Category: Info

LG G3 Personal Review


Finally the new phonehas arrived!

First glance, the phone was nice. Then I tried to install the battery and it was really light.

Camera is good enough. Though, you know, phone didn’t use optical zoom and it makes the image blurred when you zoom. The processor is quite fast. It is compatible with the RAM. Tried to run dual screen with games and itran nicely.

I only stuck on SIM card and SD card placement. Only to save space and make this phone really slim, you have to take the battery out first then replace your SIM/SD card.

Overall, nice and worth to buy. What comes to my mind is that, this will be my small machine for the next 4 or 5 years.

Sitecore – When You Are Not The Super User


Again I interact with Sitecore. This time because the project (still the same as before) is published in other server (not our server) and we have so limited access to it, I took liberty to create a small “Admin Panel”-like place for my client to get the data they need.

The basic requirement is simple. Our client just want to see the list of users that have been registered in their web. Before this page is exist, we tried to look on the after registration page through google analytics. Then it will cause us a lot of time and a lot of effort with a minimal result. Then the requirement come and as I have written earlier, they want to see the list of users.

The main thing in list of users must be email address, username, and registration date. The hardest yet still easy part to get is the registration date of every user. Basically, sitecore CMS automatically saved the registration date of every user. But, only those who are allowed that can see it in the back end. Since I am not the super admin, I made some modification on the way my users register. Using the code below, I can record the date of register.

newUser.Profile.SetCustomProperty("registerDate", DateTime.Now.ToString());

On the “Admin Panel” then use the code below.

List<User> listUser = Sitecore.Security.Accounts.UserManager.GetUsers().Where(o => o.Name.ToLowerInvariant().StartsWith("YourDomainName\\") && !o.Name.ToLowerInvariant().Contains("anonymous")).ToList();

aRepeater.DataSource = listUser;
aRepeater.DataBind();

Well, It is quite easy. But it bug me quite a short time to figure that up. The bad thing is that the custom property can only contains string. Means we can really use the date time easily. If you encounter the same requirement, please create the custom property from the start. Why? Because it is needed for the user custom property data to be recorded from the start. If you have already create a registration and encounter the same problem as me, doing the same method, then handle your exceptions well.

This custom property on user is quite useful too. One can store some things inside, as long as it is a string. Well, if you have other way to access it, then please share it 🙂

Sitecore – Shortening URL (for Your SEO Sake)


Hello, all! Tonight seems like the time for me to unleash what I have discovered during my time of blogging-hibernation. Earlier, I talked about WURFL and sitecore’s default way to detect device, now I talk about the way to shorten URL in Sitecore. This way bug me off and I left my question in stackoverflow left unanswered.

I am really aware that there is a default way for Sitecore to perform such task. What I found is my URL is really long and my boss is quite angry for it mess the SEO. Below is the default way.

UrlOptions opt = (UrlOptions)UrlOptions.DefaultOptions.Clone();
opt.SiteResolving = Sitecore.Configuration.Settings.Rendering.SiteResolving;
linkToResep.NavigateUrl = LinkManager.GetItemUrl(citem, opt);

Now, as you see, you need to configure the config too. So that it will shorten the URL as you wish. You can look on my question for detail.

I got various answers from kind people in my question, but, I still having trouble in it. So I am enlightened when my boss said that in PHP we can regex match something. Well, yeah! I will use regex to remove those long link!

As default we know that Sitecore LinkManager will produce a long link that contains /sitecore/content/sites/yoursite/ to access your items. Well, it seem so suck to the SEO. Then we should remove it. Below is how.

  1. Create a link using Sitecore.Links.LinkManager.GetItemURL(myItem). The output will be used as a parameter to my method that will shorten the url.
  2. Create a method that will receive a link and will shorten it for sure. I suggest you to create a helper class that will contain all functions and helpful methods that you need in many classes. 
    public static string ShortenURL(string URLToShorten)
{
    return Regex.Replace(URLToShorten,@"sitecore/content/sites/[\w]{1,}/","");
}
  3. The call will be like below. 
    yourHyperLinkObject.NavigateUrl = your.helper.ShortenURL(Sitecore.Links.LinkManager.GetItemURL(myItem));

Well, I tested it already, and thank you to the regexpal that ease my testing.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on! That easy? Yes. Why I didn’t find it out so quickly? Well, people, I didn’t think out of the box. I was when I found this out through my boss’ words about PHP. Okay, problem solved? Not yet! Look on the title, for your SEO sake. We just shorten the URL and not finished optimizing the SEO.

If you are Sitecore developer, then you must have known that you can access your site using both yourdomain.com/sitecore/content/sites/yoursitename/youritemname and yourdomain.com/youritemname. Okay, you knew it already, then what about it. As soon as I can shorten the URL, my boss feel relieved, and he asked whether the old long link still accessible or not. I said, yes. He panicked!

What must I do, first, you need to add canonical to your site tag. The canonical will contains the long link. Second, if you must, you need to put a redirection whenever someone is trying to access the long link to the correct short link.

Using this, well, your SEO is getting better and not screwed up a lot. I hope this is useful to you all folks! Please feel free to comment 🙂

Sitecore – WURFL or Sitecore Device Default Detection


Hi all! I return from my long blogging-hibernation. Lately, I encounter a little problem with mobile detection in Sitecore. Before that, yes, I am still working on the website of my company’s client and yes, though I really tired of this Sitecore stuffs, I still feel so curious about it. I hope through this post, you can find the best way to choose for your Sitecore site in detecting device.

As we know, WURFL is a powerful tool that makes your web page suit the device that opens it. We also know that Sitecore is powerful enough to let the developers set a different look and feel for a different device. I thanked so much to my client for they have provided us, the developers a good-customized-WURFL-system. Our client, that is mainly based in the continent far away customized the 51Degree to suit their needs. I don’t want to write how to do such because greater people than me have written about it in their blog (example: the great mentor – at least for me – Alex’s blog.)

Then using the module that our client have made, we can differentiate the site look and feel on various devices. Well, for now, we just differ between mobile, tablet, and our beloved big screen computer. Well, it works just great. Our client make a fine module and I like it! Well, somehow there is a problem, what if the device have a different user agent and that user agent is not registered, yet? Also the update can be automatically done.

In contrast, you know that most of the devices have a common thing in their user agent. Really? What is it? For example, there will be words like “mobile”, “Blackberry”, “Android”, “iP”, etc. You can add the devices and don’t have to write a module like what my client have done. It can detect automatically, and easily. Really? Yes. So, I tried this, too! The result is just great! Fine and really nice. The goodness is that you can detect most of devices easily because they “must have something in common” on their user agent. What’s the disadvantage? If you add a new device, well, be sure to update all of the items in your Sitecore, which can be so many even though you only update the default value of the template.

In the last two paragraphs, it shows like I am telling you that Sitecore default device detection using user agent is a classic way that cost us more effort than using the WURFL way to detect device. Well, I’m afraid I have to say that is true. Since 51Degree offers a free lite package to use, we can just create a module that will need to be updated once or twice for a long time. We don’t have to really create a new device and trouble us with all the task to assign the layouts and sub-layouts to our Sitecore items.

Well, it is up to you to choose. But I am sure there are more things to consider than just what I wrote in here. Be free to comment.

May, 29 2013 update:
For some reason, the device detection system on my local is having problem. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it don’t. I tried to check the values of IsMobile and width (these two rules are those who are used in detecting mobile device in my project). It shows values that match the rule, but somehow it keeps showing the default layout setting from Sitecore. Will update on the way to prevent it.

Orchard – Slow?


Hello! I’m back!

Lately there was an issue related to a site that I have published. It was using Orchard 1.4.1 and it is (the client think) is slow. I am confused for the first when I face the issue. “It is running so fast in my computer!”, I said. But then it was a client and of course, they didn’t accept such reason.

Then I began to browse for the solutions and I got some as described below.

  1. Maintain the server performance (IIS) on this Orchard documentation, I found that some steps may be taken. Managing App Pool Recycle can be useful too. 🙂
  2. Updating your Orchard. This discussion clearly describe that updating orchard can make the site runs faster.
  3. I reference back to the first link. Removing the unused modules. I was using Disqus for the website’s comment system. What I got is a complaint from the client for their web is so slow. I can’t blame them for the slow connection. Disqus load outside files and data. Then I try to calm them down using normal comment from Orchard and it runs a bit faster. Well, not quite a good decision for I have to implement some more functions so that the Orchard.Comments will act like Disqus. Fool indeed.

That’s the three maintenance that I have done. I think the site runs quite faster now. I hope they like it.

Module


Hello all! Now I am working as a real programmer in a digital agency company. Well, I work with CMS and it’s not like I only put the contents into the web. I work on the programming part. Creating the blog using a certain CMS, then adding modules needed in it. I am currently working with .NET, ASP, MVC, and of course C#.

Well. I got my first task. Build a module to upload an image on a blog that use MVC. Quite easy I think. So as usual, I create the model, then controller, then view. When I code, all seems right. All seems well. No error on the first compilation. But what happened next is unbelievable. My module is not detected. Even the controller is not known by the CMS! I was like “WHAT THE HELL!!!”

Then I asked my friend and he said that there is some convention in writing a module for the CMS. I have to make this file and that file. I have to make sure it is well written and many more! Okay. I follow. The module shows up. But where’s my controller? Why did every time I tried to access it, it will give me 404 error? How could it cannot be found?! It is so annoying, very annoying to use a CMS like this I think.

What I am trying to say is that in building an additional module for an existing software, we have to follow the regulation. Use this and that. Put that somewhere and that. Then we may create and add the module properly.

But also for those who like to create CMS, create a well documented code and documentation. Well, we can put some comments on top of the method and create a full explaining document and step by step guide. Because it is so tiring to read the codes then follow the flows only to understand how it works.

Have a good Sunday everyone!