Tiago Duarte

As a .NET-based, MVC CMS, Umbraco sounds good right from the start. However, for beginners, the easiest things may be hard to understand, specially if we want to get our hands dirty. The post will cover the procedure to create a simple contact form in Umbraco, but also how to really integrate it with the platform, for those just starting to know the CMS. 1 - Provision your Umbraco environment (check out my previous post, Installing Umbraco for the first time) 2 - Really understand the structure concept The Model-View-Controller pattern is just one of the things you will have to get comfortable with. The main challenge is to undertand how Umbraco structures its information, specially regarding pages, templates, view and master pages. 3 - Create a model The model is the "Data Model" were we will need to setup the data structures and types to be used by our interacting elements. Model (Models\ContactModel.cs): 4 - Create a controller A controller is a piece...

Problem: Installing a new CMS can be tricky, and Umbraco is no different. There are many ways, but even the easiest path can be a bumpy road. For this reason, I like to do things manually, and define a process that really works. Solution: 1 - Setup SQL Server and SQL Server Management Studio Umbraco will install a SQL Compact Database by default, but in my opinion it is better to start working with SQL Server from the very beginning. While opening the site for the first time (Step 7), there will be a setting "Customize" to allow selecting an SQL Server and instance, as opposed to the default compact database in the AppData folder. I personally installed, from web platform installer: "SQL Server 2008 R2 Management Studio Express with SP1" (management studio) "SQL Server Express 2008 R2 Service Pack 2" (sql server instance) If you want to use SQL Server, now it is a good time to use Management Studio and create a new database. 2 - Setup...