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This is an FAQ for the Force.com Sites technology. To learn more about Sites, please visit our Sites page on developer.force.com.

Availability, Pricing and Pilot Program

Q: if registration for a Sites website has to run through one's Customer Portal, doesn't the cost model have to be modified to reflect the various uses of a Sites website?

A: Force.com Sites pricing addresses the anonymous page views. Sites provides seamless integration with Customer Portal and PRM portal products for authentication. Portal products are generally available products and not included with the Force.com Site Pricing.

Q: can I use my sandbox to create, pages, sites, custom logic, workflows & test it...for exercise before creating a actual website for our company?

A: Yes, Pilot program customers will be able to use sites in their sandbox orgs.

Q: is there a migration work involved from the developers when force.com moves from one version to another better version OR the salesforce takes care of removing/updating obsolete code

A: The Force.com platform never requires you to update your code. The upgrades of the platform happen automatically without affecting your code (we have versioning of Apex and Visualforce internally). That's the joy of no software.

Authentication Related Questions

Q: At Dreamforce, we were told that the Registration process was built with the Sites.com platform. Can you explain how it was done for Dreamforce ?

A: Sites provides seamless integration with Customer Portal and PRM portal products for authentication. You can find an example in chapter 14 of the new the Developer Guide: http://wiki.apexdevnet.com/index.php/Force_Platform_Developer_Guide. If you sign up a new DE org, you will be given 10 Portal users in your DE org to test with.

Q: I see there is a site registration / login. Does the ability exist for users to login...partially fill out a form and then later return to complete the form?

A: That functionality does not exist out of the box, but you could use Apex and VisualForce to create custom pages with that functionality.

Q: What about the self-service portal login will that work with sites login as well?

A: At this time Self Service Portal is not supported.

Q: Is the only registration component for a Sites website, Customer Portal? Will that always be the case?

A: Registration is currently available only through the customer portal,. Next release we will support PRM portals as well.

Security and Data Access

Q: Is it possible to enable an extranet site (i.e. not inside VPN) with authentication?

A: Yes, you can create a public website with authentication.

Q: What default site pages are included with Sites?

A: There are a number of pages included with sites, such as login pages, registration pages, reset/change password pages and error pages.

Q: How can I implement relational database for the site?

A: Just use the Force.com Database. For more, see the article: An Introduction to the Force.com Database

Q: Can you work with existing Salesforce.com objects such as contacts or products?

A: Yes, once you are in the Site detail page, click on public access settings. The guest profile can have CRUD access to all custom objects, read/create on some standard objects, and only read on some other standard objects

Q: Is there a way to have Sites pages downloaded locally in case of a Force.com loss of data?

A: You can use the Force.com IDE to backup the contents of your site and restore at a later time

Q: Can the same page be used in multiple sites; if one site is a secure site and one is not?

A: Yes, you need to associates pages with both sites.

Q: Can anonymous users enter form data ""securely"" without logging in - without purchasing a license?

A: Yes, HTTPS with force.com domain name is supported.

Q: What kind of users are configured in Force.com?

A: The Force.com platform has its own authentication module, but it can integrate with other such as active directory for example.

Q: Does it support HTTPS custom URLs (not force.com URLs) with our own certificate?

A: Not at this time

Q: Is the Force.com site feature able to send data over both http and https protocols, or would you recommend using another way to do SSL enabled transactions?

A: Force.com Sites supports both HTTP and HTTPS.

Q: How do you specify an internal page (intranet) vs. the external page (internet) within sites?

A: You can restrict your site based on your intranet IP ranges via the public access settings page. In this way your public sites can only be accessible within your intranet.

Q: How can I avoid spam for a non-authenticated user. Is there functionality like CAPTCHA that limits entry of data by a robot?

A: It's very easy to incorporate CAPTCHA as part of your application. You would need to incude a simple javascript in your visualforce page, and the validation logic in your visualforce page controller.

Q: Can i specify my own SSL certificate if i use a CNAME to brand my URL

A: SSL certificates specify an IP address and at the current time we do not provide a feature to host SSL certificates for sites other than the default domain force.com.

Training and Resources

Q: Is there training for Visualforce offered through Salesforce.com education?

A: Yes. Please see Developer Training Resources for more information about DEV401 and DEV501. Also check out the resources on Developer Force

Q: Will there be an App Exchange equivalent for third party javascript libraries? For example a standard way to add web tracking, integration to other SaaS applications, widgets, data validation etc?

A: it’s possible; nothing is specifically developed at this point.

Use Case Related Questions

Q: Is this meant for high-traffic production sites?

A: We expect to be able to handle production sites with a fairly large amount of traffic. Both Dell and Starbucks have public Ideas sites running on Force.com that get a fair amount of traffic.

Q: Will sites evolve to offer a complete CMS core, such as drupal? Otherwise, Sites will only be used for parts of existing web sites, correct? As opposed to developing an entire web site with SITES, if there are no core modules. Comments?

A: Sites doesn't integrate with a CMS at this point, but feel free to post your idea on the Idea Exchange. Or to create your own CMS on top of Sites.

Q: We have static pages hosted at a third party, could we move them to force.com, and keep the same domain?

A: Yes, this is possible.

Q: And do we have to change either jsp or asp pages to visualforce pages?

A: Yes

Q: Can we use Force.com to create ecommerce apps/ sites like Order placement & management system

A: if it can be done via the Force.com platform (Apex, Visualforce, etc.), you should be able to do it via sites

Q: can we integrate & exchange data in both directions with .NET or Java applications?

A: Yes, check out the Force.com Web Services API to learn more.

Q: Can we create forms for new prospects to fill out such as an email opt-in?

A: Yes.

Q: Are sites packagable? Could we build sites to be available on the App Exchange?

A: Not at this time. The contents of the Sites are, but the configuration of the site is not packageable yet.

Q: Can I use sites to capture information - update a SF object - but then have an upload utility to upload data to website that is NOT part of force.com?

A: You can send data to other sites with outbound messaging, a standard Force.com feature.

Q: are there test class and coverage requirements when building apex logic on sites?

A: Yes. Same as any other site

Q: if I have an existing domain name say for a personal web site can I move it over to my force.com site?

A: Yes. You can setup a DNS Alias (technically a CNAME) to the force.com site and specify that ""Custom Web Address"" on your site and it will work. This is not available for Developer Edition environments.

Q: does sites support SSO single sign-on, I would assume yes as SFDC does but wanted to validate.

A: Yes, Force.com sites provides seamless integration with Customer and PRM Portals and Portals provide SSO capabilities.

Q: Is the site template using CSS? Also, how do we connect custom object data to visual force pages -> sites?

A: You can reference CSS in the site template from a static resource. Your Visualforce pages can use a standard controller and display custom object data directly.

Q: What types of statistics do you track for pages, hits, etc.?

A: We track bandwidth, page views, and total request time. This is not displayed to the user yet

Q: is there a globalization/localization platform built in?

A: Yes. We have a feature called ""Custom Labels"" which allows you to translate and localize your sites.

Q: Can sites pages be used within an existing website e.g. to display a product price list?

A: Yes, you can embed a Force.com Site in your website to provide product catalog

Q: Can I add CAPTCHA input spam blocker to my Site ?

A: Yes, you can embed a CAPTCHA within your Force.com Site easily,please see this Wiki Article

Ideas Related Questions

Q: When I check the Tab for Ideas in Sites, it does not appear in the row of Tabs for the website I've created.

A: Add the Ideas tab to the ""Platform"" custom app

Q: Can you clarify what you mean about adding the Ideas tab to the ""Platform"" custom app so that it appears on the Sites website?

A: Platform is te default Application for the Force.com sites. If you enable the header in your visualforce page it'll show the tabs for the Platform applicationwe will answer later in the FAQ

Q: When will the ""Ideas"" component be available to use with Sites?

A: It is available now

Setup Related Questions

Q: Is it possible to do a Visualforce page for the Home page?

A: The default index page (active site home page) is a Visualforce page.

Q: The Visualforce page I've created for Sites doesn't seem to work correctly with Person Accounts. Internally links are active for that Visualforce page, but as Sites no links are active. This doesn't occur for any other native or custom object.

A: Links to Accounts and Contacts are not generated if your site is linked with a portal. You can generate them yourself by hand, but apex:outputLink will not. If you don't like this behavior, please suggest it as an idea on the Idea Exchange.

Q: How does CSS get implemented?

A: You can use your own CSS via static resources

Q: Also, are there tools now that can show me every site where a given field is used? I.e. change impact?

A: This will be supported in a later release

Q: How do you best integrate Flash/Flex into Visualforce pages?

A: Check out the flex component that comes standard with Visualforce, and also look at the Flex Toolkit available on developer.force.com for how to integrate Flex with Force.com

Q: Have the HTML with the Apex code been checked for proper HTML Validation?

A: Visualforce.com generally creates XHTML supported pages. It will warn you of invalid HTML if you include it yourself.

Q: is it possible to use other tools to build the site apart from visualforce?

A: Yes, you can use custom CSS, HTML, and JavaScript

Q: You stated you could have up to 100 sites. Can each site have our own custom URL?

A: Yes, each site can have it's own unique custom URL

Q: On with the sub domain question. We have a customer that supports 5 companies in their org thus would like to have 5 different sites. Is there any plan to support multiple sub domains?

A: It's on the roadmap. For now, to workaround, you can use custom domain names feature and set that as the custom web address field on the site

Q: Is there a way to preview a Visualforce sites page with the site template applied from within salesforce before it's published to the public?

A: You can add an ip range restriction to the site profile so only you have access to it. Otherwise, you can use Visualforce's page reference functionality to use the site template before site is active

Q: I'm thinking more from a content developer working on a content object within salesforce. I'd like to have a custom button that will show a preview of the apex page with the site template applied

A: You can do this using Visualforce. There’s a merge field and a static Apex method you can use to refer to template declaratively, i.e. $Site.Template

Restrictions

Q: Is there a limit in page views for developer editions?

A: There are no page view limitations. However there are daily usage limits; bandwidth (500MB/day) and instance-usage (10mins/day) limits.

Q: What are the governor limits for Apex Code run by Force.com Sites? Are they the same as normal SalesForce?

A: Yes, governer limits are the same as Salesforce

Q: Are there any limitations on what objects can be accessed?

A: No, if you go to the site detail pg, click on the public access settings button. You can see what CRUD access is avail for which objects. Basically, full CRUD on custom objects, read and create on most std objects. Read only on some other std objects

Q: Is there a limit on the number of sites?

A: You can only create one site in developer edition orgs. Production orgs this limit is set to 25.

Q: Can we use S-control in VF portal Page

A: Not at this time. Only visualforce pages are supported for dynamic content

Q: Developer Edition - does this allow us to create live Force.com sites to the public?

A: Developer Editions are for developers to experiment with our service, build their applications and prototypes. Contractually, you can not run a production site from a developer edition org.

Q: what if I have an existing developer org that I have been using to already build my apex classes and Vforce pages? Can I get customer portal enabled?

A: Unfortunately, you need to signup a new account and move your code over using the force.com ide.

Q: Can I publish reporting or dashboard functions to a force.com site?

A: Not at this time

Q: Are there any limit for creating objects?

A: There are limits for all editions of the Force.com platform. Check the main salesforce page for more details.

Integration

Q: can I do AJAX in sites to pull information from a third party app that isn't in the SFDC system?

A: Yes, this is possible.

Q: How does Sites integrate with Content?

A: It's not currently supported but this is on our product roadmap

Q: For Windows computers, is Internet Explorer or Firefox best for Force.com's browser?

A: Both are supported

Q: Is there any way to check how many page views we'll have on our sites like a metrics viewer?

A: You can easily integrate with Web Analytics applications such as Google Analytics or Omniture

Q: Do pages built in sites and including Google Google analytics tracks analytics properly?

A: Yes, please take a look at the following example: http://www.adnsandbox.com/df08/sites_integrating_google_analytics.pdf

Q: Are sites indexed in some way on Google? If so what happens with the costs since the sites charged per page hit?

A: You have the full control of which page can be indexed on your site by setting your own robots.txt page. Please take a look at the following article for details

Q: How can I upload my robots file

A: You have the full control of which page can be indexed on your site by setting your own robots.txt page. Please take a look at the following article for details

Q: Is there any plans to enable credit card processing through these sites?

A: Not at this time. However, there are integrations with Paypal and Amazon DevPay available on the App Exchange

Availability and Caching

Q: SFDC routinely has downtime for maintenance, but people expect websites to always be available. How are you handling this?

A: Your site is directly served from your salesforce.com organization. Your end users will see the "in maintenance" page when the instance servicing your site is not available.

Q: Will these sites block web bots? Meaning will the Site pages find their way onto Google, Yahoo, etc.

A: You can control the robots.txt page and provide your own sitemap if you want. Robot.txt is a field on site definition where you select a visualforce page. You can register sitemap in two different ways:

1- Submitting Sitemaps using robots.txt You can tell Google and other search engines about your Sitemap by adding the following line to your robots.txt file (updating the sample URL with the complete path to your own Sitemap):

Sitemap: http://<your site url>/<sitemap_visualforce_page>

2- Submitting the url as a site map via google webmaster tools account

Q: Is it possible to set a rule to be notified if bandwidth limitations have been reached?

A: Not at this time. You are emailed only after the limit is reached. You should probably add this as an idea to the Force.com Sites area of the ideaexchange at ideas.salesforce.com

Can I use my own domain name?

Yes you can, but first you must register your Force.com domain name for your organization. This is a one-time setup. You can mask your Force.com site URLs with your custom domain name as long as you use HTTP sessions. HTTPS session requires you use the secure Force.com URL.

What if the Force.com domain name that I want to register is not available?

Domain name registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis. However, the Terms and Use for Force.com Sites, which every organization has to accept before registering their domain names, clearly states that customers shouldn't register brand names that they do not own. If you believe you are the rightful owner of that brand please contact salesforce.com support.

How many Sites can I create in one organization?

Developer Edition environments are restricted to 1 site. Enterprise and Unlimited editions will have different limits.

How do I control what can be seen via my sites?

The Force.com Sites security controls are very similar to the user/profile security controls. Drill down to the "Public Access Settings" page from your site details. You will be able to control object permissions, field level security settings and IP restrictions.

Additionally, Visualforce pages must be associated with the site in order to be accessible via the site. Static resources that are used by these Visualforce pages must also be marked as public.

What are the customizations, branding capabilities?

Force.com Sites uses Visualforce pages, which provides all the flexibility needed to build customized user interfaces. Additionally, Force.com Sites provides sample pages for HTTP errors (such as 500, 503, 401, 404) and sample logic and pages for portal login and registration, which you can customize.

How can I provide login, registration in order to provide an authenticated flow for my sites?

Force.com Sites provides seamless integration with Customer Portal. If your flow requires user authentication/registration then simply associate your site with one of the active customer portals in your org.

Can I cache my public pages on Sites?

All the static resources that are marked public and used for Sites are automatically cached. You can also cache your Visualforce pages by setting the cache parameter and configuring the duration by setting the expires parameter.

Does Force.com Sites support Syndication Feeds?

Yes. Check the "Enable Feeds" checkbox for your site and define your feed SOQL queries. You can provide more than one Feed on your Public page.