Say hello to Sitefinity Thunder, the Visual Studio plug-in

Sitefinity is the most preferred CMS by designers and developers alike due to its wonderful and user-friendly features. Sitefinity Thunder is becoming the most sought after visual studio plug-in. As the name suggests, Sitefinity Thunder steals the thunder because of its extremely convenient features. If you are new to Sitefinity, maybe this is time to get introduced to this power-packed component.

The features listed below would give you a brief idea about what Sitefinity Thunder is all about and why you need it:

Saves time and increases productivity:

It is quite common to find developers engaged in multiple projects simultaneously. Sometimes, it becomes tiresome and time-consuming to deploy the same code for widgets and templates across multiple projects. Wouldn’t it be better to have some software that automatically deploys your custom codes across various projects, integrating them all? This is exactly what Sitefinity Thunder does through Visual Studio, drastically bringing down the development time and boosting the flexibility for developers.

Eases customization of widgets and themes:

With Sitefinity Thunder, developers find it easier to customize several widgets and themes across multiple projects. The widgets and themes can be created and maintained at a single click as all the relevant files are located in a single, central location. Sitefinity Thunder facilitates a wide range of activities that include modification or update of templates/themes, and deployment of widgets. Thus, by offering a single location based control of the tasks that are repetitive in nature, developers can minimize the risk of errors that can arise with the process of deploying codes or files to and from the CMS.

Eliminates dependence on documentation:

IntelliSense is a term that encompasses a wide range of features like Quick Info, Complete Word, List Members, and Parameter Info. These features, when invoked by just a few keystrokes, educates the user about the code that is being input (even auto-correct the code), or helps to track the parameters, or even add calls to methods and properties. In short, it is an intelligent sensor that eliminates the dependency of referring to the documentation each time a developer wants to access custom properties and connect them to the concerned projects. Crucial time thus saved could be utilized to address any other challenges.

Get rid of the mundane:

There exists plenty of programming languages using which a developer can do a lot of coding for even minimum tasks. Besides, situations arise where sections of such codes need to be deployed in various places without much modifications. Sitefinity Thunder helps you get rid of this mundane task by providing a set of templates that can be used to create themes, modules, add widgets, and also customize the web projects without having to repeat the codes. Furthermore, the entire process of implementation is done at a single place without having to switch from Visual Studio.

Allows single-point controllability:

As mentioned earlier, developers need to manage several projects simultaneously. In various circumstances, a large number of codes and functionalities might occur common for these projects. Sitefinity Thunder makes it extremely easy for the developers to manage all the Sitefinity projects from a single place. The custom codes or Sitefinity extensions can be easily deployed to any of the projects with a single click.

How to install and configure the Thunder?

Now that you are convinced about the thundering (pun intended) features of the Thunder, it might be worthwhile to understand how to install and configure it.

A point to be noted here is that installing Visual Studio and installing the Thunder component are two different aspects: Installing the Visual Studio plug-in from the gallery will ensure that you can open the Sitefinity project through VS and create components like widgets, themes, and templates. Whereas, installing the Thunder component is only required if you want to connect to your project remotely and want to deploy codes remotely.

You can set up Sitefinity Thunder in two instances in the following ways:

In the instance when the project is a local one:

• Click on Install Sitefinity Thunder Module under Sitefinity Thunder from the Telerik drop-down menu in Visual Studio.
• To choose the location: browse through the folders, choose the one in which the project is located, and say Install.

In the instance when the project is remotely located:

• Select Connection Settings under Sitefinity Thunder from the Telerik drop-down menu.
• Give a connection name, the project URL and set up the Username and password.

Scenario A

In case you do not have the Thunder component downloaded at this point of time and the Test Connection fails, you can do a Save As which will ensure that all your files are archived in the appropriate folders. Once the component is installed, these files can be extracted from the destination server and the files will get transported to the appropriate locations.

Scenario B

If you have the Thunder component downloaded, fill out the Connection Setting Editor and click the Test Connection. You should be Connected successfully.

We hope this answers your queries about Sitefinity Thunder. Feel free to reach out to us for more information. Leave your comment below.

To know more about Suyati’s expertise on Sitefinity Thunder, drop us a mail at services@suyati.com.