SITECORE PRACTICE SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW & CERTIFICATION (PART

Q51. What is Sitecore Experience Platform (XP)

Sitecore Experience Platform (XP) comes with advanced capabilities to combine customer data, AI, analytics, and marketing automation to understand and deliver personalized and real-time content across multiple channels.

Q52. What is Sitecore Experience Commerce (XC)?

Sitecore Experience Commerce (XC) is a flexible, easy to manage, feature-rich commerce feature. It combines content management, with advanced commerce capabilities.

Q53. What are the key components of the Sitecore Experience Database (xDB)?

Following are the key architecture components of Sitecore experience DB:

Content delivery server
Content databases (SQL Server)
Content management server
Session state server
Processing server
Reporting service
Reporting database
Collection database

Q54. What do you know about Sitecore Content Delivery?

Content Delivery is a core role in Sitecore which manages multiple requests from users and servers the right content to users from different platforms. You can add one or more content delivery servers to attain better performance and for improved scalability.

Q55. What is a core database?

The core database name itself is telling how important it is. A core database is a place where all the data like Sitecore ribbon configuration, roles, and users. All the configurations are available in this Database and developers have to come to this database to add any new buttons.

Q56. What is a Master database?

The Sitecore’s Master database is something where all the published and unpublished data gets stored. The master database can be hosted on an SQL Server or SQL Azure.

Master Database is referenced by the below roles:

Content management
Content Publishing
xDB Processing
EXM Dispatch
XDB Reporting

Q57. What is a web database?

A web database is one of the essential databases of Sitecore that can store the published version of the content. In Sitecore, we have only one web database and it can be hosted either on an SQL Server or SQL Azure.

Q58. Name different types of templates available in Sitecore?

Following are the different templates available in Sitecore:

Parameter Templates
Data templates
Data source templates

Q59. What do you mean by Role in Sitecore?

A collection of users is known as Role. Using the roles we can give access rights to a set of users. For instance, you can assign the access rights to an administrators group using a Role in Sitecore.

Q60. What are the different content Roles available in Sitecore:

Following are the different roles available in Sitecore:

SitecoreAuthor Role
SitecoreDesigner Role
SitecoreDeveloper Role
Sitecore Client Account Managing Role
Sitecore Client Authoring Role
Sitecore Client Configuring Role
Sitecore Client Designing Role
Sitecore Client Developing Role
Sitecore Client Maintaining Role
Sitecore Client Publishing Role
Sitecore Client Securing Role
Sitecore Client Translating Role
Sitecore Client Users Role
Sitecore Limited Content Editor Role
Sitecore Limited Page Editor Role
Sitecore Local Administrators Role
Sitecore Minimal Page Editor Role

Q61. What do you know about Publishing content in Sitecore?

In Sitecore publishing, the content means triggering the content management role to select & copy items from the master database to the web database. Publishing operation can be performed in either of two ways one is manually and the other is by automating the publishing routine.

Q62. What are the types of versions available in Sitecore?

Following are the two types of versions available in Sitecore:

Numbers versions
Language versions

Q63. What is Version control?’

The Version control option enables the participants to manage multiple versions and drafts of a document.

Q64. What are the different Sitecore custom tokens?

$name: Name of an item
$id: Item ID
$date: Current server date
$time: Current server time
$parentname: Item’s Parent Name
$parentid: Item’s Parent ID

Q65. Define Pipeline?

The Sitecore Pipeline is defined as a series of actions and all these together execute a function. Some of the typical tasks performed using pipeline are data uploading, handling page requests, saving items via UI, etc. The pipeline also works with fields like encapsulation, separation of concerns, flexible configuration, testability, and much more.

Q66. What are the top features offered by Sitecore?

Following are some of the top features offered by Sitecore:

Powerful framework
Customizable
Intuitive end-user Interface.
Easily Scalability
Built on advanced technology
Multi-lingual support
In-built search engine optimization capabilities
Easy to manage content
Easy to manage Workflows
Role-based security
Comes with E-commerce services

Q67. Define Layout in Sitecore.

Sitecore Layouts are one of the essential components of the Sitecore platform and they are used to structure pages with external HTML mark-up.

Q68. How many types of view modes are there in Sitecore and what are they?

We have three different types of view modes are available in Sitecore and are as follows:

Grayscale
Wireframe
Selected Theme

Q69. Explain the various types of Sitecore Interfaces?

The Sitecore platform majorly consists of three interfaces:

Desktop Mode
Page Editor Mode
Content Editor Mode

Q70. Define Item in Sitecore

An item in the Sitecore is defined as a piece of record in the database and acts as a building block of your Sitecore website. Examples of Items are a media file, a piece of text, a layout, etc.

Q71. What is Helix?

Helix is a set of official guidelines and best practices that helps in Sitecore Development. It also offers the best recommendations to develop, test, extend and maintain Sitecore.

Q 72. What do you mean by templates and write different types of templates in Sitecore?

Templates essentially provide a schema for content, and schema gives definition and structure to content. Generally, templates are items that provide structure and behaviour for other items. The following types of templates are available in Sitecore for different purposes:

Data Templates: These are used to specify how data should be entered. Specifically, they determine which field sections, field types, and field names should be included in each item.
Branch Templates: This allows you to create a set of items instead of just one. Each branch template contains a branch template definition item, which can consist of a single item, a hierarchy of items, or multiple hierarchies of items.
Command Template: You can insert items through logic rather than by using a predefined structure. The data template and branch template use predefined structures, but command templates refer to Sitecore UI commands that invoke wizards or logic to create new items.

Q73. Explain Helix and Habitat.

Sitecore Helix: It is a set of guidelines and recommendations that govern the development of Sitecore websites. Essentially, Helix describes the overall architecture of your Sitecore solution and explains design principles that are versatile and adaptable to any Sitecore project. It mainly focuses on reducing dependencies between software modules, how they should be structured, and how individual sites can use them. Helix is a set of recommendations meant to make building, testing, extending, and maintaining a Sitecore project as easy as possible.

Habitat: This is a working Sitecore project built on the Sitecore Experience Platform utilizing Helix design principles and recommendations. The project serves as an example and shows how Helix's principles are applied, and allows developers to experience a project that is aligned with these principles. In addition, it saves the developer from having to create modules from scratch, as well as provides an excellent basis for developing additional modules and extending existing ones.

Q74. Explain what you mean by Solr in Sitecore.

In essence, Sitecore Solr is primarily an indexing technology. Sitecore basically offers two search engines, Lucene and Solr, that can be used to search Sitecore's content databases as well as the operational databases used to gather analytics data, test data, and more. Solr can also be used for the following reasons:

Solr performs better when indexing large quantities of items (50,000 and above).
Solr has more robust capabilities. Solr is recommended if the search is the primary interface for your site.

Q75. What is SXA (Sitecore Experience Accelerator)?

The Sitecore Experience Accelerator (SXA) is a tool that enables web development teams to develop websites faster and reuse components, templates, and layouts across multiple sites. SXA basically separates structure and design, which enables frontend/backend developers, content authors, and creative designers to work simultaneously, and you can deploy and maintain multiple sites efficiently and cost-effectively. After the user experience plan has been developed, everyone can get started on the platform. As an example: while the front-end developer is working on the theme, the content author enters content into the wireframe environment. Meanwhile, the developer sets up the data templates.

Q76. How to add SXA into Sitecore?

First, you need to deploy the Sitecore Experience Platform on your on-premises content management system before installing the Sitecore Experience Accelerator (SXA). You can then go to the Sitecore Downloads page and download the SXA package that corresponds with the version of the Sitecore Experience Platform you are using.

Q77. What do you mean by tokens? List types of tokens supported by Sitecore.

A token is simply a way to assign values dynamically when creating an item. Some strings in Sitecore begin with the $ symbol (such as $name), mainly in standard values (_Standard Values) in templates. If we create an item using the same template, a particular field will be replaced with a readable name (i.e. item name). The magic in this scene comes from the $name, usually referred to as Tokens in Sitecore. In a similar vein, Sitecore offers many built-in tokens as follows:

$name: The name of the newly created item/
$id: The new item's ID.
$parentid: The ID of the new item's parent.
$parentname: The name of the new item's parent.
$date: Current date in yyyyMMdd format.
$time: Current time in HHmmss format.
$now: Current date and time in yyyyMMddTHHmmss format

Q78. How many processors are under the pipeline?

The Sitecore pipeline has 19 processors by default, however, this can change depending on what modules you have installed in Sitecore. If you install Sitecore DMS (Digital Marketing Systems), for example, you will see 21 processors under the <httpRequestBegin> pipeline.

Q79. Write different types of publishing modes in Sitecore?

The three modes of publishing a website are as follows:

Incremental Publish: It only publishes items currently present in the publishing queue. Modifying or changing an item automatically adds it to the publishing queue. This method of publishing is faster since Sitecore does not utilize resources to compare different versions of items in the publishing queue before publishing them.
Smart Publish: In this publication, all items that have changed since the last publication are published. A Smart publish compares each item in the master database with its equivalent item in the target database, and if there have been any changes, the item gets published. This involves comparing all items in the database, which is a time-consuming process for publishing an entire website, particularly if there are many items in the content tree.
Republish: Everything is published there. Every item in the target database is overwritten by the equivalent item in the Master database, even if the item has not changed. By republishing, all obsolete versions are deleted from the target database. It can be used to bring an entirely new web database online, restore a backup of the master database, and add new content languages, publishing targets, and other system elements to the website.

Q80. Write down the steps to add a new command in Sitecore.

The steps to add a new command in Sitecore are as follows:

Create a class that inherits from the Sitecore.Shell.Framework.Commands.Command class
Either add the command to the /App_Config/Commands.config file or create a patch file in /App_Config/Include.
Add/Include your command definition in the core database.

Q81. Explain different types of rendering in Sitecore.

In Sitecore, renderings are used to display or render a page or part of a page. Some of the renderings in Sitecore are as follows:

View Rendering: This type of rendering is used in components that involve little logic and don't have database transactions or MVC controllers. This should be used for rendering item content that doesn't require substantial business logic or presentation logic.
Controller Rendering: With this type of rendering, you supply the model, controller, and view. This should be used for rendering item content that requires significant business logic or presentation logic and relies heavily on external data.

Q82. What is Versioning in Sitecore?

In Sitecore, the versioning system allows creating multiple languages or number versions of any item. The Content Editor or Experience Editor allows you to create new versions of any item in Sitecore, and you can create as many versions as you want. There are two types of versions:

Numbered versions: It offers versions in the same languages of an item. As an example, you can make a different version of your products page that can be used during special promotions. You can also create a new version of an image for the promotion, and then after the promotion, you can change it back to the original version.
Language versions: It offers versions in the different languages of an item. For example, you can add an English version of the item in French. To display alternative text in both languages, you should also include additional versions of the item's images.

Q83. Can you explain what a CMS (Content Management System) is in Sitecore?

The Sitecore CMS (Content Management System) is a platform that allows you to create, publish, and manage content for your website. The CMS allows you to create, manage, and modify digital content with ease, thus improving your customers' digital experience. A CMS is a tool for collaborating on the creation, editing, and publishing of digital content, such as web pages and blogs.

Q84. What do you mean by CM (Content Management) and CD (Content Delivery)?

Content Management: CM is the "world of content editing" in Sitecore. The feature is only available to content editors so that they can add, edit, and update content on their websites. Editors can access the Sitecore dashboard via the Sitecore Experience Platform. This dashboard contains several options depending on the editor's role. It is ultimately the "content editor" that would be accessed to manage the changes to content as shown below:

Content Delivery: It determines which content to serve and renders output in the appropriate format for each channel, thus driving the experience for visitors across all channels. Several content delivery servers can be configured for increased scalability and better performance.
Once a content editor has finalized and processed their piece of content, making it "live" is the next step. For this process, they have the option of "publishing" the content. Consequently, behind the scenes, that piece of content is moved from the "master" database to the "web" database and once it appears in the web database, it becomes live and visible to everyone. Content delivery servers exclusively connect to the "web" database for content, they do not access the "master" database.

Q85. Compare these Content Management Systems: Sitecore, Umbraco and EPiServer.

Umbraco: Umbraco is a free and open-source CMS solution, making it perfect for small and medium businesses that can't afford dedicated IT departments and who need a website very quickly. Since its inception in 2000, Umbraco has undergone significant changes and enhancements. However, it has yet to become an all-in-one solution. It remains a simple, but well-constructed, content management solution.

Sitecore: Sitecore is a powerful enterprise-level web content management system that comes at an enterprise price tag. It is highly extensible, offers lots of community and developer support, and is very developer-friendly. This CMS is highly customizable, highly extensible, with a clever caching system, powerful search capabilities, and a powerful page editor.

Episerver: Optimizely (rebranded from Episerver in 2021) is a world-class CMS renowned for its innovative approach to using content, experimentation, and new technologies to create fantastic digital experiences. Using EPiServer is easy and friendly for developers and users. There are a number of features available out of the box, along with an easy-to-use UI and page editor, good drag-and-drop functionality, and ease of customization.

Q86. Explain about Incremental Publish In Sitecore?

Ans: Each time the substance is modified, Sitecore appends it to the distributing line. At the point when you select the steady distribution, Sitecore will distribute just these things which are added to the distribution line.

The substance included/altered automatically just as in the content editorial manager will be appended to the distributing line.

Gradual distributions are quickest contrasted with Smart and Republish distributions as just the altered substance gets distributed.

Q87. What are the steps to disable analytics in Sitecore?

Analytics can be disabled in Sitecore by changing a couple of things in Configurations as follows:

Step 1: Disable analytics

Go to /App_Config/Include/Sitecore.Analytics.config and set Analytics.Enabled to false:

<setting name=”Analytics.Enabled” value=”false” />

Step 2: Comment out connection strings related to analytics:

Go to /App_Config/ConnectionStrings.config and comment out the following connection strings:

<add name=”analytics” connectionString=”mongodb://localhost/analytics” />

<add name=”tracking.live” connectionString=”mongodb://localhost/tracking_live” />

<add name=”tracking.history” connectionString=”mongodb://localhost/tracking_history” />

<add name=”tracking.contact” connectionString=”mongodb://localhost/tracking_contact” />

<add name=”reporting” connectionString=”user id=user;password=password;Data Source=(server);Database=Sitecore_Analytic

Q88. What is Versioning in Sitecore?

Numbered versions: It offers versions in the same languages of an item. As an example, you can make a different version of your products page that can be used during special promotions. You can also create a new version of an image for the promotion, and then after the promotion, you can change it back to the original version.
Language versions: It offers versions in the different languages of an item. For example, you can add an English version of the item in French. To display alternative text in both languages, you should also include additional versions of the item's images.

Q89. What do you mean by the media library in Sitecore?

All media content hosted on Sitecore can be managed using the Media Library. The Media Library let you store and upload images (jpg, gif, png), non-HTML files (PDF, DOC, PPT), videos, and audio files which can be accessed by the Content Editor later on. All your media items can be managed from the Media Library, such as images that visitors can download or can be embedded on your website.

In addition, all media files can be kept in a single location and arranged in a folder structure like a Content tree.
Media items may be found quickly by using the Sitecore search engine or by navigating the content tree.

Q90. Why XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) is considered better than C# in Sitecore?

XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) has an advantage over other programming languages in that you can customize or reuse different structures or pages for source or other documents. This will require a rule-based processing model, which most people dislike due to its obvious complexity upon first use. At first, it might seem daunting, but it is a wise investment. We tend to have fewer performance problems with XSLT until we use wrong querying, such as an XPath query. If a website appears to experience performance issues, it may be for another reason.

Q91. Can text lines be prevented from being transformed into links by Sitecore?

There is another way to make an anchor in Sitecore other than transforming text lines into links. We need to put our cursor above the anchor's destination, without highlighting the text. The next step is to click the hyperlink button to make the anchor, and then we can proceed with the rest. In order to prevent text from being converted into an unwanted link, follow this procedure.

Q92. Explain the meaning of Pipeline in Sitecore.

In Sitecore, a pipeline is a set of actions that perform a specific task in sequence. Processes in Sitecore are typically defined or considered as pipelines. Developers can modify pipelines to alter, add, or remove functionality from Sitecore.

Q93. What do you mean by Processor?

Each pipeline comprises one or more steps, also known as processors. There is a method named Process() for each processor in a pipeline. Process() method takes a single argument and returns a void. Processors can abort pipelines, preventing Sitecore from triggering further processors.

Q94. State difference between AEM (Adobe Experience Manager) and Sitecore.

AEM (Adobe Experience Manager) and Sitecore are two of the most popular enterprise-level CMS (Content management systems). Below are some key differences between Sitecore and AEM that will help you determine which is best for your business.

AEM vs Sitecore:

AEM	Sitecore
With 9 different product offerings, AEM has separated several marketing features like analytics and campaigns into separate "products" for purchase. This is great for those who just need one feature, for example, Adobe Analytics, but if you want the full marketing package from Adobe, you have to buy those features separately rather than as part of one package.	There are four different products offered by Sitecore under the "Sitecore Experience Cloud". Only offering four platforms is wonderful because it packages up features so that they do not need to be acquired separately, and it also saves time and resources in configuring all the platforms to work together.
With Adobe having acquired a number of different systems, Adobe Experience Cloud is comprised of different languages and databases. From a development standpoint, this is challenging since developers are likely to encounter issues while trying to build across multiple platforms and languages. Development for Adobe can therefore be more time consuming, costly, and complex.	All of Sitecore's products are built on top of the ASP.NET framework. It is easier, flexible, and more cost-effective to develop on Sitecore, and having .NET expertise is sufficient to develop across all platforms.
Adobe's community and partner network are significantly less developed than Sitecore's and do not actively encourage community participation.	As a result of its active and large partner network, Sitecore users are rewarded for their contributions to the Sitecore community through incentives and discounts.

Q95. Explain standard values in Sitecore.

Data template fields have default values known as Standard Values. In Sitecore, a standard value is a way to specify a default value for a field, so that whenever items are created, it is possible to specify a field value that must be used by default. The standard values associated with each data template are stored in a child item of the data template definition item called "Standard Values". Whenever the value of a field for an item is NULL, standard values are used.

As you can see in the above image, the "Sample item" data template basically contains the "Data" data template section definition item. The standard value of the "Sample" data template is stored as a child of the "Data" data template definition item named "_Standard Values."

Q96. State difference between Sitecore and Drupal.

Sitecore and Drupal are incredibly powerful content management systems (CMS), but each has unique features/functionalities that are better suited to different types of businesses.

Drupal vs Sitecore:

Drupal	Sitecore
This is an open-source platform and free to use.	This is a closed-source platform and a license is required to use it.
Some of the world's largest and most complex websites are powered by Drupal, and the platform is an excellent choice for organizations looking for seamless integration.	For organizations that are serious about journey orchestration, marketing, and content personalization, this platform is ideal.
It offers better scalability and performance. A number of modules are included to assist with database optimization, caching optimization, and handling errors on the website.	Performance and scalability are a challenge for Sitecore, but the company has managed to overcome them in recent large-scale deployments.
Using Drupal as a content management system offers better features out-of-the-box, such as support for WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative - Accessible Rich Internet Applications).	It offers relatively fewer features of web accessibility as compared to Drupal.

Q97. What do you mean by Content Editor?

All of the content on your website can be managed and edited using the Content Editor (CE). User roles, local security settings, and any customizations on a Sitecore installation can influence the appearance and functionality of the Content Editor. CE user interface generally consists of three main sections or areas that can be customized according to your preferences. These are

Ribbon: The area where you can access all the features of the Content Editor.
Content Tree: An area in which all items are arranged and organized. All items within your Sitecore installation are displayed in the Content Tree.
Content Area: This is where you can edit or make changes to your items.

Q98. What are the essential features of Sitecore?

In order to help you better understand the benefits of Sitecore, here are some of the platform key features:

Personalized Customer Data: Everything about customers, from their interactions to behaviours to data, is tracked and stored in order to provide insights to help the team deepen engagement and increase revenue.
Sitecore Experience Database (xDB): By integrating all of your customer experience data (including data from CRM and non-Sitecore-based systems), the Sitecore xDB creates a single store for the entire experience. Finally, you can see the entire journey of every individual customer all in one place (single repository).
Sitecore Experience Profile (xP): When xDB collects customer experience data, Sitecore XP creates an individual profile of each customer. The information in these profiles will help you to better understand your customers, such as what products they buy, what they click on, and how long they spend on your website.
Multi-language and Multi-Site Content Support: Expanding globally brings many challenges, but delivering a consistent brand experience to new customers and employees is among the most crucial. Sitecore provides multilingual support to help you reduce your time-to-market and stay competitive, wherever you are.
Marketing automation: Marketers can easily build automation campaigns that deliver real-time, automated responses in response to the actions visitors take on a site. For example, when a customer completes a purchase, an automated response email expressing appreciation for the purchase is sent.
Sitecore Federated Experience Manager (FXM): Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to switch all your websites to Sitecore? Sitecore FXM lets you extend certain Sitecore features to non-Sitecore sites, ensuring that your customers have a seamless, positive experience across all of your websites (and ensuring accurate customer data is captured).

Q99. What is the difference between the droplist and drop link field type?

Ans: Sitecore has two separate forms of drop-down search fields available: drop-down and drop-down. They both work exactly the same way: they point to the Sitecore data item and list their children in the content editor drop-down list. This is a great tool because it helps you to create a nice collection of search values and don't worry that editors will fat-finger those values.Drop List data form also stores the string value of the item chosen by the content editor, while Droplink stores the GUID of the item chosen by the content editor.

Q100. Explain about Core Database?

Ans: The Core Database is the foundation of the Sitecore application, which is utilized for various purposes.

The core database consists of all Sitecore frameworks that mean Page Editor, Content Editor, Desktop Mode, and many more. The core database contains information required by the Content Manager.

The core database can store all Ribbon menu items, and you need to add definition and context to the core database if you want to build a new menu item in the ribbon. It consists of the related participation tables which make Sitecore Security, Authorization, and Authentication.

Q101. Explain about Master Database?

Ans: In Sitecore, Master Database is also known as a substance material Authoring Database. The newly created kind of new piece of content material will store in the grasp Database.

Master Database is utilized for content Authoring.
Master Database proceeds with the forming of the content.
The Default Database stacked over the content material Editor, which acts as a governor for content material creating reason.
You can edit, add or Delete new things inside the grip Database and its miles utilized for advancement of late pages and segments.

Q102. Explain about the Web Database?

Ans: The Web Database consists of the live substance of the site, and it is also known as a distributed Database:

Web Database is a subset of the Master Database.
At whatever point the material is distributed from Master Database it experiences the distributing task and the Workflow, and the most recent form of the substance is
replicated from Master Database to Web Database.
Web Database is Optimized for Size, Performance, and Speed.
If you need it, you can rename the web database.
The Enterprise application will have various Databases so that it can configure the number of databases for UAT, Live, and SIT, UAT as indicated by your need and name it in like manner.