Dear Sitefinity customers and partners! We are excited to announce the release of Sitefinity 15.0. Below you can find details about what is included in this release.

What's new in Sitefinity 15.0

Redesigned Sitefinity dashboard

Sitefinity 15.0 comes with a redesigned Dashboard page implemented in Angular. The new page provides a better, sleeker and faster first touch with the Sitefinity application. It is enabled by default for both new and existing projects. 
The Dashboard is configured with a set of predefined widgets and it can be customized using the new page editor. The editing experience of the page is similar to that of .NET Core pages.

There are 7 predefined widgets that are already configured to serve a specific purpose. You can either use them directly or configure them to suit your needs:

• Getting started
• Recent content
• System status
• License expiration
• Most visited pages
• Pages with no SEO description
• What's new

The Most visited pages widget is new with Sitefinity 15.0. After setting up a connection with Sitefinity Insight, you can use this widget to quickly evaluate the most visited pages for the selected site.

There are 4 blank widgets that you can add to the Dashboard page and configure to suit your needs:

• Content block widget
• List widget
• Section widget
• Embed widget (for incorporating external reports/views into the dashboard)

Learn more...

Generative AI support for assisted content authoring

Integration with Azure OpenAI Service requires Sitefinity CMS 15.0.8229 or later. The integration does not work with previous versions of Sitefinity CMS 15.0.
This integration with Azure OpenAI Service enables editors to efficiently optimize and personalize existing content to suit the needs and requirements of different personas. Content editors can do this by using AI tools straight from the WYSIWYG editor - without learning how to write prompts or the need to switch interfaces.

The set of AI services is available via a new AI menu in the content editing toolbar of the text editor. This menu lets you generate, summarize, improve, or personalize text content through guided dialogs.
In addition, the administrators can tweak the prompt that is sent to the AI service and optionally, add new actions to the AI dropdown menu.

Learn more...

Sitefinity Integration Hub

New Sitefinity Integration Hub is now available, which enables organizations to connect Sitefinity with 1,000+ critical third-party systems and applications. The new Integration Hub is built on a leading iPaaS platform that allows website administrators to create custom data connectivity and workflow automation scenarios using a low-code/no-code visual designer.
Additionally, there are sample recipes available to integrate Sitefinity with Salesforce, RSS feeds, Google Calendar, and more.

Learn more...

A/B testing for .NET Core pages

The new implementation of A/B test, now available for .NET Core pages, provides the same functionality as for MVC pages, including multiple variations and segmented A/B tests.  

Learn more...

Document list widget for .NET Core

A new .NET Core Document list widget is introduced that you use to display a list or a table of links to documents, where each document or file can be downloaded.
You can select documents or files already uploaded into Sitefinity libraries or upload new ones. You can also filter and sort the selected list.

The .NET Core Document list widget also provides:

• List and table templates
• Detailed template for a single document

Learn more...

Libraries and folder selector for .Net Core widgets

Тhe range of out-of-the-box content selectors for autogenerated widget designers is now extended with the addition of libraries and folders selector.

Learn more...

Default security headers configuration in .NET Core Renderer

Out-of-the-box ability to configure the Content-Security-Policy header to further strengthen the defense of your project. Configure it with a few clicks in Advanced settings or apply full control over the header in the code of your .NET Core Renderer application. 

Learn more...

Site Sync: Мaintain revision history for synced items on the target environment

The Site Sync module now syncs the revision history of content items and pages. In addition to the content versions, Sitefinity also syncs the users who have modified the items.

Learn more...

General Enhancements & Improvements

Option to exclude the Script manager for certain pages

You can now choose whether scripts defined in the Script manager will be added to a page or not. Up until now, all scripts would have been added to all pages. Using this option, you can choose for which pages the Script manager will be enabled and for which it will be omitted.
This is useful, for example, for pages dealing with legal requirements imposed by GDPR, CPRA, or for pages with special security requirements.

Learn more...

Improved "Add widget" behavior

The newly added .NET Core Section widgets have preselected padding S (small) as the default value for top and bottom. Margins are now included in the hover and click area of the .NET Core widgets. Easy accessibility of the Add widget button in some edge case situations.

Learn more...

Expose files that are uploaded through the file upload form widget

Files uploaded when submitting a form, are now accessible for consumption outside Sitefinity CMS. The service hook payload for form submission triggers is extended and includes the FileName and  FileUrl properties, which can be used to access the uploaded files.

Learn more...

Sitefinity CMS now automatically reports visitors' interactions with embedded Vimeo videos to Sitefinity Insight. Your marketing team can then use this information to track their marketing goals and improve customer journeys.

Learn more...

New Sitefinity on-demand training is available

With this release, we offer a free on-demand Sitefinity training: Web Security for Sitefinity Administrators. This lesson covers the administrator's tasks related to web security.  It teaches the basics of protecting your websites and Sitefinity instance from external threats by configuring HTTPS, SSL, redirect validation, referrer validation, allow lists for trusted sites, and cookie security.  

Learn more...

• MySQL and Oracle database platforms
  The support for MySQL and Oracle databases has been discontinued. As of this release, it is no longer possible to create new Sitefinity projects using MySQL and Oracle. 
  For the latest information about supported alternatives, see System requirements.
  If you are using MySQL or Oracle, see our FAQ page with recommendations on how to migrate to a supported database platform.
• Sitefinity Project Manager
  Moving forward,  Sitefinity Project Manager is no longer available for download as trial, or licensed application. You can no longer download its corresponding installer (.msi) file under  Your Account.  
  Supported alternatives are:
  • Sitefinity Command-Line Interface (CLI)
  • NuGet Package Manager
  For versions below Sitefinity 15.0: the Sitefinity Project Manager remains available for download.

Refer to  Deprecated capabilities in Sitefinity CMS  for a complete list of discontinued capabilities per product version.

What's fixed

• The Link field throws an exception in MVC views when a value is not selected (497203)
• Service hook transactions improvement (496895)
• Form fields are not ordered after export to Excel for .NET Core form (497537)
• The CSS class and Attributes settings of the Native chat widget are not set correctly on the native chat launcher (495723)
• The Service hooks backend page takes a long time to load (496469)
• System statuses are broken when a retriever throws an exception (490297)
• Sticky header jumping in the Native chat widget (496854)
• The site cannot initialize after an upgrade to 14.4 due to orphaned records in the database (497568)
• The LinkModel field in a complex object with table view presentation is not persisted (496824)
• The "Applied to count" column for taxa shows the wrong count after moving items from one taxon to another (490235)
• Firefox: Form with one required text field is sent to the server and then client validation is fired (492101)
• Module Builder: View backend link for child dynamic content type does not work in a specific configuration of permissions (477747)
• Endless loop when starting a Sitemap generation task and the server time zone differs from the Sitefinity time zone (495218)
• Translating a page template without changing its title does not work (480127)
• Unable to persist basic settings > time zone in the SaaS/PaaS mode (497624)
• Empty state is not shown in an empty library/folder or when there are no libraries at all (494017)
• Multisite: Domain alias using subfolder domain results in a 404 error when browsing a site in the frontend. (491587)
• The MVC Image widget does not validate the required 'Alternative text' field when uploading an image (484674)
• When publishing a Page in one language and switching to another language, the status of the item is unexpectedly shown as "Draft" in the Pages grid (479836)
• The NativeChat connector does not authenticate correctly to the NativeChat backend when OpenId is used (497884)
• Autogenerated Field Types in Widget: Enum with [Flags] value not persisted in Preview Mode (487822)
• Unable to view the last line of HTML in Monaco editor (496902)
• Image upload while "EnableChunkedUploads" setting in advanced settings is Enabled (498742)
• Section presets failed on upgrade from version 13.0 (498785)
• LinkSelector: Inconsistent behavior when a query parameter is pasted (498837)
• SiteSync: .Net Core Renderer Forms cannot be synced (499164)
• Custom Fields, localizable DateTime and Number fields cause error when using them for a filter in OData (499215)
• Images system thumbnail size of landscape images is smaller than expected (489729)
• The PersonalizationTracker.js has a typo in the trackUrl function which causes the script to break (499549)
• Images not resizing correctly (499633)
• Thumbnails of Images with large width are of poor resolution in the backend "Thumbs" view (490126)
• RestSDK: boolean properties are not send to the server when set to false (499254)
• DomainUrlLocalizationStrategy resolves URLs with the last domain value even when it is the domain of the site (488924)
• Excluding a blog from sitemap doesn't exclude blog posts (489409)
• News Summary Field Maximum Length limitation is not respected (491919)
• An empty state should not be displayed before loading the media items in the media selector (493999)
• SiteSync: Unable to schedule Data-only sync for dynamic modules (499593)
• Pages: Encoded special characters are shown in pages search results depending on the search term (500467)
• "Not a valid regular expression" error is shown in the browser's Developer Console when submitting a form with an invalid email address (501105)
• Native Chat widget optimization (502181)
• Commas in check boxes field of forms module throws "invalid input" error when submitting a response (330172)
• Event date display missing ':' in time format (502540)
• Uploading files through OData services - string fields display encoded values (501919)
• The "Publish On" field in the "Schedule publish/unpublish" screen is not auto-filled for content, only for pages (503776)
• Disable Link Parser setting of custom fields is not respected (496097)
• Cannot submit renderer form when the Web Security module is disabled (500293)
• Editor: Embed resource tool overlaps the content when using absolute position inline style (500122)
• Form notification email addresses are unexpectedly case-sensitive (504116)
• Inconsistent time conversion when scheduling sitemap generation (495277)
• Account activation widget does not work properly on cached pages (490293)
• Search: Synced unpublished items are still shown in the search results (499895)
• MVC forms are not rendered when the page permissions are changed and there are widgets in grid layout (501579)
• OpenGraphImage in a custom field is always null (500517)
• AM/PM suffix showing when using a 24-hour time format (502543)
• Renderer: The page editor does not load when a page is named "404" (499447)
• Form response in new interface doesn't show attachment link for uploaded files (500299)
• Forms - api/default request returns master items instead of live items (501967)
• Pages using the new renderer cannot be sent for translation (436465). After upgrading to a version containing the fix, you need to apply additional configurations. To learn more, refer to this   KB
• Editor: Incorrect resolved pages from a non-default site (495710)
• Renderer: Preview of draft and unpublished dynamic content items does not work (503925)
• Users can create related media with the reserved name 'Thumbnail' (504674)
• OData: Preflight request for service protected with access key fails (505524)
• OpenGraph fields are not created until other fields are also created (499282)
• Incorrect MixedContentContext data between Live and Preview (500014)
• Forms: An error is shown in the browser console when trying to submit a valid email address (504124)
• Renderer: Attempt to render a Page based on a shared page template throws an error in a multilanguage scenario (500401)
• Autogenerated designers: A list of strings in a list of complex objects is not working in Renderer (500650)
• Renderer: Multiselect ChoiceField added to a page breaks the page's OData endpoint (503496)
• DomainUrlLocalizationStrategy resolves URLs with the first domain value regardless of whether it is the domain of the site (505635)
• Forms: An error is shown instead of the form responses after renaming a file field name (502894)
• Renderer: Language selector widget throws an error in the DynamicDataController.cs (498639)
• Connectors: Autocomplete is not disabled by default for specific fields in the backend (491921)
• SiteSync: After syncing all translations, only one translation of a multilingual Page template is added to the Target site's list of items waiting to be synced (503802)
• Page Layout Service: URLs in content blocks are rendered as absolute (499970)
• Renderer: Cannot extend content list widget (504825)
• Cloudinary: "Image failed to be selected" error when trying to use an image from а Cloudinary folder that has a space in its name (506285)
• Dynamic Content: Module with no localizable fields unusable in multilingual site (500311)
• Indexing specific docx or pdf document hangs (501816)
• Pages: Cannot create child redirect page when custom field choices values contain letters (506074)
• RestSdk: DeleteRelation overload for single item does not work (501126)
• PageNode title property is Null in the RequestContext (492728)
• Filter expressions on choice fields throws an error (503857)
• Forms: The Checkboxes field's Read view template breaks the Forms widget (497707)
• Pages: Create A/B Test button is not visible when send a page for approval (501782)
• AdminApp: Form responses actions doesn't work when selecting all records (502686)
• No validation triggered and invalid json breaks Sitefinity (505022)
• PersonalizationTracker.js is not minified on the frontend (509288)
• WebSecurity: The 'self' value is automatically appended to CSP directives with 'none' making them invalid (509487)
• Request for page templates with Local renderer setup against Sitefinity cloud fails (509509)
• AdminApp: Backend interface settings cannot add search field for dynamic module (509572)
• Renderer: Replacing and publishing a document that is linked through the CTA widget does not cater for cache (505723)
• RenderAsLink property value is not persisted for backend pages. (488613)
• Scheduled RSS Feeds are not working (507218)
• Module Builder: Filtered dynamic content item getting displayed using URL (489473)
• Forms: Duplicating form controls does not update the FieldName property of the controls (501990)
• Blog post 404 on details page when switching between showing all items and selected blogs (504693)
• CSV files can't be uploaded to a library (505614)
• Adding a new language to a site causes two default cultures to be set (509975)
• Cannot translate child Group page into default language of a site on upgraded ML project (509297)
• When site is hosted as subapplication in IIS workflow menu is not available in edit backend page (505988)
• Required violation message shows up for all FileFields in a form (492968)
• .NET CORE PageModel.MetaInfo.OpenGraphImage is always null (500520)
• Invalid cast exceptions on output cache deserialization for Feather resources starting with '/Frontend-Assembly/'

.Net Core Renderer:

• Changing a .NET Core template to a resource package template throws an InvalidOperationException (497116)
• The "Call to action" widget does not open the link in a new tab when Sitefinity Insight is enabled (497116)
• The Local Dev Setup For Sitefinity Cloud always returns status 404 (497470)
• The Renderer cache is not invalidated during page publish when a widget does not return a cache key (497075)
• The request for renderer's external cache is not executed properly in Azure (497192)
• Return claims for current user in .NET Core Renderer (498206)
• The NativeChat connector does not authenticate correctly to the NativeChat backend when OpenId is used (497884)
• Error is thrown on the server when non-nullable properties added in editable complex field do not have a value set (497563)
• Unpublished document stored in Azure Blob storage returned in frontend search results (498148)
• DAM integration not working on Page Templates (498637)
• Link field is not visible in Content list component (498794)
• In forms edit screen: the Publication message should be constructed from last modified date, not from first Publication date (499682)
• It is possible to create a provider with '[' character in the name when the site name has '[' character (500376)
• Remove name field tooltip from Create library screen (499621)
• AdminApp extensions: Cannot override choice field (499931)
• Sidebar links do not work in AdminApp standalone (499879)
• Widget designer's attributes field is not visualized correctly (499068)
• Second widget in forms is not visible in zone editor after SiteSync (499512)
• Confirmation email is not triggered for the Forms that are created in .Net Core Renderer (500309)
• The Renderer form can't be submitted without the frontend dll (498864)
• Renderer: Content List widget's content fields select expression not working in Detail mode (504565) 
  The SelectExpression property is now used for content items in the list and a new DetailItemSelectExpression property has been introduced for the Detail view.
• Pages using the new Renderer cannot be sent for translation (506166, 436465)

Other:

Cumulative product security enhancements and updates

• Security improvements and enhancements are provided in the CMS backend (507138)

  Special thanks to:

  Aldi Saputra Wahyudi, Security Consultant from Indonesia

• Fixed a vulnerability occurring with WebP files (CVE-2023-4863)

Developer tools updates

• Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX updated to  2023.2.714.45
• Progress Telerik UI for WPF updated to 2023.2.718.45
• jQuery UI updated to 3.7.0
• jQuery validation updated to 1.19.5
• HtmlSanitizer updated to 8.0.692
• ServiceStack updated to 6.10.0
• NativeChat SDK updated to 3.12.1

API and Database changes

• API changes
  Learn more...
• .NET Core Renderer breaking changes
  Learn more...
• Other breaking changes
  
  • LinkedIn authentication provider is removed because it was deprecated by Microsoft. Use the generic OpenID Connect authentication provider as a recommended alternative.
    Learn more...
  • Distributed output cache serialization has changed from binary to JSON. Possible breaking changes when using custom implementations of CacheVariationParamValidator,   CustomOutputCacheVariationBase or ICustomOutputCacheVariation. 
    Learn more...

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Regards,
Progress Sitefinity Team