Sitecore Developer Certification
What is the recommended version of Visual Studio for Sitecore development?
Any version that supports the .NET framework 4.0 will work for Sitecore development.
What tools can you use to install Sitecore?
Manual or zip file, EXE, Sitecore Rocks, SIM
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What additional databases are required when running xDB?
Collection Database (MongoDB), Reporting, Session State
How do you patch in changes to the <sitecore> section of web.config?
Put a .config patch file in the App_Config/Include folder
You have just created new content but you cannot see it on your live website. Why not?
You need to publish new or edited content.
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?
Keep it outside of any site structure.
What types of Visual Studio projects does Sitecore support?
ASP.NET Web Application, supporting MVC or Web Forms
How can you make your Visual Studio project portable?
By working outside the webroot
What is the difference between publishing and deploying?
Publishing copies items from the Master to Web databases while deploying copies files from your Visual Studio
project to your webroot
Name some the attributes that can be configured in the site node for a website. (think SiteDefinition.config file).
Name, host name, rootPath, startItem, language
What are some of the features of Sitecore Rocks?
Integration with Visual Studio. Creating and editing items, management tools, viewing website file system
How does Sitecore define a type of item (data schema)?
Using data templates
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What is the name of the feature that makes WCM possible in Sitecore?
Experience Management ( xManagement)
What do you need in addition to the Experience Management to take full advantage of the Sitecore Experience
Platform?
You need the Experience Database to take full advantage of the available features. It supports the Analytics
and Marketing features.
Are all items pages in a Sitecore project?
No, items that are pages have their presentation details set
To provide a rich user experience, what are some recommended practices you should use when you create
templates?
Provide default values, use user friendly names and icons, limit the use of Rich Text Editors
Where are default field values defined?
On the Template Standard Values item
Why is storing media in the Sitecore database an advantage?
It makes publishing easier because the item and the media are both published so you do not have to keep files in
sync.
What item setting needs to be specified for authors to be able to add content?
Insert options
What is the recommended practice for setting insert options?
Insert options are set on the Template Standard Values item
Describe the anatomy of a Sitecore Layout?
A code file on the file system and definition item in the content tree
How is the layout file linked to the definition item?
By the Path field on the definition item.
How do you display the contents of a field in code?
@Html.Sitecore().Field("<Field name>")
What can you use to translate fields and Help texts in the Sitecore Client?
Sitecore Dictionary entries
Which type of component would you create if you wanted to closely follow MVC patterns or invoke complex
logic?
Controller Rendering
True or False: The view should contain all the business logic.
False
What happens if allowed controls are not specified on a placeholder settings item?
In the Experience Editor, the user will be able to add any component to the placeholder.
How do you make Sitecore recognize of a controller rendering?
Create a component definition item and set the controller and controller action. Additionally, you can also set an
Area.
You want to ensure header and footer are always visible on your Main layout. Will you statically or dynamically
bind it?
Statically bind it when you need it to always appear on a layout or rendering
What is the difference between the Renderings and Final Renderings fields
The Rendering field is shared between all item versions and is used for global changes; The Final Renderings
field is not shared and stores language and version-specific changes.
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?
Create a Placeholder Settings definition item
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?
The component's Datasource Location field is filled in
How can you restrict authors to specific types of item for a component's data source?
Add the template to the component's Datasource Template field.
How are component parameters stored in the Sitecore database?
As clear text in URL query string format
What template must be used as a base template for your Parameters Template?
The Standard Rendering Parameters template
You have created a new Parameters Template. How do you ensure your component uses it?
On the component's definition item in the Parameters Template field
What are Compatible Renderings?
Components that can be exchanged or replaced with each other
What should you keep in mind when configuring Compatible Renderings?
They should be set on both components so you can exchange them. Both need to be in the Allowed Controls for
any placeholders they will appear in. They may need to share data source and parameters.
You have a component you would like cached anywhere it is used. Where would you define its cache settings?
On the component definition item in the Sitecore tree.
You have a component that you want cached on every Event Details page. Where would you define its cache
settings?
On the component on the Event Details Template Standard Values item.
Why would you want to have the languageEmbedding option set to never?
The site is not multilingual.
How would an author cause a broken link when renaming an item?
The URL is usually made using the item names. If the page was bookmarked in the browser, it will no
longer work. You will need to implement 301 redirect logic.
How would you disable .aspx being added to all URLs that are generated from Sitecore?
By changing the addAspxExtension attribute of the LinkManager
Why is it important to have friendly folder structures within your content tree?
Because they dictate the segments that are within your URL
How would you display the direct children of the Home item?
By retrieving the Home item using the Sitecore.Context.Site.StartPath.
l By invoking the GetChildren() method
What is the danger of using a method like Axes.GetDescendants()
It retrieves recursively all the children of all the children of the item. If invoked in an item near the root, it would
load the entire tree in memory, with the corresponding performance penalty
How can you skip certain items when you build the navigation?
Use LINQ to filter by template or the value of a particular field.
How can you make sure content authors do not modify or remove certain components in the Experience Editor?
By disabling the Editable field in the definition item of the component.
How would you render the content of an Image field on the website?
@Html.Sitecore().Field()
l FieldRenderer.Render()
What happens if you use one of those methods to render a Multilist field
It would render the raw value of the field: pipe-delimited GUIDs.
How would you render a Multilist field?
By retrieving its value in code and using it to create some output
What class would you use to retrieve the contents of a Treelist field?
Sitecore.Data.Fields.MultilistField
How do you get the children of an item?
Children
l .GetChildren()
In what order do child items appear by default?
Alphabetically
Why would you preferably avoid sorting items in code, for example, using LINQ?
It might confuse authors to see items appear in a different order to the order shown in the Content Editor.
What is the name of the pop-up window in the Experience Editor that can be used to edit fields that are not
editable inline?
A Field Editor
How would you enable the use of a Field Editor?
By adding a Field Editor Button to a toolbar
How would you show a toolbar in a particular part of the page?
Using an Edit Frame
How would configure the buttons shown in an Edit Frame?
By creating some definition items in the Core database
l By adding the Buttons property to the Field Editor
What is the biggest challenge when you post forms with Sitecore MVC
Having multiple controllers invoked in the same page request. Only one of them should handle the post
How do you bind a controller to deal with the post of a View Rendering?
By filling the Form Controller Name and Form Controller Action fields in the definition item of the View
Rendering
What method do you need to invoke inside a View Rendering form to ensure only its controller reacts to
the post?
Html.Sitecore().FormHandler()
Why should you not create or modify items directly on the web database?
If the changes only exist on the web database they will get lost during the next publish operation.
What three pieces of information do you require to create an item?
Name
Template
Location (parent node)
How can you run part of your code with a set of privileges different from those of the context user?
UserSwitcher
SecurityDisabler
Why does Sitecore not allow the use of certain characters in an item name?
Item names are used to form the URLs. Some characters have a special meaning in a URL.
What methods do you invoke when you begin and finish editing an item through the API?
.Editing.BeginEdit()
.Editing.EndEdit()
What two core services conform the Sitecore Services Client?
ItemService
EntityService
What is the difference between a profile card and a pattern card?
A profile card is used to profile content. It acts as a preset of profile keys and values.
l Used during personalization or contact segmentation, pattern cards define archetypes to compare with the
current profile of a contact and establish which one corresponds most closely with the interests of the visitor.
How can authors change a component through personalization?
They can change its data source, hide it, or exchange it for another component.
What do you need to do to support the use of personalization?
Componentize the page, and use data sources whenever possible
: What happens if you forget to include @Html.Sitecore().VisitorIdentification() inside the <head> of the page?
All visitors will be treated as bots and their information not stored in the xDB
How does Sitecore track a device?
Sitecore places a tracking cookie in the browser and stores a reference to this in the xDB
How does Sitecore initially identify a contact?
By using the Identify() method invoked with a suitable identifier
Why is Engagement Value so important?
It is a better metric than simply measuring traffic to evaluate the success of the site. Most Sitecore reporting
provides engagement value/visit information.
How does Sitecore calculate the engagement value?
By adding up the points assigned to all the goals triggered by the visitor
Why would you choose Solr over Lucene.net?
SOLR is a multiserver implementation of Lucene, which allows easier scaling, better language support and
allows there to be a dedicated endpoint for Search.
When should you use a Computed field?
When you need to use field data to calculate a different value to be stored in the index itself.
Why do you use an Item Bucket?
If you have a large amount of content within the content tree and need a scalable solution for authors to work
with.
How do you use Search facets?
To filter results after an initial search has been run.
What is Sitecore's security based on?
asp.net providers
What are the two types of accounts?
Users
Roles
Where are access rights stored?
Standard field on items
What happens if an access right is unspecified?
Sitecore will inherit the value from the parent item unless inheritance is disabled (denied)
What are the effective permissions of a user?
Those defined on the user, plus those defined on any role it belongs to
What role can you give access rights so that they apply to all accounts in Sitecore?
Everyone
What happens if a role denies an access right and another one allows it?
It is denied
How can you check the effective permission of an account?
Using the Access Viewer
What are the two main security best practices?
Don't set security on users
Avoid using explicit denies
Which user is bound to unauthenticated requests to the front-end website?
extranet\Anonymous
What role does a user need to be able to log in to the Sitecore back end?
Sitecore Client Users
Can you assign a user to a role from a different domain?
Yes
What are workflows made of?
States
Commands
Actions
How are workflows defined?
Through definition items under /sitecore/settings/workflow
How do you bind a particular workflow with a certain type of items?
Setting the initial workflow in the template's standard values
What is a workflow action?
An automatic side effect of invoking a command or entering a state
What are the two consequences of making a state Final?
Items in it can be published
Sitecore creates a new version when a (non-admin) user tries to edit it
What is the point of the workflow stateWrite accessright?
To override the Write Permission for an item while it is in a particular workflow state
Name the five official Sitecore Documentation Resources and their purpose
Sitecore Developer Network
Contains downloads and documentation of supported Sitecore products and modules prior to the 8.0
versions.
Sitecore Developer Portal
Download the Sitecore Experience Platform and all associated products and modules for 8.0 and beyond -
including Print Experience Manager and Sitecore Commerce.
=Sitecore Documentation
Contains all relevant documentation for the Sitecore Experience Platform and all associated products and
modules for 8.0 and beyond.
=Sitecore Knowledge Base
Contains details about known issues, problems, and common questions related to Sitecore products with
guidance to find the right solution.
= Master Sitecore YouTube channel
Contains freely available video tutorials for developers, business users, and optimization experts.
List the benefits of participating in the Sitecore Community.
=Complete sample modules can be found on the Sitecore Marketplace. You can reuse these sample modules
in your own project.
=You can get free 24/7 help from hundreds of community members around the globe, including Sitecore
employees, Sitecore Certified Developers, and MVPs.
=While contributing actively to the Sitecore Community, you can become a Sitecore MVP. This gives you all
kinds of Sitecore related benefits.
What should you do before contacting Sitecore Support?
Examine the Sitecore log files for errors and warnings.
=Compare your configs, with the Sitecore stock configs or with prior deployments.
=Search for solutions on the various official and community documentation sources.
=Run the self-test diagnostics from the Sitecore Diagnostics Toolset.
=If these solutions do not help, reproduce the issue on a clean Sitecore environment, and create a Sitecore
Support package with the diagnostics information
What do you need when contacting Sitecore Support?
Your own personal Sitecore credentials that are allowed write access to the Sitecore Support Portal.
=A valid License ID for the customer where the issue relates to. Partner License ID's should only be used for
pre-sales and R&D purposes.
=A case description on how to reproduce the issue.
=Attach relevant configuration, log and environment related files. Errors should be added as plain text files.
Who should you contact when encountering issues with Sitecore Support?
When you encounter communication, timing or access issues, you can always contact your regional sales
office
Why would you script your build process when you develop with Sitecore?
To achieve automated repeatable builds
Why is it a good to work outside the webroot when it comes to deployment?
It is easier to manage files that need to be deployed and configure deployments to multiple Sitecore
installations
Why is it a good idea to secure Sitecore before it is deployed?
The default Sitecore installation is set up for development not production, so it is set up to optimize
convenience not security
Why would you use the zip version of Sitecore to drive your scripts?
It is easier to create scripts working from a compressed version of all the necessary files to run Sitecore than a
executable wizard.
How should you persist your items in source control?
By serializing them. How they get serialized will depend on the tools you have at your disposal.
What elements should be committed to source control?
All the assets that can't be re-generated from other sources. This will include mostly your code and items.
What are the main steps involved in deploying your application?
Install Sitecore
2. Copy the assets from your solution (Views, JS, CSS, DLLs)
3. Restore serialized items (deserialization or through a package)
4. Extra steps (publishing, index rebuild)
What process is used to write database rows of Sitecore to files on disk?
Serialization
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