Sitecore context returns Master instead of Web database

Question

My Site configuration looks like this:

<site name="sitename" patch:after="site[@name='web_module'] targetHostName="HostName" 
              database="web" 
              virtualFolder="/" 
              physicalFolder="/" 
              rootPath="RootPath" 
              startItem="/Home" 
              dictionaryPath="DictionaryPath" 
              dictionaryAutoCreate="false" 
              placeholderSettingsRoot="PlaceholderSettingsRootPath"
              domain="extranet" 
              allowDebug="true" 
              cacheHtml="true" 
              htmlCacheSize="50MB" 
              registryCacheSize="0" 
              viewStateCacheSize="0" 
              xslCacheSize="25MB" 
              filteredItemsCacheSize="10MB" 
              enablePreview="true" 
              enableWebEdit="true" 
              enableDebugger="true" 
              disableClientData="false" 
              cacheRenderingParameters="true" 
              renderingParametersCacheSize="10MB" 
              formsRoot="formsRootGUID"
              loginPage="/login"
              enableItemLanguageFallback="true" />

However if I use the Sitecore.Context.Database to get the context to get items, it returns master instead of web in sc_mode=normal.

Sitecore.Data.Database context = Sitecore.Context.Database;

Why is it so and what could possibly go wrong?

Thanks!

Answer 1

It is not uncommon for developers or certain servers to be configured to run in "Live Mode", by patching the database attribute to master. By using this setting it allows you to view the site without needing to publish or put items through any workflows.

If the database attribute has been patched then Sitecore.Context.Database will return that value, i.e. master, even in normal mode.

In a default instance of Sitecore, a sample config patch file named LiveMode.config.example is provided for the website site, for example:

<sites>
  <site name="website">
    <patch:attribute name="database">master</patch:attribute>
    <patch:attribute name="filterItems">true</patch:attribute>
    <patch:attribute name="enableWorkflow">true</patch:attribute>
  </site>
</sites>

You should verify your site configuration by browsing to /sitecore/admin/showconfig.aspx which will show the final configuration after all the config patches have been processed and applied.

If the setting is different then it must have been patched by another config file. Often the config will show an extra attribute such as patch:source="LiveMode.config" which will tell you where it was patched from otherwise search the contents of the files in the Include folder.

Answer 2

It means that you're not in the scope of the site you added in your question or you're inside a DatabaseSwitcher context.

Looking at the config (especially empty virtual and physical folder), I'm guessing that your site may be added after another site which accepts same urls.

Check Sitecore.Context.Site.Name and Sitecore.Context.Site.Properties["database"] to see which site context is used in your method.