Living in a Better Habitat

TDS Classic Within Helix

The ability to react to and evolve with both the market and our customer base is one of the many reasons      TDS Classic is considered best of breed. Sitecore created the Helix architecture as a recommended way of building websites and created Habitat to demonstrate it. Habitat is a modular architecture, an approach to take to achieve an easily maintainable solution over time. TDS Classic takes Habitat to the next level.

We're often asked if TDS Classic is compatible with Sitecore Habitat. The answer is: absolutely! TDS Classic and Habitat work very well together. When Habitat was released, we created a TDS Classic branch of the Habitat demo site which is freely available in Github.  This branch also uses some of TDS Classic's other features, removes the reliance on gulp and NPM, and leverages many of the features available in TDS Classic 5.5+.

Awesome New Features in TDS Classic 5.5+
v5.5

Delta Builds only includes items in deployment/package if they are changed after the specified date.

Cloud Builds adds the TDS build components using a NuGet package.

Auto Deploy deploys content files as they're edited.

Sync New Features employs Sync Using History across multiple projects in a single Sync operation.

Auto Sync picks up changes from Sitecore and syncs the project automatically.

Post Deploy Steps creates custom steps to be executed after deployment and package install.   

v5.6

Project Item Reports allow builds to create a report document for auditing purposes.

Quick Push allows developers to quickly push all of their .item files to Sitecore with a single click of a button.

Custom Variables in Code Generation further add to the flexibility of what you can do with code generation.

Environment Validation protects you from overwriting assemblies with incorrect versions that may break your site.

v5.7

Lightning Mode speeds up the time it takes to compare and push items from disk to Sitecore.

Solution Wide Operations allow developers to work across the entire solution with a single click. This greatly helps when working with many projects, like in Habitat.

Helix Item Validators protect teams from accidentally breaking Helix conventions within Sitecore items.

Cross-Solution Code Generation gives teams the ability to use code generation across multiple solutions, breaking apart gigantic projects without losing efficiency.


Using TDS Classic is like going from the Flintstones to the Jetsons overnight

With TDS Infographic illustrating the workflow with TDS Classic

Local databases prevent collisions, while continuous integration and automated deployments have been made easy. Developers can employ a full audit trace on Sitecore items, reverting changes is simple and quick, and Sitecore items and source code move together. Leveraging Source Control means that the constant changes made during the course of a project merge seamlessly, and that new additions to your team are quickly brought up to speed. 


Without TDS Classic Infographic illustrating common workflow without TDS Classic

Collisions and other issues are caused by sharing a common database. There is no clear item ownership, and audit trace is missing. Reverting item changes is difficult, especially since code and items don’t move together.

All the Benefits in a Free Trial

Take the first step in creating your ideal Sitecore environment by downloading this free 30 day Sitecore  trial. Simply fill out this form and you will receive an email with your trial key. Happy Sitecore'ing!

                         Please note: The Sitecore TDS trial is a full-featured version with some license limitations:

  •  The Sitecore TDS trial license is valid for 30 days.  A purchased key will be required after the trial ends. 

  •  Trials are available for companies that have not previously purchased or trialed TDS.
       
  •  Only corporate email addresses are accepted for the trial (no yahoo, gmail, aol, etc...)