Video about Sitecore Courier - basic usage and customizing packaging logic via filters

In this blog post I'd like to share a video which I've created several months ago as an experiment, and finally managed to publish.

The video consists of two parts: presentation and a small demo, in just 10 minutes you'll learn all you need to know about the module and see how to filter unwanted field or item changes by using filters.

Sitecore Courier is now available at Chocolatey Gallery

I'm excited to announce that the Sitecore Courier module is now available at Chocolatey Gallery - https://chocolatey.org/packages/sitecore-courier! This is the first Sitecore-related Chocolatey package and it also contains a few improvements to the tool.

From now, all you need to install Sitecore Courier is to type choco install sitecore-courier in command line or PowerShell console.

Path to Sitecore.Courier.Runner.exe will be added to the environment variables, so that you'll be able to run it from the command line as well.

One more thing - it will register a shell extension that allows easy packaging of both items and files. Try it out - that's a great time saver. Simply right-click any folder and choose "Package with Sitecore Courier" option. (You might need to restart your computer before this option appears).

That's it, enjoy! If you've got more suggestions on improvements - please report them here or at GitHub - https://github.com/adoprog/Sitecore-Courier.

Let's build Sitecore Open Source with TeamCity

Over the past few years I've been focusing on applications life cycle as one of the key areas of my daily job. I've also spent some nights creating Sitecore PowerCore, Sitecore Courier, and many other build/deploy/test related tools. But one of the projects has always been postponed for different reasons. The project I'd like to share is a build playground which you can touch & feel, and it is built using my favorite tools:

• TeamCity
• Sitecore PowerCore 
• Sitecore Courier
• and some more

Packaging files with Sitecore Courier

It's been a long time since Sitecore Courier was released, I've got a lot of feedback about it, so now it's time to add the next major feature to it: files packaging support.

Initially, the module could handle only items, which was just enough for deploying item changes to your website on release day. But at some point I've realized that it can also replace standard Sitecore Package Designer, providing some additional benefits, which I'll list below.

Hidden feature of Sitecore Courier

It may seem strange, but there is one feature in Sitecore Courier module which I forgot to mention last time I blogged about it.

You can perform diff versus empty folder, in other words, simply turn a folder with serialized items into a package. It can be useful in two cases:

• When creating initial package with your website files
• If you want TDS-like "all inclusive" packages

Yet another story about OneClick deployment for Sitecore

This blog post is inspired by "OneClick deployment for Sitecore..." post by Jan Hebnes.

I'll describe how to achieve the same result, but using slightly different tools. So, what are the options?

Sitecore Courier - Effortless Packaging

The first question many Sitecore developers ask when they start thinking about deploying changes with Sitecore is – “How to track item changes?” The deal is - you cannot simply deploy the updated site from version control system (VCS), because production site also holds content items, being constantly edited by content editors, and you need to merge it.