Create Item Package using Sitecore CLI 3.0.0 Serialize Plugin to reuse CSS Class Options for Sitecore 10.1 Forms

In this step-by-step tutorial, I will create an itempackage from one Sitecore 10.1 instance and install the same in another instance in order to reuse the CSS styles in Sitecore Forms autocomplete feature.

I already have a Sitecore package here. Note that this is a Sitecore package that you create and install through the Desktop with the help of the Package designer / Installation Wizard and this is different from content item package that has an extension of .itempackage. I initially thought the Sitecore custom module package, which is a zip is same as Item package with an extension of .itempackage (until I saw the difference in the extension!). If you are like me so far, then you must have understood now that they are not the same!

This is what the Sitecore package contains:

In order to create a serialized item package, the content must be serialized first. In order to serialize items in Sitecore 10.1, you need to install Sitecore CLI 3.0.0 both in the Sitecore Instance as well as in the folder where the Serialized items will be pulled from the Sitecore Instance.

In order to pull the Serialized items from the Sitecore instance, this blog of mine covers the details. But, here are the steps involved:

1. Create a local folder c:\scstest

2. Open PS in admin mode, traverse to this folder and execute dotnet new tool-manifest

3. If dotnet command used above is not recognized , install .net core first and then you will be able to see the dotnet folder under C:\Program Files\

4. Execute dotnet new tool-manifest

5. Install Sitecore CLI 3.0.0 locally in c:\scstest folder by executing: dotnet tool install Sitecore.CLI --add-source https://sitecore.myget.org/F/sc-packages/api/v3/index.json

6. Execute dotnet sitecore init

7. Now, let's connect to the Sitecore Instance from where we want to pull the content, in my case, it is https://sc101latsc.dev.local/

So, the command goes like this: dotnet sitecore login --authority https://sc101latidentityserver.dev.local --cm https://sc101latsc.dev.local --allow-write true

Note that this is interactive login so, you will have to enter your credentials manually and this info is stored in user.json file. So, don't checkin the user.json file!

Also, ensure to prefix the urls with https else, you won't be able to pull serialized items or, won't be able to interact with the Sitecore instance later and you will get a graphQL service not available error in the CLI.

8. Let's install the serialization plugin using the following command: dotnet sitecore plugin add -n Sitecore.DevEx.Extensibility.Serialization

Only after you install this plugin, you can see the ser related commands:

9. Next, we intend to serialize and pull items from the Sitecore Content tree: let's first prepare the sitecore.json by stating what part of the content tree must be serialized. This is how my sitecore.json looks:

{

  "$schema": "./.sitecore/schemas/RootConfigurationFile.schema.json",

  "modules": [

    "./content/content.module.json"

  ],

  "plugins": [

    "Sitecore.DevEx.Extensibility.Serialization@3.0.0"

  ],

  "serialization": {

    "defaultMaxRelativeItemPathLength": 100,

    "defaultModuleRelativeSerializationPath": "serialization"

  }

}

The modules section highlights the items to be included in the serialization while defaultModuleRelativeSerializationPath states the folder in the file system where the items will be serialized. In our case, the folder will be named as serialization.

Be careful to provide the correct path to the module json in the above sitecore.json file. If you don't provide the correct path, the serialize command will still execute without throwing any errors!

10. Note that content.module.json is a name I chose since I'm serializing content items. Note that the includes section must be manually added to provide paths to items to be serialized:

{

  "namespace": "Content",

  "references": "",

  "items": {

    "includes": [

      {

      "name": "cssclassoptions",

      "path": "/sitecore/system/Settings/Forms/Meta Data/CSS Class Options",

      "allowedPushOperations": "createUpdateAndDelete",

      "scope": "itemAndDescendants"

      },

      {

      "name": "fieldtypes",

      "path": "/sitecore/system/Settings/Forms/Field Types/Structure",

      "allowedPushOperations": "createUpdateAndDelete",

      "scope": "itemAndDescendants"

      }

    ]

  }

}

Since I just want two parts of the tree to be serialized, I have added those in the includes section.

11. Don't forget to install the Sitecore CLI 3.0.0 package onto the Sitecore instance from where you plan to serialize content items. In my case, the instance name is https://sc101latsc.dev.local

Without the  Sitecore CLI 3.0.0 package, graphQL service wouldn't be available and without graphQL Service, serialization can't happen!

12. Now, back in PS - c:\scstest, if you do a dotnet sitecore ser pull, you must see the serialization happening:

13. You can see the files in the corresponding folder:

Now, optionally, you can go ahead and add extra styles in the content tree. Pull the same so that there are changes to the serialized items in the file system.  Also, since you have the items in the file system, you can check in the items to a github repo and then in another machine or instance, push the items to a Sitecore instance like this - dotnet sitecore ser push

14. Let's now package these items so that we can then install this in a different instance. In order to do the same, execute the following command: dotnet sitecore ser pkg create -o cssclassoptionspackage

The above command creates a file named cssclassoptionspackage.itempackage in the file system -

Note that this file size is just 42 kb compared to the original Sitecore module package that has the same contents and it is a 95 KB zip! Also, the itempackage file is completely encrypted!

15. Now, let's install this itempackage to a new Sitecore instance. This process involves all the above steps (1 to 8) but in a different folder to simulate that we are  doing this in a different project / machine. Also, ensure to connect to the correct instance where you wish to install the item package. In my case, it is https://sc101newsc.dev.local

Also, since we don't intend to push/pull anything from Sitecore in this new instance, note that we don't need to modify the module.json that we named as content.module.json or sitecore.json that refers to the module.json files. 

16. The command to install the itempackage in the new instance is this - 

dotnet sitecore ser pkg install --package cssclassoptionspackage.itempackage

Note that I copied over the itempackage file to the base folder location before running the above command. I just did this for convenience but the itempackage will still be picked if you provide an accessible path in the file system -

16. Without much ado, let's open Sitecore Forms , add a submit button and when you type in a CSS Class, you should see the auto-complete feature in action:

So, we have implemented at least two of the Sitecore 10.1 features:

1. Serialization using Sitecore Plugin

2. Auto-Complete in Sitecore Forms

We also used itempackage to install content items.

For reference, here is the content folder zip that gets generated in the source folder after you issue the dotnet sitecore ser pull command.