The story of my Helix implementations Build your

The story of my Helix implementations Build your own Habitat Presentation Discussion

My experience with Helix • Multisite with Helix architecture using Unicorn which didn’t go well (standard n-tier application with habitat build process) • Habitat module for Sitecore Hackathlon 2016 made for fun • Multisite with Helix & TDS built according to best practices • Sitecore marketplace module using Helix architecture

What is Helix Architecture Number of dependencies vs Effort

Helix Architecture Smart approach to create complex websites

First decission: TDS or Unicorn? Usually: >> In Helix: > It’s customer (budget) driven anyway…

Helix on Unicorn • Hint which item belongs to which project is great • Projects dependencies in configuration works (and can be checked globally on unicorn. aspx page)

Helix on Unicorn • Convenient deployment on local machine with Habitat gulp scripts (deploy selected layer, auto-deploy CSS, cshtml…) • Can deploy selected configuration (like only features of particular website) using unicorn. aspx. • Rainbow Code Generation is not as straightforward as TDS • Memory issues in build script, if syncing whole solution with huge numer of items: Change scripts/unicorn. js: var sync. Script =__dirname + "/Unicorn/. /Sync. ps 1 -secret " + secret + " -url " + url; var options = { cwd: __dirname + "/Unicorn/", max. Buffer: 1024 * 400 }; • Orphant items in sync directory

Helix on TDS • Even more projects - XXX. Feature. YYY, XXX. Feature. YYY. Master, XXX. Feature. YYY. Core) • Project dependencies can’t be displayed in single location (you don’t want to open every project…) • Not easy to sync selected layers or projects (only one or all). • Tds. Global. config + Deploy Solution • Sync all TDS Projects using History

Helix on TDS • Deployment is slow. Hedhehog has solution for this - use one TDS project with rules http: //www. hhog. com/blog/sitecore-helix-fxcop-rules) • Problems with namespaces in code generation • Use your own. tt files. Header Transform File: using Glass. Mapper. Sc. Fields; using Sitecore. Data …. using Smart. Sitecore. Foundation. Page. Base. Models; //location of Glass. Base class • Github sample without code gen and it’s not as supported as Unicorn code. No gulp tasks usage – need to modify the one for Unicorn. • Anyway works surprisingly good

CI/CD deployment of Helix with Unicorn Code • Standard way with Web Deploy or Octopus. If you keep the convention easy to deploy single site only in multisite solution (because of folders separation). Items via Unicorn • Copy. yml from selected folders to synchronization directory on the server (possible via nuget package, or Octopus) • Automatic sync of selected configuration (layer or project) with Octopus script: https: //www. sitecorenutsbolts. net/2016/03/14/Octopus-Deploy-Stepfor-Unicorn-Sync/

CI/CD deployment of Helix with TDS Code • Same as Unicorn Items via TDS • Aggregation project to improve performance and remove not needed content items. It will create single. update package file. • Deploy as usual with Sitecore Package Deployer or Sitecore. Ship • Nuget package with items:

Developer/Architect’s Helix Concerns

Is it a Feature or Foundation? • If you know all the details at startup, plan it. • If not don’t care too much, it can be refactored easily.

Component = Feature? Feature may be something bigger than single component

But if… Feature depends on another feature Split it, instead of moving whole feature to foundation layer, just because other features have reference to it.

More tips • Avoid too atomic features – you will end with hundreds of. csproj • If you place too much code in Foundation, it become Feature (remember: Foundation = stable code) • Document your projects (after 3 months you may not remember what is your 58 th project about) • All official samples are without Solr, Glass. Mapper and autogenerated model classes

Other Benefits of Helix architecture • Code merging (for fans of merging TDS. csproj with hundreds of items) • Build your VS templates for your projects or use https: //marketplace. visualstudio. com/items? item. Name=Anders. Laublaubp lusco. Sitecore. Helix. Visual. Studio. Templates • Architecture is well known, easier onboarding proces for new developers

Implementing helixed sitecore module • Architecture is great for this • Single Feature or Foundation. csproj = Module • Looks good on your github

Thanks! Tomasz Juranek http: //smartsitecore. com https: //www. linkedin. com/in/tjuranek USA HQ Toll Free: 866 -687 -3588 Tel: +1 -512 -516 -8880 Ukraine HQ Tel: +380 -32 -240 -9090 Bulgaria Tel: +359 -2 -902 -3760 Poland Tel: +48 -71 -382 -2800 Germany Tel: +49 -69 -2602 -5857 UK Tel: +44 -207 -544 -8414 Netherlands Tel: +31 -20 -262 -33 -23 EMAIL info@softserveinc. com WEBSITE: www. softserveinc. com