ASP.NET MVC 4 AllowAnonymous Attribute and Authorize Attribute
Orchard Themes and HTML Helper for Accessing Current Orchard Theme Folder
As an Orchard Developer there are times you need to access an asset within the current Orchard Theme Folder from a view. Since the current Orchard Theme can be easily changed by the Orchard Administrator on the fly, you obviously can't hardcode a path. You need some way of programmatically determining the path to the current Orchard Theme. As with most things in Orchard, there is an HTML Helper for that.
Orchard Website Upgraded to 1.4 - Autoroute Projector Module and New Fields
Orchard 1.4 was released the other day and today we upgraded our Orchard Website to Orchard 1.4. We wanted to take advantage of the bug fixes and performance enhancements as well as the new routing provided by Autoroute and Alias, the projector module, and a number of new fields that can be attached to Content Types. Be careful when upgrading Orchard to 1.4 as the change from the Route Part to Autoroute and Title Parts is a breaking change and the upgrade will require you to enable and run a new module, called UpgradeTo14, once you have migrated all your data, custom modules, media folder, and settings to the new Orchard 1.4 website.
Send Email When Blog Post Published
I haven't heard much noise about the Rules Engine in Orchard CMS so I thought I would just simply post an image of how easy it is to create a rule in Orchard that sends an email when a blog post is published. Now, of course, you can create numerous rules, and I created an Orchard Tutorial showing you just that: Rules, Tokens, and Forms API in Orchard CMS. However, sending an email when a blog post is published is built into Orchard and all one has to do is enable the Rules, Content Rules, and Email Rules Modules and create a new rule using the events and actions available in those modules.
Upgraded Website to Orchard 1.3
As I mentioned earlier, Orchard 1.3 was released this past week with a number of really cool features! I've been ugrading client websites and found a little time this past week to upgrade my own Orchard Website. Upgrading from Orchard 1.2 to 1.3 was uneventful, which is the way I like it. While upgrading to Orchard 1.3 I also changed the Orchard Theme. The original Orchard Theme was the first one I created and debated keeping it for sentimental purposes, but in the end I thought this gave me a chance to create an Orchard Theme that was a bit less serious. Hope you like it.
Orchard 1.3 Released - Forms API, Tokens, Content Item Preview
We're very excited about the release of Orchard 1.3 today. We have already upgraded a client website from Orchard 1.2.41 to Orchard 1.3.9 this morning and everything looks great. Lots of bug fixes and improvements in Orchard 1.3, including: Content Item Preview, Forms API, and Tokens to name a few. Orchard Web Developers will particularly enjoy the ability to delete content types and parts as well as the Task Lease API; rules to trigger custom actions based on particular events; localization of data annotations, widgets, and alternates; etc.
Upgraded Website to Orchard 1.2
We've been busy upgrading our client websites to Orchard CMS 1.2 that our website just hasn't been a priority. As of this weekend, however, our website has now been upgraded to Orchard 1.2 and is experiencing the various performance enhancements and bug fixes in Orchard 1.2.
Orchard 1.2 Released - Bug Fixes and Improved Performance
Orchard 1.2 has been released! Orchard CMS 1.2 is an incremental update with a few bug fixes and new features and a lot of focus on improving the performance of Orchard! If you are running Orchard 1.0 or Orchard 1.1 you will want to upgrade your website to Orchard 1.2 for the performance improvements alone!
Customizing Orchard Themes using Shape Tracing and Url Alternates in Designer Tools
If you started developing Orchard Websites and custom Orchard Themes when Orchard 1.1 was released, consider yourself lucky! The new Designer Tools, like Shape Tracing and URL Alternates, that were released with Orchard 1.1 are an incredible leap forward in creating Orchard Themes. Shape Tracing is absolutely amazing and gets all the love, but let's not forget about the incredible usefulness of URL Alternates when it comes to overriding how things are displayed based on URL!
Add Images to Orchard 1.1 Website with New Media Picker
We know it sounds small, but one of the best features in Orchard 1.1 is the new Media Picker for adding images / media to your Orchard Website. The Media Picker in Orchard 1.1 allows you to upload, browse, and choose an image directly from the editor without having to jump back and forth between the page editor and Media Area in Orchard to copy and paste image URLs.
Orchard 1.1 Features - .NET CMS
We've been getting a lot of questions about the new features in Orchard 1.1. We've noticed and have been using all the new Orchard 1.1 Features, but haven't had a chance to blog about them in detail. Once we finish migrating all our Orchard 1.0 websites to 1.1, you can expect a number of posts on the new features.
Orchard 1.1 Coming April 12 2011 During MIX
We've been asked this question a lot, "When will Orchard 1.1 be released?" Orchard 1.1 will be released during MIX on April 12, 2011. Orchard 1.1 has a number of really cool features and lots of bug fixes. A few Orchard 1.1 Features we have mentioned are the Shape Tracing in the Orchard Designer Tools, Orchard Recipes, and Orchard Warmup Module. Of course this just scratches the surface of what you can expect in Orchard 1.1.
Shape Tracing in Orchard Designer Tools for Creating Orchard Themes
Bertrand Le Roy presented at LIDNUG yesterday on Orchard CMS. I was pretty amazed at the depth of the presentation. He was not only demoing Orchard features that we won't see until Orchard CMS 1.1 is released around MIX11, but he was literally walking developers through the dynamic nature of Clay and its usefulness in Orchard Themes as well as development of Orchard Modules. That is a pretty tall order to comprehend for developers who are not actively engaged in the Orchard CMS project, but it does give them the nitty gritty details of what it means to be an Orchard Web Developer.
Orchard Themes
In addition to orchard widgets and orchard modules, you also have more extensibility in Orchard by choosing and enabling Orchard Themes. Orchard Themes define the look of your website, providing the layout and colors that visitors see when they visit your website. Just like with modules, you can brows a gallery of themes from your dashboard. You can then choose to download, preview, and enable a theme with a couple of clicks.
Orchard Modules
After you are familiar with the basic administration of an Orchard CMS Website you will no doubt be interested in adding additional functionality to the website. A powerful and easy way to add new functionality to Orchard is through the use of Modules. Modules are created by Orchard CMS developers and can offer a wide range of new functionality to the website, including:
Widgets in Orchard CMS
After you created a new page in Orchard CMS, you have the ability to add widgets to those pages from the Orchard dashboard. Widgets are self-contained, resusable pieces of functionality that can be applied to various layers and zones in your website.
Create New Page in Orchard CMS
Once you have successfully installed Orchard and logged into the dashboard, you can appreciate the simplicity of administering your website by creating a page. Creating a page is pretty simple, but shows off a number of configurable options that are available by default. Let's look at the different pieces of creating a new page and what is actually happening.
Orchard CMS Administration
After you have installed Orchard, configured Orchard, and run the Orchard CMS website for the first time, you can click on the Dashboard link to access the administrative area of Orchard. Out-of-the-box you have the ability to create pages, create a blog, administer comments, manager lists, add widgets, upload photos, choose new themes, manage users and roles, and manage all other basic website functionality for your small business portal.
Running Orchard CMS Website After Installation - Theme Machine
Once you install Orchard CMS and configure Orchard, you will come to the homepage of your Orchard CMS website logged-in as Administrator. By default, Orchard CMS will be configured to use the theme "Theme Machine". The beauty of the Orchard CMS is that you can choose a new theme or create your own theme later.
Configuring Orchard CMS
Once you have installed Orchard CMS via the Web Platform Installer or by downloading the source code or runtime bits you will browse to the website and come to the initial configuration screen. At the initial configuration screen you will be asked for the name of the website, an administrator ID and Password, and whether you want to use SQL Server Compact or an existing SQL Server Express or SQL Server Database.
Orchard CMS Released by Microsoft
The Orchard Content Management System ( CMS ) by Microsoft was released on January 12, 2011. Orchard CMS is a free, open-source, community-driven application perfect for building small business websites. Orchard has built-in support for users and roles, pages, blogs, tagging, commenting, searching, and other standard website functionality.
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