Dojo Blog
Our blog contains the activity stream of Orchard Dojo: general news, new resources or tutorials are announced here.
-
Advanced content management and starting with theme development - Dojo Course
Tutorial, Dojo CourseUPDATE (2017-11-22): Dojo Course 2 is released with new, updated videos!
-
Shape Dojo Course by giving your feedback!
Dojo CourseUPDATE (2017-11-22): Dojo Course 2 is released with new, updated videos!
-
Getting up to speed with Orchard - Dojo Course
Tutorial, Dojo Course, Navigation, Media LibraryUPDATE (2017-11-22): Dojo Course 2 is released with new, updated videos!
-
First steps with Orchard - Dojo Course
Tutorial, Dojo CourseUPDATE (2017-11-22): Dojo Course 2 is released with new, updated videos!
-
Dojo Course will start very soon!
Announcement, Dojo CourseUPDATE (2017-11-22): Dojo Course 2 is released with new, updated videos!
-
Dojo Course opened! Learn Orchard with us!
Announcement, Dojo CourseUPDATE (2017-11-22): Dojo Course 2 is released with new, updated videos!
-
You can now download the Orchard Dojo Library as a document!
AnnouncementWith the help of Lombiq's new Download as... Orchard module you'll find download links on Dojo Library pages. Want to download the Library's textual content as an HTML document? Click here! Want to have PDF? This is the link for it!
-
Forum favourites: setting content shape placements from migrations
Community resource, Development, Forum favourites, PlacementLesser known features of the Orchard.ContentTypes module are extension methods that can be used in migrations to set up content items' shapes' placement. The member mjy78 now explains how to use Placement() extension method. See the full discussion on the Orchard discussion board.
-
The Orchard test instance updated in Dojo Library
AnnouncementWe upgraded the Orchard test instance in the Orchard Dojo Library to version 1.7. Also the Training Demo module got a corresponding update and since the Orchard Mini Profiler is now compatible with the latest release we updated that in the solution as well.
-
How-to: running Orchard locally through IIS using SQL Server
Tutorial, SQL Server, Video, IISThis tutorial shows you how to run Orchard on your development machine (that doesn't run Windows Server) not with Visual Studio's built-in Cassini webserver, but using a proper IIS webserver. As the database we'll use a standard SQL Server database, that's advised for non-trivial production installations, unlike SQL CE.
-
Forum favourites: checklist for the case when an IDependency just doesn't get injected
Community resource, Development, IDependency, Forum favouritesPiotr just wrote a small checklist what's good to keep in mind if you have written an IDependency implementation to create an injectable service but you get a DependencyResolutionException from Autofac. See the discussion in question.
-
Forum favourites: records, database indices and about the necessity of drivers
Community resource, Development, Forum favouritesForum topics from the Orchard discussion board that we found interesting:
- "Record persisting advices": checklist if you want to store something in a low-level (non-content part) record
- "Adding empty part to type fails": always create a driver for your part
- "Records only in Models namespace: good?": remember to put your records under the Models namespace
- "Indices with SchemaBuilder": you can add database indices from migrations, but only from AlterTable
-
Forum favourites: model editors with shapes, accessing a shape's generated html and accessing content fields programmatically
Community resource, Development, Forum favouritesForum topics from the Orchard discussion board that we found interesting:
- "Passing my own data types to a view": using form field html helpers with dynamic models and in alternates defined with the shape attribute
- "Dynamically built html with Clay": capturing the generated html coming from a shape
- "How to access fields of a content item again?": ways of accessing a content field's value by using dynamic or statically typed extension methods
-
Projector in-depth at Harvest
Admin UI, Video, Projector, Orchard HarvestAs you surely know, Projector is the built-in Orchard module that you can use to query content items in many customizable ways. Getting a grasp of Projector is not easy at first however. In the following video, recorded at the first Orchard Harvest conference in 2012 Bertrand Le Roy explains not only how to use Projector but also sheds some light on the programmatic techniques behind it.
-
Dependencies for themes
Community resource, DevelopmentIt's not obvious that themes can have dependencies in the same way modules do. Here's a blog post and a discussion about this.
-
Some clarification regarding injected dependencies
Community resource, Development, IDependency, Event handlers, Event busDependency injection through constructor injection is a technique used throughout Orchard: you can't really write an Orchard module without injecting some services. Dependency inection and the special kind of dependencies, event handlers are explained in the Orchard Docs but some clarification is not unnecessary: Piotr Szmyd first explained the difference between different types of dependencies and the usage of Work<T>, then posted about the recent changes to the event bus.
-
Orchard Dojo opened!
AnnouncementWhat Orchard missed till now is a place where the various pieces of knowledge related to it are stored in a structured, accessible form. We aim to provide a solution for this with Orchard Dojo: a website dedicated to learning Orchard.
-
A small Orchard API reference: Orchard Cheatsheet
Community resource, Development, APIThe Orchard Cheatsheet is a nice little API reference for some lesser known objects, made by Orchard's lead developer, Sebastien Ros. The cheatsheet's list only contains elements of the API that are accessible from (sometimes very specific) shape templates (well, ExtensionDescriptor seems to be an exception), but e.g. WorkContext is something you definitely encounter elsewhere too.
-
Orchard extensibility explained - aka why Orchard's flexible content model rocks
Community resource, Development, Content model, APIBertrand Le Roy's not-so-recent article "Orchard Extensibility" in MSDN Magazine explains the various aspects of - surprise - extending Orchard. The article mainly covers Orchard's content model, its concepts and flexibility: something we all love in Orchard. Bertrand also lists some other important parts of the Orchard API, all worth knowing.
-
"Writing an Orchard Webshop Module from scratch" module development tutorial
Community resource, Tutorial, Development"Writing an Orchard Webshop Module from scratch" is an excellent, 11-part (planned for 15) tutorial on Orchard module development by Sipke Schoorstra. Everyone who has ever written at least a short tutorial will feel what amount of work such a series contains: not surprisingly it's well worth reading, even for ones already somewhat familiar with Orchard module development.
-
Performance-tuning modules you should know about
Community resource, Performance, CachingThese modules are really useful if you want to squeeze out the performance of your Orchard website:
-
Useful multi-tenancy resources
Community resource, Multi-tenancy, PerformanceSome useful links in the topic:
-
Content part development checklist
Community resource, DevelopmentA nice checklist about what not to forget when creating a content part at Orchard Hungary.
-
Migrating an Orchard site from SqlCe to Sql Express
Community resource, SQL Server, SQL CE, Database, VideoA very useful video by Bertrand Le Roy. Migrating an SQL CE database, the simple-to-use self-contained database format used by Orchard, to a standard SQL Server database is a necessary step when your site grows. SQL CE is great for development and for small sites, but the full SQL Server DBs are much better performing.
-
Orchard CMS "Jump Start" video series
Community resource, Admin UI, VideoThese videos are not new but are definitely not outdated but still valuable resources: Brent Arias created a 4-part series about the most important concepts of Orchard, covering parts of the dashboard that a user will use most.