• Visitor Groups and personalized content
• On Page Edit is cross browser compatible (not only available for IE)
• New AutoSaveRepository to handle drafts unsaved pages.
• New InUseNotificationRepository used to warn editors that someone is working with a page.
• Much easier to create and register Dynamic Content as a developer and an editor can change values easier and preview it.

And a few smaller things…

• New namespace EPiServer.Framework.CssParsing and EPiServer.Framework.HtmlParsing with public classes.
• new Geolocation and database in EPiServer.Framework.Personalization
• Virtual Roles moved to EPiServer.Framework
• EPiServer’s InitializationModule will forward HttpModule initialization and the HttpApplication to all modules with both IInitializableModule and IInitializableHttpModule interface. An easy way to setup events without having to mess with own http module registration in web.config.
• Most methods in UserControlBase are now virtual like in PageBase so you can override them.
• PageBase now has a GetPage method with language selector parameter.
• Dope is obsolete and renamed to OnPageEdit
• DataFactory.Copy is now delegated to an interface (IPageCopyHandler) so you can override the behavior
• New method DataFactory.GetPages(IList<PageReference> pageLinks, ILanguageSelector selector)
• UrlRewriteEventArgs used by UrlRewriterModule has a new property ForceRewriteHtml that overrides the existing Cancel property.
• New interface IPermanentLinkMapper exposed on UrlRewriteProvider that can be used instead of accessing PermanentLinkMapStore class directly.
• Several new nice extension methods for FindControl (typed and recursively) in EPiServer.Web.ControlExtensions.
• PropertyDataControl has a new property CustomTagName that change rendering in view mode from a Label using span to a HtmlControl with the tag specified in CustomTagName and creating child controls in view mode is controlled with virtual method ShouldCreateDefaultControls.
• PropertyDataControl has a new CopyWebAttributes method that supports HtmlControls and not only WebControls.
• MultipleOptionsListSettings is a new settings class with UI to enter name and value pairs used by the new properties PropertyCheckBoxList and PropertyDropDownList.
• You can now set default language for a site in EPiServerFramwork.config and get the value with ContentLanguage.GetDefaultHostLanguage()

  <add name="*" language="en" />

• New filter: FilterReplacementLanguage
• TinyMCE editor is initialized using the new CssParser that extract styles from editor css files like the old editor. The name of the style is extracted from the dummy css attribute EditMenuName like in earlier but since this is done server side it can be translated (below editorstyleoptions node). Read more in Linus blog post
• DynamicContentPlugInAttribute can be used to register Dynamic Content without messing with web.config. Use ViewUrl parameter for User Controls can be used to register user controls.
• New namespace EPiServer.Core.Html.StringParsing with public classes that handles the different elements of rich text (static text, url, dynamic content, vistor group content)
• LanguageSelector and related classes are refactored (and probably works better but different). Read more in a blog post from Linus.

Update: Do not try to change collation order in the database! Use this approach instead to sort pages in the page tree in EPiServer CMS 5.

Sort order: Alphabetical

Easy Solution To Child Page Sort Order in EPiServer

1) Easiest way to fix sorting is to change the Collation order of the Name column in the tblPageLanguage table.

different sort order depending on the current culture

The easy solution only allows one common sort order for the entire database and that might not be good enough for multi lingual sites.

2) You can solve this for the whole site by hooking the event DataFactory.FinishedLoadingChildren and resorting the pages. Remember that this event is called every time you call GetChildren() and the result is not cached.

3) Another way is to solve it locally is to use the FilterSort class on you PageDataCollection or setting the SortOrder property on you PageList.

Make sure that you read up on how the authentication, location and authorization-tags works in web.config before you try to understand security in EPiServer CMS.

Check list for ASP.NET security

• MachineKey – Always add a machinekey-tag to your web.config-file. Use this online tool to generate the MachineKey.
• Authentication – I almost always use ASP.NET Forms authentication because it gives you the most flexibility. This is all you need and I always set timeout high to get the “Remember Me”-checkbox to work as expected. Sometimes I also use the defaultUrl-attribute to control what happens after login.

  <authentication mode="Forms">
    <forms loginUrl="Util/login.aspx" defaultUrl="/"
      timeout="129600" />
  </authentication>

• Membership and RoleProvider – Configures how a username and password is validated and how to retrieve what groups a user is a member of.
• Authorization – EPiServer uses authorization tags together with location tags to control access to physical folders like the EPiServer user interface.

Select Security PROVIDERS

Select the right providers for your site:

• SqlMembershipProvider and SqlRoleProvider from Microsoft stores username, password and group membership in a SQL database. EPiServer is preconfigured with the needed tables so you can just start using them by changing defaultProvider-attribute.
• WindowsMembershipProvider and WindowsRoleProvider from EPiServer enabled forms login but with windows credentials. This is the default provider for a new installation. A big limitation if an editor needs to work with Access Control is that Window Users and Groups are only synchronized when a user log on. So it is not possible to add rights to a user before it has logged in at least one time and the security admin tool shows cached data for who is a member of a group.
• ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider from Microsoft and ActiveDirectoryRoleProvider from EPiServer. Tries to workaround the problem with cached Users and Groups by talking directly to the Active Directory. I have personally have had a lot of issues with exceptions from the Active Directory providers and trouble to get it to work in a DMZ. They are also sensitive to interruptions if the LDAP server is not available. I recommend to use WindowsMembershipProvider if possible since it also uses the local machine as a cache.
• MultiplexingMembershipProvider and MultiplexingRoleProvider from EPiServer forwards the requests to a list of providers and this enables you to combine both SQL and Windows accounts.

TIPS – IF you Can not login with your Windows Account

EPiServer WindowsMembershipProvider does not work if you try to login with a domain account but do your machine does not have a working connection to your Domain Controler.

Workaround by creating a local account that is a member of the local administrators group.

Tips – Use a local group to optimize and handle Groups in groups

EPiServer WindowsRoleProvider uses queries that only retrieve a list of groups you are a member of directly. It does not discover if you indirectly are a member of group through another group.

This is quite annoying and and AD-admin get something sad in their eyes if you suggest that you should not use groups in groups.

Workaround this by creating a local group on the web server and add the AD group that is using groups in groups. WindowsRoleProvider will see that you are a direct member of the local group.

This technique can also be useful if a lot of different AD-groups should have the same access in EPiServer. The reason is that EPiServer stores one row in a table for each access control entry for each EPiServer page and directory in VPP.

It could simplify your web.config if you do not have to maintain a long list group names for edit and admin mode access. (EPiServer 6 has a new feature that takes care of this.)

Break in to an EPiServer site

Forgot the password? Only got ftp-access? Do not worry, as long as you have the right to change web.config you can always break in!

You need to comment out all “<deny users="*" />” in web.config and then it is possible to access edit and admin mode without authentication.

I suggest that you reset your password or create a new account in admin mode and turn on security as fast as possible!

Notice that you must login to be able to edit pages.

Access Rights for pages and uploaded files

EPiServer has the following Access Rights that can be set per page. You can also set access right for files in the File Manager.

• Read – Let’s you see the page or download the file.
• Create – Allows you to create child pages that will inherit the same ACL as the parent, upload new files or create directories.
• Change – Allows you to save a new version of a page and mark it ready to publish. You can also check in a new version of an existing files.
• Delete – Allows you to move a page to the wastebasket or delete it permanently. You can delete files and directories.
• Publish – Allows you to change and publish pages. Not applicable on files.
• Administer – Allows you to change the ACL for this page or directory as an editor and change dynamic properties on this page (and indirectly all children)

Users with access to admin mode can always change access control lists and do not need Administer right.

Notice that you can only set Access Rights per directory and not on individual files.

Page Files are special. Each page can have its own page folder and files uploaded to this directory have the same availability as the page. So if the page is not publish – no one can access the files in the page folder except editors. Very convenient since scheduled publishing also affects the files!

The same happens when the page is moved to the waste basket. No one can access the files in the page folder than editors. This is a common cause for broken images and links to document when editors copy and paste pages. If you delete the original page, no one can access the images its page folder!

Tips for Access Right configuration

If you follow these guidelines it will be much easier to administer access.

• Avoid giving users access rights directly. Always add roles (groups) and make users members of these instead.
• Never give WebEditors group any access rights (except on small sites where you are not going to use Access Rights at all). This roles is intended as a master switch if you have access to edit mode or not.
• Give the virtual role “Creator” the right to change and delete pages if you setup a site with writers and an editors-in-chief that publish pages. It will save a lot of maintenance work when writers makes mistakes.
• Using role names with both location and role will simplify when you administer who is a member of what, i.e. pressrelease_writer, pressrelease_publisher, startpage_editor, article_writer, blog_admin

EPiServer uses EPiServer.DataAbstraction.SoftLink for this feature and all links to files, other EPiServer pages and external urls are stored here every time you publish a page.

It is also worth to notice that EPiServer built-in keyword table that is used for text searching pages also is updated during publish.

Corrupt data = Broken Links

The index can be corrupt or out of sync and then it is possible to delete a file or a page without getting a warning that it has incoming links. Text search can also fail or return wrong data.

I have seen this very often after a migration from EPiServer CMS 4. EPiServer CMS 4 databases tends to have really poor data for soft links.

The index is updated when you publish a page with a delay controled by indexingDelayAfterPublish setting. If the delay it is very large and the application restarts before the page is indexed, neither soft links or keywords will be updated.

How to repair EPiServer CMS soft link and keyword index

I have created an admin tool that we always run after migration from EPiServer 4 and also if we want to repair the index if the settings has been strange.

You sould set indexingDelayAfterPublish to a very large delay during the time you run the tool because if you try to use LaxyIndexer.IndexPage() in more than one thread at the same time you are guaranteed to get deadlocks or get other strange SQL exceptions sooner or later.

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException:Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint ‘PK_tblPageKeyword’. Cannot insert duplicate key in object ‘dbo.tblPageKeyword’.

Example code

[GuiPlugIn(DisplayName = "Reindex pages", Description = "Tool to index keywords and soft links", Area = PlugInArea.AdminMenu, Url = "~/Common/FixIndexing.aspx")]
public partial class FixIndexing : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    private static readonly ILog log;
    private static long QueueLength;
    private static long IndexedPages;
    private static DateTime Started = DateTime.MinValue;
    private static readonly Queue<PageData> Queue = new Queue<PageData>();
    private static object LockRoot = new object();

    static FixIndexing()
    {
        log = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(FixIndexing));
    }

    protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnLoad(e);
        UpdateStatus();
    }

    private void UpdateStatus()
    {
        long q = Interlocked.Read(ref QueueLength);
        long n = Interlocked.Read(ref IndexedPages);
        if (Started != DateTime.MinValue)
        {
            StatusLabel.Text = string.Format("Started: {0}  Indexed pages: {1}  Queue: {2}", Started, n, q);
        }
        FixPageSoftLinkButton.Enabled = q <= 0;
    }

    protected void FixPageSoftLinkButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        log.Info("Start LazyIndex of all pages!");
        Started = DateTime.Now;
        ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(ThreadProc);
        UpdateStatus();
    }

    // This thread procedure performs the task.
    static void ThreadProc(Object stateInfo)
    {
        if (!Monitor.TryEnter(LockRoot)) return; //Job was already running
        try
        {
            IndexedPages = 0;
            PageData page;
            Queue.Enqueue(DataFactory.Instance.GetPage(PageReference.RootPage, LanguageSelector.MasterLanguage()));
            Interlocked.Increment(ref QueueLength);
            while ((page = Queue.Dequeue()) != null)
            {
                Interlocked.Decrement(ref QueueLength);
                try
                {
                    log.Debug(string.Format("Indexing page {0}:{1}...", page.PageLink.ID, page.PageName));
                    LazyIndexer.IndexPage(page.PageLink.ID);
                    Interlocked.Increment(ref IndexedPages);
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    int id = (stateInfo as PageData) != null ? ((PageData)stateInfo).PageLink.ID : -1;
                    log.Error(string.Format("Error while indexing {0}", id), ex);
                }
                try
                {
                    PageDataCollection pages = DataFactory.Instance.GetChildren(page.PageLink, LanguageSelector.MasterLanguage());
                    log.Debug(string.Format("Done indexing page {0}. Adding {1} children to Queue...", page.PageLink.ID, pages.Count));
                    foreach (PageData data in pages)
                    {
                        Queue.Enqueue(data);
                        Interlocked.Increment(ref QueueLength);
                    }
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    int id = (stateInfo as PageData) != null ? ((PageData)stateInfo).PageLink.ID : -1;
                    log.Error(string.Format("Error while adding children for {0}", id), ex);
                }

            }
        }
        finally
        {
            Monitor.Exit(LockRoot);
        }

    }

}

Index as Scheduled task

Another way to use the code above is to just add an Execute() method that calls ThreadProc and register it as a Scheduled Job plug-in.

• Register at world.episerver.com with your work email address.
• Start by downloading and installing "EPiServer CMS 5 R2 SP2" plus SDK on a machine with Visual Studio 2008 and IIS installed.

  See the installation instructions that are linked on the download page.

• You generate demo licenses here: license.episerver.com
• Learn more in the Getting-Started section by watching video presentations and reading articles and tutorials.
• Take the basic developer training for EPiServer CMS (E2550).
• Get certified as EPiServer Developer after you have participated in 2-3 EPiServer projects. Read my certification tips.

This is very important to setup if you have more than one web server or an enterprise site with several start pages because if it does not invalidate cache, the other web sites can potentially return old versions of a page!

Pitfall – Default configuration is using Multicast UDP!

If you read Configuring EPiServer CMS 5 R2 SP2 Enterprise you will learn that all you have to do is to set enableRemoteEvents="true" in web.config.

It is only mentioned briefly that it is using UDP and you may have to change your firewall settings. Too be more specific the default configuration is using multicast UDP broadcast! Tell this to your network guys and watch their reaction…

If you look around you will also find a tech note about the Event Management System Specification and a FAQ about setting up a server to use TCP protocol but not all clues needed are found there – you have to dig with the reflector to find out the rest.

Scenario: 4 start pages, 8 Front-end servers IN DMZ and 2 in LAN

You can change how the Event Management System communicates by changing WCF settings in web.config. It is possible to use TCP instead of UDP and also specify ports to use.

First, the current release (5 R2 SP2) does not support WCF Port Sharing so we need one port opened in the firewall for each start page (that is when you have several siteSettings-tags in web.config).

In our case we need to get four ports (for example port 13000-13003) opened in the firewall for TCP traffic between servers in DMZ and LAN.

Use the sample configuration below as a template to get it to work. In production I suggest using configSource-attribute in web.config to keep the WCF-settings in separate files.

Web.Config

<system.serviceModel>
  <services configSource="system.serviceModel.services.config" />
  <client configSource="system.serviceModel.client.config" />
  <behaviors>
    <serviceBehaviors>
      <behavior name="DebugServiceBehaviour">
        <!--TODO: the option should be only in test environment true in the production should be false-->
        <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
      </behavior>
    </serviceBehaviors>
  </behaviors>
  <bindings>
    <netTcpBinding>
      <binding name="RemoteEventsBinding">
        <security mode="None" />
      </binding>
    </netTcpBinding>
  </bindings>
</system.serviceModel>

system.serviceModel.services.config

Use this to configure WCF Services (listens to incoming messages). Setup one service for each EPiServer site-tag.

• Name should be unique.
• Name must be the value of episerver/sites[siteid] plus "/EPiServer.Events.Remote.EventReplication", i.e. if siteId is “sss.se” then name should be “sss.se/EPiServer.Events.Remote.EventReplication”.
• Each site must use a diffrent port in services/service/endpoint[address].
• Use "localhost" in the address attribute to bind to all NIC on the machine.

<services>
  <service name="sss.se/EPiServer.Events.Remote.EventReplication" behaviorConfiguration="DebugServiceBehaviour">
    <endpoint name="RemoteEventServiceEndPoint" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://localhost:13000/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  </service>
  <service name="sss.no/EPiServer.Events.Remote.EventReplication" behaviorConfiguration="DebugServiceBehaviour">
    <endpoint name="RemoteEventServiceEndPoint" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://localhost:13001/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  </service>
  <service name="sss.dk/EPiServer.Events.Remote.EventReplication" behaviorConfiguration="DebugServiceBehaviour">
    <endpoint name="RemoteEventServiceEndPoint" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://localhost:13002/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  </service>
  <service name="sss.com/EPiServer.Events.Remote.EventReplication" behaviorConfiguration="DebugServiceBehaviour">
    <endpoint name="RemoteEventServiceEndPoint" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://localhost:13003/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  </service>
</services>

system.serviceModel.client.config

And each server that changes the content must also be aware of where to send notifications so we must list all servers and websites.

• Name should be unique.
• It is better if address contains IP-addresses than hostnames.
• There should be one endpoint for each website on a server where port number matches the ports used in the services/service/endpoint[address].

<client>
  <!-- SERVER1 -->
  <endpoint name="sss.se-SERVER1" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://SERVER1:13000/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  <endpoint name="sss.no-SERVER1" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://SERVER1:13001/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  <endpoint name="sss.dk-SERVER1" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://SERVER1:13002/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  <endpoint name="sss.com-SERVER1" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://SERVER1:13003/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  <!-- SERVER2 -->
  <endpoint name="sss.se-SERVER2" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://SERVER2:13000/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  <endpoint name="sss.no-SERVER2" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://SERVER2:13001/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  <endpoint name="sss.dk-SERVER2" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://SERVER2:13002/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  <endpoint name="sss.com-SERVER2" contract="EPiServer.Events.ServiceModel.IEventReplication" bindingConfiguration="RemoteEventsBinding" address="net.tcp://SERVER2:13003/RemoteEventService" binding="netTcpBinding" />
  <!-- Repeat pattern above for all other servers and sites -->
</client>

Good luck! And let me know if this helps you or if you get stuck…

Credits to Petter Klang at EPiServer Support and Shahram Shahinzadeh on the backend dev team that has been helping us out.

How does EPiServer validate the ip-address?

The code to check is quite simple. It is using the DNS service to lookup the name of the computer and then lookup all ip-addresses for that computer name.

foreach (IPAddress address in Dns.GetHostEntry(Dns.GetHostName()).AddressList)
{
    if (!IPAddress.IsLoopback(address) && this._ip.Equals(address))
    {
        this._isValid = true;
    }
}

Troubleshooting License Exception  

A quick test is to add a small debug.aspx file to find out what values are returned.

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true"  %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd
 ">
<script runat="server">

    protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        foreach (System.Net.IPAddress address in System.Net.Dns.GetHostEntry(System.Net.Dns.GetHostName()).AddressList)
        {
            ListBox1.Items.Add(address.ToString()+ "-" + System.Net.IPAddress.IsLoopback(address).ToString());
        }
    }
</script>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml
 " >
<head runat="server"><title></title></head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <h1>Check IP-addresses</h1>
    <p>Current host name: <%= System.Net.Dns.GetHostName() %></p>
    <div>
        <asp:ListBox ID="ListBox1" runat="server"></asp:ListBox>
        <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" onclick="Button1_Click" Text="Test" />
    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Resolution to LicenseException in this case

Running the test aboved showed us that the IP-address returned was the loopback address 127.0.0.1 instead of the computers ip-address.

Since this setup is an enterprise site with a lot of diffrent host names pointing to diffrent start pages the local hosts-file (at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts) was edited and all known host names was added pointing to 127.0.0.1 to make it possible to test. One entry was accidentally added with the machine name and when we removed that line everything started to work!

As you might know a Page Version can have VersionStatus Not Ready (CheckedOut), Ready To Publish (CheckedOut), Published and Previously Published. Since you in almost all cases are only interested in the published version most methods in DataFactory class only returns PageData objects with the published version.

Get unpublished pages and pages not in current language branch

GetPage() and GetChildren() returns page(s) published in the current language. You always have to use in a ILanguageSelector if you want to get PageData for another Language Branch than the current language branch.

PageDataCollection pages =
  DataFactory.Instance.GetChildren(
    CurrentPage.PageLink,  LanguageSelector.AutoDetect(true));

This will retrieve all children the same way as the Page Tree in the Structure Tab in Edit Mode. If there is no published version in the Current Content Language it will return PageData for the Master Langauge Branch, regardless of Publish Status.

Saving a page without publishing it

It is easy to create a new page and not publish it. This can be used for moderation where an Editor uses the publish button in Edit mode to approve.

PageData page = DataFactory.Instance.GetDefaultPageData(
                  rootpage.PageLink, "My Page Type");
page.PageName = "New Page";
DataFactory.Instance.Save(page, SaveAction.CheckIn,
                          AccessLevel.NoAccess);

SaveAction.CheckIn will make you page Ready to Publish.

Access Rights

Even if the current your is not an Editor you may give them Edit access rights to their pages.  It is very easy to add access rights for the current user after the page is saved. Note that all existing access right on the parent page will be inherited as usual.

PageAccessControlList acl = new PageAccessControlList(page.PageLink);
acl.Add(new AccessControlEntry(
          Membership.GetUser().UserName,
          AccessLevel.Read | AccessLevel.Edit | AccessLevel.Create | AccessLevel.Delete,
          SecurityEntityType.User));
acl.Save();

It is also easy to filter a collection and remove pages you should not be able to change.

new FilterAccess(AccessLevel.Edit).Filter(pages);

Another approach is to show the page but maybe disable the edit button.

bool canChange = page.QueryDistinctAccess(AccessLevel.Edit);

Page Versions and Unpublished Pages

Property Values for the Published Version of a Page is stored in different tables in the database than all other versions of the page. You need something called WorkID in your PageReference to load other versions of a page than the published version.

WARNING! Last time I checked GetPage() and GetPages() returned skeleton PageData objects, where all user defined properties are null, for unpublished pages if you did not have a WorkID.

This is an example of how you have to use PageVersion class to retrieve a list of all versions of a page. Each PageVersion has a PageReference with both PageID and WorkID. 

public static PageData GetLastVersion(PageReference pageRef)
{
    PageVersionCollection pageVersions = PageVersion.List(pageRef);
    PageReference lastVersion = pageVersions[0].ID;
    foreach (PageVersion pageVersion in pageVersions)
    {
        if (pageVersion.IsMasterLanguageBranch)
        {
            lastVersion = pageVersion.ID;
        }
    }
    return DataFactory.Instance.GetPage(lastVersion,
             LanguageSelector.AutoDetect(true));
}

When you have a PageReference with WorkID you can use it with GetPage() to retrieve other versions of a Page. Using and a LanguageSelector with fallback to Master Language is required to get around the filter.

Update a page without creating a new version

Sometimes you want to change a PageData object without creating a new version. In the example below UpdatePageFromForm copies values from text boxes to the page. If a value has changed it will be saved.

page = GetLastVersion(pageRef).CreateWritableClone();
UpdatePageFromForm(page);
if (page.IsModified)
{
    SaveAction saveAction = SaveAction.CheckIn;
    if (page.Status != VersionStatus.Published)
    {
        // Update existing version if it is not published
        saveAction = saveAction | SaveAction.ForceCurrentVersion;
    }
    DataFactory.Instance.Save(page, saveAction);
}

That’s all for now folks!

Please, leave a comment if you learned something. It is good for my blogging morale to know that someone got helped…

#1: Inline Expressions with Code Render Blocks

Using inline expressions is a shortcut for calling the Write method.

Example – DONT:

<h2><%= CurrentPage.PageName %></h2>
<img src="<%= CurrentPage["ImageUrl"] %>" alt="<%= CurrentPage["MainIntro"] %>" />
<div class="mainarea">

     <%= CurrentPage["MainBody"] %>
</div>

Since xhtml is just text, writing some more in-between existing static blocks is fast and simple. Probably the easiest way to inject dynamic content but it is also dangerous!

Example – DO always use HtmlEncode:

<h2><%= HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(CurrentPage.PageName) %></h2>

What happens if our PageName property contains a “<” or “&” character in the example above? Your page will not validate and you risk that it breaks down. It can also be exposed to script injection if the content is user generated.

To be on the safe side you should always call HttpUtility.HtmlEncode on all strings that you inject with inline expressions.

Example – DO always use a fallback for src-attributes

<img src="<%= CurrentPage["ImageUrl"] ?? "/Missing.png" %>" />

If your ImageUrl property is empty you would get a img-tag with an empty src-attribute. This can lead to the page being rendered twice. FireFox interpret a null src-attribute a relative url and evaluate it using the page url as base returning the same url.

#2: With EPiServer:Property web control

Using the EPiServer Property Web Controls instead of inline expressions has several benefits. It could be used for rendering the PageName and MainBody in the example above.

Example – DO use EPiServer:Property web control

<h2><EPiServer:Property PropertyName="PageName" runat="server" /></h2>
<EPiServer:Property CssClass="mainarea" PropertyName="MainBody" runat="server" />

1) When rendering EPiServer’s ToWebString() is used. This does almost the same job as always calling HtmlEncode yourself.

public virtual void CreateDefaultControls()
{
    Label target = new Label();
    target.Text = PropertyData.ToWebString();
    CopyWebAttributes(target);
    Controls.Add(target);
}

2) It enables the Simple Edit feature for the editors without any extra work. (If you do not know what “Simple Edit” is, you should read the Editors Manual for EPiServer before doing any more development.)

3) Different types have get different rendering automatically. Commonly used for PageReferences and Url’s that are rendered as a Hyperlink.

Example – DO use EPiServer:Property for rendering links if possible

<EPiServer:PageList PageLinkProperty="NewsArchivePage" MaxCount="5" runat="server" >
  <HeaderTemplate>
    <h3><EPiServer:Property PropertyName="PageLink" runat="server" /></h3>
    <ul>
  </HeaderTemplate>
  <ItemTemplate>
    <li><EPiServer:Property PropertyName="PageLink" runat="server" /></li>
  </ItemTemplate>
  <FooterTemplate>
    </ul>
  </FooterTemplate>
</EPiServer:PageList>

4) Use PageLinkProperty to follow a Page-property to another page and render a value. Takes care of all hassle and calls GetPage() and check for nulls for you.

Example – DO use EPiServer:Property to render values from another page

<h3><EPiServer:Property PageLinkProperty="FeatureArticlePage" PropertyName="PageLink" runat="server" /></h3>
<div><EPiServer:Property PageLinkProperty="FeatureArticlePage" PropertyName="MainIntro" runat="server" /></div>

About the EPiServer Certification

You have two hours to complete around 70 multiple choice questions. You can skip a question during exam and go back to it later but you can not change answered questions.  To pass, you need answer correct on 60% of the questions.

My tips for passing the test

Preparing yourself is a must because the the goal of the test is to separate those who have worked with EPiServer from those who have not. But working with EPiServer is not enough, you must also have a good understanding of all features availible in EPiServer, even those you have not used…

• Do develop with EPiServer for a while before you take the test. I do not think many have passed the certification directly after completing the basic developer training.
• Do check EPiServer’s list of Knowledge Areas you are going to be tested on.
• Do read the Editors and Administrators manual. As a developer you are supposed to know how to use the product from an end users perspective.
• EPiServer Developers knows to little about Deployment in general. Make sure that you undrestand how to configure EPiServer. Do you know how Mirroring works or Enterprise features like multi-homed sites and load balancing is configured?
• Do read all the Tech Notes for the latest EPiServer CMS release. You need to have a basic understanding about all features in EPiServer.
• Do read through the pages in the Developers Guide part of EPiServer SDK, too. Personally I do not understand why they put some pages in the SDK and some as Tech Notes. It is high and low in both places and you must at least browse through it all…
• Do not try to read through the whole Framework Reference. You could look on a few key classes like: PageBase, UserControlBase, TemplatePage, IPageSource, PageData, PageReference, DataFactory, PropertyData and PropertyDataControl. And also make sure you know your EPiServer Web Controls.

Many questions is on a very detailed level and I must say that I have heard a lot of complaints that the test is too hard. You have to make qualified guesses. I had to do a lot of qualified guessing myself , and I’m an EPiServer teacher and have turned EPiServer inside out with Roeders Reflector!

Remeber, you do not have to get 100% to pass and if you follow the tips above I’m sure you too will be a Certified EPiServer Developer…