Add, update and delete Sitecore Items Programmatically

Cheat Sheat

Before we start below are the cheat sheat that can serve as starting point to understand sitecore item at ease

Sitecore.Data Library

• Context
• Configuration
• Factory
• Database
• SecurityModel
• Template
• TemplateId
• Items
• Item
• Field
• Sitecore.SecurityModel
• Sitecore.Configuration.Factory
• Sitecore.Data.Managers.LanguageManager
• Sitecore.Context.Language
• Sitecore.Data.Items.Item
• Sitecore.Publishing.Pipelines.PublishItem.PublishItemPipeline

***Each item exists in a database, and you can either use use the context database:

Sitecore.Data.Database context = Sitecore.Context.Database;

• Item item= context.GetItem("/sitecore/content");
• Sitecore.Data.Items.Item item = context.GetItem(Sitecore.ItemIDs.ContentRoot);

***Or you can explicitly reference a named database, such as the Master database:
Sitecore.Data.Database master = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("master");

• master.GetItem("/sitecore/content");
• master.Items["/sitecore/content"];
• master.GetTemplate();

***If needed, you can access a specific version of a specific language:
Sitecore.Data.Items.Item version = context.GetItem(item.ID,

  Sitecore.Data.Managers.LanguageManager.GetLanguage("en"),

  new Sitecore.Data.Version(1));

***You can also retrieve items by URI:
Sitecore.Data.ItemUri homeUri = new Sitecore.Data.ItemUri(

  "sitecore://master/{110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9}?lang=en&ver=1");

Sitecore.Data.Items.Item home = Sitecore.Data.Database.GetItem(uri); 

***To retrieve a child with a specific key:
Sitecore.Data.Items.Item home = item.Children["home"];

1. Create Item Using Tempate

public void CreateItem()
{
  //Again we need to handle security
  //In this example we just disable it
  using (new Sitecore.SecurityModel.SecurityDisabler())
  {
    //First get the parent item from the master database
     Database masterDb = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("master");
    
//Get Parent Node.
     Item parentItem = masterDb.Items["/sitecore/content/home"];

 
    //Now we need to get the template from which the item is created
    TemplateItem template = masterDb.GetTemplate("sample/sample item");
 
 
    //Now we can add the new item as a child to the parent
    parentItem.Add("NewItemName", template);

  }
}

2. Update Item Field Value

public void UpdateItem()
{
  //Use a security disabler to allow changes
  using (new Sitecore.SecurityModel.SecurityDisabler())
  {
    //You want to alter the item in the master database, so get the item from there
    Database db = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("master");
    Item item = db.Items["/sitecore/content/home"];
 
 
    //Begin editing
    item.Editing.BeginEdit();
    try
    {
      //perform the editing
      item.Fields["Title"].Value = "This value will be stored";
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
       Sitecore.Diagnostics.Log.Error("Could not update item " + item.Paths.FullPath + ": " + ex.Message, this);
       item.Editing.CancelEdit();
    }
    finally
    {
       //Close the editing state
       item.Editing.EndEdit();
    }
  }
}

3. Publish Item

public void PublishItem(Item item)
{
 //We need the target database
        Database webDb = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("web");

       //We need to know the language to publish. Here we use the context language
        Language language = Sitecore.Context.Language;

       //We set the publish date to now
        DateTime publishTime = DateTime.Now;
  
       //Now we can create the publish options
        Sitecore.Publishing.PublishOptions options = new PublishOptions(masterDb, webDb, PublishMode.SingleItem, language, publishTime);
 
       //Activate the publishpipeline
        Sitecore.Publishing.Pipelines.PublishItem.PublishItemPipeline.Run(item.ID, options);

}

If cache is a concern above pipeline option is required.

4. Publish with Options

 private void PublishItem(Sitecore.Data.Items.Item item)
{
  // The publishOptions determine the source and target database,
  // the publish mode and language, and the publish date
  Sitecore.Publishing.PublishOptions publishOptions =
    new Sitecore.Publishing.PublishOptions(item.Database,
                                           Database.GetDatabase("web"),
                                           Sitecore.Publishing.PublishMode.SingleItem,
                                           item.Language,
                                           System.DateTime.Now);  // Create a publisher with the publishoptions
  Sitecore.Publishing.Publisher publisher = new Sitecore.Publishing.Publisher(publishOptions);
 
  // Choose where to publish from
  publisher.Options.RootItem = item;
 
  // Publish children as well?
  publisher.Options.Deep = true;
 
  // Do the publish!
  publisher.Publish();
}

Key Notes:

• Droplink vs Droplist-> Droplink store GUID whereas Droplist stores just name

Sitecore 8.0 higher- Multiple version in web database

http://www.sitecore.net/Learn/Blogs/Technical-Blogs/Sitecore-Development-Team/Posts/2015/11/Multiple-Item-Versions-in-Web.aspx

 

Content testing Enabled.

 

By default the publishVersion pipeline contains two processors in order:

• Sitecore.ContentTesting.Pipelines.PublishVersion.PublishTestingVersions, Sitecore.ContentTesting
• Sitecore.Publishing.Pipelines.PublishVersion.Processors.RemoveOtherVersions, Sitecore.Kernel

 

Reference:
http://www.sitecore.net/learn/blogs/technical-blogs/john-west-sitecore-blog/posts/2011/04/accessing-items-in-the-sitecore-aspnet-cms.aspx