Professional Sitecore Development

Chapter 2

Information Architecture

What's in This Chapter?

Creating items, including item properties, definition items, and item URLs

Using data templates, including base templates, the standard template, standard values, template sections, template fields, field properties, and field types

Considering data validation, including validators and validation options

Implementing multilingual solutions, including languages, regions, and multiple managed sites

Working with binary media, including media library settings and media item URLs

Understanding clones, aliases, and wildcards

Using insert options, including branch templates, command templates, and the uiGetMasters pipeline

This chapter introduces fundamental high-level concepts and low-level constructs and techniques used to implement and enforce information architecture with the Sitecore ASP.NET web content management system (CMS). Data templates define the structure of each type of item that you can store in a Sitecore database. Some types of items represent pages, such as the home item for each managed site. Sitecore contains logic to determine the URL for each such item, and to determine the item indicated by the URL in an incoming HTTP request. Sitecore uses items to manage numerous additional types of information, including configuration data, system components, and binary media.

Each data template defines zero or more sections that contain fields to define the structure and properties of a type of items. A data template ...