Is there an API for item creation?

Question

We're in the process of integrating with a product management tool to automate the process of item/product creation within our system. I know that Sitecore has the ability to pass back the objects directly through URL reference, but is there a way to pass a JSON object, or something like that, which would be able to include a reference to a template maybe, and a location/parent node to save it to, and create a new instance of the item, and save it appropriately?

We do something like that now in our manual process, which can create an item based on an excel spreadsheet, but that was entirely home-grown, and programmatically creates the item (or version if it's already there) and that get's saved back where it belongs.

Is there anything out of the box that sitecore provides that would perform that object creation?

Answer 1

Item Web API

For Sitecore versions from 6+ till 8 you should use the Sitecore Item Web API.

Documentation is available here: link

Creating an Item from a Template

To create an item called MyItem that is based on the Sample Item template in the master database, use a URL in the following format:

http:///- /item/v1/sitecore/Content/Home?name=MyItem&template=Sample/Sample Item&sc_database=master

Sitecore Services Client

For newer Sitecore versions (8+) the Sitecore.Services.Client must be used:

Please, check this document by Sitecore (p.3.4.5 Create an Item): link

You use this method to create a new Sitecore item.

Verb: POST

URL: /item/{path}?database&language

Answer 2

You can also use the Sitecore ItemService API to do this like so:

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open("POST", "http://<your server>/sitecore/api/ssc/item/sitecore%2Fcontent%2Fhome ");
xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {
  if (this.readyState == 4) {
    alert('Status: '+this.status+'\nHeaders: '+JSON.stringify(this.getAllResponseHeaders())+'\nBody: '+this.responseText);
  }
};
xhr.send("{ \n    \"ItemName\": \"Home\", \n    \"TemplateID\": \"76036f5e-cbce-46d1-af0a-4143f9b557aa\", \n    \"Title\": \"Sitecore\", \n    \"Text\": \"\\r\\n\\t\\t\u003Cp\u003EWelcome to Sitecore\u003C/p\u003E\\r\\n\" \n}");

https://doc.sitecore.net/sitecore_experience_platform/developing/developing_with_sitecore/sitecoreservicesclient/the_restful_api_for_the_itemservice

Answer 3

You can use sitecore Sitecore Item Web API to create an item.

http://[host_name]/-/item/v1/sitecore/Content/Home?name=MyItem&template=Sample/Sample Item&sc_database=master

Also make sure you have these settings in your Sitecore.ItemWebApi.config

itemwebapi.mode="StandardSecurity"
itemwebapi.allowanonymousaccess="false"/>

For more info https://sdn.sitecore.net/upload/sdn5/modules/sitecore%20item%20web%20api/sitecore_item_web_api_developer_guide_sc65-66-usletter.pdf