1. Sitefinity CMS Technical Overview & Developer’s Perspective
Georgi Chokov
Sitefinity Product Manager
Peter Marinov Customer Success Engineer

2. About the Presentation
Part I: Short intro - Sitefinity as a web platform for Developers
Part II: How the latest features boost developer productivity
Part III: What is in the works
Part IV: Q&A

3. Sitefinity Focuses on Developers
High-level Overview - Sitefinity as a WCM platform and web application framework
Sitefinity Focuses on Developers
Content Agility
Freedom of Data Source
Precise Control Over Presentation
Technology Friendly

4. Built on the .NET stack Platform Backend DATA LAYER UI LAYER MODULES
File system
Platform Backend
DATA LAYER
UI LAYER
MODULES
SERVICES
Pages
News
Blogs
Dynamic modules …
Search
Statistics
Notifications …
ASP.NET WebForms
ASP.NET MVC
HTML5
KendoUI
WPF (DAM application)
*modules cannot know about each other
SITEFINITY CORE
Plugin framework
Configuration
Localization
User management
Security

5. Some general principles - loose coupling as a rule
Sitefinity is a highly flexible system that is built from various units and can adjust to business requirements
Modules – Units of functionality; can explose services. Example: Blogs. Can be used for Content or Business Logic
Services – units of functionality used by other consumers (modules or services). Example: Search.
Services are replaceable and modifiable.

6. Provider model for data access
Sitefinity does not care whether data is stored in SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB or text files
Sitefinity and its components access data through providers
Sitefinity can work with multiple data sources at the same time (e.g. users can live in Active Directory, while their profile can live in SQL Server)
Benefits: System can integrate well within existing systems and pursue different strategies depending on business requirements
PROVIDERS
Blogs
Users
Events
News
Single Sitefinity Instance

7. Extensible Workflow (WWF)
Everything is an API
Requirements are always different.
Everything in Sitefinity is an API:
Available APIs:
API and REST Services for Content
API for Taxonomies
API for Workflows
API for UI (widgets)
System API – Synchronization, Tasks scheduling, Integration, publication system…
.. more
Extensible Workflow (WWF)
Web Services
Classic .NET API
Fluent .NET API
Sitefinity Core
Sitefinity Providers
Data

8. Part II How the latest features boost developer productivity

9. Module Builder – because requirements are always unique
Automatically generate:
Backend UI screens and menus for end users
Front-end widgets
Workflow rules
API and Services for the new dynamic type
Permissions (coming in Sitefinity 7.3)

10. Module Builder – because requirements are always unique
Dynamic Modules with Multiple Child Types
Module Builder now supports content hierarchies where one parent types can contain multiple child types
Unlimited levels of child types hierarchy

11. Demo
Module Builder demo. Generate entities, backend screen, generated code and widget templates

12. Related Data
Powerful concept of linking content types and other entities in the CMS
1:1 Relations
1:N Relations
many to many

13. Related Data Control over the markup <div> <ul>
      <asp:Repeater runat="server" DataSource='<%# Container.DataItem.GetRelatedItems("SponsorLogos") %>'>
    <ItemTemplate>
        <li><a href='<%# Eval("MediaUrl") %>'>
        <img height="95" src="<%# Eval("ThumbnailUrl")%>" alt="<%# Eval("AlternativeText")%>" id="<%# Eval("Id") %>" title="<%# Eval("Title") %>" >
            </a></li>
    </ItemTemplate>
     </asp:Repeater>
  </ul>
</div>

14. Related Data Defining content relations via the API
var journalist = this.CreateJournalist();
var newsItem = this.CreateNews(newsManager);
newsItem.CreateRelation(journalist, "Journalists");
newsManager.SaveChanges();
Get all relations to an item, single line of code
var relatedJournalists = newsItem.GetRelatedItems<DynamicContent>("Journalists");

15. Demo
Showing how UI is generated automatically when there’re content relations, as well as how easy it is to create and manage relations

16. Integration Out of the box Through API In 2015 ..
Connector for SharePoint 2010/2013
Connector for SharePoint Online
Works with on premise installations too. Integration with Office 365 Enterprise through SharePoint
Connector for SalesForce
Connector for Marketo
Connector for MS Dynamics (through partners)
Connector for Telerik Backend services
Through API
The data provider model
REST & Service Stack Services
Through the Sitefinity Fluent and Native API In
More integrations coming out of the box

17. Part III What is in the works

18. Project Feather Open Source!
All web forms widgets to have MVC counterparts
Front-end of your choice – Bootstrap, Foundation, SemanticUI out of the box
Mobile First – all widgets are responsive by design
All widget designers are AngularJS SPA
The framework is based on conventions – Widgets, Designers, Templates and views – all wired up easily
Package more than just themes – CSS, Images, widget templates and masterpages all in one package
Open Source!

19. Project Feather State of the project:
Packaging and conventions engines are done, released on GitHub
Content block, navigation, dynamic widgets – done, released on GitHub
Sitefinity 7.3 in December includes Project Feather core. Now you can develop your own MVC style widgets and use any front-end framework straight out of the box.
Designers love the new framework. 

20. Integration with 3rd party search engines - Sitefinity 7.3
Integration with Windows Azure Search Services
Open Source sample on integration with Elastic Search
Search is now decoupled
Integration with 3rd party search engine is easy and quick

21. In conclusion

22. Georgi.Chokov@telerik.com Peter.Marinov@telerik.com
Q&A