Experience Sitecore ! | More than 200 articles about the best DXP by Martin Miles

Experience Sitecore !

More than 200 articles about the best DXP by Martin Miles

An exciting updgrade of Sitecore.Link project to JSS with Vue and GraphQL on Azure PaaS

It is 2.5 years already since I launched Sitecore.Link project and it made a great input to the community in terms of accumulating and finding technical information. It served well as a starting point for those willing quickly to obtain all available knowledge about some specific aspects of Sitecore as all the links are split into 150+ categories from 15+ top-level areas (ie. SXA, Helix, Security, Media etc.)


From the back-end prospective Sitecore.Link is one of the greatest things I've ever done, with all automation, crawlers and bit of artificial intelligence and machine learning, finding the new materials and taking off all the monotonous work from me, except the one and only thing I should do - taking the decision (on adding that particular link to the collection after reading it).

Speaking about front-end and UX I can now say that things were also great 2 years ago when the project gained 1-2K of links, not 16K+ as for today. It offered real-time predictive input, powerful filtering and few more. But many of these features came out of PoC (as well as the project itself entirely) and have been added more or less spontaneously in the limited timeframes (yes, I have a full-time job plus 3 hours of commute each day), that's why front-end and UX did not expect such a growth of data. I bravely optimized everything as much as could until hitting the performance ceiling of rendering. So it was just a matter of time when to perform reUX and rewrite, rather than whether to.

Finally, the time has come! I am doing the entire rework of Sitecore.Link project.


When attending SUGCON 2018 I was very enthusiastic to find out how perfectly GraphQL stands for querying the data. Since front-end of Sitecore.Link is, in fact, a single page application - JSS would suit the best, while the data itself becomes bucketable implementing new taxonomy. So, as for the moment, I came to the following changes:

Most of back-end and crawlers will remain as they are. From the new features, apart from changing data storage, I plan to add a page where blog authors will be easily able to test and adjust their resources for Sitecore.Link parser them further automatically, and even see how crawlers process their blogs in real-time.

Front-end will entirely rework UI to fit visitors' day-to-day needs to be as quick as possible. UI will be re-written to Vue.js backed by Sitecore Javascript Services (JSS)

At the moment, only blog names are searchable, but after changes will take place all articles' content also becomes tokenized for relevancy in order to provide more precise results and order. Such a nice Sitecore Google will be born, lol)

Once completed, the project will be delivered to Azure PaaS for hosting.


Outcomes

One of the most important things - when done, the source code becomes opensource (MIT) on GitHub - this will bring to the community a real-world example of JSS-running website (but not only - plenty of Sitecore features will be there as implementation example for others). Since the project is community-based and is fed by the community-driven data, it will serve the community in full, including the source code to be hared and ideally pull-requested with new features or fixes.

Another community support back to the project will become a browser extension for submitting currently open URL (of a blog post) into the links database by specifying relevant categories as well as other information, after a quick moderation of course.

Numerous blog posts from myself, describing the changes implemented and sharing the experience of JSS and other features done will accompany this transformation.

In order to make all mentioned above happen, I finish my current contract and do not pick anything next in the following 2 months, to be able fully to concentrate on this amazing challenges. I am also looking for any support from Sitecore Technical Marketing team on technical issues

Amazing Sitecore PowerShell Extension Remoting - quick start to make it work


Introduction. Most of you are already familiar with Sitecore PowerShell Extensions (SPE). This is a genius module written by Adam Najmanowicz and Michael West, that not just brings the power of console into Sitecore, allowing to maintain and automate almost everything, but also integrates that into Sitecore UI so that one may have pretty nice reports on virtually anything in their system. But today I am going to tell you about one underestimated part of SPE - Remoting,

What is Remoting? Old school developers remember this term from the first version of .NET where it used to name the technology of building distributed applications with purely means of the framework in pre-RESTful years. Not a nice term for not the best technology! But in SPE Remoting got more adequate meaning - executing scripts remotely. The idea is to allow running SPE script from the standarв Windows PowerShell console - in that case, a script is serialized and send for the remote execution to Sitecore server. That means it will be executed in the standard Sitecore context, same as normal SPE script you run in Sitecore PowerShell Console within your Sitecore instance. Then the results will be returned back to original you original system PowerShell window as if you ran them locally.

Why do I need that? Well, you may not realise you need that straight away, but being able to expose the power of SPE outside gives you an ultimate power of maintaining your instances internally. What firstly comes into my head is Continuous Integration - now you have the tool for managing content and precise fine-tuning everything within your instances. Not limited to - you also have access to servers filesystem, can download and upload files, same for media library, manipulate users and permissions. For example, you may automate regular downloading logs from all of your servers or whatever you may decide.

Great, I'm interested. How do I make it work? This article is all about setting up SPE Remoting for your instance and getting first results. So, here we go.


Firstly download Sitecore Powershell Extensions module itself (if you don't yet have) and install as you normally install the packages. The module is relatively large and it may take a while until it gets done. Then SPE becomes present in your Sitecore start menu:


SPE module comes already with remoting built-in however it requires few more steps to enable and configure it.

There is a new security role that becomes available upon SPE installation: sitecore\PowerShell Extensions Remoting. You must make your credentials user for external remoting connection (applies to users and/or other roles) to be a member of this role, even (and especially) if that is sitecore\admin. If you don't do that you will see following error:



Secondly, download SPE Remoting module for the same version you may find it there along with regular SPE on Marketplace:


Note - that is not a Sitecore module and it's not for Package Installer. The term "module" is too meaningful here and in current context it deals with PowerShell module. Instead, extract archive content into you PowerShell modules root folder - for example <YOUR_USER_FOLDER>\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\SPE folder


You may need to import that module first in order to use it from within Windows PowerShell console. Make sure you set the execution policy to:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

and the import command:

Import-Module -Name SPE

Before writing a basic actual script, we also need to adjust configuration - module authors treat security seriously. The configuration file is located at: <INSTANCE_ROOT>\App_Config\Include\Cognifide.PowerShell.config and the article on how-to can be found here.

Since you are likely experimenting on your local machine and are more relaxed regarding security - you may get things sorted easier by applying a patch file to weaken security. Make sure you use if only for local dev and never in higher environments. As a bonus - the patch won't be overwritten when reinstalling the SPE module.

Finally, we can create and execute the script. As the very bare minimum, I suggest the very simple script for you to test. Create PS.ps1 and copy the below content into it:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Import-Module -Name SPE

$session = New-ScriptSession -Username admin -Password b -ConnectionUri https://platform.dev.local

Invoke-RemoteScript -ScriptBlock {
    Get-Item -Path "master:\content\Home"
} -Session $session 

Now execute that:


And voila! Although visually it is not as impressive, what actually happens on this screenshot is getting a simple query sent to Sitecore instance, executed remotely with the results returned back to Windows PowerShell, all transparently for the caller.

The reason for me to write the article was the number of efforts I spent on getting things understood, downloaded and setup, configured and executed. Some pieces of documentation are not available, while others not a descriptive. Once again, thanks to Michael West for his support, and hope this article will encourage you at least to try that!

Sitecore PowerShell Extension snippets collection

A collection of Sitecore PowerShell snippets from various sources to have them in one place easy to copy, adjust and execute. Credits to Adam Najmanowicz and Michael West - you guys did a great job!

  1. Write to CSV
  2. Using link fields
  3. Update item presentation final layout
  4. Traverse tree with query
  5. Read from CSV
  6. Output all object properties
  7. Move item
  8. List cms users
  9. Get and edit an item
  10. Generate google sitemap XML
  11. Exclude template
  12. Create users from CSV
  13. Create an item
  14. Convert datetime field value to DateTime object
  15. Change item template
  16. Add base template
  17. Parse a Rich Text to replace elements
  18. Generate a hash of a media file
  19. Exporting the username and custom properties
  20. Show List View with all users' properties
  21. Set workflow for all items
  22. Unlock items of a template recursively
  23. Zip and download sitecore media library folder
  24. Zip and download logs
  25. Updating renderings properties to enable VaryByData
  26. New media item
  27. Update media item
  28. List Roles for User
  29. Remove unused media items
  30. Get items modified in last 7 days

1. Write to csv
More description - normal font
$everythingUnderHome = Get-Item master: -Query "/sitecore/content/Home//*"
$outputFilePath = "C:\temp\my-csv-file.csv"
$results = @();

$everythingUnderHome | ForEach-Object {

  $properties = @{
        Name = $_.Name
        Template = $_.TemplateName
        Path = $_.ItemPath
  }

  $results += New-Object psobject -Property $properties
}

$Results | Select-Object Name,Template,Path | Export-Csv -notypeinformation -Path $outputFilePath

2. Using link fields
More description - normal font
#Get an alias
$alias = = Get-Item -Path "master:/sitecore/system/Aliases/test"

#Get the link field
[Sitecore.Data.Fields.LinkField]$field = $_.Fields["Linked item"]

# the path to the target item
$field.InternalPath

# The guid if internal. Otherwise this is an Empty GUID
$field.TargetID

# 'internal' or 'external'
$field.LinkType

# Other proporties include MediaPath, QueryString and Target

3. Update item presentation final layout
$items = Get-Item master:/content/home//* | Where-Object { $_.Fields["__Final Renderings"] -like "*col-huge*" }

$items | ForEach-Object {    
    Write-Host $_.Fields["__Final Renderings"]
    
    $_.Editing.BeginEdit()
    
    $_["__Final Renderings"] = $_.Fields["__Final Renderings"].toString().replace("col-huge", "col-wide-1");
    
    $_.Editing.EndEdit();
    
    Write-Host $_.Fields["__Final Renderings"]

4. Traverse tree with query
$everythingUnderHome = Get-Item master: -Query "/sitecore/content/Home//*"

$everythingUnderHome | ForEach-Object {

  Write-Host "Item name: " + $_.Name
}

5. Read from CSV
$csv = Import-Csv "C:\temp\my-csv-file.csv"

foreach($row in $csv)
{
    if ($row -eq $csv[0])
    {
        #Skip the first row as it contains the column headings in your CSV
        continue;
    }
    
    #Output value for Column1 and Column2
    Write-Host $row."Column1";
    Write-Host $row."Column2";
}

6. Output all object properties
[Sitecore.Data.Fields.LinkField]$field = $_.Fields["Linked item"]
Write-Host ($field | Format-Table | Out-String)

7. Move item
$item = Get-Item master:/content/home/old/item

#Will move and place this item under the target new
Move-Item -Path $item.ItemPath "master:\sitecore\content\Home\new";

8. List cms users
$allSitecoreUsers = Get-User -Filter "sitecore\*" 

$allSitecoreUsers | ForEach-Object {
    Write-Host $_.Name
}

9. Get and edit an item
$item = Get-Item master:/content/home

$item.Editing.BeginEdit();

$item["Title"] = "New title for the home item!";

$item.Editing.EndEdit();

10. Generate google sitemap XML
$xmlWriter = New-Object System.XMl.XmlTextWriter('c:\temp\sitemap.xml',$Null)
$xmlWriter.Formatting = 'Indented'
$xmlWriter.Indentation = 1
$XmlWriter.IndentChar = "`t"

$xmlWriter.WriteStartDocument()
$xmlWriter.WriteStartElement('urlset')
$XmlWriter.WriteAttributeString('xmlns', 'http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9')

$everythingUnderHome = Get-Item master: -Query "/sitecore/content/Home//*"
$baseUrl = "https://example.com"

$everythingUnderHome | ForEach-Object {

    $url = $baseUrl + [Sitecore.Links.LinkManager]::GetItemUrl($_)

    $xmlWriter.WriteStartElement('url')
    $xmlWriter.WriteElementString('loc',$url)
    $xmlWriter.WriteEndElement()
}

$xmlWriter.WriteEndElement()
$xmlWriter.WriteEndDocument()
$xmlWriter.Flush()
$xmlWriter.Close()

11. Exclude template
$item = Get-Item -Path master: -Query "/sitecore/content//*[@@templatename !='Sample Item']"

#Or

$item = Get-Item -Path master: -Query "/sitecore/content//*" | Where-Object { $_.TemplateName -ne "Sample Item" -and $_.TemplateName -ne "Local Datasource

12. Create users from CSV
$csv = Import-Csv "C:\temp\my-csv-file.csv"

foreach($row in $csv)
{
    if ($row -eq $csv[0])
    {
        #Skip the first row as it contains the column headings in your CSV
        continue;
    }
    
    #New-User docs: https://doc.sitecorepowershell.com/appendix/commands/New-User.html
    #Include domain in username to specify the target domain (e.g extranet\adam)
    New-User -Identity $row."Username" -Enabled -Password $row."Password" -Email $row."Email" -FullName $row."FullName"
}

13. Create an item
$item = New-Item "master:/content/home/my new sample item" -type "Sample/Sample Item"

14. Convert datetime field value to DateTime object
$dateTime = ([sitecore.dateutil]::IsoDateToDateTime($item["My Date Field"])

Write-Host $dateTime.ToString("dd MMMM yyyy")

#Output 10 September 2016

15. Change item template
$item = Get-Item master:/content/home

$newTemplate = [Sitecore.Configuration.Factory]::GetDatabase("master").Templates["Sample/Sample Item"];

$item.ChangeTemplate($newTemplate)

16. Add base template
$targetTemplate    = Get-item 'master:/sitecore/templates/User Defined/Common/Data';
$templateFilter    = Get-Item "master:/sitecore/templates/System/Templates/Template";
$templateToBeAddAsBaseTemplate     = Get-Item 'master:/sitecore/templates/User Defined/Common/Data/Carousel'
 
 
Get-ChildItem $targetTemplate.FullPath -recurse | Where-Object { $_.TemplateName -eq $templateFilter.Name -and $_.Name -eq "promo"} | ForEach-Object {
    if(-not ($_."__Base template" -match "$($templateToBeAddAsBaseTemplate.Id)")){
           #If not exist then add
         $_."__Base template" = "$( $_."__Base template")|$($templateToBeAddAsBaseTemplate.Id)"
    }
}

17. Parse a Rich Text to replace elements
The easiest solution is probably to find and replace characters rather than parse all of the html:
# Home Item
$rootId = "{110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9}"

# Get only the immediate children
$items = @((Get-ChildItem -Path "master:" -ID $rootId))
foreach($item in $items) {
    $html = $item.Text
    if([String]::IsNullOrEmpty($html)) { continue }
    $newText = $html.Replace("
    ", "
      ").Replace("
", "") $item.Text = $newText }

18. Generate a hash of a media file
#Generate MD5 Hash of item
function To-Byte-Array
        {
            param (
            [CmdletBinding()]
            [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
            [AllowEmptyString()]
            [AllowEmptyCollection()]
            [AllowNull()]
            [Object]
            $InputStream)
             
            $InputStream.Position = 0
            $buffer = New-Object byte[] $InputStream.Length
            $i = 0
            For ($totalBytesCopied=0; $totalBytesCopied -lt $InputStream.Length; $i++) {
                $totalBytesCopied += $InputStream.Read($buffer, $totalBytesCopied, $InputStream.Length - $totalBytesCopied)
            }
             
            $buffer
        }
 
$item = Get-Item master: -ID "{20AA9D26-F1D6-43DB-B8A8-21EC04A5A4CB}" -Language de-DE
    $mediaItem = New-Object Sitecore.Data.Items.MediaItem($item)
    $media = [Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaManager]::GetMedia($mediaItem)
    $stream = $media.GetStream().Stream
    try {
        $bytes = To-Byte-Array $stream
    }
    finally
    {
        if ($null -ne $stream -and $stream -is [System.IDisposable])
        {
            $stream.Dispose()
        }
    }
     
    $md5 = new-object -TypeName System.Security.Cryptography.MD5CryptoServiceProvider
    $hash = [System.BitConverter]::ToString($md5.ComputeHash($bytes))
     
    Write-Host $hash

19. Exporting the username and custom properties
$property = @(
"Name",
@{Name='Email';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('Email') }},
@{Name='FirstName';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('FirstName') }},
@{Name='LastName';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('LastName') }},
@{Name='Title';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('Title') }},
@{Name='Company';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('Company') }},
@{Name='Country';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('Country') }},
@{Name='ZipCode';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('ZipCode') }},
@{Name='Department';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('Department') }},
@{Name='Street';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('Street') }},
@{Name='City';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('City') }},
@{Name='Phone';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('Phone') }},
@{Name='Username';Expression={ $PSItem.Profile.GetCustomProperty('Username') }},
)

# Gets not disabled extranet users, next select all customer properties and save all properties to CSV file
Get-User -Filter 'extranet\*'  `
    | Where-Object { $_.Profile.State -ne 'Disabled' } `
        |  Select-Object -Property $property `
            | Export-CSV -Path "$apppath\extranet-enabled-uc.csv" -notype -encoding "unicode"
        
Download-File  "$apppath\extranet-enabled-uc.csv"

20. Show List View with all users' properties
[System.Web.Security.Membership]::GetAllUsers() |

Show-ListView -Property @{Label="User"; Expression={ $_.UserName} },
    @{Label="Is Online"; Expression={ $_.IsOnline} },
    @{Label="Creation Date"; Expression={ $_.CreationDate} },
    @{Label="Last Login Date"; Expression={ $_.LastLoginDate} },
    @{Label="Last Activity Date"; Expression={ $_.LastActivityDate } }

21. Set workflow for all items
## 1. Set default workflow state in template’s standard value ##
## 2. Before running script, must set correct Context Item ##
##################################################################

function SetWorkflow($item)
{
## Update only items assigned __Default workflow
if ($item.”__Default workflow” -eq “{A5BC37E7-ED96-4C1E-8590-A26E64DB55EA}”) {
$item.__Workflow = “{A5BC37E7-ED96-4C1E-8590-A26E64DB55EA}”;
$item.”__Workflow state” = “{190B1C84-F1BE-47ED-AA41-F42193D9C8FC}”;
}
}

## Update correct workflow information.
## Uncomment below two lines if you are ready to go for updating
#get-item . -Language * | foreach-object { SetWorkFlow($_) }
#get-childitem . -recurse -Language * | foreach-object { SetWorkFlow($_) }

## Show Updated Result
get-item . -Language * | Format-Table Id, Name, Language, __Workflow, “__Workflow state”, “__Default workflow”
get-childitem . -recurse -Language * | Format-Table Id, Name, Language, __Workflow, “__Workflow state”, “__Default workflow”

22. Unlock items of a template recursively
Get-ChildItem -Path master:\content\home -Recurse | 
    Where-Object { $_.TemplateId -eq "{ENTER_YOUR_TEMPLATE_GUID}"} | 
    Unlock-Item -PassThru

23. Zip and download sitecore media library folder
  
#
# The ZipFiles function is based on noam's answer
# on the following Stack Overflow's page: http://bit.ly/PsZip
#
function ZipItems( $zipArchive, $sourcedir )
{
  Set-Location $sourcedir
  [System.Reflection.Assembly]::Load("WindowsBase,Version=3.0.0.0, `
      Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35") | Out-Null
  $ZipPackage=[System.IO.Packaging.ZipPackage]::Open($zipArchive, `
      [System.IO.FileMode]::OpenOrCreate, [System.IO.FileAccess]::ReadWrite)
  $items = gci -recurse $sourceDir
  [byte[]]$buff = new-object byte[] 40960
  $i = 0;
  ForEach ($item In $items) {
    $i++
    if([Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaManager]::HasMediaContent($item)){
      $mediaItem = New-Object "Sitecore.Data.Items.MediaItem" $item;
      $mediaStream = $mediaItem.GetMediaStream();
      $fileName = Resolve-Path -Path $item.ProviderPath -Relative
      $fileName = "$fileName.$($item.Extension)" `
        -replace "\\","/" -replace "./", "/"
      # Print out the file - the list will show up once the file is downloaded
      "Added: $fileName"
      # Show progress for the operation
      Write-Progress -Activity "Zipping Files " `
        -CurrentOperation "Adding $fileName" `
        -Status "$i out of $($items.Length)" `
        -PercentComplete ($i *100 / $items.Length)
      $partUri = New-Object System.Uri($fileName, [System.UriKind]::Relative)
      $partUri = [System.IO.Packaging.PackUriHelper]::CreatePartUri($partUri);
      $part = $ZipPackage.CreatePart($partUri, `
        "application/zip",  `
        [System.IO.Packaging.CompressionOption]::Maximum)
      $stream=$part.GetStream();
      do {
        $count = $mediaStream.Read($buff, 0, $buff.Length)
        $stream.Write($buff, 0, $count)
      } while ($count -gt 0)
      $stream.Close()
      $mediaStream.Close()
    }
  }
  $ZipPackage.Close()
}
 
#the location will be set by PowerShell automatically based on which item was clicked
$location = get-location
$dateTime = Get-Date -format "yyyy-MM-d_hhmmss"
$zipName = Split-Path -leaf $location | % { $_ -replace " ", ""}
$dataFolder = [Sitecore.Configuration.Settings]::DataFolder
$zipPath = "$dataFolder\$zipName-$datetime.zip"
 
# Call the Zipping function
ZipItems $zipPath $location
 
#Send user the file, add -NoDialog if you want to skip the download dialogue 
Download-File -FullName $zipPath | Out-Null
 
# Clean up after yourself
Remove-Item $zipPath
 
# Close the results window - we don't really need to see the results
Close-Window

24. Zip and download logs
#
# The ZipFiles function is based on noam's answer
# on the following Stack Overflow's page: http://bit.ly/PsZip
#
function ZipFiles( $zipArchive, $sourcedir )
{
    [System.Reflection.Assembly]::Load("WindowsBase,Version=3.0.0.0, `
        Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35") | Out-Null
    $ZipPackage=[System.IO.Packaging.ZipPackage]::Open($zipArchive, `
        [System.IO.FileMode]::OpenOrCreate, [System.IO.FileAccess]::ReadWrite)
    $in = gci $sourceDir | select -expand fullName
    [array]$files = $in -replace "C:","" -replace "\\","/"
    ForEach ($file In $files) {
        $fileName = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileName($file);
            $partName=New-Object System.Uri($file, [System.UriKind]::Relative)
            $part=$ZipPackage.CreatePart("/$fileName", "application/zip", `
                [System.IO.Packaging.CompressionOption]::Maximum)
            Try{
                $bytes=[System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($file)
            }Catch{
                $_.Exception.ErrorRecord.Exception
            }
            $stream=$part.GetStream()
            $stream.Write($bytes, 0, $bytes.Length)
            $stream.Close()
    }
    $ZipPackage.Close()
}
 
# Get Sitecore folders and format the zip file name
$dateTime = Get-Date -format "yyyy-MM-d_hhmmss"
$dataFolder = [Sitecore.Configuration.Settings]::DataFolder
$logsFolder = [Sitecore.Configuration.Settings]::LogFolder
$myZipFile = "$dataFolder\logs-$datetime.zip"
 
# Warn that the user log files will fail to zip
Write-Host -f Yellow "Zipping files locked by Sitecore will fail." -n
Write-Host -f Yellow "Files listed below were used."
 
# Zip the log files
ZipFiles $myZipFile $LogsFolder
 
#Download the zipped logs
Get-File -FullName $myZipFile | Out-Null
 
#Delete the zipped logs from t

25. Updating renderings properties to enable VaryByData
$items = Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.TemplateID -match “{79A0F7AB-17C8-422C-B927-82A1EC666ABC}”} | ForEach-Object {

$renderingInstance = Get-Rendering -Item $_ -Rendering $rendering
if($renderingInstance){
$renderingInstance.VaryByData = 1
Set-Rendering -Item $_ -Instance $renderingInstance
}
}

26. New media item
function New-MediaItem{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [Parameter(Position=0, Mandatory=$true, ValueFromPipeline=$true)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [string]$filePath,

        [Parameter(Position=1, Mandatory=$true)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [string]$mediaPath)

$mco = New-Object Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaCreatorOptions
$mco.Database = [Sitecore.Configuration.Factory]::GetDatabase("master");
$mco.Language = [Sitecore.Globalization.Language]::Parse("en");
$mco.Versioned = [Sitecore.Configuration.Settings+Media]::UploadAsVersionableByDefault;
$mco.Destination = "$($mediaPath)/$([System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($filePath))";

$mc = New-Object Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaCreator
$mc.CreateFromFile($filepath, $mco);
}

# Usage example
New-MediaItem "C:\Users\Adam\Desktop\Accelerators.jpg" "$([Sitecore.Constants]::MediaLibraryPath)/Images"

27. Update media item
function Update-MediaItem{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [Parameter(Position=0, Mandatory=$true, ValueFromPipeline=$true)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [string]$filePath,

        [Parameter(Position=1, Mandatory=$true)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [string]$mediaPath)

[Sitecore.Data.Items.MediaItem]$item = gi $mediaPath
[Sitecore.Resources.Media.Media] $media = [Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaManager]::GetMedia($item);
$extension = [System.IO.Path]::GetExtension($filePath);
$stream = New-Object -TypeName System.IO.FileStream -ArgumentList $filePath, "Open", "Read"
$media.SetStream($stream, $extension);
$stream.Close();
}

# Usage example - overwrite the image created with previous cmdlet with new image
Update-MediaItem "$SitecoreDataFolder\Tchotchkeys.jpg" "$([Sitecore.Constants]::MediaLibraryPath)/Images/Accelerators"

28. List Roles for User
function Get-UserRoles{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true, Position=0)]
        [string]$Identity
    )
  $user = Get-User $Identity
  return Get-Role -Filter * | Where-Object { $_.IsMember($user,$true,$true) } 
}

Write-Host "Roles for ServicesAPI" -ForegroundColor Green
Get-UserRoles "sitecore\ServicesAPI"

Write-Host "Roles for Admin" -ForegroundColor Green
Get-UserRoles "sitecore\admin"

29. Remove unused media items
#Include all paths you do not want to analyse below 
$protectedPaths = @(
    "/sitecore/media library/System/", 
    "/sitecore/media library/Experience Explorer"
    "/sitecore/media library/Images/Social"
    );
    
#Include all item templates you want to ignore in the array below
$protectedTemplates = @(
    [Sitecore.TemplateIDs]::MediaFolder
    );

$itemsToDelete = 
    Get-ChildItem -Path "master:\sitecore\media library" -Recurse |

        # filter out items of templates you do not want to touch
        Where-Object { $_.TemplateID -notin $protectedTemplates } |

        # do not allow items in the protected paths
        Where-Object { 
            $item = $_; 
            $protected = $protectedPaths | Where-Object { ($item.Paths.Path) -match $_ };
            $protected.Count -lt 1;
        } | 

        # and only items that are not used
        Where-Object { [Sitecore.Globals]::LinkDatabase.GetReferrerCount($_) -eq 0 }

#List the items
$itemsToDelete | ft ProviderPath

#If the list above looks like what you want to delete you can uncomment the following line
#$itemsToDelete | Remove-Item

30. Get items modified in last 7 days
$days = 7;
Read-Variable -Parameters @{ Name="days"; Title="Number of days"} -Title "Pointy haired report" | Out-Null

Get-ChildItem master:\content\home -Recurse | 
    ? { $_."__updated" -gt (Get-Date).AddDays(-$days) } | 
    Show-ListView -Property ID, Name, "__updated", "__updated by"

How to use Install-SitecoreConfiguration from SIF with your custom configuration on example of installing SPE and SXA along with Sitecore

This is an exercise resulting from a blog post by Rob Ahnemann and I will cover Install-SitecoreConfiguration in more details on an example of installing Sitecore modules SPE and SXA as a part of a Sitecore installation by SIF.

Install-SitecoreConfiguration is one of the most what actually SIF is. In my Sitecore installation script I have created a step called Install-Packages. Let's look at how it works:

function Install-Packages {
    Unblock-File .\build\PostInstall\Invoke-InstallPackageTask.psm1 
    Install-SitecoreConfiguration -Path .\build\PostInstall\install-sitecore-package.json -SiteName "$SolutionPrefix.$SitePostFix"
}

This installs a configuration called install-sitecore-package.json Opening it looks like below:

{
    "Parameters": {
         "SiteName": {
            "Type": "string",
            "DefaultValue": "Sitecore",
            "Description": "The name of the site to be deployed."
        },
        "InstallDirectory": {
            "Type": "string",
            "DefaultValue": "c:\\inetpub\\wwwroot",
            "Description": "Base folder to where website is deployed."
        }
    },
    "Variables": {
        // The sites full path on disk
        "Site.PhysicalPath": "[joinpath(parameter('InstallDirectory'), parameter('SiteName'))]",
		"Site.Url": "[concat('http://', parameter('SiteName'))]"

    },
    "Tasks": {
		"InstallPackages":{
			"Type": "InstallPackage",
            "Params": [
                {
                    "SiteFolder": "[variable('Site.PhysicalPath')]",
                    "SiteUrl": "[variable('Site.Url')]",
                    "PackagePath": ".\\build\\assets\\Modules\\Sitecore PowerShell Extensions-4.7.2 for Sitecore 8.zip"
                },
                {
                    "SiteFolder": "[variable('Site.PhysicalPath')]",
                    "SiteUrl": "[variable('Site.Url')]",
                    "PackagePath": ".\\build\\assets\\Modules\\Sitecore Experience Accelerator 1.6 rev. 180103 for 9.0.zip"
                }
            ]
		}
    },
	"Modules":[
		".\\build\\PostInstall\\Invoke-InstallPackageTask.psm1"
	]
}

Parameters are values that may be passed when Install-SitecoreConfiguration is called. Parameters must declare a Type and may declare a DefaultValue and Description. Parameters with no DefaultValue are required when Install-SitecoreConfiguration is called.

Variables are values calculated in a configuration. They can reference Parameters, other Variables, and config functions.

Tasks are separate units of work in a configuration. Each task is an action that will be completed when Install-SitecoreConfiguration is called. By default, tasks are applied in the order they are declared. Tasks may reference Parameters, Variables, and config functions.

Finally, the last line is actually referencing the actual task - a PowerShell module script (Invoke-InstallPackageTask.psm1) that will be run with given parameters:

Set-StrictMode -Version 2.0

Function Invoke-InstallPackageTask {
    [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true)]
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string]$SiteFolder,
		[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string]$SiteUrl,
		[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string]$PackagePath
    )

    Write-TaskInfo "Installing Package $PackagePath" -Tag 'PackageInstall'

    #Generate a random 10 digit folder name. For security 
	$folderKey = -join ((97..122) | Get-Random -Count 10 | % {[char]$_})
	
	#Generate a Access Key (hi there TDS)
	$accessKey = New-Guid
	
	Write-TaskInfo "Folder Key = $folderKey" -Tag 'PackageInstall'
	Write-TaskInfo "Access Guid = $accessKey" -Tag 'PackageInstall'

	#The path to the source Agent.  Should be in the same folder as I'm running
	$sourceAgentPath = Resolve-Path "PackageInstaller.asmx"
	
	#The folder on the Server where the Sitecore PackageInstaller folder is to be created
	$packageInstallPath = [IO.Path]::Combine($SiteFolder, 'sitecore', 'PackageInstaller')
	
	#The folder where the actuall install happens
	$destPath = [IO.Path]::Combine($SiteFolder, 'sitecore', 'PackageInstaller', $folderKey)

	#Full path including the installer name
	$fullFileDestPath = Join-Path $destPath "PackageInstaller.asmx"
	
	Write-TaskInfo "Source Agent [$sourceAgentPath]" -Tag 'PackageInstall'
	Write-TaskInfo "Dest AgentPath [$destPath]" -Tag 'PackageInstall'

	#Forcibly cread the folder 
	New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $destPath

	#Read contents of the file, and embed the security token
	(Get-Content $sourceAgentPath).replace('[TOKEN]', $accessKey) | Set-Content $fullFileDestPath

	#How do we get to Sitecore? This URL!
	$webURI= "$siteURL/sitecore/PackageInstaller/$folderKey/packageinstaller.asmx?WSDL"
	 
	Write-TaskInfo "Url $webURI" -Tag 'PackageInstall'
	
	#Do the install here
	$proxy = New-WebServiceProxy -uri $webURI
	$proxy.Timeout = 1800000

	#Invoke our proxy
	$proxy.InstallZipPackage($PackagePath, $accessKey)

	#Remove the folderKey
	Remove-Item $packageInstallPath -Recurse
}
Register-SitecoreInstallExtension -Command Invoke-InstallPackageTask -As InstallPackage -Type Task

What this task does is locates ASMX file, which is an actual handler and copies it into temp random folder within your Sitecore instance allowing you to execute package installer APIs that itself does require Sitecore context. 

Obviously, before running .\install-xp0.ps1 please make sure you have both installers for modules by their paths as per configuration parameters in PackagePath (from example above, they are):
    .\build\assets\Modules\Sitecore PowerShell Extensions-4.7.2 for Sitecore 8.zip
    .\build\assets\Modules\Sitecore Experience Accelerator 1.6 rev. 180103 for 9.0.zip

So, that's how we added new SitecoreConfiguration in order to achieve automated package installation of SPE and SXA by SIF. Since now new locally installed Sitecore instance already has both SPE and SXA pre-installed and ready to use. This approach also allows installing any other modules as you may need them pre-installed.

Finally, would highly recommend watching a great video by Thomas Eldblom about using SIF configurations:

UPDATE: there is another way of doing this by new built-in SIF functionality, please read the blog post here.


One of the first Sitecore 9 solution released to production

Proud to be among those very first to be able to deliver a Sitecore 9, Azure PaaS and Helix powered website into a production! To my greatest regret, I am not allowed disclose the client's name, that's why instead better share the spec.

Technologically, the solution contains many of things discovered previously in my blog and is the following:

  • Sitecore 9.0 update 1
  • Helix principles
  • Glass mapper with T4 model interface code generation
  • VSTS for everything - CI / CD tool, code repository, productivity tracking solution
  • WebDeploy for deploying the assets to Azure PaaS
  • Unicorn for serialization
  • Three XP-Single, four XP-Scaled as well as DEV Environments
  • Relies on PowerShell for automation and management
It is a good time to steam out for a while and then keep a focus on my projects such as Sitecore.Link, Sitecore Discussion Club, Onero and of course - blogging here.

Field level deny permissions in Helix based on Habitat and how that affects your workflows?

If you decide to use Habitat as a bootstrap platform for your Helix solution, while setting up workflows for your solution, you may come across a situation described below. By this blog post I will try to explain what happens, why is it so, and how to make things work.

Symptoms: you are about to set up workflows for the solution and have created a role for the content editors. Then you give read / write permissions for that role to the site content (likely to be /Home and /Global nodes under your site definition item, recursively). When logging as a user having Content Editor role mention above, you are able to Lock and Edit and later to Check-In an item, but the fields for that item are disabled. Weird. But doing the same on other items outside your website works well (for instance - Home item coming with Sitecore initial installation). Why is it so?


There are few of StackOverflow questions trying to sort this out: one and two. I have left few comments there helping other to solve the situation.


Explanation: Habitat uses an "intersection" of feature-or-foundation-level permissions (also knows as Functional roles) with project-level permissions (also knows as organisational rights). Most of the Habitat modules have such a functional role coming as a part of the module, is in the following format: modules\Feature XXX Admin or modules\Foundation XXX Admin.

What habitat does - it denies write access for the inheritance for all the fields by default and then explicitly allows writing permission for that particular Functional Role within a module. That is briefly explained in the official Helix documentation but two images below would be more descriptive:



Solution: two potential ways of sorting this out. The first option is when you decide to keep Functional roles as a part of your solution. In that case, you need to make sure your Content Editor roles also inherits from these Functional roles (or from an umbrella role inheriting a combination of Functional roles).

Another way will be if you decide to drop these Functional roles. In that case, you'll need to remove them from serialization config and source control, and also perform the following for each field affected:

1. Navigate to that field in Sitecore, for example: /sitecore/templates/Feature/Navigation/_Navigable/Navigation/ShowInNavigation

2. Click Security tab, then Assign. You'll see at least two roles available - Everyone and a Functional role for that module.

3. Selecting Everyone, remove Inheritance denial for both Item and Descendants by clicking both red crosses, then save (OK).

4. Repeat that for each field of each template for each of the Feature / Foundation layers.

Then users from Content Editors role will be able to edit all the fields.

Hope this helps!

Some useful batch and PowerShell snippents helping Sitecore automation

From time to time working with Sitecore I have to rely on automation (especially when working with CI / CD) so just decided to store some snippets for myself that use occasionally. This list will update with time.

  1. Run MsBuild from a console
  2. Config transform
  3. Test SQL connectivity from PowerShell
  4. Archive a folder and place it into a specific location using PowerShell only
  5. Unzip a folder from an archive using PowerShell only
  6. Install a NuGet package using CLI
  7. Run xUnit tests
  8. Push a NuGet package into a repository on example of Ocopus with API secret
  9. Upload a file to FTP using WebClient via PowerShell
  10. Transform of webconfig setting Sitecore 9 "role" and "localenv" variables
  11. Deserialize Unicorn from a PowerShell
  12. Create new IIS hostname winding for existing website

1. Run MsBuild from a console
Building solution outside of Visual Studio or alternative IDE requires a manual call of MsBuild. In the very simple call you need to pass just two parameters - a solution itself and target, that can be Clean, Build etc.:
"c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\MSBuild.exe" c:\Projects\Platform\Platform.sln  /t:Build

2. Config transform
Calling config transform described in more details by this link, so there is just a snippet below: 
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\amd64\MSBuild.exe" 
/nologo /maxcpucount 
/nodeReuse:False 
/property:Configuration=Debug 
/property:Platform="Any CPU" 
/property:WebConfigToTransform=C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Platform.dev.local\ 
/property:TransformFile=C:\Projects\Platform\src\Project\YourWebsite\code\web.config.xdt 
/property:FileToTransform=web.config 
/target:ApplyTransform 
/toolsversion:15.0 
/verbosity:minimal 
C:\Projects\Platform\scripts\applytransform.targets

3. Test SQL connectivity from PowerShell
The easiest way to test connectivity between a custom machine running PowerShell and the desired SQL Server instance:
Invoke-Sqlcmd -ServerInstance 'hostname-and-instance-and-optionally-port' `
                      -Username 'sa' `
                      -Password 'Pa55W0rd!' `
                      -Query 'SELECT GETDATE() AS TimeOfQuery'

4. Archive a folder a place it into a specific location using PowerShell only
When you need to archive a folder you need to rely on an external tool such as zip, which brings another dependency into your pipeline. But that is not a case anymore when using PowerShell as it has entire power of .NET and that in turn has zip support within the namespaceSystem.Net.Compression. So why not to rely on PowerShell and .NET to do the entire job?
IF EXIST output.zip DEL /F output.zip
powershell.exe -nologo -noprofile -command "& { Add-Type -A 'System.IO.Compression.FileSystem'; [IO.Compression.ZipFile]::CreateFromDirectory('c:\Projects\Platform\build\output\', 'output.zip'); }"

5. Unzip a folder from an archive using PowerShell only
The reverse procedure of unzipping an archive into a folder can also be performed with .NET and PowerShell in the same manner:
powershell.exe -nologo -noprofile -command "& { Add-Type -A 'System.IO.Compression.FileSystem'; [IO.Compression.ZipFile]::ExtractToDirectory('c:\Projects\SomeArchive.zip', 'c:\inetpub\wwwroot\TargetFolder'); }"

6. Install a NuGet package using CLI
When you need to use NuGet from a console, you will be likely using NuGet CL. An example below shows installing a NuGet package into a folder passed as a parameter. Please keep in mind that package repositories should be mentioned in the accompanying configuration for nuget.exe:
nuget install xunit.runner.console -OutputDirectory c:\Projects\!\NuGet\

7 Run xUnit tests
After installing xUnit running unit tests from a console, the rest is easy as than simply passing a library containing tests as a parameter:
c:\Projects\!\NuGet\xunit.runner.console.2.3.1\tools\net452\xunit.console.exe c:\Projects\Platform\src\Foundation\Dictionary\tests\bin\Debug\Sitecore.Foundation.Dictionary.Tests.dll

8. Push a NuGet package into a repository on an example of Octopus with API secret key
When you create a versioned package and may want to push that into NuGet repository, you will rely on nuget push command. A snippet shown below demonstrates that on the example of Octopus Deploy, passing it API key. A code below use to substitute current site context, pretty easy:
NuGet.exe push Platform.68.0.0.nupkg -ApiKey API-UZYKODSIIRJZQF25QP2T7WFWG -Source http://winbuildserver.local:8080/nuget/packages

9. Upload a file to FTP using WebClient via PowerShell
One more trick to avoid using system dependencies by calling .NET commands via PowerShell. This time it is for sending a file over FTP to the remote server. Quite a disadvantage is storing the details open-text, including a password. That should be parametrised, of course:
$File = "c:\Projects\archive.zip"
$ftp = "ftp://hostname-and-port\username:Pa55w0rd@domain/path/more-folder/archive.zip"

"ftp url: $ftp"

$webclient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
#$uri = New-Object System.Uri($ftp)

$uri = [uri]::EscapeUriString($ftp)

"Uploading $File..."

$webclient.UploadFile($uri, $File)

10. Transform of web.config settings for "role" and "localenv" variables
In Sitecore 9, one can set up an instance into a specific role that also takes predefined configurations. Further ahead, you may keep your numerous custom configurations next to each other targeting different 'roles' - that avoids clumsy config pathing and keeps settings functionally together in order to simplify maintenance. There is also localenv setting that helps you to distinguish various groups of servers from the same role, but residing in the different environments. 
I have a separate blog post dedicated to this task.

11. Deserialize Unicorn from a PowerShell
If you are using Unicorn in a Continuous Delivery pipeline, you need to make unicorn deserialise (sync) items into Sitecore from a console. Luckily, Unicorn has support for doing that by calling sync.ps1 that uses MicroCHAP.dll and supporting script Unicorn.psm1, passing Unicorn URL and a secret key as a parameter. That secret key can be configured at Unicorn.SharedSecret.config. Make sure there is unrestricted execution policy. Usage is pretty easy: 
sync.ps1 -secret 749CABBC85EAD20CE55E2C6066F1BE375D2115696C8A8B24DB6ED1FD60613086 -url http://platform.dev.local/unicorn.aspx

12. Create new IIS hostname winding for existing website
When installing Sitecore with SIF, it makes sense also to add all your additional custom domain names bindings into IIS website, that has been just created by SIF, ideally should be done for both HTTP on port 80 and HTTPS on 443. The last one also requires creating a self-signed certificate for given hostname. So you may create a step having this command at the very end of installation PowerShell script:
	$Hostname = "YourSiteCustomHostname.dev.local" 
	$SiteNameHere = "$SolutionPrefix.$SitePostFix" # "Platform.dev.local"
	
        write-host "Adding IIS Hostname Binding for website (HTTP and HTTPS)"
        write-host "Site name: $SiteNameHere"
        write-host "Hostname: $Hostname"

	$cert=(Get-ChildItem cert:\LocalMachine\My | where-object { $_.Subject -match "CN=$Hostname" } | Select-Object -First 1) 
	if ($cert  -eq $null) { 
		$cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -DnsName $Hostname -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\LocalMachine\My" 
	} 
	$binding = (Get-WebBinding -Name $SiteNameHere | where-object {$_.protocol -eq "https"})
	if($binding -ne $null) {
		try{
	     	Remove-WebBinding -Name $SiteNameHere -Port 80 -Protocol "http" -HostHeader $Hostname
	     	Remove-WebBinding -Name $SiteNameHere -Port 443 -Protocol "https" -HostHeader $Hostname
		}
		catch{
		     	write-host "$SiteNameHere yet does not have a binding for $Hostname"
		}
	} 
	
	New-WebBinding -Name $SiteNameHere -IPAddress "*" -Port 80 -HostHeader $Hostname
New-WebBinding -Name $SiteNameHere -Port 443 -Protocol https -HostHeader $Hostname (Get-WebBinding -Name $SiteNameHere -Port 443 -Protocol "https" -HostHeader $Hostname).AddSslCertificate($cert.Thumbprint, "my")

Configuring role and localenv variables in Sitecore 9 - PowerShell way

In Sitecore 9, one can set up an instance into a specific 'role' that also takes predefined configurations. Further ahead, you may keep your numerous custom configurations next to each other targeting different 'roles' - that avoids clumsy config pathing and keeps settings functionally together in order to simplify maintenance. There is also 'localenv' setting that helps you to distinguish various groups of servers from the same role, but residing in the different environments. Not a nice way of changing role and adding environment by simply replacing a string occurrence:
(Get-Content Web.config).replace('    <add key="role:define" value="Standalone" />', '<add key="role:define" value="ContentManagement" /><add key="localenv:define" value="UAT" />') | Set-Content Web.config

Just a string replacement? Errrghh.... Not a nice solution! Let's make it better, by relying on XML namespace (thanks, Neil):
#$webConfigPath = "С:\path\to\your\Web.config"
#$localEnvName = "UAT"

$RptKeyFound=0;
$xml = (get-content $webConfigPath) -as [Xml];              # Create the XML Object and open the web.config file 
$root = $xml.get_DocumentElement();                         # Get the root element of the file

foreach($item in $root.appSettings.add)                     # loop through the child items in appsettings 
{ 
  if($item.key -eq "localenv:define")                       # If the desired element already exists 
    { 
      $RptKeyFound=1;                                       # Set the found flag 
    } 
}

if($RptKeyFound -eq 0)                                      # If the desired element does not exist 
{ 
    $newEl=$xml.CreateElement("add");                       # Create a new Element 
    $nameAtt1=$xml.CreateAttribute("key");                  # Create a new attribute "key" 
    $nameAtt1.psbase.value="localenv:define";               # Set the value of "key" attribute 
    $newEl.SetAttributeNode($nameAtt1);                     # Attach the "key" attribute 
    $nameAtt2=$xml.CreateAttribute("value");                # Create "value" attribute  
    $nameAtt2.psbase.value="$localEnvName";                 # Set the value of "value" attribute 
    $newEl.SetAttributeNode($nameAtt2);                     # Attach the "value" attribute 
    $xml.configuration["appSettings"].AppendChild($newEl);  # Add the newly created element to the right position
}

$xml.Save($webConfigPath)                                   # Save the web.config file
This same approach can be taken for any other XML-based transforms and replacements.

Separating content items from definition using Unicorn's NewItemsEvaluator

The vast majority of my readers are already familiar with Unicorn (if not - please take your time to familiarize with it by this link) and understand the principles of how it works. In few words, it serializes your Sitecore items into text files so that you can store them under source control along with the rest of your solution code.Then you can sync these files back into Sitecore, either manually from its admin page, or automatically by PowerShell or deployment script on CI / CD pipeline.  If the item has was changed, Unicorn automatically modifies its serialization file (so that changed file goes to source control to all other developers) and the reverse - newer items from source control will update those in Sitecore. So far, so good.

Problem: your solution infrastructure has numerous environments from lower (Dev) to higher (Prod) where the actual site is running. But not just the site itself - Sitecore also is there. Your content editors will be using Sitecore on prod, bringing plenty changes. But with next deployment all that new content will be automatically overwritten by older serialized items. What is good - now we have Helix principles, that classifies two types of Sitecore items - definition items to be passed along with the rest of solution code and actual content item. For Content items source of truth is Production, while for definition items source of truth is Development. But how do we actually define and set up content items?

Solution: the best automated approach also comes with Unicorn, however almost not documented and very little people know about it. It is called NewItemsEvaluator. Let's take a look at how it works:

By default, Unicorn predicate runs with Master Evaluator, which always overwrites Sitecore item with whatever comes from serialization. Because of Master Evaluator, content items on production will be overwritten by serialization with each deployment's sync unless actions are taken. NewItemsEvaluator also creates an item in Sitecore, but only if that item does not (yet) exist in the target environment. But if the item with such ID already exists there - it won't be affected and overwritten.

Firstly, we need to define what content items are. That typically will be all the items underneath /sitecore/YourProjectName/Home including Home item itself. Also, that will be all items within /sitecore/media library/Project/YourProjectName and items within /sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global including Global item itself and its folder-based children that have insert options assigned.

Secondly, we need to create a new unicorn predicate for those content items identified. That predicate should be driven by New Item Evaluator:

<evaluator type="Unicorn.Evaluators.NewItemOnlyEvaluator, Unicorn" singleInstance="true" />
Thirdly, we need to exclude content items from the default website predicate driven by Master Evaluator. Luckily, Unicorn comes with handy exclusion syntax (more examples can be found at this link):
<include name="Some children" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourWebsite">
  <exclude children="true">
    <except name="Settings" />
    <except name="Global" />
  </exclude>
</include>

Finally, your website project layer serialization configuration file will have two predicate configurations similar to one below:
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/" xmlns:role="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/role/" xmlns:localenv="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/localenv/">
    <sitecore role:require="Standalone or ContentManagement">
        <unicorn>
            <configurations>
                <configuration 
                    name="Project.YourProjectName.Website" 
                    description="YourProjectName content" 
dependencies="Foundation.*,Feature.*,Project.Common" extends="Helix.Project"> <predicate> <include name="Project.YourProjectName.Layouts" database="master" path="/sitecore/layout/layouts/Project/YourProjectName" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.PlaceholderSettings" database="master" path="/sitecore/layout/placeholder settings/Project/YourProjectName" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Content" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName">
<exclude path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Home" />
<exclude childrenOfPath="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Button Styles" />
<exclude childrenOfPath="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Font Styles" />
<exclude childrenOfPath="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Image Container Css" />
<exclude childrenOfPath="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Landing Css Classes" />
<exclude childrenOfPath="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Links/Footer Menu" />
<exclude childrenOfPath="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Links/Header Menu" />
<exclude childrenOfPath="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Links/Social Media" />
</include> <include name="Project.YourProjectName.Media" database="master" path="/sitecore/media library/Project/YourProjectName">
<exclude children="true" /> </include> <include name="Project.YourProjectName.ExperienceEditor" database="core" path="/sitecore/client/Applications/ExperienceEditor/Pipelines/InitializePageEdit" />
</predicate> <!-- roles and user data stores skipped here --> </configuration> <configuration name="Project.YourProjectName.Website.AuthoredContent"
description="Sample site content (New Item Provider)" dependencies="Foundation.*,Feature.*,Project.YourProjectNamev.Website"
patch:after="configuration[@name='Project.YourProjectName.Website']"
extends="Helix.Project"> <targetDataStore physicalRootPath="$(sourceFolder)\$(layer)\$(module)\serialization\Content" type="Rainbow.Storage.SerializationFileSystemDataStore, Rainbow" useDataCache="false" singleInstance="true" /> <evaluator type="Unicorn.Evaluators.NewItemOnlyEvaluator, Unicorn" singleInstance="true" /> <dataProviderConfiguration enableTransparentSync="false" type="Unicorn.Data.DataProvider.DefaultUnicornDataProviderConfiguration, Unicorn" /> <predicate type="Unicorn.Predicates.SerializationPresetPredicate, Unicorn" singleInstance="true"> <include name="Project.YourProjectName.Home" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Home" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.ButtonStyles" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Button Styles" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.FontStyles" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Font Styles" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.HeroCss Classes" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Hero Css Classes" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.HeroMobile Background Image" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Hero Mobile Background Image" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.ImageContainerCss" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Image Container Css" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.LandingCssClasses" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Landing Css Classes" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.Recruiters" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Recruiters" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.HigllightCssClasses" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Higllight Css Classes" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.TabsCssClasses" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Tabs Css Classes" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.Leaders" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Leaders" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.Links.FooterMenu" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Links/Footer Menu" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.Links.HeaderMenu" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Links/Header Menu" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Global.Links.SocialMedia" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/YourProjectName/Global/Links/Social Media" />
<include name="Project.YourProjectName.Media.Content" database="master" path="/sitecore/media library/Project/YourProjectName" />
</predicate> </configuration> </configurations> </unicorn> </sitecore> </configuration>

Hope this helps!