Basics of

xConnect

Alok KaduDeshmukh
May 21, 2018

#sugcon
 About Me

- Senior Web Developer

- Sitecoreán since last 7 years

- Blog URL: learnsitecorebasics.wordpress.com

- Twitter Handle: @alokkadu

Agenda
- What is Sitecore xConnect?

- xConnect Architecture

- Common Terminologies

- Demo & Code

 What is xConnect

- Service layer sits in

between the xDB and
any trusted client,
device, or interface

- No System has direct

access to the
Collection or search
indexes

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 xDB in sitecore 7.5 - 8

Direct Database access

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 xDB in sitecore 9

xDB in Sitecore 9

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 xConnect- Web API End Point

- Exposes web API end point

- No dependency on Sitecore
- Sitecore & xConnect
- Two Separate IIS Websites
- Two web roots
- Two URLs

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 Demo

- Fill a Contact Form and

create contact from Sitecore
based web site
Sitecore Web
Application

- From .NET based

application, create/update
the contact details .NET
Application

- Read the contact properties

from console application
Console
Application

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 Demo Overview

xConnect Web API

xConnect Client API

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Terminologies
- Model
- Contact
- Identifier
- Interaction
- Facet

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xConnect – Model Overview
- Defines
- Contact and interaction facets, such as
PersonalInformation and IPInfo
- Event types, such as Goal and Outcome
- All CLR types, such as System.String or custom
classes used by facets and events

- Defined in code and can be extent across multiple dlls,

e.g. Sitecore Default Facets 
SitecoreXConnect.Collection.Model dll
- Facets for xOptimization 
Sitecore.ContentTesting.Model.xConnect.Model

- \App_data\Models\ in xConnect Root

- Sitecore.XConnect.Collection.Model, 9.0.json
- Sitecore.XConnect.ContentTesting.Model,
1.0.json

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Contact
- Visitor

- Contact vs Users

- Anonymous vs Known Contact

- Represented by Sitecore.XConnect.Contact class

- Uniquely identified by ID (Guid) within xDB
 Identifier
- Uniquely identifies the contact outside xDB

- Sitecore.Xconnect. ContactIdentifier

- Each Identifier consist of:

- An Identifier, such as a username
- An identifier Source, which describes where the identifier comes from - such as ‘twitter’
- An identifier ContactIdentifierType, which is
either ContactIdentifierType.Anonymous or ContactIdentifierType.Known

- Contacts are identified by combination of identifier & source

 Interaction
- Point at which Contact interfaces with brand
- Examples:
- Registration
- Purchasing something from store
- Browsing website

- Represented by Sitecore.Xconnect.Interaction and must have at least one event

- Mandatory Properties
- Initiator
- ChannelId
- UserAgent
 Facet
- Piece of information
- Name or address for contacts
- location of the interaction for interaction

- Each Facet is made of:

- Facet Model – class that inherits
Sitecore.Xconnect.Facet
- Facet definition – associates a facet model
with a key

- Facet Types
- Value Facet – Most Contact facet and all
interaction facets
- Calculated Facet – e.g. contact’s avg
engagement value per visit
 Scenario 1 –Inox Theatre:
- Inox has online site to book the tickets.
https//www.inoxmovies.com
- Inox has kiosk desk to book the tickets at
DEMO -
theatre.
Inox has box office window with representative
for booking visitor’s ticket.
- Being in competitive market, Inox doesn’t want
to miss any single details of the customer who
has used any of the above mentioned options
to book tickets.

Scenario 2 – Company having Booth in SugCon:

- Company has the booth where company
representatives can interacts with the talented
persons and want their information – kiosk desk
- Also, company having a corporate site where user
can interact through Contact Us Page
- Company always wants to store such information
coming from different sources at a center place
Q /A
 What Next?

• Sitecore Documents to start with:

- https://doc.sitecore.net/developers/xp/xconnect/xconnect-overview/index.html

- https://doc.sitecore.net/developers/xp/xconnect/xconnect-client-api/xconnect-client-api-overview/index.html

- https://doc.sitecore.net/developers/xp/getting-started/
 Thank you to our Sponsors

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