Litium compatibility
An Accelerator version is directly compatible with one Litium version. This means that the available functionality in an Accelerator depends on which Litium version you are running. Always check the compatibility between the respective Accelerator and Litium versions.
Before you start
Before Litium Accelerator is installed you need to setup Litium NuGet feed.
Get started
- Download and unpack the Accelerator package.
- Open the solution file Accelerator.sln.
- Open Package Manager Console
- Run the following command to install and update the packages:
Update-Package -Reinstall
- Build the solution.
The source code for Litium Accelerator is now installed.
Binding redirects in Visual Studio
In certain Visual Studio installations you may get a build warning about mismatching assembly versions. A typical warning will look as shown in the illustration below. Double-click on the warning to resolve the binding redirects automatically. If you don't resolve them, a run-time error will occur.
If the binding redirects are incorrect, your application will not start. An error message like this will appear:
Method 'SelectController' in type 'Litium.Web.WebApi.HttpControllerSelector' from assembly 'Litium.Web.Application, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=093d4a638630e7c5' does not have an implementation.
Optional: Build the client project (Only if you are modifying client resource files)
Litium Accelerator comes with pre-built client resource files, so you don’t have to build them yourself.
However, if you have modified client resources under Litium.Accelerator.FieldTypes, Litium.Accelerator.Mvc or Litium.Accelerator.Email, then you need to build the project. Here is how to do it:
- Make sure that you have NPM or Yarn installed. We prefer Yarn.
- Navigate to the Litium.Accelerator.FieldTypes, Litium.Accelerator.Mvc or Litium.Accelerator.Email folder
- Execute the following command to install all dependency packages.
yarn install
- Execute the following command to build the project.
yarn run prod
Note:
- If you are building Litium.Accelerator.FieldTypes, the output folder is Litium.Accelerator.FieldTypes\dist. Build the Litium.Accelerator.FieldTypes.csproj after executing yarn run prod to embed the script in the assembly.
- If you are building Litium.Accelerator.Mvc, the output folder is Litium.Accelerator.Mvc\UI. If you update only js, scss or cshtml files, then you don’t need to build Litium.Accelerator.Mvc.csproj. Note that you still need to execute 'yarn run prod' when you update js files.
- If you are building Litium.Accelerator.Email, the output folder is Litium.Accelerator.Email\dist. By default, ConfirmationEmail.html is copied to Litium.Accelerator.Mvc\Views\Email and renamed with .cshtml as extension. In case you want to automatically copy more files when building the project, modify gulpfile.babel.js file to add more files to be copied in the copy function.
Login
Developers working in projects can log in with Windows accounts that belong to the administrator group on the server, or the developer machine. It can be local server accounts or a domain accounts. No account will be created in Litium for this login, but technically you will be logged in as System with full permissions.
The Windows account login only works for the Litium back-office login page. To log in on the public site a regular Litium account is needed. This means that the back-office login page handles login both with Windows credentials and Litium credentials. In order to know when a Windows account should be used, the username should contain a backslash (\) to separate the domain and the username in a Windows pre-2000 mode.
Database
The database is placed in the App_Data folder inside the web application you created. When you start the web application, the database will be updated to the Microsoft SQL version that you use locally. If you use an older version in the staging and/or the production environment, you will find a default 2016 version of the database in the Tools\db folder in the Litium.Setup.Core package directory, which you can use and attach to the environment.
Create your accelerator website
- In Visual Studio, go to Solution Explorer and select the Litium.Accelerator.Mvc project. Context-click and select Set as StartUp project.
- Start the accelerator with the Start without debugging option in the Debug menu. This will open a web browser and display the login page for the Litium back office. Log in as a user with System All permissions.
- Open the settings by clicking the cogwheel in the upper right corner. In the left panel, expand the node Deployment where you will find the available accelerators.
- Click on the accelerator you want to install.
- Enter name and domain name for the Accelerator website.
- You can choose to create your website with or without sample products. If you select Create a set of sample products and product groups, some sample products will be created with images, prices and other settings. If you choose to create a site without sample products, the site assortment, price lists etc. will still be setup.
- Click Save in the toolbar and wait for the following message, confirming that the installation was successful.
Your accelerator web site has now been created.
This means that the following items are also created:
- A folder in Media for the Accelerator files.
- An assortment for the Accelerator categories and/or products.
- A price list.
- An inventory.
- The default roles Order approver and Buyer.
Secure connection (SSL)
Every page should use a secure connection. By setting the HSTS (Http Strict Transport Security) for the domain name, we force the website to use HTTPS instead of HTTP. To configure HSTS, navigate to Settings > Globalization > Domain names, select a domain name, click Edit and then choose to edit HSTS max age.
If you are using a developer or a test machine, you need to create a self-signed certificate in IIS. If you are using a production machine, you need to install the actual certificate. More information about configuration of secure connections can be found here.