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Enable website tracking service using Sitecore Send

Sitecore Send website tracking service enables to collect data and makes it available for users. It uses cookie-based technology to track data on end-user page visits, product view, add to cart and purchase.

Add website to Sitecore Send

Pre-requisite-

You need to have a website up and running. this can be a simple HTML site or you can choose any other web techology with any Fronetend framework like nextjs, react or jquery etc.

I have created a simple site and hosted using vercel – e.g.:- https://moosend.vercel.app/

To add a website to Sitecore Send –

Navigate to Account –> Websites or New Website option

List of Websites-

Should display list of Websites already configured and if its verified.

Add Website-

On this page enter your website url- https://moosend.vercel.app/

Once this is submitted it should show the Website Id alond with Connection Script. Website Id is required to add this in script to start tracking.

The website list should show the newly added website which should be in unverfied state-

Connect Website

Navigate to Install connection script option. Install button should show the script that is require to add to your website

Copy this script to you website head section, this may be different for you site –

mootrack('init', '77d7daa0-b906-4965-be85-7d8a8892019f');

The Id in the above code is website id.

Identify the visitor

To verify your site and to track the visitor use this script-

mootrack('identify', 'john@doe.com');

The above email will be identified.

Add script to you Website-

Add the above script in your website Head section, something like this-

The initila script which allows to use the mootrack fucntion with various options.

The mootrack init along with you website id

Local function to track user. I have hooked this function to a button

<button class="button" onclick="trackuser()">Track User</button>

Deploy the site to vercel-

I have deployed the site to vercel but you can choose your own hosting provider or the way you want to deploy the site.

My site looks like this and have button to “Track User”, “Add to cart” and “Checkout”

Click on “Track User” button, it should confirm the tracking.

This should also add cookie entry with user email-

And now you should see the website in Sitecore send should be in Verified state-

A new Email List will be created and a subscriber should have been added-

This concludes enabling the Sitecore Send for your website.

Errors

If you see this warning the site might not be tracking correctly due to cookie conflict. Delete all cookies before starting the tracking.

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Sicore CDP – Send Add Event using direct HTTP request

The ADD event captures the product details when a user adds the product(s) to their online cart.

https://{{apiEndpoint}}/{{apiVersion}}/event/create.json?client_key={{CLIENT_KEY}}&message={{message}}

To know more what should be the API endpoint and api version see this blog

Pre-requisite- The guest has to be created which can be identitfied as browserid

Generate browser id – see how to generate browserid using postman here

URL – containsΒ eventΒ to create Add event. – highlighted below.

Add the Product details the user must have added in cart and send the below request to Sitecore CDP.

At this point the Guest must have been identified as the Customer. Search Customer by browserid or Name.

Should the current activity of the customer.

Click on Timeline and View Session details

The session should show the product been added to the cart. Based on this if the product remains in cart for certain time and the user doen’t checkout you may provision to trigger abandon cart event.

cURL code snippet-

curl --location -g --request GET 'https://api.boxever.com/v1.2/event/create.json?client_key=<<Client Key>>&message={"channel":"WEB","type":"CONFIRM","language":"EN","currency":"GBP","page":"home page","pos":"pastoral-witty-grill","browser_id":"7ed103bd-08c2-47f4-8f69-91141ca3200d","product":[{"item_id":"EXACT_90"}]}'

C# code snippet-

var client = new RestClient("https://api.boxever.com/v1.2/event/create.json?client_key=<<Client Key>>&message={\"channel\":\"WEB\",\"type\":\"CONFIRM\",\"language\":\"EN\",\"currency\":\"GBP\",\"page\":\"home page\",\"pos\":\"pastoral-witty-grill\",\"browser_id\":\"7ed103bd-08c2-47f4-8f69-91141ca3200d\",\"product\":[{\"item_id\":\"EXACT_90\"}]}");
client.Timeout = -1;
var request = new RestRequest(Method.GET);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
Console.WriteLine(response.Content);

Python code snippet-

import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("api.boxever.com")
payload = ''
headers = {}
conn.request("GET", "/v1.2/event/create.json?client_key=<<Client Key>>&message=%7B%22channel%22:%22WEB%22,%22type%22:%22CONFIRM%22,%22language%22:%22EN%22,%22currency%22:%22GBP%22,%22page%22:%22home%20page%22,%22pos%22:%22pastoral-witty-grill%22,%22browser_id%22:%227ed103bd-08c2-47f4-8f69-91141ca3200d%22,%22product%22:%5B%7B%22item_id%22:%22EXACT_90%22%7D%5D%7D", payload, headers)
res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()
print(data.decode("utf-8"))

Reference-

https://doc.sitecore.com/cdp/en/developers/api/index-en.html#UUID-51cdc30a-8344-72dc-457c-98aa2866da39

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Sitecore CDP – Send Identity Event using direct HTTP request

An IDENTITY event contains data that enables Sitecore CDP to perform identity resolution. When Sitecore CDP receives an IDENTITY event, it runs a linking algorithm to try to match guest data from separate guest profiles, based on your organization’s identity rules. 

A guest is identified with the browser id. To search the guest Navigate to the Guest list page and search for the guest with the browwser id.

To identify the guest as a Customer provide the payload with the type as IDENTITY and the Customer details, such as their email, firstname, lastname etc.

Sending a request through postman- use below URL-

https://{{apiEndpoint}}/{{apiVersion}}/event/create.json?client_key={{CLIENT_KEY}}&message={{message}}

To know more what should be the API endpoint and api version see this blog

Pre-requisite- The guest has to be created which can be identitfied as browserid

Generate browser id – see how to generate browserid using postman here

URL β€“ contains event to create view event.

To know more about the point of sale and how to create see blog

var browser_id = pm.environment.get("browserId")
var pointOfSale = pm.environment.get("PointOfSale")

var message = {    
    "channel": "WEB",
    "type": "IDENTITY",
    "language": "EN",
    "currency": "GBP",
    "page": "Login",
    "pos": pointOfSale,
    "browser_id": browser_id,
    "title": "Sir",
    "email": "pgrill@malify.com",
    "firstname": "Patoral",
    "lastname": "Grill"
}

postman.setEnvironmentVariable("message", JSON.stringify(message));

Now search the Guest by browserid and the Gust Type should be Customer as the Guest has been identified.

CURL code snippet-

curl --location -g --request GET 'https://api.boxever.com/v1.2/event/create.json?client_key=<<client key>>&message={"channel":"WEB","type":"IDENTITY","language":"EN","currency":"GBP","page":"home page","pos":"pastoral-witty-grill","browser_id":"7ed103bd-08c2-47f4-8f69-91141ca3200d","title":"Sir","email":"pgrill@malify.com","firstname":"Pastoral","lastname":"Grill"}'

C# code snippet-

var client = new RestClient("https://api.boxever.com/v1.2/event/create.json?client_key=<<code key>>&message={\"channel\":\"WEB\",\"type\":\"IDENTITY\",\"language\":\"EN\",\"currency\":\"GBP\",\"page\":\"home page\",\"pos\":\"pastoral-witty-grill\",\"browser_id\":\"7ed103bd-08c2-47f4-8f69-91141ca3200d\",\"title\":\"Sir\",\"email\":\"pgrill@malify.com\",\"firstname\":\"Pastoral\",\"lastname\":\"Grill\"}");
client.Timeout = -1;
var request = new RestRequest(Method.GET);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
Console.WriteLine(response.Content);

Python code cnippet-

import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("api.boxever.com")
payload = ''
headers = {}
conn.request("GET", "/v1.2/event/create.json?client_key=<<client key>>&message=%7B%22channel%22:%22WEB%22,%22type%22:%22IDENTITY%22,%22language%22:%22EN%22,%22currency%22:%22GBP%22,%22page%22:%22home%20page%22,%22pos%22:%22pastoral-witty-grill%22,%22browser_id%22:%227ed103bd-08c2-47f4-8f69-91141ca3200d%22,%22title%22:%22Sir%22,%22email%22:%22pgrill@malify.com%22,%22firstname%22:%22Pastoral%22,%22lastname%22:%22Grill%22%7D", payload, headers)
res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()
print(data.decode("utf-8"))

References-

https://doc.sitecore.com/cdp/en/developers/api/index-en.html#UUID-279a4b64-8bb2-2e5d-3ec7-6b469e284dc7

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Setting up a Sitecore JSS development environment with the Containers template for Next.js

Follow steps in this link —

https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/hd/211/sitecore-headless-development/walkthrough–setting-up-a-development-environment-with-the-sitecore-containers-template-for-next-js.html

Following are thre pre-requisite for setting on your local machine-

Apart from this also install Sitecore JSS CLI-

npm install -g @sitecore-jss/sitecore-jss-cli

Install the template

dotnet new -i Sitecore.DevEx.Templates --nuget-source https://sitecore.myget.org/F/sc-packages/api/v3/index.json

dotnet new sitecore.nextjs.gettingstarted -n samplejss

Should first Restores dotnet local tools for the solution and Initializes the JSS project

What is your Sitecore hostname (used if deployed to Sitecore)? (samplejss.dev.local) << leave blank or provide the host name>>

How would you like to fetch Layout and Dictionary data? 
GraphQL
REST

How would you like to prerender your application?
SSG
SSR

Which additional language do you want to support (en is already included and required)? << leave blank or type the language you want. should select da-DK by default and additional language>>

JSS application is now ready and updated for continerized environment.

Navigate to project folder and initialize the environment.

.\init.ps1 -InitEnv -LicenseXmlPath "<C:\path\to\license.xml>" -AdminPassword "<desired password>"
setx NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS C:\Users\sandeep\AppData\Local\mkcert\rootCA.pem

Execute up.ps1 to create containers-

.\up.ps1

Error-

CM is not coming up-

Checked the docker logs, and found this error-

The path is not set correctly. Need to escape the characters-

Resolution-

Change – entrypoint: powershell.exe -Command “& C:\tools\entrypoints\iis\Development.ps1” to entrypoint: powershell.exe -Command “& C:\\tools\\entrypoints\\iis\\Development.ps1” in docker-compose.override.yml file for xm1, xp0 and xp1

Take down all the containers and build again.

Now this should look fine-

Enter CM admin credentials and allow the access-

CM and App should load –

As of writing this post, this setup installed Sitecore 10.3.

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Sitecore CDP- Sending View Event using direct HTTP requests

The VIEW event captures the guest’s action of viewing a page. To track guest behavior use VIEW event on all pages.

Sending a request through postman- use below URL-

https://{{apiEndpoint}}/{{apiVersion}}/event/create.json?client_key={{CLIENT_KEY}}&message={{message}}

To know more what should be the API endpoint and api version see this blog

Generate browser id – see how to generate browserid using postman here

URL – contains event to create view event.

Message-

var browser_id = pm.environment.get("browserId")
var pointOfSale = pm.environment.get("PointOfSale")

var message = {    
    "channel": "WEB",
    "type": "VIEW",
    "language": "EN",
    "currency": "GBP",
    "page": "home page",
    "pos": pointOfSale,
    "browser_id": browser_id
}

postman.setEnvironmentVariable("message", JSON.stringify(message));

Check the view event in Sitecore CDP portal-

Search the Broswer Id in guests page-

Select the Anonymous Visitor.

Select the Timeline tab

Select the orange color settings icon to check the view event details which is only displayed in debug mode-

See the detials the message that was sent as part of request-

CURL command for same –

curl --location -g --request GET 'https://api-engage-eu.sitecorecloud.io/v1.2/event/create.json?client_key=<<enter client key>>&message={"channel":"WEB","type":"VIEW","language":"EN","currency":"GBP","page":"home page","pos":"pastoral-witty-grill","browser_id":"<<enter browser id>>"}'

C# code-

var client = new RestClient("https://api-engage-eu.sitecorecloud.io/v1.2/event/create.json?client_key=<<enter client key>>&message={\"channel\":\"WEB\",\"type\":\"VIEW\",\"language\":\"EN\",\"currency\":\"GBP\",\"page\":\"home page\",\"pos\":\"pastoral-witty-grill\",\"browser_id\":\"<<enter browser id>>\"}");
client.Timeout = -1;
var request = new RestRequest(Method.GET);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
Console.WriteLine(response.Content);

Python- http client code snippet-

import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("api-engage-eu.sitecorecloud.io")
payload = ''
headers = {}
conn.request("GET", "/v1.2/event/create.json?client_key=<<enter client key>>&message=%7B%22channel%22:%22WEB%22,%22type%22:%22VIEW%22,%22language%22:%22EN%22,%22currency%22:%22GBP%22,%22page%22:%22home%20page%22,%22pos%22:%22pastoral-witty-grill%22,%22browser_id%22:%22<<enter browser id>>%22%7D", payload, headers)
res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()
print(data.decode("utf-8"))

Reference-

https://doc.sitecore.com/cdp/en/developers/api/index-en.html#UUID-281a2b8f-627d-a71b-4a1f-df545bc617e9

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Setup Sitecore OrderCloud headstart with Angular in Ubuntu system the docker way

Working on Linux system after been worked on Windows for 2 decades is always fun.

This blog post is to setup the Sitecore OrderCloud Headstart on Ubuntu the Docker way. As all the images used for the Headstart is are Linux based, this I didn’t find major difference how this is been setup in Windows system apart from few changes while installing Storage Explorer and few other erros which I have noted in this blog post.

Note – use sudo for each command or “sudo i”to run as root.

Ensure node js is installed

This might be required for your local build.

sudo apt update

sudo apt install nodejs

Ensure npm is installed

sudo apt install npm

Ensure docker and docker -compose is installed

See this blog post Install Docker on Linux

sudo snap install docker

sudo apt install docker-compose

Docker Compose

Lets start composing and solve errros that might come ourr way-

sudo docker-compose up -d

npm needs TLS1.2

npm notice Beginning October 4, 2021, all connections to the npm registry – including for package installation – must use TLS 1.2 or higher. You are currently using plaintext http to connect. Please visit the GitHub blog for more information: https://github.blog/2021-08-23-npm-registry-deprecating-tls-1-0-tls-1-1/
npm WARN @ordercloud/headstart-sdk@0.0.0 No repository field.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/69044064/npm-notice-beginning-october-4-2021-all-connections-to-the-npm-registry-incl

npm cache clear --force

npm set registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/

npm install -g https://tls-test.npmjs.com/tls-test-1.0.0.tgz

Install .Net SDK

Middleware runs on .Net. So this neds to be installed.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/linux-ubuntu

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/dotnet-6-is-now-in-ubuntu-2204/

sudo apt-get update && \
sudo apt-get install -y dotnet-sdk-6.0
sudo apt-get update && \
sudo apt-get install -y aspnetcore-runtime-6.0
sudo apt install dotnet6

I found difficulties installing .Net on Ubuntu. You may have todo few restarts.

 docker compose up -d

This should start all the containers. Note- cosmos container takes time to start till then middleware waits and starts when comos is ready.

Comos should be available now –

Install Azure Storage- Explorer

Install Storage explorer in Ubuntu-

snapd should be already installed if you are using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or later, you may have to update.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install snapd

Install Storage Explorer

sudo snap install storage-explorer

Open Azure Storage Explorer and follow the steps here –

Execute the command-

snap connect storage-explorer:password-manager-service :password-manager-service

Azure Storage Explorer should be able to open with above command.

Apply the same settings mentioned in this blog

Once you have followed and applied the settings mentioned in the blog, should be able to see the translation files in local storage and able to access the file.

We also have to set CQRS for blob container – lets do this later.

Middleware exited with errors-

Error –

See the resolution to this issue here – section – Unable to start Middleware container due to erros

Error – Connection refused (127.0.0.1:8081)

System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred. (Connection refused (127.0.0.1:8081))
       ---> System.Net.Http.HttpRequestException: Connection refused (127.0.0.1:8081)

See the resolution to this issue here – section – Connection to Comos DB is failing

Error- Unsupported platform

0 18.52 npm ERR! code EBADPLATFORM
#0 18.53 npm ERR! notsup Unsupported platform for fsevents@2.3.2: wanted {"os":"darwin","arch":"any"} (current: {"os":"linux","arch":"x64"})
#0 18.53 npm ERR! notsup Valid OS:    darwin
#0 18.53 npm ERR! notsup Valid Arch:  any
#0 18.53 npm ERR! notsup Actual OS:   linux
#0 18.53 npm ERR! notsup Actual Arch: x64

Changed the node version- see the blog here

Also changed the nginx version – see Error 4 here

 => ERROR [headstart-seller:local-linux production 4/8] RUN apk add --update nodejs nodejs-npm && npm install -g json                                                                                 1.0s

see Error 4 here

Change from this  -
RUN apk add --update nodejs nodejs-npm && npm install -g json

to-
RUN apk add --update nodejs npm && npm install -g json
#0 51.97 npm ERR! npm ERR! Cannot read properties of null (reading 'pickAlgorithm')

See the resolution to this error here

Now you should have all containers up and running with

sudo docker compose up -d

If you see this error-

Check for Configure CORS to Blob Containers in this blog post

And here I have Seller, buyer and middleware working on Ubuntu system-

This has really opened the horizon to develop, deploy and maintain OrderCloud solution on a technology agnostic platform.

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Setup Sitecore OrderCloud headstart the docker way

There is quite a lot todo to setup, lets start-

Clone OrderCloud repository for Headstart

Clone the repository for HeadStart from here – https://github.com/ordercloud-api/headstart

Setup/Install Docker

Install Docker Desktop from here – https://docs.docker.com/desktop/

Switch to Linux containers

Stop IIS

Ensure you dont’ have Azurite insalled and listening to 10000, 10001 and 10002 ports

Ensure you dont have Azure Cosmos DB Emulator running on the machine as this will use 8081 port which will also be exposed by cosmos container.

Copy .env.template and save as .env (Will fill in the required details in .env file one by one)

Add the following records to your Hosts file

127.0.0.1 buyer.headstart.localhost

127.0.0.1 seller.headstart.localhost

127.0.0.1 api.headstart.localhost

As this is set in .env file (you may change as per your requirement)

There will be quite a few issues coming our way and will try to note it here one by one and the solution for same-

Execute docker compose

Navigate to the working directory and execute following command-

 docker compose up -d

Following images and containers will be created as part of the headstart setup-

Cosmos DB

Storage (Azurite)

Middleware

Seller App

Buyer App

Error 1- Uncompatible node version

0 2.885 Node.js version v12.20.0 detected.

0 2.885 The Angular CLI requires a minimum Node.js version of either v14.15, or v16.10.

See here how I resolved this error- Uncompatible node version

Error 2- Package installation must use TLS 1.2 or higher and Cannot read properties of null (reading ‘pickAlgorithm’)

0 47.60 npm notice Beginning October 4, 2021, all connections to the npm registry - including for package installation - must use TLS 1.2 or higher. You are currently using plaintext http to connect. Please visit the GitHub blog for more information: https://github.blog/2021-08-23-npm-registry-deprecating-tls-1-0-tls-1-1/

0 114.7 npm ERR! Cannot read properties of null (reading 'pickAlgorithm')

See here how I resolved this error- Package installation must use TLS 1.2 or higher

Errror 3-

#0 2.885 Node.js version v12.20.0 detected.
#0 2.885 The Angular CLI requires a minimum Node.js version of either v14.15, or v16.10.


 > [headstart-buyer:local-linux builder 9/9] RUN cd /build/APP && npm run build --prod:
#0 0.954 npm WARN config production Use `--omit=dev` instead.
#0 0.983
#0 0.983 > headstart@0.0.0 build
#0 0.983 > ng build --configuration=deploy && node scripts/hash-css-files && node scripts/move-release-scripts && node scripts/copy-main-js && node scripts/copy-index-html
#0 0.983
#0 11.70 - Generating browser application bundles (phase: setup)...
#0 16.88 Processing legacy "View Engine" libraries:
#0 17.75 - @ngx-translate/http-loader [es2015/esm2015] (git+https://github.com/ngx-translate/http-loader.git)
#0 18.98 - ngx-forms-typed [es2015/esm2015] (https://github.com/gparlakov/forms-typed)
#0 21.65 Encourage the library authors to publish an Ivy distribution.
#0 109.2 Killed
------
failed to solve: executor failed running [/bin/sh -c cd /build/APP && npm run build --prod]: exit code: 137

Not sure why this error but I ran following command instead-

docker-compose build --no-cache

Error 4 –

cannot write C:\Users\sande\AppData\Local\Temp\tmppxl_v0jp because server did not provide an image ID
ERROR: Service 'buyer' failed to build : Build failed

Solution-

Set the latest nginx alpine base image in the Dockerfile as nginx:1.23.3-alpine. See the latest availabel bae image here – https://hub.docker.com/_/nginx

Change Dockerfile in this location headstart\docker\build\UI

Update nodejs-npm to just npm in the Dockerfile

Dockerfile should look like this-

Sometimes you may have to restart Docker Desktop

Error 5-

Error response from daemon: Ports are not available: exposing port TCP 0.0.0.0:80 -> 0.0.0.0:0: listen tcp 0.0.0.0:80: bind: An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its 

The said port might be in use. This is mostly when IIS is running. Stop IIS.

Once you get thhrough these errors, should have following images downloaded and containers created-

Here you can see the warnings compalining few env variable values not set. This is next we are going to setup.

Unable to start Middleware container due to erros-

Also the middleware container has errors- (docker log <<middleware container>>

Unhandled exception. System.Exception: Required app settings are missing: StorageAccountSettings:ConnectionString or StorageAccountSettings:BlobPrimaryEndpoint
2023-03-17 16:28:21    at OrderCloud.Integrations.EnvironmentSeed.Extensions.ServiceCollectionExtensions.AddDefaultTranslationsProvider(IServiceCollection services, StorageAccountSettings storageAccountSettings) in /src/Middleware/integrations/OrderCloud.Integrations.EnvironmentSeed/Extensions/ServiceCollectionExtensions.cs:line 16

Check the Cosmos DB if its working on http://127.0.0.1:8081/_explorer/index.html

Error 6- Check the COMOS DB evaluation period-

Stop and delete the COSMOS DB container and delete the image

Compose the containers again and should pull the image and start the COSMOS DB container again.

Error 7-

This is a timezone issue. Check this form ore detials-

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1096930/sudo-apt-update-error-release-file-is-not-yet-valid

Error 8-

failed to solve: process "/bin/sh -c apk add --update nodejs nodejs-npm && npm install -g json" did not complete successfully: exit code: 1

Update docker to use this command instead-

RUN apk add --update nodejs npm && npm install -g json

Install and Setup Account in Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer

See blof here – How to setup Storage Explorer for Sitecore OrderCloud Headstart Docker

Update the .env file-

Update StorageAccountSettings_ConnectionString to –

change storage to 127.0.0.1 in the connections tring

DefaultEndpointsProtocol=http;AccountName=devstoreaccount1;AccountKey=Eby8vdM02xNOcqFlqUwJPLlmEtlCDXJ1OUzFT50uSRZ6IFsuFq2UVErCz4I6tq/K1SZFPTOtr/KBHBeksoGMGw==;BlobEndpoint=http://127.0.0.1:10000/devstoreaccount1;QueueEndpoint=http://127.0.0.1:10001/devstoreaccount1;

Update StorageAccountSettings_HostUrl to –

http://127.0.0.1:10000/devstoreaccount1

Ensure the StorageAccountSettings_Key is correct –

Eby8vdM02xNOcqFlqUwJPLlmEtlCDXJ1OUzFT50uSRZ6IFsuFq2UVErCz4I6tq/K1SZFPTOtr/KBHBeksoGMGw==

For any environment changes use “docker compose down” and then “docker compose up -d”

Compile/Build the Headstart.sln

In the ServiceCollectionExtensions.cs file in OrderCloud.Integrations.EnvironmentSeed project

remove the condition for checking the BlobPrimaryEndpoint as it is not used and hence not required.

Same way if you are not using ExchangeRates, Tax Provider, payment Provider etc remove the values from .env file to avoid such errors. Following I have removed, you can add this later as and when required. Make the values for this variables empty


EnvironmentSettings_AddressValidationProvider=""
EnvironmentSettings_CurrencyConversionProvider=""
EnvironmentSettings_EmailServiceProvider=""
EnvironmentSettings_PaymentProvider=""
EnvironmentSettings_ShippingProvider=""
EnvironmentSettings_TaxProvider=""
EnvironmentSettings_OMSProvider=""

Recreate the middleware and container again. Delete the middleware image as the code is changes. We dont have the volume mounted hence for setup this way πŸ™‚

docker rmi <<middleware image id>>

docker compose up -d

More errors-

Connection to Comos DB is failing-

2023-03-17 18:16:43 Application startup exception: System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred. (Connection refused (127.0.0.1:8081))
2023-03-17 18:16:43  ---> System.Net.Http.HttpRequestException: Connection refused (127.0.0.1:8081)
2023-03-17 18:16:43  ---> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (111): Connection refused

Change CosmosSettings_EndpointUri in .env from “http://127.0.0.1:8081” to use localhost i.e.- change to –

CosmosSettings_EndpointUri="http://localhost:8081"

Address not available (localhost:8081) – Cosmos DB address not available

2023-03-17 18:22:34 Application startup exception: System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred. (Address not available (localhost:8081))
2023-03-17 18:22:34  ---> System.Net.Http.HttpRequestException: Address not available (localhost:8081)
2023-03-17 18:22:34  ---> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (99): Address not available

Solution-

Change following in entrypoing.sh file located at – headstart\docker\build\middleware

i.e. instead of using $CosmosSettings_EndpointUri use $CosmosEndpointURI

this varaible contains the IP address of the comos db hosted. This can change everytime the container is created.

Change this - 
-e "this['CosmosSettings:EndpointUri']='$CosmosSettings_EndpointUri'" 
to 
-e "this['CosmosSettings:EndpointUri']='$CosmosEndpointURI'"

Recreate the middleware image.

Now all the containers should be up and running

Middleware API is accessible at – http://api.headstart.localhost/index.html

Seed the OrderCloud Marketplace-

Create a Marketplace in OrderCloud portal-

Send post request to – http://api.headstart.localhost/seed

Request body should be, also see the template here –

https://github.com/ordercloud-api/headstart/blob/development/assets/templates/SeedTemplate.json

{
  "Portal": {
    "Username": "your-portal-email@address.com",
    "Password": "XXXXXXXXX"
  },
  "Marketplace": {
    "Environment": "sandbox",
    "Region": "Us-West",
    "ID": "ocdockerway",
    "Name": "ocdockerway",
    "InitialAdmin": {
      "Username": "demoadminuser",
      "Password": "XXXXXXXXX"
    },
    "EnableAnonymousShopping": true,
    "MiddlewareBaseUrl": "http://api.headstart.localhost",
    "WebhookHashKey": "hashkey"
  }
}

Error- “Message”: “Could not find a part of the path ‘/app/wwwroot\\i18n’.”,

Tried to debug this and seems some how the path is not correctly formed to upload the translations from /app/wwwroot\\i18n folder in container. Changed this to /app/wwwroot/i18n and the files are now uploaded to storage.

"Message": "Connection refused (127.0.0.1:10000)",

Should now see the API Client created in OrderCloud-

Configure .env post seed

TRANSLATE_BLOB_URL="http://127.0.0.1:10000/devstoreaccount1/ngx-translate/i18n/"
BLOB_STORAGE_URL="http://127.0.0.1:10000/devstoreaccount1"
SELLER_CLIENT_ID="Enter the Default Headstart Admin UI Client ID"
BUYER_CLIENT_ID="Enter the Default Buyer Storefront Client ID"

OrderCloudSettings_MiddlewareClientID="Enter Middleware Integrations ClientID"
OrderCloudSettings_MiddlewareClientSecret="Enter Middleware Integrations secret"
OrderCloudSettings_ClientIDsWithAPIAccess="SELLER_CLIENT_ID, BUYER_CLIENT_ID"
OrderCloudSettings_MarketplaceID="Enter Marketplace ID" // ocdockerway
OrderCloudSettings_MarketplaceName="Enter Marketplace Name"

After setting the .env variables lets spin up the containers again-

docker compose up -d

Lets try to access http://seller.headstart.localhost/

Error-

In Buyer.sh and Seller.sh – -test.json update the supported language. This is a array but assigned as a string-

Change from this -
-e "this.supportedLanguages='$SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES'"

to

-e "this.supportedLanguages=$SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES" //Remove single quotes

Recreate Image and container for Seller and Buyer.

Now its loading Seller and Buyer app but wiht errors-

Configure CORS to Blob Containers

Following values in –

Allowed Origins- http://api.headstart.localhost

Also add this for the Seller and Buyer app url’s

Allowed Headers – x-ms-meta-data,x-ms-meta-target,x-ms-meta-abc

Exposed Headers – x-ms-meta-*

Following is the CORS added to Blob Containers-

Finally we have Seller and Buyer app loading without any errors-

Next start populating Catalog, Products etc.

Hope this blog is useful for setting the OrderCloud Headstart setup the dockerway

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OrderCloud Headstart Docker Setup – Install and Setup Account in Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer

Ensure Storage container is running we should be able to access the storage on certian ports and configure the CORS etc.

Install the Storage Explorer from here – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/storage/storage-explorer/

Connect to Local storage emulator

Connect to Azure Storage (local storage)

Once connected it should show in Emulator-

Create a Blob Container – ngx-translate and create new Virtual Directory i18n

Blob Container and folder name can be any other name. You need to configure this correctly in UI config. See this in later steps

Upload the translation file(optional)

Translation file should be created by Headstart Api while seeding the marketplace further in this blog. This is a test to check if the resource is available. I have attached en.json file here.

Copy URL of the file and check if this is accessible-

Looks like cannot access.

To resolve this error set public access level on Blob container “ngx-translate”

Select Public read access for container and blobs-

Now the resource should be accessible.

Similarly upload resources for fr and jp language.

The resource file should be available in following location – headstart\src\Middleware\src\Headstart.API\wwwroot\i18n

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OrderCloud Headstart Docker Setup Error – uncompatible node version

0 2.885 Node.js version v12.20.0 detected.

0 2.885 The Angular CLI requires a minimum Node.js version of either v14.15, or v16.10.

It looks like in docker compose file for buyer and seller node version configured are old.

Update the following in docker-compose.yml. At the time of writing this blog the node version is 18.13.0. See here for latest- https://hub.docker.com/_/node

This should resolve the error.

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Sitecore CDP and Personalize FAQs

February 2023 Update – Sitecore has released new api endpoint per region which routes through a CDN closer to end users call along with new Javascript library. See the new documentation here – Sitecore CDP developer documentation

How to get the Client Key and API Token?

Get the client key from the Sandbox/CDP & Personalise portal.

Login to portal – https://app.boxever.com/#/

Top right click the settings icon. Select API Access option

Get teh client key from this page-

How to create and get the point of sale?

Login to portal – https://app.boxever.com/#/

Top right click the settings icon. Select API Access option

Search or Create a point of sale-

Enter Name and other required details. Timeout is the session timeout.

How to debug?

Navigate to the Features options

Enable the Debug option

Orange settings icon will appear where the debug is possible-

How to get the base URL for Sitecore CDP Rest API?

Old Endpoints

RegionAPI endpoint
Europeapi.boxever.com
Asia Pacificapi-ap-southeast-2-production.boxever.com
United Statesapi-us.boxever.com

New Endpoints from February 2023 *

ENVIRONMENTBASE URL
AP Regionhttps://api-engage-ap.sitecorecloud.io​
EU Regionhttps://api-engage-eu.sitecorecloud.io
US Regionhttps://api-engage-us.sitecorecloud.io

* Endpoints can change see Sitecore documentation for the up-to-date URL’s

See the updated URL’s here-

https://doc.sitecore.com/personalize/en/developers/api/index-en.html#UUID-b6753c92-1347-86de-069c-f3a5c99ad6c3_UUID-5f0de4b0-05f7-7700-3378-23283d1839ab

What is the Web Flow target URL?

Web Flow target URL is used for Web Experiements and Experiences.

From the documentation following is the URL, but this can change. See the link for up-to-date URL-

ScenarioWeb flow target
Your organization uses Sitecore Personalize.https://d35vb5cccm4xzp.cloudfront.net
Your organization does not use Sitecore Personalize.An empty string ""

https://doc.sitecore.com/personalize/en/developers/api/index-en.html#UUID-a2c699f5-0ea0-028e-b0e3-599e0308e969

What is the latest version of Javascript Library?

Boxever JavaScript Library (legacy)

https://doc.sitecore.com/personalize/en/developers/api/index-en.html#UUID-c2389675-0a7b-3cd9-3e9a-0111d360af39

See the release notes for the latest version. Point of writing this blog the version is 1.4.9. This can change. See the link to get the latest version.

https://doc.sitecore.com/personalize/en/developers/api/index-en.html#UUID-91e5c577-92c2-71c4-efca-4b5b61edc817

How to get Fullstack Experience friendly id?

Navigate to Experience => Full Stack option. Search and open the exprience

Goto details tab to get the friendly id-

What if the size of the compressed batch file exceeds the max limit i.e. 50MB?

Recompress the files into two or more compressed batch files that do not exceed the 50MB size limit. Then upload the compressed files as separate batches.

Reference –

Size limit for uploading batch files

Why I recieve HTTP 400 response when uploading the batch file?

If the size of the import does not match the one specified in the size field in the request, the service returns a HTTP 400 response.

Reference –

Frequent errors you might encounter during the batch file upload process

Why I recieve HTTP 409 response when uploading the batch file?

If the base64 checksum attribute in header does not match the hex-encoded MD5 Checksum generated by uploading the compressed file you will receive 409 response.

Reference –

Frequent errors you might encounter during the batch file upload process

How to delete a guest profile without using Batch API?

Make a DELETE request to the following endpoint- https://api.boxever.com/v2/guests/{GUESTREF}

It may take upto 24 hours for the Guest to be removed

What access do you need to setup the Point of sale for Sitecore CDP and Personalize?

Enterprise User Manager or Enterprise Admin role 

How to generate the browser id using postman?

To generate browserid send a request to this endpoint –

https://{{apiEndpoint}}/{{apiVersion}}/browser/create.json?client_key={{CLIENT_KEY}}&message={}

See above the apiendpoint and apiversion to use.

Send request with the clientkey in query parameters.

The “ref” in response is the browser id

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