Sitecore item content not showing

As I’ve spent too many times trying to work out why item content (or a change to an item) is not reflected in the browser, here’s a quick note-to-self check-list:

• If the item is in a workflow, check it has been submitted and approved


• If you’re referencing an item using @key (eg. item[@key='fieldname']), make sure the field name is all lower case


• Check the item has been published (do a full publish if changes have been made to templates too)


• Do a full publish (or re-save the web.config file) if you suspect Sitecore caching is having an effect


• Check the content of the item is in the web database by using the dbbrowser utility (in the same broswer session as your Sitecore instance, browse to /sitecore/admin/dbbrowser.aspx)


• If you’re using local IIS, do an IIS reset to refresh the cache


• Use the Access Viewer to check the permissions of the item for the extranet anonymous user


• Check the item’s rendering is assigned to a valid placeholder key (be particularly careful if you are attaching renderings dynamically)


• If applicable, view the HTML source and paste into the W3 validator to check for errors. Something like a self-closing script tag can throw the output.

Have I forgotten anything?

[Updated 7 Jan 2009; added bullet]