This article is relevant if you are using NetSuite Site Builder and you need to bulk update HTML areas of the site.
Background
Oracle is working to migrate its NetSuite backend and website infrastructure as it continues to grow its global ambitions. As part of that effort, the way that consumer-facing websites are referencing URL information needs to change.
NetSuite has been giving its customers on the original (version 1) eCommerce Site Builder platform time to work on modifying the HTML elements so that the underlying URL reference pointers will not break during the upgrade. Some of the challenges in performing updates in this part of the platform is the ability to either search and find the respective problem HTML and/or update pages in bulk.
Approach to Find and Update Hard to Reach NetSuite Site Builder Elements
Marko O., who has been with the Prolecto Resources team since inception (2003), has a strong background in HTML and systems programming. He reviewed the challenge to find the offending HTML and recognized that NetSuite did not provide bulk search and updates in certain areas of the Site Builder system. The main areas were as follows:
- Site Builder 301 Redirects as reported by Traffic Health
- Site Builder Web Site Tags
- Site Builder Uncategorized Presentation Items
- Site Builder Web Site Item/Category Templates
- Site Builder Site Categories: Detail Description
One part of the work is to find all the problematic HTML. The Release Preview was helpful to use as it represents the future system with the new data center linkages. Marko used some open source utilities to crawl the NetSuite website to find issues. He chose to install and use LinkChecker on a local Linux workstation to help identify broken links.
Marko needed to update tags such as “s.nl” to ensure that they had absolute and relative referencing. Using his skill in creating Chrome Web Browser extensions, he went to work to create some utilities that would run in the browser to allow him to open all the individual pages in one large web page using HTML IFrames. This would then allow him to use the built-in browser search to find the HTML in question. Likewise, he was then able to simply update HTML in one place.
Additionally, there are some pages where the data is in question is buried deep in NetSuite editor webpages and no Netsuite saved search is available. Here, Marko used a technique to open all the website pages using the xml=T parameter trick which then allowed him to use the XML representation to find and collect the respective fields in one place for bulk updates.
Watch How the Chrome Extension Allows Bulk NetSuite Site Builder Updates (5:34)
To appreciate the tool Marko created, please review the following video (5:34).
Work with Innovative NetSuite Experts
The work that Marko produced is a great illustration of our capacity to break through what appears to be difficult or impossible NetSuite-related obstacles. While these tools are not packaged for wide distribution, they are available to our clients without a license charge and are building blocks to accelerate our ability to address specific concerns.
If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you have similar NetSuite challenges, let’s have a conversation.
Hi Marty Zigman! Thanks for sharing your content on how to mass-update NetSuite site builder HTML elements. Your post has a comprehensive guide about NetSuite. It is beneficial, especially for those who are using the NetSuite Site Builder. From the background to the process, your post can assist the users with how it was performed. I also like that you included a section on how to work with innovative NetSuite professionals. Huge thanks! Keep on posting helpful content!
Thank you Almar.
Marty