Pages improvements and fixes
- When the name of a form exceeds the width of the Pages panel listing forms and components, you can hover over it to see the full name
- The frequency of autosave has been increased from 2 seconds to 1 second.
- As long as a newly created item is in editing state, the Duplicate and Create buttons of the item picker are disabled. Press Enter or click anywhere in the content item picker to save the newly created item.
- Page designs and partial designs in a language that is not the site’s default language now show correctly in the Templates overviews, when the language is selected in the Pages language drop-down.
- You can now edit Sitecore components on personalized page variants without any console errors.
- In Experience Edge webhooks, a new
- When the name of a form exceeds the width of the Pages panel listing forms and components, you can hover over it to see the full name
- The frequency of autosave has been increased from 2 seconds to 1 second.
- As long as a newly created item is in editing state, the Duplicate and Create buttons of the item picker are disabled. Press Enter or click anywhere in the content item picker to save the newly created item.
- Page designs and partial designs in a language that is not the site’s default language now show correctly in the Templates overviews, when the language is selected in the Pages language drop-down.
- You can now edit Sitecore components on personalized page variants without any console errors.
- In Experience Edge webhooks, a new
lastRuns object logs the result of a webhook execution. This applies to both Content Hub and XM Cloud.❤2👍1
How to get started with XM Cloud?
This walkthrough series guides you through the first steps to get started with front-end development with the Next.js JavaScript SDK in XM Cloud by running a local Node.js server and connecting the application directly to the remote content preview endpoint, to allow you to create a component, visualize, and test your work. This sets you up for developing the front end with XM Cloud.
You follow the steps outlined here using the Deploy app Projects tab, and using the XM Cloud interface to create a site and start editing a site page in Pages, and the Content Editor to create a component. You can learn more about the Deploy app and other tools and apps that make up XM Cloud, and get to know some of our terminology.
Follow the walkthrough in this order:
1. Deploy a project and environment - https://tinyurl.com/275jvfwn
2. Create a site and a page - https://tinyurl.com/27j3j9bw
3. Set up a local dev. environment - https://tinyurl.com/2c2o5k32
4. Build your first component - https://tinyurl.com/2784vdzj
This walkthrough series guides you through the first steps to get started with front-end development with the Next.js JavaScript SDK in XM Cloud by running a local Node.js server and connecting the application directly to the remote content preview endpoint, to allow you to create a component, visualize, and test your work. This sets you up for developing the front end with XM Cloud.
You follow the steps outlined here using the Deploy app Projects tab, and using the XM Cloud interface to create a site and start editing a site page in Pages, and the Content Editor to create a component. You can learn more about the Deploy app and other tools and apps that make up XM Cloud, and get to know some of our terminology.
Follow the walkthrough in this order:
1. Deploy a project and environment - https://tinyurl.com/275jvfwn
2. Create a site and a page - https://tinyurl.com/27j3j9bw
3. Set up a local dev. environment - https://tinyurl.com/2c2o5k32
4. Build your first component - https://tinyurl.com/2784vdzj
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What's new?
- When you create a site collection, a new headless module with the same name is now created automatically. You can find it in /sitecore/system/Settings/Project/[COLLECTION_NAME]. This enables you to clone components directly into the site collection project layer without having to manually create the module. This change only applies to newly created site collections.
- The Edge preview schema now supports querying dictionary entities.
- A minor improvement in publishing performance thanks to the removal of the unnecessary AddLanguagesToQueue processor from the publishing pipeline.
- A fix to language fallback version sometimes wasn’t available after publishing to Edge
- Whenever a rendering was cloned, the Rendering Parameters template was created with the same name as the Datasource template, causing template projection issues. Now, each template type is created with a unique name during the cloning process.
- When you create a site collection, a new headless module with the same name is now created automatically. You can find it in /sitecore/system/Settings/Project/[COLLECTION_NAME]. This enables you to clone components directly into the site collection project layer without having to manually create the module. This change only applies to newly created site collections.
- The Edge preview schema now supports querying dictionary entities.
- A minor improvement in publishing performance thanks to the removal of the unnecessary AddLanguagesToQueue processor from the publishing pipeline.
- A fix to language fallback version sometimes wasn’t available after publishing to Edge
- Whenever a rendering was cloned, the Rendering Parameters template was created with the same name as the Datasource template, causing template projection issues. Now, each template type is created with a unique name during the cloning process.
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Recently been looking for a translation service that works with XM Cloud. TransPerfect appeared to be such a solution. Not an ad, just sharing - do your own investigation.
XM Cloud Forms now applies conditional logic to File Upload item
You can now hide a file upload field item. This means that you can now apply conditional logic to a file uploader that causes it to only appear on the form when specific conditions are met.
More about forms: https://tinyurl.com/2a7w4bw4
You can now hide a file upload field item. This means that you can now apply conditional logic to a file uploader that causes it to only appear on the form when specific conditions are met.
More about forms: https://tinyurl.com/2a7w4bw4
Improved rich text editor in XM Cloud Pages
New rich text editor, available within Rich Text components in Pages, offers several new features, including the ability to add tables, find and replace text, and style images in a variety of new ways.
You can enable this editor on XM Cloud environments using JSS version 21.5.2 and later by adding
More: https://tinyurl.com/2255fbeg
New rich text editor, available within Rich Text components in Pages, offers several new features, including the ability to add tables, find and replace text, and style images in a variety of new ways.
You can enable this editor on XM Cloud environments using JSS version 21.5.2 and later by adding
PAGES_ENABLE_NEW_RTE_EDITOR as an environment variable in the Deploy app. Environments with older JSS versions will need to be upgraded first. More: https://tinyurl.com/2255fbeg
Accepting invitations to organizations got simpler
Another way of accepting invitations to Sitecore Cloud Portal - when logging in to your account, you can see and accept pending invitations to join Cloud Portal organizations. You can still accept pending invitations from your email if you prefer.
Another way of accepting invitations to Sitecore Cloud Portal - when logging in to your account, you can see and accept pending invitations to join Cloud Portal organizations. You can still accept pending invitations from your email if you prefer.
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Minor but important fixes coming along with the recent base image of 1.6.92:
- the
- in some cases, placeholder restrictions didn’t work when there were more than 100 placeholder setting items in the
- in the Content Editor, if validation is applied to a treelist field and that field is edited without meeting its validation requirements, the validation alert (red bar) now appears when moving focus from the field. Previously, the alert only appeared after saving.
- in the XM Cloud DAM connector, sometimes language fallback changes weren't updated. This is now fixed.
- the
AddDictionaryDomainProperty no longer throws a NullReferenceException error during application startup.- in some cases, placeholder restrictions didn’t work when there were more than 100 placeholder setting items in the
/sitecore/templates/System/Layout/Placeholder template. This is now fixed.- in the Content Editor, if validation is applied to a treelist field and that field is edited without meeting its validation requirements, the validation alert (red bar) now appears when moving focus from the field. Previously, the alert only appeared after saving.
- in the XM Cloud DAM connector, sometimes language fallback changes weren't updated. This is now fixed.
Forms Builder gets a first class integration with the XM Cloud Media library
You can now seamlessly add an image from your XM Cloud Media library in a composable form with the newly added Media Library tab in the image picker.
On the Media Library tab, the image picker shows images uploaded to all the sites of the environment. For convenience, you can search for the image you need by name; the image picker dynamically displays relevant images after you type at least two characters of the name.
You can now seamlessly add an image from your XM Cloud Media library in a composable form with the newly added Media Library tab in the image picker.
On the Media Library tab, the image picker shows images uploaded to all the sites of the environment. For convenience, you can search for the image you need by name; the image picker dynamically displays relevant images after you type at least two characters of the name.
Pages fix: the new rich text editor, CKEditor, now adds
https to external links by default if you haven’t already included a prefix. Previously, it applied http instead.You can now access media in Experience Edge with or without using the rev query string.
Copy a form between environments
Now you can share forms between environments, such as copying one from staging to production. When you copy a form to a new environment, XM Cloud also copies the associated webhook, some settings such as form logic, and the action applied on form submission.
However, copying a form to another environment does not copy the original form's style. You will need to recreate the style in the new environment and reapply it to the duplicate form. Similarly, the duplicate form won't retain any of the comments or versions associated with the original.
Lastly, duplicate forms will be inactive, even if the original form was active when copied.
Now you can share forms between environments, such as copying one from staging to production. When you copy a form to a new environment, XM Cloud also copies the associated webhook, some settings such as form logic, and the action applied on form submission.
However, copying a form to another environment does not copy the original form's style. You will need to recreate the style in the new environment and reapply it to the duplicate form. Similarly, the duplicate form won't retain any of the comments or versions associated with the original.
Lastly, duplicate forms will be inactive, even if the original form was active when copied.
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Restructuring the Sitecore XM Cloud Foundation Head to favor FED-first approach
Some of you might have seen this PR (https://github.com/sitecorelabs/xmcloud-foundation-head-dev/pull/170) was merged recently and is now available on the Foundation Head Dev repo, this will be getting pushed through to the Staging and Production forks soon.
Changes included in this PR are
- Restructure of the assets in the repository to favor FED-first approach
- Rebranding of contents as Next.js Starter kit
- Changed all references to
- Changed all references to
- Updated main readme to include steps to run FED-first and link to Getting Started guide on doc site
- Added new
- Bumped default base image version to lts2022
- Bumped Traefik to latest version
If you’re wondering what has changed and why, you can read a blog post all about it here: https://robearlam.com/blog/restructuring-the-sitecore-xm-cloud-foundation-head.
As mentioned in the post this is one of the first in a bunch of changes we’re making to improve the development experience with XM Cloud, so keep tuned in the coming weeks and months!
Some of you might have seen this PR (https://github.com/sitecorelabs/xmcloud-foundation-head-dev/pull/170) was merged recently and is now available on the Foundation Head Dev repo, this will be getting pushed through to the Staging and Production forks soon.
Changes included in this PR are
- Restructure of the assets in the repository to favor FED-first approach
- Rebranding of contents as Next.js Starter kit
- Changed all references to
sxastarter to Next.js starter- Changed all references to
xmcloudpreview to Next.js starter- Updated main readme to include steps to run FED-first and link to Getting Started guide on doc site
- Added new
./localContainers/README.md to highlight steps to continue running the repo locally using docker- Bumped default base image version to lts2022
- Bumped Traefik to latest version
If you’re wondering what has changed and why, you can read a blog post all about it here: https://robearlam.com/blog/restructuring-the-sitecore-xm-cloud-foundation-head.
As mentioned in the post this is one of the first in a bunch of changes we’re making to improve the development experience with XM Cloud, so keep tuned in the coming weeks and months!
You can now regenerate Context IDs in the Deploy app
You can now revoke and generate a new Context ID directly in the Deploy app, reducing the risk of a data breach if your Context ID is accessed without authorization.
Link: https://tinyurl.com/23zgm6zy
You can now revoke and generate a new Context ID directly in the Deploy app, reducing the risk of a data breach if your Context ID is accessed without authorization.
Link: https://tinyurl.com/23zgm6zy
Webp files enabled in XM Cloud
You can now upload
You can now upload
.webp files to the XM Cloud media library to use in image, rich text, and link fields in Pages. Using .webp files can increase the overall performance of your website by reducing loading time, improving SEO, and enhancing user engagement.❤1
IMPORTANT!
Protocol change for URL scheme and external port defaults.
Affected item:
New values are:
- Scheme:
- External Port:
Changes comes into effect on January 7th, 2025
Run this test patch to ensure nothing breaks on your environments:
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/28xlgdlt
Protocol change for URL scheme and external port defaults.
Affected item:
/sitecore/content/<site collection>/<site>/Settings/Site Grouping/<site>New values are:
- Scheme:
https- External Port:
443Changes comes into effect on January 7th, 2025
Run this test patch to ensure nothing breaks on your environments:
<settings>
<setting name="Temporary.SiteInfoDefaultSchema" value="https" />
<setting name="Temporary.SiteInfoDefaultExternalPort" value="443" />
</settings>
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/28xlgdlt
When you log in to the XM Cloud interface, you're now also automatically authenticated in the Authoring GraphQL IDE, so you don't need to manually authenticate with a bearer token there.
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Got resolved: dictionary entries now correctly resolve in the Preview and Edge GraphQL schemas. In the Preview API playground, searching for an item by its tags now works as expected.
Change text and background color in a rich text field in Pages
With a new CKEditor in Pages (if enabled), you can now change the text and background colors within rich text fields.
Read: https://tinyurl.com/2255fbeg
With a new CKEditor in Pages (if enabled), you can now change the text and background colors within rich text fields.
Read: https://tinyurl.com/2255fbeg
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XM Cloud gets new navigation menus so you can get where you need to be in just a click
XM Cloud gets a new, simplified interface to improve access to tools, as well as navigation between projects and environments.
More about XM Cloud UI: https://tinyurl.com/28k4qbrc
XM Cloud gets a new, simplified interface to improve access to tools, as well as navigation between projects and environments.
More about XM Cloud UI: https://tinyurl.com/28k4qbrc