem, database, domain, etc.

Front 69

What are some of the features of Sitecore Rocks?

Back 69

It automcatically copies non-compilable files to the webroot.

Front 70

What are the three main Sitecore binaries used?

Back 70

Sitecore.Kernel - gives you access to current item. Sitecore.Mvc - gives you ability to set up presentation. Sitecore.Mvc.Analytics - lets you invoke tracking of goals, interactions, etc.

Front 71

Why is storing media in the Sitecore database an advantage?

Back 71

By doing this, you can take advantage of the Publish Related Items feature. It also preserves locking, translation, versioning, and workflow. Images can be editted by content authors using the image editor. Each size of the image is cached.

Front 72

How is the layout file linked to the definition item?

Back 72

Path field in the Layout Definition item.

Front 73

How do you display the contents of a field in code?

Back 73

Model.PageItem and Model.Item properties

Front 74

What makes it easy to translate field names and other values to the context language?

Back 74

Dictionaries.

Front 75

How should you handle static media paths (i.e. documents from an external source)?

Back 75

Add the static media paths to the IgnoreUrlPrefixes setting in the web.config.

Front 76

Can a media file in the media library have no media item?

Back 76

No. Sitecore creates a media item when you upload a file, so the file always has a media item. The media item is what gets published and the file is stored as a blob in the database (unless changed in config files).

Front 77

Which type of component would you create if you wanted to closely follow MVC patterns or invoke complex logic?

Back 77

Controller Rendering

Front 78

How do you make Sitecore recognize a controller rendering?

Back 78

The Controller field and Controller Action field needs to be completed.

Front 79

When would you use a View Rendering?

Back 79

When you have a simple scenario, like a footer on the site.

Front 80

What happens if no allowed controls are defined on a Placeholder Definition item?

Back 80

All controls are allowed. This means that content authors could try to put the wrong content items in the placeholder.

Front 81

If you wanted to ensure the header and footer are always visible on your main layout, would you statically or dynamically bind it?

Back 81

Static binding.

Front 82

What is the difference between the Renderings and Final Renderings fields?

Back 82

Use the Renderings field for shared or global presentation details. Use Final Renderings field for item version specific presentations (per numbered or language version).

Front 83

When you add @Html.Sitecore().Placeholder("main") to your rendering, what do you need to do to make the placeholder selectable in the Experience Editor?

Back 83

In Content Editor, create a placeholder definition item to allow content authors to use the placeholder in Experieince Editor. Be sure to set allowed controls so you can restrict component use.

Front 84

What does dynamic binding allow you to do?

Back 84

Dynamic binding allows you to build alternative page designs and add Experience Editor support. It uses placeholders.

Front 85

An author adds a component to a page in the Experience Editor and the "Select the Associated Content" dialog box automatically appears. What triggers this behavior?

Back 85

Opens automatically when you specify a Data Source Location on the Data Source Item.

Front 86

How can you restrict authors to a specific type of item for a component's data source?

Back 86

Set the Data Source Template field on the Data Source Item. If the Data Source Template is specified, but the Data Source Location is not, then the content author will be allowed to select items from anywhere in the entire tree, but incompatible items will be ghosted.

Front 87

How are component parameters stored in the Sitecore database?

Back 87

Key Value Pairs

Front 88

What template must be used as a base template for your Parameters Template?

Back 88

Standard Rendering Parameters Template. If it is not, then the user will see an error when they access the component properties.

Front 89

How do you ensure your component uses a Parameter Template that you've already created?

Back 89

Set the Parameters Template field on the component definition item.

Front 90

What are Compatible Renderings?

Back 90

Renderings that have been added to the Allowed Controls. In order to be compatible, the renderings must have compatible data sources and parameters.

Front 91

What should you keep in mind when configuring Compatible Renderings?

Back 91

When you set up a compatible rendering, it is not a two-way setting. For example, if you set up an Article Rendering to be compatible with an Event Rendering, you must also go to the Event Rendering and set it to have the Article Rendering as an allowed control.

Front 92

Where do you define a component's cache settings so it will be cached anywhere it is used?

Back 92

On the component definition item, expand the Caching section and check each type of caching desired (i.e. Cacheable, Vary By User, etc.)

Front 93

Why should you never cache a component that displays personal information?

Back 93

Because the whole output of a component and children components is cached as HTML (aka Output Cache), don't cache personal info especially anything like credit cards, passwords, etc. Design and Edit modes don't cache, so you would only see the effect on the public view of the page.

Front 94

What cache setting do you use to cache a component on every Event Details page?

Back 94

Set the cache setting on the Standard values for the Rendering.

Front 95

What page can you go to in Sitecore to view cache sizes and manually clear the cache?

Back 95

From your root site, go to /sitecore/admin/cache.aspx

Front 96

Why would you want to have the languageEmbedding option set to never?

Back 96

If you have a single language site, then in the Link Manager Config file, you would set the languageEmbedding to false.

Front 97

How would an author cause a broken link when renaming an item?

Back 97

The URL to a content item is automatically created by Sitecore based on the path in the tree and the name of the content item. If a folder in the tree is renamed or the item is renamed or moved, it will need to have a 301 redirect set up, otherwise anything that references that item will not be able to find it.

Front 98

How would you diable .aspx being added to all URLs that are generated from Sitecore?

Back 98

In the Link Manager config file, set addAspxExtension = false

Front 99

Why is it important to have friendly folder structures within your content tree?

Back 99

This reduces the need to rename or move items and would reduce the likelihood of causing a broken link.

Front 100

How would you display the direct children of an item?

Back 100

Use the ContentSearch API. Sitecore.Collections.ChildList children = currItem.GetChildren();

Front 101

What is the danger of using a method like Axes.GetDescendants()?

Back 101

It can cause poor performance because it gets all of the children of the child item and all of their children recursively throughout the entire tree.

Front 102

How can you skip certain items when you build the navigation?

Back 102

Create a custom field as a checkbox called ExcludeFromNavigation. Then check to see if it is checked. If so, don't show in navigation.

Front 103

How can you make sure content authors do not modify or remove certain components in the Experience Editor?

Back 103

On the Placeholder Item, uncheck the "Editable" checkbox in the Data section.

Front 104

Where can a user go to see a list of broken links for the site?

Back 104

Go to Launchpad. Click on Control Panel. In the Reports section, click on Scan for broken links. You can choose which database you want to search against.

Front 105

Which namespaces do you include in the MVC View so you can get the current item?

Back 105

Sitecore.Mvc - Has Presentation.RenderingContext.Current.ContextItem to get current item.

Front 106

Which namespaces do you need to include in the MVC Controller?

Back 106

Sitecore.Web.UI.WebControls - for access to FieldRenderer.Render()

Sitecore.Mvc.Presentation - for access to RenderingContext.Current.ContextItem

Front 107

How do you get the parent item for the current item?

Back 107

Sitecore.Data.Items.Item currItem = RenderingContext.Current.ContextItem;

Sitecore.Data.Items.Item parent = currItem.Parent;

Front 108

How do you get the Home site path?

Back 108

Sitecore.Context.Database.GetItem(Sitecore.Context.Site.StartPath);

Front 109

How would you render the content of an Image field on the website?

Back 109

Use FieldRenderer.Render(item, [item_name]) to render an image because it is not considered a complex field type and can be edited inline in Experience Editor.

Front 110

What happens if you use the FieldRenderer to render a Multilist field?

Back 110

It doesn't work.

Front 111

How do you render a Multilist field?

Back 111

Use the MultilistField class and invoke the GetItems() method.

MultilistField relatedEvents = item.Fields["Related Events"];

if (relatedEvents == null) return new EmptyResult();

var events = relatedEvents.GetItems()
.Select(i => new NavigationItem() {
Title = i.DisplayName, URL = LinkManager.GetItemUrl(i)
});

Front 112

What class would you use to retrieve the contents of a Treelist field?

Back 112

MultilistField

Front 113

In what order do children items appear by default?

Back 113

Alphabetical

Front 114

Why would you avoid sorting items in code using LINQ?

Back 114

Content authors can modify the default children item sorting, so if you sort items in code using LINQ, it could cause unnecessary processing and slow down performance.

Front 115

What is the name of the popup window in the Experience Editor that can be used to edit fields that are not editable inline?

Back 115

Field Editor

Front 116

How would you enable the use of a Field Editor?

Back 116

Add a Field Editor Button. These are defined in the Core database, so remember to switch contexts when defining items in Content Editor.

Front 117

How would you show a toolbar in a particular part of the page?

Back 117

Add an Edit Frame to the page on the cshtml page.

@using (Html.EditFrame(RenderingContext.Current.ContextItem.Paths.FullPath, "Related Events", null, null, null, null))

Front 118

How do you configure buttons shown in an Edit Frame?

Back 118

The default configurations for these buttons are located in the Core database under /sitecore/content/Applications/WebEdit/Edit Frame Buttons.

Front 119

What is the biggest challenge when you post forms with Sitecore MVC?

Back 119

cross-talk

Front 120

How do you bind a controller to deal with the post of a View Rendering?

Back 120

In the View Rendering, the Form Controller Name field corresponds to the MVC Controller and the Form Controller Action field is the MVC action method name.

Front 121

What method do you need to invoke inside a View Rendering form to ensure only its controller reacts to the post?

Back 121

The @Html.Sitecore().FormHandler() in the cshtml view creates two hidden fields that Sitecore uses to get the Form Controller Name and Form Controller Action that you defined in the View Rendering. The MVC Action method should be decorated with [ValidateFormHandler] attribute.

Front 122

What three pieces of information are required to create an item programmatically?

Back 122

Location, TemplateID, Name

Front 123

How can you run part of your code with a set of privileges from those of the context user?

Back 123

using (new Sitecore.Security.Accounts.UserSwitcher("sitecore/caroline",false))

Front 124

Why does Sitecore not allow the use of certain characters in an item name?

Back 124

Because they are invalid URL characters. Use ItemUtil.ProposeValidItemName() method to strip out invalid characters when creating an item in code.

Front 125

What methods do you invoke when you begin and finish editing an item through the API?

Back 125

var contextItem = Sitecore.Context.Item;

contextItem.Editing.BeginEdit() and contextItem.Editing.EndEdit()

Front 126

What two core services make up the Sitecore Services Client?

Back 126

The Item Service gives you access to regular Sitecore items. The Entity Service gives you access to business objects that you define.

Front 127

What happens if you forget to include @Html.Sitecore().VisitorIdentification() inside the head tag of the page?

Back 127

All traffic is identified as a robot.

Front 128

How does Sitecore track a device?

Back 128

Using a session cookie and Contact record.

Front 129

How does Sitecore initially identify a contact?

Back 129

Device or browser info is stored in cookie

Front 130

Why is Engagement Value so important?

Back 130

Engagement Value lets an organization measure how much a contact is using the site and if they are taking the desired actions. It is a better measurement than website traffic because it measures whether or not the website is meeting marketing objectives.

Front 131

How does Sitecore calculate the engagement value?

Back 131

Engagement Value Points are assigned in the Marketing Control Panel for specific contact actions and behaviors. The contact accumulates points across single and mutliple contact sessions.

Front 132

Where is the contact stored?

Back 132

Sitecore Experience Database (xDB) contains both unidentified and identified contacts.

Front 133

Where do you let Sitecore know that you have more than one site?

Back 133

Add other site(s) to SiteDefinition.config sites node

Front 134

How do you configure Sitecore to handle multiple sites?

Back 134

Content Editor > Content Item > insert > Insert from template.

Choose Site Folder and give it a name.

In IIS, open Site Bindings for the main site and add a new binding.

In the hosts file, add an entry for the site.

Edit the SiteDefinition.config file to include the new site.

Make sure you update the publishing handler nodes in web.config too.

Front 135

Where are log files stored?

Back 135

c:\inetpub\wwwroot\[site]\Data

Front 136

How do you scale Sitecore horizontally?

Back 136

Add additional servers. Best practice is to split Content Management from Content Delivery servers.

Front 137

How do you scale Sitecore vertically?

Back 137

Adding capacity to individual servers. This usually does not help the bottlenecks in the databases.

Front 138

Can an item bucket contain both bucketable items and regular items?

Back 138

Yes.

Front 139

When would an item show up in the content tree even though it is part of a bucket?

Back 139

When it is a regular item (aka not based on a bucketable template)

Front 140

How can a content author find items bucketable items since they are hidden in the content tree?

Back 140

The content author must use the search interface to find bucketable items.

Front 141

What is the default folder structure for item buckets and can it be changed?

Back 141

The default is YYYY/MMdd/HH/mm.

This can be changed by the developer in the Bucket.config file BucketConfiguration.BucketFolderPath.

Front 142

When discussing Item Buckets, what is a regular item?

Back 142

A regular item is any item that is based on a template that does not support item buckets. Regular items can be a child of an item bucket and a regular item maintains its relationship with ancestors and descendants.

Front 143

What is a bucketable item?

Back 143

A bucketable item is any item based on a template that supports item buckets. Bucketable items are not visible in the content tree. They do not maintain their parent-to-child relationship

Front 144

Why is it important to set up item buckets early in the developent cycle?

Back 144

Item buckets affect the URL of the item, so if an item is later switched to a bucketable template the URL will change.

Front 145

When would you use item buckets?

Back 145

A single item bucket can contain millions of items without slowing down the UI or cluttering the content tree. Since items in item buckets are automatically organized in a logical format, this will improve performance of the Sitecore search engine.

Front 146

Why is it best practice to not include both regular and bucketable items in an item bucket?

Back 146

By doing this, it introduces unnecessary complexity to your site.

Front 147

What are raw values?

Back 147

A raw value is how the data is stored in the underlying database. For something like a single line of text, raw and field values are the same. More complex field types such as General Link, Image, etc., the raw value may be custom XML, whereas the rendered value is HTML. Some fields store a path or GUID in the raw value.

Front 148

Where are raw values stored and how?

Back 148

Raw values are always stored in the database as a string. When you use the FieldRenderer.Render() method, Sitecore converts it to the rendered value (HTML, string, etc.)

Front 149

When, if ever, would you display a raw value to a user?

Back 149

Never. This is only relevant to administrators and developers.

Front 150

How do you access a raw value in code?

Back 150

MultilistField m = item.Fields["MyMultilistField"];
var myItems = m.GetItems();

Front 151

What can the sitecore\anonymous user access?

Back 151

A user who only has access to the login screen of the website. This is used for users who will go on to access the application framework section of the website (i.e. Content Editor, etc.).

Front 152

What can the extranet\anonymous user access?

Back 152

Any user who is not logged in and is viewing publicly accessible parts of the website.

Front 153

What is the sitecore security domain?

Back 153

This is the internal security domain that contains all the users who can access Sitecore client tools. (i.e. content authors, marketers, admins, etc.)

Front 154

What is the default domain for Sitecore?

Back 154

Extranet is set up as the default security domain.

Front 155

What is the difference between the User Manager, Role Manager, and Security Editor?

Back 155

User Manager is where you can find all Sitecore users.

Role Manager is where you can manage all the roles used in Sitecore.

Security Editor lets you specify tree level access rights.

These applications can be launched from each other.

Front 156

What are the three possible settings for an access right?

Back 156

Allow, deny, and inherit.

Front 157

What order does Sitecore look at access rights in the case of a conflict?

Back 157

If any part of the user account or its roles has Deny, then they are denied access. After that, the user account's access rights override the security account's access rights. Any access rights assigned to an item override the acces rights of its parent.

Front 158

What are some of the access rights in Sitecore?

Back 158

Read, Write, Rename, Create, Delete, Administer, Create Bucket, Revert Bucket, etc. There are some access rights related to workflow, language, and fields.

Front 159

What are some of the predefined security roles in Sitecore?

Back 159

Developer, Author, Designer, Limited Content Editor, Marketer Form Author, and many more.

Front 160

What does the Sitecore Limited Content Editor role do?

Back 160

If a user is in the Sitecore Limited Content Editor role, they must also be in the Sitecore Client Authoring role. They only have acess to the Home, Review, and Publish tabs on the Content Editor ribbon and they cannot copy, move, or sort items from the item's right-click menu.

Front 161

What role does a user need in order to have access to personalization ni the Experience Editor and Content Editor?

Back 161

Analytics Personalization

Front 162

What Sitecore application is used to set up profiles, profile keys, profile cards, and pattern cards?

Back 162

Marketing Control Panel

Front 163

What is the difference between a profile card and a pattern card?

Back 163

A profile card is a preset of values for profile keys and they help make sure content is profiled consistently. A pattern card is the archtype used to compare a visitor (i.e. Beginner Hiker).

Front 164

How can authors change a component through personalization?

Back 164

Authors set up personalization rules in the Experience Editor.

Front 165

In Sitecore personalization, what is a profile and what is a profile key?

Back 165

A profile is a category or dimension and the profile key is a distinct value. For example, if you have a profile of Activity, it may have Profile Keys of Hiking, Swimming, Cycling, etc.)

Front 166

What is an event or page event?

Back 166

Page events are used to track things that happen during a visit, like errors, goals, searches, etc. This uses Sitecore.Analytics namespace and the Tracker.Current.Interaction.CurrentPage.Register([page event data]) method.

Custom page events are defined as items in /sitecore/system/settings/Analytics/Page Events

Front 167

How do you add data to the Contact?

Back 167

Create a custom contact facet. In c# create an interface and implement it. The class must be decorated with the Serializable attribute. Then add the facet to the Sitecore.Analytics.Model.config file under the model > entities > contact node.

Front 168

What are the characteristics of a custom Facet?

Back 168

Elements, attributes, and Dictionaries.

Front 169

Where does a Facet get stored?

Back 169

Sitecore Experience Database (xDB)

Front 170

What are the different types of Facets?

Back 170

System Facets are used internally by Sitecore and cannot be removed or disabled.

Standard Facets are pre-defined Facets that are commonly used.

Custom Facets are created by you and relevant to your organization.

Front 171

What is a goal?

Back 171

Goals are a specific type of Page Event that is used to measure engagement value.

Front 172

Where is a goal defined?

Back 172

Marketing Control Panel

Front 173

How do you trigger a goal?

Back 173

In code, you use Sitecore.Analytics.Tracker to register the goal and assign it to an interaction. A goal can also be triggered by adding sc_trk=[goal name] to the query string.

Front 174

What must be done before a goal will be available in the Content Editor?

Back 174

A goal must be deployed from the Marketing Control Panel before it will be available for use in the Content Editor.

Front 175

How can you categorize goals?

Back 175

Create a Goal Facet in Marketing Control Panel under Taxonomies and deploy it.

Front 176

What is an outcome and where is it defined?

Back 176

An outcome gives you insight into how contacts interact with your website and the relative financial value they have for the organization. They are defined in the Marketing Control Panel under Outcomes.

Front 177

What is the difference between engagement value and an outcome?

Back 177

Engagement value uses a points system. Outcomes typically use monetary value and help the organization determine the financial value the contact brings to the organization.

Front 178

How are outcomes registered?

Back 178

Namespace: Sitecore.Analytics.Outcome.Extensions
Outcomes are registered programmatically using either the TrackerExtensions (when event happens during a web session) or OutcomeManager (when event comes from an external source)

Front 179

What are some predefined outcomes in Sitecore?

Back 179

Marketing Lead, Sales Lead, Opportunity, Close won, Close lost, Close Cancelled, Contact Acquisition, Product Purchase

Front 180

What does the Experience Profiles (xProfile) application do?

Back 180

The Experience Profile enables you to monitor key ares of a customer experience and interactions across all digital channels. You can see info about a contact card's visits, outcomes, triggered campaigns, triggered goals, etc.

Front 181

What happens to item versioning when you lock and edit an item that is a member of a workflow?

Back 181

Sitecore automatically creates a new numbered version and places this new version in the initial workflow state.

Front 182

What is a workflow?

Back 182

A workflow is a series of steps an item goes through to get approved and available for publishing. The steps are customized by your organization. A workflow must contain a minimum of two states: initial state and final state.

Front 183

What are the three things that make up a workflow?

Back 183

Commands, Actions, and States.

Front 184

Where are workflows created?

Back 184

Content Editor under System > Workflows

Front 185

What is a workflow state?

Back 185

A workflow state represents the different stages of the content creation process (i.e. draft, awaiting approval, approved, rejected, etc.)

Front 186

What is a workflow command?

Back 186

A command moves an item from one workflow state to another.

Front 187

What is a workflow action?

Back 187

An action is automatically performed on the items when they are in a particular workflow state or when a particular workflow command is executed.

Front 188

How do you bind a workflow to a certain type of items?

Back 188

In the content tree, find the template item and click on Standard Values. Set the Default Workflow field.

Front 189

What are the two consequences of making a state Final?

Back 189

The final state in a workflow makes the item so it can't be modified and it updates the version.

Front 190

What is tokenization?

Back 190

It's the process of breaking down search phrases into relevant search terms. Stopwords filtering removes useless words like "is", "a", "for", etc.

Front 191

How does Sitecore crawling work?

Back 191

Sitecore crawls items in the database and not the rendered pages.

Front 192

What are the two Search Providers for Sitecore and when would you use one over the other?

Back 192

Lucene.net is for a single server. Solr is used in a distributed environment.

Front 193

Why is it important to set EnableBucketDebug to false on the Content Delivery servers?

Back 193

When EnableBucketDebug is set to true, every query executed against an item bucket is written to the search log file, making it huge. In order to improve performance and reduce the size of the search log file, this should be set to false on the Content Delivery servers.

Front 194

In Content Editor, where are the two different places you can go to invoke a search?

Back 194

Search tab on an item. Quick Search above the content tree.

Front 195

What are some of the search filters available in the Content Editor search?

Back 195

The user can filter by author, template, creation data and many more properties. They can also set whether the results should match, must match, or must not match the search phrase.

Front 196

What does setting ExcludeContextItemFromResult to false do to the search results?

Back 196

When it is set to false, this includes the current item in the search results. When set to true, the search results will not include the current context item.

Front 197

By default, how many items does Search operate on in Content Editor?

Back 197

One.

Front 198

What is content indexed into?

Back 198

An Index Document is stored as field.

Front 199

What is the best practice for Indexing?

Back 199

Only Index what you need, especially as it related to defining the fields being indexed.

Front 200

What are some of the default behaviors of Indexing in Sitecore?

Back 200

All the fields you define are indexed. Field types are set so they are NOT stored in the index (meaning you have to query database if you need field type). Most system fields are indexed automatically.

Front 201

Where are the two places indexes can reside?

Back 201

Configuration based indexes or In Memory indexes

Front 202

Why would you create an In Memory index?

Back 202

Use this when you temporarilly need and index in code and you don't need the index persisted to disk.

Front 203

When do you need to rebuild indexes?

Back 203

Whenever the index is changed (fields added or removed)

Front 204

What application do you use to manually rebuild indexes?

Back 204

Control Panel

Front 205

Where are indexes stored?

Back 205

c:\inetpub\wwwroot\[site]\WebSite\App_Config\Include Sitecore.ContentSearch.[provider].DefaultIndexConfiguration.config

Front 206

How are indexes triggered?

Back 206

There are several different strategies for updating indexes: Rebuild After Full Publish, On Publish End Asyn, Interval Asynchronous, Synchoronous, Remote Rebuild, Timed Index Refresh, Manual

Front 207

What are the two binaries used for the Content Search API?

Back 207

Sitecore.ContentSearch.dll and Sitecore.ContentSearch.Linq.dll

Front 208

What is the basic approach to using the Content Search API in code?

Back 208

Choose an index to search against. Open a SearchContext connection and close it when done. Set results to IQueryable. Invoke the .GetResults method to fetch the final result set.

Front 209

Can you use all Linq interfaces on the ContentSearch API?

Back 209

No. Most are supported. However, GroupBy, Aggregate, and Sum are not supported.

Front 210

Is the same code used by the search in Content Editor and the Content Search API?

Back 210

Yes.

Front 211

Why create an index in Sitecore?

Back 211

An index enables the item data to be searched and accessed quickly at scale.

Front 212

What does storageType=Yes do for an index?

Back 212

It stores the original value of the field in the index, thereby reducing an extra call to the database to retrieve the value.

Front 213

How are index fields stored by default?

Back 213

As raw values.

Front 214

What would you use to index a Multilist field so it contains meaningful information instead of raw value?

Back 214

Create a computed index field. For example, If we have books with a multilist of book category, we would create a computed index field for the book category that uses the name vs the book category raw value.