Updating Project Versions in Azure DevOps

We have a couple projects in DevOps that specify an incrementing build version as part of the release pipeline. The approach we have is working well and is deploying our projects with the proper version to our hosted environments. This approach, however, was causing some issues for local development and we needed a way to keep our local versions in sync with the releases. After looking into the behaviour I discovered we weren't the only ones. A quick search revealed many discussions trying to deal with this situation, and after some trial and error I was able to come up with a solution.

Optimizely CMS 12 Installation Breaking Changes for Visual Studio 2019

Last October I wrote an article to act as an addendum to the Optimizely Documentation for starting a new CMS site using CMS 12 and .NET 5. Since then there have been some updates to the documentation and the packages involved. Today I got bit by one of them because I am using Visual Studio 2019, and if you are too this might save you some trouble.

Starting a New Project with Optimizely CMS 12 and .NET Core - updated!

Optimizely recently released CMS 12 based on ASP.NET Core (now .NET 5). With it comes a slew of new changes, including how to set up a new project. To help developers get started with Optimizely CMS on the new framework, Optimizely released a guide to creating a starter project. After working through it myself and talking with a few developers I decided to write a more detailed guide with a few additional notes to better help you get going. I updated this in May 2022 with some changes based on the updated Optimizely documentation (yay!).

Validation Summary for Optimizely Forms in Non JS Mode

I recently wrote an article on how to create a Validation Summary for Optimizely Forms. The approach described in that article uses Form Client Events and Javascript to add a validation summary to the top of the form. That method is dependent on Javascript, and Forms must operate in JS mode for it to work. This article provides a different solution for use with Optimizely Forms with workInJonJSMode enabled.

Optimizely Form Container Block with Razor View

With CMS 11, Optimizely Forms display using a traditional Webform User Control (ASCX) out of the box. With all the work I have been doing with forms lately I wanted to change this behaviour to use a Razor View instead. Now that I have it working, I wanted to share it. 

Take note: as mentioned this only applies to CMS 11. With the release of CMS 12, Optimizely has rewritten Forms views to now utilize Razor, and all this work is not necessary.

Custom Optimizely Form Containers - Put the View Where You Want

Most instructions for creating a custom form block in Optimizely follow the same approach. My problem with the typical approach is that it requires a folder structure that doesn't match my solution. I use a slightly different method to allow me to move my Form Container Block rendering to my choice of folders.

Validation Summary for Optimizely Forms

I have seen requests for a method to implement a Validation Summary for Optimizely Forms, and I dealt with one myself. If you're not familiar with the idea, a Validation Summary includes all the validation messages for form fields in a summary section for easy review. This is typically found at the top of the form after you try to submit. There is no option for this functionality out of the box with Optimizely so I put it together.

The Problem with Nested Blocks and AdditionalViewData

It's not uncommon to nest blocks in Optimizely to create more controlled and complex layouts on pages. It's also sometimes necessary to provide additional data to the blocks you render. When using the PropertyFor helper this is done by specifying an additionalViewData object. However ViewData persists to nested views and this can mess up your layout. This is how to identify when this happens, and how to work around it.

Moving the DisplayTemplates Folder

Optimizely uses DisplayTemplates to provide a way to render different partials for data types. DisplayTemplates are native to ASP.Net MVC, though, and Optimizely builds upon them, for instance, by specifying a Tag. An example of this is the rendering of ContentReference properties in my articles here and here. The MVC engine defaults the location for them to "Views/Shared/DisplayTemplates". Sometimes, though, it's convenient to reference different locations, and this is how you can do that. 

Rendering ContentReference With Shared Views Using a TemplateTag

ContentReference properties provide a way to select a single item in Optimizely CMS when you don't need the featureset a ContentArea provides. However, rendering an item with a ContentReference is a bit different. I explored this a bit in my article Rendering ContentReference Properties. This post expands on this with a single DisplayTemplate that works for most content types. It builds on a similar technique using a ContentReferencePartial, and adds additional functionality using a TemplateTag.

Rendering ContentReference Properties

A ContentReference property allows you to select a single ContentData object for reference. By default, when you render these property types with the PropertyFor helper, it renders as a link for a page, or displays the name of a block. This is because the value stored is a ContentReference object, not the ContentData of the item referenced. This is one approach to render that content with a partial view.

How to Exclude or Modify Episerver Forms Samples Javascript and CSS

Optimizely Forms contains jQuery and CSS packages that are included for the Form rendering out-of-box. This isn't always desired because it can affect page performance, other styling, or it could have other side effects depending on your setup. Optimizely provides for the disabling of these files through the Forms.config file in the Forms module folder, which allows you to independently control the insertion of jQuery and CSS. However, this method is easy to break with an update. It also isn't very flexible since it's an all-or-nothing approach.

Creating Gated Content with Optimizely Forms

I recently worked on an Optimizely project where the customer wanted to serve gated content to visitors. If you're not familiar with gated content, it's where content is only available to a user that fills out a form - the form being the "gate". Gated content can be a powerful marketing tool to help capture valuable information for lead generation, or for tracking visitor statistics. 

In our case, the customer wanted to provide whitepaper downloads to visitors that provided a defined set of information. Our goal was to create this interaction using Optimizely Forms.

Hide Optimizely Form Info when Redirecting

With Optimizely Forms you have the option to redirect to a page after a complete submission. By default, Optimizely appends some form information to the URL it redirects to. This allows you to process the form submission data in any way you need to on the page it directs to, or perform an action based on what form was submitted. However, if you don't want that information in the URL you can change the behaviour.

Popup TextArea Property Editor

Inline editing in Optimizely delivers a great editor experience due to the WYSIWYG approach for content authors. Sometimes, though, the inline editing can get cumbersome. When making a bunch of edits, or editing a complex component, it can be easier to edit out of line. When working with string properties in these scenarios, I like to use a popup editing box, and this is how I do it.

Hide FormContainerBlock in Optimizely

It's easy to customize a FormContainerBlock by creating a new one inheriting from the out-of-box FormContainerBlock model. When doing this you gain the option of using the OOB container, or your new custom one. However, I have encountered numerous times when the OOB form container was no longer necessary for the project. Furthermore, attempting to use the OOB FormContainerBlock in certain areas created issues I had to account for. In several instances for me, the easiest approach was to hide the Optimizely FormContainerBlock from editors, and this is how I did it.

Optimizely Form Events using an Interface Pattern

Much like standard content items in Optimizely CMS, Forms trigger events that can be subscribed to for further customization. You typically subscribe to these events by employing an Initialization Module and attaching an event handler to process the logic you need for each event. This works well for the out-of-the-box Forms, but I have done enough customization of forms that I started employing an Interface pattern to clean it up. I use this same pattern for content events, so I thought I would share my forms approach. 

Working with SyntaxHighlighter in Blogger Simplified - Updated

I’ve been attempting to clean up my blog and make it a little more user friendly for myself and visitors, and given that it’s a blog by a developer there is bound to be a code sample or two posted on it. When I see a code sample on a site I like to be able to scroll the code block to see the full thing, or highlight sections to copy if I like. Needless to say, it’s important to display code samples properly on a blog for coding.

When I was first throwing this blog together I searched for the best approach to displaying code samples. Some people were using SyntaxHighlighter with some tweaks and troubles here and there; others said the simplest approach was to just create a GitHub Gist and copy the Gist embed URL into your post. The Gist approach seemed the simplest so I decided to go with that to start. Well, now that I tackled that with all the effort it took (none, seriously) I decided to try my hand at SyntaxHighlighter.

Stop Creating New Windows & Tabs When Debugging

By default, Visual Studio launches web applications in a new browser window when debugging. It also closes your browser window when you stop. While I prefer publishing my web applications locally, Optimizely runs well from Visual Studio, and it's easier to debug initialization modules and other items this way. However, when you want to leave the page or content open, this behaviour can get in the way. This is how you change that.

ContentArea with Groups of Personalized Content

Personalization is a powerful component in Episerver that can provide a cool, fresh, and tailored experience for users that visit your site. Leveraging different criteria and conditions in Epi, Visitor Groups provide a grouping mechanism for users to be served different content based on pages they've viewed, forms they've submitted, or campaigns they have arrived from, among various other criteria. It's a pretty nice piece of functionality that, if you haven't learned about yet, you should check out more about, here.

That said, Personalized Groups in Episerver serve content on a prioritized, top-down, first-match basis. That means a visitor is served the first matching content item that is tagged with a visitor group they're in. That also means you are limited to one piece of changing content per Personalized Group for a user. But I needed more, and here are the solutions I explored.