Manoj Kumawat
+4
Aug 26, 2019
visibility 5011
star star star star star star
(4 votes)

Accessing ContentReference in schedule job or Initialization module where you receive HttpContext as null

Often you want to work with content in an initialization module or a scheduled job and use a reference to the Start page. But in these scenarios, there is no HTTP context, so the system does not know what site you want to work with. 

One fix is to set a wildcard * as a hostname in the configuration of one of you sites. This site will then be returned by ContentReference.StartPage.

Here is an example of how you can customize this. Go to your website > Admin> config > Manage Websites and do the following - 

It should now give you a reference of StartPage of the site, see below- 

Better Alternative

A more flexible alternative is to use the ISiteDefinitionRepository to get a list of all sites and write logic to select the one you want to work with.

Here is how you can make usage of this repository - 

var siteDefinitionRepo = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<ISiteDefinitionRepository>();
var siteDefinitions = siteDefinitionRepo.List().ToList();

Now you can work with the site item which we've just got via this Repository.

On a side note, However I've created an instance of above repository just for a demo purpose but you should always inject your dependencies and get them resolved with IOC container like StructureMap which Episerver recommends.

Have a great day!

Aug 26, 2019

Comments

valdis
valdis Aug 26, 2019 07:06 PM

I was about to write about ServiceLocator and then read your last sentence ;))

error Please login to comment.
Latest blogs
Copies vs. Connections: Modeling Content Areas for Multilingual Success

Starting With the Simple Question Most multilingual content modeling conversations start with a deceptively simple question from a client: "If we s...

Vipin Banka | Aug 23, 2026

Content Transfer coming to Optimizely SaaS CMS

Back in June I released Content Transfer on the Optimizely nuget feed – today I’m releasing version 1.0 , because we’ve had it running out in the...

Matt Pallatt | Aug 23, 2026

Improving Optimizely Product Information in LLM Tools

Tools like Claude Code can be great for working with Optimizely CMS, but when they index outdated or incomplete information about developing a...

Nicholas Sideras | Aug 21, 2026 |

How to Get a Bacpac Out of DXP (And Never Do It By Hand Again)

Every Optimizely DXP project eventually runs into the same task: getting production data onto a local machine so you can actually troubleshoot...

KennyG | Aug 20, 2026