Learning@Sitecore

As we are approaching the end of Sitecore MVP program for the year 2024, I wanted to highlight my contributions done for Sitecore community. I am feeling grateful to the experiences which I have gained by enrolling myself into this program.   Let's have a look at my 2024 contributions and upcoming plans for 2025. Blogpost: My focus was to write the blogs in a simple, though impactful manner so that I can cover those issues which I have faced while doing actual implementation in the projects. So that’s the reason behind covering both traditional Sitecore 10 and XM Cloud concepts. In whole I have written 7 blogs, which could seem less but tried to explain in a manner that can be helpful to the community. The list goes below:   April 14, 2024 Title: Conversion Pipelines in Sitecore Link: https://arjunarora-sitecore.blogspot.com/2024/04/conversion-pipelines-in-sitecore.html April 20, 2024 Title: Setup A/B Testing in Sitecore - Part 1 Link: https://arjunarora-sitecore.blogspot.com/...

In my previous blog , we discussed the concept of Webhooks. In this blog, we will set up a simple webhook in Sitecore.   To understand the implementation better I have kept the things very simple. So in this example, I will be using No Authorization Item. Talking about it in brief then, you need to set up an Authorization item if your endpoint webhook requires Authentication. Although I would strongly recommend to use Authorization to keep your endpoint safe and secure in real scenarios.   Webhook authentication types   Currently in Sitecore, there are 5 types of Authentication available. 1.  Basic : This requires username and password fields. 2.  Digest : This requires username and password fields. 3.  API Key : This requires Key, Value and Add to fields. 4.  OAuth2.0 Client Credentials Grant : This requires Authority URL, Client ID, Client Secret, Scope, Header Prefix (The default value is Bearer), Additional endpoint base addresses fields. 5.  ...

  Working with Webhooks in Sitecore - Part 1 In this blog we will understand the concept of Webhooks and how we can use them in Sitecore. So before jumping into Webhooks in Sitecore, first lets understand what webhooks are?   What is a Webhook? They are typically created to connect/link different applications. They are much like API but different from them. Webhooks are one way that apps can send automated messages or information to other apps.   Consider an example below:     Suppose, there is a user facing front application which showcase the product catalogs to its customers. This application is responsible for booking an order from its users. BUT the logistics is handle by different application.   The second application (logistic app) has setup a webhook which is exposed over http and waiting to receive any confirmed orders. Once someone place any order which can be called as an event for the first application, then along with its operation it is passin...

  Creating custom value providers in Sitecore Forms   In this blog we will see how we can use the Custom Value providers in Sitecore Forms. Basically, I will be creating a custom value provider which can be used to pre-fill the field(s) in the Sitecore Form. Actual Use Case:   Suppose you have created a News Subscriber Form, in which a Logged in user can subscribe for newsletters from you company. In that form, you wanted to pre-fill the Firstname and Lastname fields so that user can see their details (although can change the values as well) prior submitting the request. To re-fill or populate the fields, we can create our own custom value provider which will return the value based on parameter value set for that particular field. In short, while loading the Sitecore form, the request will attach to backend code, from which you can return the user model values fetched from XConnect or any other API or database table directly to the form field. To understand it better, let...

  Setup A/B Testing in Sitecore - Part 3 - Final Results In my previous article , we have setup a Page Test on Home Item which is currently in active state. In this article we will see the effect after setting up the Test Case and then picking up a winner and then see the result output.   As you know, our A/B Test is active on a home page item so if you open the home page on 2 different browser, then you should see 2 different version of home page, like below:     This effect is due to the running test of the same item. Based on the configuration you have chosen while setting up a Test like number of version selected, percentage of visitor exposed etc.   On the other hand, in the CMS you should notification bar when you select the page item on which you have setup Test. In our case its on home page. Behind the scenes, Sitecore captures the Analytics data and shows the stats which help you choosing your winner. If you remember, while setting up the test case I ha...

  Setup A/B Testing in Sitecore - Part 2 In my previous article , we discussed about the types of Tests in Sitecore and their scope. In this blog we will setup a Page test on home page item and will make it active.   To show the Page test, I have created a simple view rendering named Article  which takes a data source item created from a template that has some simple data text field.   We will create 2 versions for home page item and will apply Article view rendering having different data source item on different version of home page item. The idea is we are going to create 2 versions of same page having different content in it.   We will expose full traffic to home page and Sitecore will manage to show either of the version to a visitor.   Step 1: Creating Template, Rendering and Data source, below is the sample which I created:   Template:   Rendering:     2 Data Sources: Step 2: Set Article View Rendering on Home Page Version 1 with G...