March 29, 2023
Dear Sitefinity customers and partners! We are excited to announce the release of Sitefinity 14.4. Below, you can find details about what is included in this release.
With release 14.4, the Renderer is upgraded to .NET 7. If you are using the 14.4 packages, you are required to change the target framework to .NET 7.
Sitefinity .NET Core page editor navigation tree displays the page structure in a tree view. It simplifies the navigation and management of pages with complex layouts and lots of widgets.
Now the navigation tree displays not only widgets, but also section columns, thus giving a more detailed view of the
page structure.
In addition, you can now use the tree to add, rename, or reorder elements on the page.
Additional new features for the new Page editor:
Sitefinity now provides control over adding widgets at the root level in templates and sections to ensure better consistency in the page presentations. This enhancement allows power users to lock certain areas in the templates and not allow editors to add, move, or remove widgets in them.
To restrict users from adding and editing widgets in templates and sections, Sitefinity introduces a new lock mechanism.
Facets enable easier navigation and drill down of search results. Visitors can use faceted navigation to filter the
search results in Sitefinity CMS by properties such as categories, brands, authors, etc.
Facets can be
configured for Azure Cognitive Search and Elastic search. Administrators can select which fields are facetable and
how facets are ordered.
Use the Search facets widget in combination with the Search box and Search results widgets.
Use content data from built-in and dynamic content types in dropdown controls in your forms. Change content once, use it everywhere with the Dynamic list forms widget.
With this release, Sitefinity .NET Core supports the concept of resource packages. This allows frontend developers to use multiple frameworks of choice to style their websites. In addition to Bootstrap, we introduce Foundation and Minimal packages.
Learn more about Foundation package...
Learn more about Minimal package...
By default, the CDN cache is controlled through the caching policy for the pages. This can be configured through the Output Cache Settings. The Renderer respects this cache profile and will forward the corresponding cache control headers to the CDN. Service hooks are used to invalidate cached pages on publish by sending the page URL.
Administrators are now able to restrict the set homepage operation via the Multisite management permissions screen and the Create and Edit a site, set Homepage option. This is done to prevent accidental changes of the home page.
All Forms screens have been reinvented in the new user interface, including:
You can now assign tags and categories to content items in bulk. To do that, select multiple content items and click the Bulk actions button and then Assign tags and categories.
To make synced and split pages more distinguishable there is now a more visible indication when editing synced page. There is an specific icon on the language badge for synced pages, as well as a message letting you know that changes will affect all translations. What is more the Translations column is now expandable/collapsible not only per item but for the entire grid.
The Last modified by filter for pages and content items now correctly uses the language data and displays the editor(s) who last modified a page/content item in any language available. The filter is now also available for media content (images, videos, and documents).
The FIeldName of a widget used on a form can now be edited after the form is saved. The initial value is autogenerated and now it can be changed not only during the creation of the form but at any time. This applies for both .NET Core and MVC forms. FieldName can be found in Advanced section of the edit widget window.
Breaking change
With release 14.4, FieldName is removed from the abstract class
Telerik.Sitefinity.Frontend.Forms.Mvc.Controllers.Base.FormFieldControllerBase<T>
.
If your
project is created on a version prior to 14.4 and you are using this property, you must start using
FieldName from Telerik.Sitefinity.Metadata.Model.MetaField
.
Sitefinity search facets for Azure Cognitive Search and Elasticsearch services are now enriched with the ability to create date-time, number, and decimal number ranges. The configuration can be autogenerated for a given value or custom by defining from-to values for each range. There is also an option for the user to create a custom range directly on front-end.
Additionally, the PublicationDate and LastModified fields for each item are now facetable. They will be added in the facet widget by default and can be removed when they are not needed.
We have integrated the NativeChat widget into the .NET Core Renderer and you can use it immediately without
integrating separate source code into your Sitefinity CMS sites.
For both MVC and .NET Core sites, you can now
configure the chatbot to automatically popup when your site visitors open a page on your site, thus driving up
engagement. This option is personalizable by segment.
You can now configure the chatbot to show above or
inline with the content of your site.
A new type of custom field has been added for both static and dynamic content - Link selector. It allows you to select content or page from Sitefinity or an external link and add it to the current item. The field can be single select or multiple select type. The link can carry additional data, similar to the Insert link functionality in the rich text editor (for HTML fields) - link text, anchor, query parameters, and, introduced now - link style class, tooltip, and additional attributes. The Insert link dialog in the rich text editor has been extended as well. The field does not provide an out-of-the-box implementation for MVC widget templates.
With the introduction of the Link selector field for content, the same field is
now available for the autogenerated designers for MVC widgets and .NET Core widgets, via the
LinkModel
class and with the addition of the attribute
[DataType(customDataType: "linkSelector")]
to the property. It provides the same functionality
as the Link selector field for content and the resulting data can be consumed by the widget or its frontend. The
.NET Core widgets Image and Call To
Action now use the new Link selector.
You can now segment your site visitors based on the device types (desktop or mobile) they are using during the session and apply appropriate personalization, if desired.
Three new settings have been added:
All of the fields with the exception of
Display hidden columns have been updated with the New UI, which should make it easier for users to set
them up. The Toolset field is renamed to Default toolset and is still used for the rich text
fields of all content types, but for the ones with a custom toolset configuration.
A Preview button is now added under the Default toolset field.
It allows you to see instantly what the rich text editor would look like with the specified JSON configuration.
Email campaigns now support MVC widgets. The Web Forms widgets have been deprecated.
By default, only MVC
widgets are available for new email campaigns. Any existing campaigns with
templates based on Web Forms (for upgraded projects) can use
both MVC and Web Forms widgets. This can be enabled via a dedicated toggle setting.
The following MVC widgets have been added: Content block, News, Blog post, Event, and Image.
With this release, we are happy to announce that we have new Sitefinity training courses to offer:
IdentityServer3
package
Progress.Sitefinity.IdentityServer3.IdentityModel
library
Progress.Sitefinity.IdentityServer3.Validation
library
Analytics module is removed
The Analytics module has been removed, including all analytics backend pages, dashboard timeline
widget, and the analytics dashboard link in content grids.
With deprecation of Universal Analytics
support, you can use the new Script Manager to effortlessly integrate Google Tag Manager and GA4 (or,
virtually any other analytics solution) into your sites.
Learn
more...
Refer to Deprecated capabilities in Sitefinity CMS for a complete list of discontinued capabilities per product version.
Pages:
Page Templates:
Forms:
Revision History:
Site Sync:
Media:
Authentication and Security:
Web services:
Other:
.NET Core Renderer:
Regards,
Progress Sitefinity Team