Next Steps

Where to go after completing the training guide.

Congratulations on completing the SPE training guide! You now have a solid foundation in PowerShell and SPE. Here's where to go next on your journey to mastery.

Continue Learning

Deepen Your Knowledge

Working with Items

Master the core operations for manipulating Sitecore content:

• Working with Items - Complete guide to item manipulation

• Retrieving Items - Advanced querying techniques

• Editing Items - Proper item editing workflows

• Creating and Removing Items - Item lifecycle management

• Moving and Copying Items - Reorganizing content

• Item Languages - Working with multilingual content

• Item Security - Managing permissions with PowerShell

• Best Practices - Tips for writing efficient scripts

User Interfaces

Build rich, interactive experiences for your scripts:

• Interactive Dialogs - Build rich UI for your scripts

• Show-ListView - Display data in tables with actions

• Read-Variable - Create custom input forms

• Show-FieldEditor - Edit item fields in dialogs

• Show-Result - Display formatted output

Building Useful Tools

Create custom tools that extend Sitecore functionality:

• Creating Reports - Build custom content reports

• Creating Tasks - Schedule automated jobs

• Content Editor Integration - Add context menu items

• Toolbox Scripts - Create administrative tools

• Control Panel - Add Control Panel applications

• Event Handlers - React to Sitecore events

Advanced Topics

Take your skills to the next level:

• Remoting - Automate Sitecore from external scripts

• Packaging - Package and deploy your work

• Workflows - Integrate with Sitecore workflows

• Web API - Expose scripts via REST API

• Libraries and Scripts - Organize reusable code

Reference Materials

Beyond the learning paths above, you'll find these resources helpful:

• Command Reference - Complete list of all SPE cmdlets

• Code Snippets - Ready-to-use examples for common scenarios

• Interfaces Guide - Deep dive into Console, ISE, and dialogs

Practice Projects

Here are some project ideas to practice your skills:

Beginner Projects

1. Content Audit Report

   • Find all items without workflow

   • List items with empty required fields

   • Identify orphaned media items

   • Export results to CSV

2. Bulk Field Updater

   • Prompt user for template and field name

   • Find all items of that template

   • Update the specified field

   • Show progress and results

3. Publishing Dashboard

   • Show items published in last 24 hours

   • Compare master vs web databases

   • Display publishing statistics

   • Highlight unpublished changes

Intermediate Projects

1. Content Migration Tool

   • Copy items between databases

   • Preserve all field values and versions

   • Handle item relationships

   • Create detailed log

2. Security Auditor

   • List all users and their roles

   • Show items with custom security

   • Identify security inheritance breaks

   • Export security matrix

3. Template Analyzer

   • Find all templates

   • Show template inheritance tree

   • List fields for each template

   • Identify unused templates

Advanced Projects

1. Custom Reporting Engine

   • Build reusable report framework

   • Support multiple output formats

   • Add scheduling capabilities

   • Email reports automatically

2. Content Health Monitor

   • Check for broken links

   • Validate media items exist

   • Find duplicate items

   • Schedule regular scans

3. Deployment Assistant

   • Compare environments

   • Package changed items

   • Generate deployment scripts

   • Validate post-deployment

Essential Security Review

CRITICAL: Before deploying SPE to any non-development environment, review Security Hardening and complete the Security Checklist. Remember: SPE should NEVER be installed on CD servers or be accessible from internet-facing instances.

Get Help and Support

When You Get Stuck

• Built-in help: Use Get-Help <command-name> in the Console

• Troubleshooting Guide - Common issues and solutions

• #module-spe - Sitecore Community Slack channel

• GitHub - Report issues or request features

Best Practices Checklist

As you continue working with SPE, keep these best practices in mind:

Code Quality

• ✅ Use full command names (not aliases) in scripts

• ✅ Write clear, descriptive variable names

• ✅ Add comments to explain complex logic

• ✅ Use functions for reusable code

• ✅ Handle errors with try/catch

• ✅ Test scripts in development first

Performance

• ✅ Filter early in pipelines

• ✅ Use Content Search for large queries

• ✅ Avoid -Recurse on large trees

• ✅ Use efficient collection types

• ✅ Suppress output properly (> $null)

• ✅ Measure performance with Measure-Command

Security

• ✅ Never run untrusted scripts

• ✅ Use source control for all scripts

• ✅ Review security settings regularly

• ✅ Apply principle of least privilege

• ✅ Enable audit logging

• ✅ Test security policies

Maintenance

• ✅ Document what scripts do

• ✅ Use consistent naming conventions

• ✅ Organize scripts in Script Library

• ✅ Version control your work

• ✅ Share knowledge with team

• ✅ Review and refactor regularly

Additional Learning Resources

• Video Series - Official tutorial videos

• Blog Collection - Community articles and examples

• Microsoft PowerShell Docs - General PowerShell reference

Share and Contribute

As you gain experience:

• Share your scripts with the community on GitHub

• Help answer questions on Slack and Stack Exchange

• Write blog posts about solutions you've built

• Submit improvements to this documentation

The best way to solidify your learning is to teach others!

Quick Reference Card

Essential Commands

# Items
Get-Item -Path "master:\content\home"
Get-ChildItem -Path "master:\content" -Recurse
New-Item -Path "master:\content\home" -Name "Item"
Remove-Item -Path "master:\content\home\item"

# Filtering
... | Where-Object { $_.TemplateName -eq "Article" }
... | Select-Object -Property Name, ID, TemplateName
... | Sort-Object -Property Name

# Editing
$item.Editing.BeginEdit()
$item["Title"] = "New Value"
$item.Editing.EndEdit()

# Publishing
Publish-Item -Item $item -PublishMode Smart -Target web

# Help
Get-Help Get-Item
Get-Command *Item*
$item | Get-Member

Common Patterns

# Safe editing
foreach($item in $items) {
    $item.Editing.BeginEdit()
    try {
        $item["Field"] = "Value"
        $item.Editing.EndEdit()
    }
    catch {
        $item.Editing.CancelEdit()
        Write-Error $_
    }
}

# Progress reporting
$total = $items.Count
for($i = 0; $i -lt $total; $i++) {
    Write-Progress -Activity "Processing" `
                   -Status "$i of $total" `
                   -PercentComplete (($i / $total) * 100)
    # Process item
}

---

You're Ready!

You've completed the training and now have the skills to:

• ✅ Write PowerShell scripts for Sitecore

• ✅ Understand providers, pipelines, and commands

• ✅ Avoid common pitfalls

• ✅ Build useful automation tools

• ✅ Work safely and securely

Happy scripting! 🚀

Remember: The best way to learn is by doing. Start small, experiment often, and don't be afraid to make mistakes in development. You've got this!