2.13.4. Scripting

Although front-end scripting technologies such as JavaScript are often associated with visual design and CSS, they are starting to serve more purposes in website implementations. And even though Sitecore is predominantly ASP.NET and C# driven, JavaScript and its associated frameworks are taking an increasingly important role in the actual business logic of the application.

Scripting technologies are typically related to the different layers, depending on what purpose they serve:

  • Framework technologies (such as jQuery, Angular.js, Backbone.js, Require.js and so on) are typically Foundation layer modules that provide a standardized API or framework for feature modules to leverage. These should therefore be introduced into the implementation in a Foundation layer module.
  • Functionality-specific scripts, i.e. presentation or business logic which enables parts of a feature to function belongs in the Feature layer. For example, scripts that enable menus to open or close, results to lazy-load on scrolling of the page and so on, belong in the module that has the related content or views.
  • The last group is presentation-related scripting, which relates to the way a page or parts of a page presents itself. This includes scripts that relate to the holistic visual design of the page and its CSS, and scripts that often require knowledge of the DOM of the page in order to function. These types of scripts belong with the page or site specific design implementation in the Project layer (see Scripting)

In order to support this type of separation, the implementation will need a mechanism for features to register scripts to be loaded – either solution-wide or on the pages where they are used. Since Sitecore does not natively provide such a mechanism, you will need to choose the approach and provide this in the Foundation layer. This can be accomplished by using either a standard framework, such as require.js, or custom logic implemented in a Foundation layer module.

Habitat Example

The Habitat example site provides an Assets module in the Foundation layer that allows modules to register script or styling files through .config files, which is subsequently loaded on the website. Files and assets can also be bound to specific renderings and dynamically loaded on pages which use those renderings.

Although the Habitat example shows a highly pluggable and Sitecore-centric approach to assets, it does not include aspects such as minification and other optimization techniques. These can however be integrated using standard technologies such as require.js.