Inside the "Properties" of each Sitefinity page there is an option for enabling "Page Caching". Setting this option to "Yes" will make a dramatic difference in performance. In fact, unless you have a strong reason for not doing so, you should enable page caching on all of your Sitefinity pages. Web pages served from cache do not require expensive database interactions or code processing. Everything is pre-fetched & pre-rendered. The web page will load almost instantly. If you need information about enabling, configuring or using caching in Sitefinity, please visit ...

Many of us who now primarily use ASP.NET began web programming with another technology.  In many cases, our first exposure to a technology didn't come from a job, but rather from personal projects.  The platform we choose was based entirely on what was accessible to us at the time.  In my case, this meant PHP, Apache, MySQL and UNIX.  Each of these technologies remains completely free, yet very capable.  Building on this technology doesn't require the purchase of an IDE, server license or database server.  The barrier to entry remains ...

Since this blog launched I have deleted hundreds of SPAM comments from my various posts.  These comments say nothing & merely link to some other web site.  In most cases it's obvious the comments were made by an automated SPAM bot.  Cleaning this garbage off my web site has been a weekly chore for me.   With Sitefinity 3.2 Telerik introduced a new SpamProtector control.  This control can be placed onto any page or form to provide various SPAM-fighting capabilities.  Two methods of SPAM protection are offered by this control; ...

Sitefinity 3.2 comes with an "Images & Documents Module". This module makes it relatively easy to create & manage libraries of images, files & documents on your web site. I found this module to be a much easier than using FTP to manage my web site's files. I now manage all files related to Goondocks through the Images & Documents module. This includes the images that appear on this article, as well as files available for download. Caution: The Sitefinity "Images & Documents Module" stores files directly in ...

Goondocks.com has now been moved to a HostMySite.com Virtual Private Server. Previously I had been using DiscountASP.net to host my Sitefinity-based web site.  For the record, I have absolutely no complaints with DiscountASP.net.  The service was solid and I was a happy customer. This being said, I wanted a higher-level of control over my web site & hosting environment.  My new VPS hosting platform allows Remote Desktop, multiple web sites, my own IP address, dedicated resources, more file space.  The downside is my new VPS is also more expensive. The ...

I am happy to announce, after a dozen attempts, I have managed to upgrade Goondocks.com to Sitefinity 3.2. My advice to anyone attempting to upgrade from 3.1 is to go through this entire process on your local machine before you even attempt to do this in a live setting.  You will discover many controls have changed.  You will also discover the "ControlTemplate" changes you made for 3.1 may no longer be compatible with the updated 3.2 controls. Here are the steps involved in the Goondocks.com upgrade:  Backup ...

Like a lot of web programmers, I spent years using PHP to create web applications. One of the tools I frequently used in conjunction with PHP was phpMyAdmin . This helpful web-based tool allowed me to easily manage my MySQL databases via a web browser. After reading Scott Guthrie's "Binding UI using the ASP:LinqDataSource Control" article I became intrigued by the idea of building a phpMyAdmin-like inteface that could utlize any "LINQ to SQL Class". In theory this seemed simple, in practice it involved a lot reflection . I ...

I've often found it helpful to use ASP.NET's Page Trace to identify performance problems with my dynamic pages. However, database queries are frequently responsible for performance problems.  Because of this, I began displaying SQL via the Page Trace. This let me see the SQL being executed to render a page. It also let me see how much time the SQL was taking to execute. As I began toying with LINQ to SQL I found myself missing the ability to see the SQL being executed to render my pages. As it turns out, it's very easy to ...

I have been struggling off & on for weeks to upgrade this web site to Sitefinity 3.2.  If you're interested read about this journey here and here. Please understand, I'm a big fan of Sitefinity and Telerik.  But with regard to Sitefinity 3.2 it's fairly obvious little thought or testing was devoted to "upgrading", specifically with regard to Sitefinity modules.  Significant changes were introduced into the Blogs module, as well as other modules.  The net effect: upgrading to 3.2 caused my data to disappear.  Telerik later released raw SQL ...

I love the Sitefinity "Site Map".  I love how it makes the organization of my web site self-evident.  It is for this reason I wasn't terribly enthused with the "Images & Documents" module that was included with Sitefinity 3.2.  This module took resources out of the "Site Map" to be managed and organized elsewhere.  I also found it impossible to include a single link/reference to a file I was managing via the "Images & Documents" module.  Instead my options seemed to only be "Gallery" or "Download List". My desire to ...