Blog posts by Fredrik Karlsson

SERW Gadget – How is your SEO work going?

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:21:00 GMT

SERW or “Search Engine Result Watcher” or “Trend Analytics for your SEO work”. This is a two step rocket with two gadgets, quick search and trend, working together to get you the best business value.

SERW Trend Gadget

The SERW trend gadget allows you to see the trend of your search phrases on different search engines.

And with a pretty easy UI to change your trend.

SERW Quick Search Gadget

This gadget allows you to very quickly do a search and get the result position back. You can then save the search and follow it in a trend.

Result:

Scheduled job

Each collection that you saves will be automatically updated each day by the scheduled job “SERW Importer” that needs to be activated.

Using the SERW Quick Search gadget

This gadget allows you to see what position your search phrase places itself on a selected search engine.
Lets say your search places itself on position 97, you will then have to click "next" 9 times on the SERP (search engine result page), and you might not even see it.
But this gadget will make that search for you.

Input your search criteria

The input fields are pretty straight forward:

Search phrase

The search phrase is basically what you want to search after. You can use any features provided by the search engine.
Examples:
Basic search: gadget contest
More advanced search: gadget contest –google

Domain to look for

Enter the domain you want to look for.
For example: www.episerver.com or world.episerver.com
the protocol is always http.

Search engine

Just select the search engine you want to make the search with.

Example

A fully functional quick search:

Make the search

Simply click the search button (1) and see the progress spin (2) is spinning.

The result page

On the result page you will see the position of the search:

If the Quick Search gadget is unable to find your domain, it will display a text saying that:

Add to Search Collection

By adding this search to your Search Collections, this search will be available in the "SERW Trend gadget" and the scheduled job will make sure that you can follow the search’s position on the search engine.

Using the SERW Trend gadget

It generates a pretty classic graph of all Search Collections (Search phrase, domain and search engine) you selected for this trend. See image:

Managing the trend

To manage your trend, simply choose the option "Manage search collections for trend", see image:

Add existing search collection to trend

Simply select any stored search collection and click the add button. The collection will then be added to the trend and will be displayed in the graph. See image:

Remove collections from trend

To remove a collection from this trend, simply tic the boxes and click the button. See image:

Create new search collection

Search phrase

Domain to look for

Enter the domain you want to look for.
For example: www.episerver.com or world.episerver.com
the protocol is always http.

Search engine

Just select the search engine you want to make the search with.

Example

A fully functional quick search:

Creating test data

This will add dummy data to all collections added to this trend for 30 days where no data is available. Simply so you can get a feel for the module.

Request more search engines

In this package, only four search engines are included. google.se, google.com, yahoo.se, yahoo.com and bing.se, bing.com. If you want more, don’t hesitate to contact me.

TODO

Be able to remove collections
Pick your own search engine definitions from an online repository
Export/import into Excel
Build a “request to search engine” service so the web server won’t need to take the load
ETC

Download

Installation module

Source code

Disclaimer and dependencies

This is a very first release, there might still be bugs in the gadgets!

The graphs are generated by the jqPlot library, http://www.jqplot.com/.

When trying this out, please be mindful not searching to much at the same time as the search engines might suspect you for being an DDOS attacker.

Easy javascript debugging with the debugger statement

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:25:00 GMT

Debugging javascript has been a really tidious task, especially in Internet Explorer. And if you're an EPiServer developer, you will have to debug some javascript in IE. I recently stumbeld upon this very hand statement: "debugger". Apparently it's been around for ages but I haven't noticied it before, so I thought I would make a quick post about it.

Example

The code is really easy:


function MyJavascriptFunction()
{
var i = 0:
var j = i + 1;
debugger;
}

Result

In Internet Explorer you will get the normal "Do you wish to debug" dialog box and just select yes:

And you will be able to debug in Visual Studio:

And in firefox it will open up Firebug:

And as you can see, it keeps the context you are in, very handy indeed.

Conclusion

It's not the best way to debug javascript, but it's really easy and will probably be enough in almost all cases. So start using the debugger statement now

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0bwt76sk(VS.85).aspx

A small cache manager - see and manage your cache items

Fri, 29 May 2009 13:21:00 GMT

This is a very small (just one aspx, no code behind, ~130 rows) file that will show you everything you have in your cache. It can be very handy sometimes to see exactly what you have in the cache and even try and remove some things and see what happends.

The GUI is very easy, it just lists everything and the type/value and if it is serializable you will even be able to see the serialized value of the cache item.

Please note that you need to change the RemoveFromCache method if you want to use it with EPiServer CMS 4.

You can download the source here (Right click and save target as)

Updating an existing EPiServer Composer function in code behind

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:39:00 GMT

I recently posted some example code on how to create an EPiServer Composer page programatically so this is the natural follow up. Some very basic code on how to update an existing EPiServer Composer function programmatically.

// Get the extensionpage you want to update
ExtensionPageData subPage = ExtensionPageData.Load(CurrentPage.PageLink);
// Get the first content area on that page
ContentAreaData contentArea = subPage.GetContentAreas()[0];
// Get the first function on that page
// TODO: add some error handling / criterias when gettin tour desired function
ContentFunctionData block = contentArea.ContentFunctions[0];
// Get the episerver page that is the function
PageData functionPage = GetPage(block.ContentFunctionLink);
// Create a writable clone
PageData functionPageClone = functionPage.CreateWritableClone();
// Update a property
functionPageClone.Property["MainBody"].Value = new PropertyLongString("My long string");
// Save the function. make sure you use SaveAction.ForceCurrentVersion or you
// have to create a new version of the function aswell as the extensionpage
DataFactory.Instance.Save(functionPageClone, SaveAction.Publish | SaveAction.ForceCurrentVersion, AccessLevel.NoAccess);

Migrate data from EPiServer 4 and Extension 2 to EPiServer CMS 5 and EPiServer Composer

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:50:00 GMT

Introduction

This small plug-in will allow you to move data from an existing EPiServer CMS 4 / Extension 2 site to an existing EPiServer CMS 5 / EPiServer Composer site.

Installation

Move the files from the downloaded package to your existing EPiServer CMS 5 site with EPiServer Composer.

Open the web.config file in the MigrateFromExtension2 folder and edit the settings:

Simply add the connection string to your existing EPiServer CMS 4 / Extension 2 site.

Run the plug-in

You can find the plug-in in /admin -> Tools.

When you click it you will get a page where you will be asked to add some initial info.

• EPiServer source page id on X2 site – The page id of the page to import from
• EPiServer pagetype to import from X2 site – Extension 2 pagetype to import
• EPiServer target page on X3 site – Where to put the imported pages
• Extension X3 pagetype to use – EpiServer Composer pagetype to use

When you are done, please click the “Get Mapping Data” button.

Extension 2 Definition Area Mapped to Extension X3 Content Area

Here you will map Extension 2’s definition areas with EPiServer Composers content areas. This will simply decide where the functions will be placed in the new page. If multiple Extension 2 definition areas are placed in the same EPiServer Composer content are they will simply be placed on top of each other.

Extension 2 Inner Template Mapped to Extension X3 Layout function

Whis will allow you to map Extension inner templates with EPiServer Composers layout function. For each inner template you will have two options. Map it to a layout function or simply put it in the EPiServer composers content area. If you have multiple content areas in your pagetype, it will be placed in the content area you selected in the previous step.

Extension 2 Content Block Mapped to Extension X3 Content Function

Here you will have three options for each Content Block.
• Don’t import block
• Import to EPiServer page
• Use EPiServer Composer function

Don’t import block

This will just leave the data and don’t import anything

Import to EPiServer page

This will import the data to the EPiServer page that is created by the import.
You will be given the option to map each content block property to an EPiServer property.

If multiple content blocks properties are mapped to the same EPiServer page property, they will simply overwrite eachother.

Use EPiServer Composer function

This will import data to an EPiServer composer function and add it to the page.

Import the data

Simply click the button “Start import data” and wait.

Disclaimer

This is by developers for developers. There is no error handling and it please take a backup of the database before you start. It has been used in projects, so it does works. But no guarantees are given.
It will also just import one level of pages, so if you have a tree of pages to import, you will have to run the import multiple times. Or just rewrite the app.

License

This is released under the WTFPL license. Please modify as much as you want.
http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTFPL

Download

The download includes both the plug in as well as all source code.
Download Extension2 To EPiServer Composer here

Today's EPiServer tip - GetDescendents

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:01:00 GMT

I recently found out about a new method in EPiServer CMS 5 R2, the GetDescendents method. It returns all children to a page, not just level one children like the GetChildren method, but all children.

The code is really easy:

EPiServer.DataFactory.Instance.ProviderMap.GetPageProvider("MyPageProvider").GetDescendents(PageReference.StartPage);

Or just go the fast way:

EPiServer.DataFactory.Instance.GetDescendents(PageReference.StartPage);

You can see the SDK entry here.

And the best part is that it returns an IList<PageReference> and not your normal PageReferenceCollection. Could this be a new era in EPiServer? I for one would welcome the change from PageDataCollections to IList<PageData> or IEnumerable<PageData>. Specially now with LINQ and all you can do with generic lists.

Creating an Extension X3 page programmatically

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:24:00 GMT

I've been developing an Extension X2 to Extension X3 migrate tool for a few days now, and one of the things I needed to do was to create an Extension X3 page programmatically.
So I went to both the Extension X3 wiki aswell to the SDK to see some example code, but the content there was obsolete. So I thought I would post some up to date example code here. This is tested for EPiServer CMS R2 and Extension X3 3.2.

Example code

// Create the normal EPiPage
PageData myPage = EPiServer.DataFactory.Instance.GetDefaultPageData(PageReference.StartPage, CurrentPage.PageTypeID);
myPage.PageName = "AutoCreated ExtensionPage" + DateTime.Now.ToString();
PageReference currentPageReference = DataFactory.Instance.Save(myPage, SaveAction.Publish, AccessLevel.NoAccess);
// Load the Extension X3 page
ExtensionPageData subPage = ExtensionPageData.Load(currentPageReference);
subPage.PageLink = currentPageReference;
// get the first content are of the page
ContentAreaData contentArea = subPage.GetContentAreas()[0];
// Create new layout function
ContentFunctionData block = ContentFunctionData.Create(currentPageReference, PageType.Load("[ExtensionSys] FiftyFifty").ID, AccessLevel.NoAccess);
// Add the layout function to the area
contentArea.InsertContentFunction(block, 0);
// Create new Article/Content-function
ContentFunctionData textFunction = ContentFunctionData.Create(currentPageReference, PageType.Load("[ExtensionSys] Article").ID, AccessLevel.NoAccess);
// Add value to the two properties
textFunction.Property["Heading"].Value = new PropertyString("My Heading");
textFunction.Property["MainBody"].Value = new PropertyLongString("My long string");
// Save it
textFunction.Save(SaveAction.Publish | SaveAction.ForceCurrentVersion, AccessLevel.NoAccess);
// Add it in the first content area
block.GetContentAreas()[0].InsertContentFunction(textFunction, 0);
// Update the Extension X3 XML
PageDataManager.UpdatePageStruct(subPage.CurrentPage, subPage);
// Save the EPiPage
DataFactory.Instance.Save(subPage.CurrentPage, SaveAction.Publish | SaveAction.ForceCurrentVersion, AccessLevel.NoAccess);

Using EPiServer Virtual Path Provider with file properties

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:18:07 GMT

In EPiServer CMS 5 you can both build your own Virtual Path Providers (from now on simply VPP) for accessing files as well as change the files properties. In EPiServer CMS 5 R2 it is even possible to add these properties to each Path Provider, so...

Using EPiServer Custom Page Providers with Extension X3

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:41:34 GMT

Since Custom page providers is the coolest in EPiServer since the first steps towards objects in EPiServer 3.40, I thought I would demonstrate a few ways of using Page Providers with Extension X3. Prerequisites First of, Page Providers is a new...

Run this SQL.aspx

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:15:22 GMT

A discussion on #EPiCode resulted in someone needed to run a SQL-script but they couldn't access the database. So heres an classic debug tool witch allows you to run some simple tsql statements and even get the result. Just remember to remove it...

EPiServer and cache, not always a love story

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:36:37 GMT

When you are working with some more backend stuff of EPiServer, you are never really sure if you load it from the database or from the cache. Here are a few examples. PageDefinitions When you want to load a PageDefinition, the normal way would...

EPiServer Community licenses in Enterprise solutions

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:47:03 GMT

Met a customer today. They are using EPiServer CMS and EPiServer Community on their sites. The sites all share a common code-base, they have an EPiServer Enterprise license and all the sites are in one common web. config. I. e it looks something...

New module on EPiCode - QuickSearchExtender

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:08:10 GMT

I have just added a new module on EPiCode, QuickSearchExtender. It allows you to extend EPiServer's quicksearch in the edit mode so you will get a menu to choose from on all the pages with a pagename that starts with your searchstring. As you can...

Working with rules and categories for Extension functions

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:24:17 GMT

I have just added two more articles on the Extension wiki and I thougt I might post the code and a short description here as well. Rules Rules are used in Extension to set whether or not you can add function in a Content area or not. Because if you...

Accessing ExtensionPageData from a static context

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:31:48 GMT

Mari has a post on how to access CurrentPage from a static context, so I thought I might explain on how to do the same in Extension. It's actually quite easy. Since everything in Extension is EPiServer, you can pretty much do it the same way....

Implement your own httpCacheVaryByCustom method

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:50:37 GMT

Enabling httpCache in EPiServer is very crucial to get maximum performance from your system. But sometimes you might want to get the cache to differ on something else then just query strings. A typical example is to give the user the possibility to...

Logging in Extension/X3

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:22:43 GMT

Just like in EPiServer, Extension logs most things that happens. And since Extension handles errors ina different way than EPiServer, logging in Extension can be a crusual part in your work developing for Extension. Just like EPiServer, Extension...

A few quick performance fixes without changing the code

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:50:55 GMT

There's a lot of performance tips out there. Most of them take some time to implement, and some can take days. And then there are these small ones you can do without much trouble at all. Here are a few tips you can specify in your web. config. Very...

The story of WebAdmins, WebEditors (and their long lost brother WebReaders)

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:11:40 GMT

In the beginning there was VBScript, classic asp and Windows script components. Back then, with EPiServer 2 and 3, there was no way of controlling user access by config-files but you had to rely on windows groups. For that reason, EPiServer invented...

How to login to EPiServer for the first time

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:35:17 GMT

This is a question I get from time to time when I'm out tutoring EPiServer for new developers. It's not rocket science, but it can still cause some confusion. So here it is, a short description on how to logon in EPiServer. You will probably get the...

Blog posts by Fredrik Karlsson

SERW Gadget – How is your SEO work going?

SERW Trend Gadget

SERW Quick Search Gadget

Scheduled job

Using the SERW Quick Search gadget

Input your search criteria

Search phrase

Domain to look for

Search engine

Example

Make the search

The result page

Add to Search Collection

Using the SERW Trend gadget

Managing the trend

Add existing search collection to trend

Remove collections from trend

Create new search collection

Search phrase

Domain to look for

Search engine

Example

Creating test data

Request more search engines

TODO

Download

Disclaimer and dependencies

Easy javascript debugging with the debugger statement

Example

Result

Conclusion

Read more

A small cache manager - see and manage your cache items

Updating an existing EPiServer Composer function in code behind

Migrate data from EPiServer 4 and Extension 2 to EPiServer CMS 5 and EPiServer Composer

Introduction

Installation

Run the plug-in

Extension 2 Definition Area Mapped to Extension X3 Content Area

Extension 2 Inner Template Mapped to Extension X3 Layout function

Extension 2 Content Block Mapped to Extension X3 Content Function

Don’t import block

Import to EPiServer page

Use EPiServer Composer function

Import the data

Disclaimer

License

Download

Today's EPiServer tip - GetDescendents

Creating an Extension X3 page programmatically

Using EPiServer Virtual Path Provider with file properties

Using EPiServer Custom Page Providers with Extension X3

Run this SQL.aspx

EPiServer and cache, not always a love story

EPiServer Community licenses in Enterprise solutions

New module on EPiCode - QuickSearchExtender

Working with rules and categories for Extension functions

Accessing ExtensionPageData from a static context

Implement your own httpCacheVaryByCustom method

Logging in Extension/X3

A few quick performance fixes without changing the code

The story of WebAdmins, WebEditors (and their long lost brother WebReaders)

How to login to EPiServer for the first time