1.6.407 base image updates and fixes
- The sitemap now contains only published items. Previously, parent items that couldn’t be published due to workflow restrictions also appeared in the sitemap
- Circular datasource references no longer cause the Content Editor to become unresponsive
- A link list component used in a partial design can no longer be edited when using that design in Pages or Experience Editor, as expected
- For sites with page and datasource workflows, adding a component to a page no longer causes automatically created datasource items to remain locked. This ensures they can be promoted to the final workflow state and published automatically with the page
- When you upload a media file in Pages, a media item is now created only for the relevant language version. Previously, versions were created for all site languages, impacting performance.
... and several other minor fixes
- The sitemap now contains only published items. Previously, parent items that couldn’t be published due to workflow restrictions also appeared in the sitemap
- Circular datasource references no longer cause the Content Editor to become unresponsive
- A link list component used in a partial design can no longer be edited when using that design in Pages or Experience Editor, as expected
- For sites with page and datasource workflows, adding a component to a page no longer causes automatically created datasource items to remain locked. This ensures they can be promoted to the final workflow state and published automatically with the page
- When you upload a media file in Pages, a media item is now created only for the relevant language version. Previously, versions were created for all site languages, impacting performance.
... and several other minor fixes
Node XM Cloud Proxy for JSS
Node proxy application enables backend functionality and features equivalent to those in our Next.js starter kit for XM Cloud. Was introduced to support new Angular starter kit. This proxy is designed to work with all SPA frameworks and can also be used to run React and Vue applications, laying the groundwork for future JSS starter kits built for other front-end JavaScript frameworks. Currently in public beta.
This proxy, which is currently in public beta, does the following:
- Enables server-side rendering using a server bundle generated from your single-page application.
- Handles Sitecore GraphQL requests, differentiating between production and development endpoints. It constructs the target URL and path for proxy requests, ensuring compliance with http-proxy-middleware requirements.
- Configures the port for running the proxy. This defaults to 3000 if not otherwise specified in your environment variables.
- Allows configuration of personalization features, including endpoint timeouts, the scope and site name for Sitecore Personalize, conditional personalization per-environment, and cookie consent.
- Provides a default language fallback in case language data is not present in layout data.
Link: https://tinyurl.com/22jhl4zr
Node proxy application enables backend functionality and features equivalent to those in our Next.js starter kit for XM Cloud. Was introduced to support new Angular starter kit. This proxy is designed to work with all SPA frameworks and can also be used to run React and Vue applications, laying the groundwork for future JSS starter kits built for other front-end JavaScript frameworks. Currently in public beta.
This proxy, which is currently in public beta, does the following:
- Enables server-side rendering using a server bundle generated from your single-page application.
- Handles Sitecore GraphQL requests, differentiating between production and development endpoints. It constructs the target URL and path for proxy requests, ensuring compliance with http-proxy-middleware requirements.
- Configures the port for running the proxy. This defaults to 3000 if not otherwise specified in your environment variables.
- Allows configuration of personalization features, including endpoint timeouts, the scope and site name for Sitecore Personalize, conditional personalization per-environment, and cookie consent.
- Provides a default language fallback in case language data is not present in layout data.
Link: https://tinyurl.com/22jhl4zr
You now share form items and layouts between environments and organizations.
In addition to sharing forms between environments and organizations, you can now save individual items or layouts to either specific environments or the entire organization. This means you can share the building blocks of a form between environments, such as staging and production, without needing to share the entire form.
Forms: https://tinyurl.com/2a7w4bw4
In addition to sharing forms between environments and organizations, you can now save individual items or layouts to either specific environments or the entire organization. This means you can share the building blocks of a form between environments, such as staging and production, without needing to share the entire form.
Forms: https://tinyurl.com/2a7w4bw4
XM Cloud Forms: WCAG compliance tool and form summary pages
Forms now includes a tool for verifying that your forms meet WCAG Level A standards, improving accessibility and complying with legal and ethical expectations. The tool checks for common accessibility issues, such as missing image alt text, missing field labels, low text contrast, and links without descriptive text. If an issue is detected, you can easily navigate to the affected element or item and get clear guidance to fix it.
Additionally, you can now add a summary page to a form. This feature lets users review and edit all their responses in one place before submitting, enhancing their experience by ensuring accuracy and completeness.
Forms docs: https://tinyurl.com/2a7w4bw4
Forms now includes a tool for verifying that your forms meet WCAG Level A standards, improving accessibility and complying with legal and ethical expectations. The tool checks for common accessibility issues, such as missing image alt text, missing field labels, low text contrast, and links without descriptive text. If an issue is detected, you can easily navigate to the affected element or item and get clear guidance to fix it.
Additionally, you can now add a summary page to a form. This feature lets users review and edit all their responses in one place before submitting, enhancing their experience by ensuring accuracy and completeness.
Forms docs: https://tinyurl.com/2a7w4bw4
XM Cloud now supports A/B/n testing !
- Create multiple variants: Test up to six variants (including a control variant) of any component on your page. (https://tinyurl.com/255e8u68)
- Choose from four goals: Select a goal to see which variants increase page views or form submissions, or reduce bounce or exit rates from your site. (https://tinyurl.com/22tn8wmo)
- Control traffic assignment: Easily manage how traffic is split between component variants. (https://tinyurl.com/22tn8wmo)
- Track performance: Monitor each variant’s performance in the XM Cloud Analytics dashboard. From this dashboard, you can either end a test manually or have it end automatically when statistical significance is reached. (https://tinyurl.com/28xr8kdx)
- Replace with best variant: Automatically replace the original component with its top-performing variant after testing concludes. (https://tinyurl.com/2yp2srj6)
- Server-side components creation: Component variants are now generated and stored on the Edge, ensuring changes are immediately available when a page loads in the user's browser. This update improves load times, enhances user experience, and boosts security.
Note: you must be on JSS SDK version 22.1 or newer.
Documentation: https://tinyurl.com/2yb7dpmt
- Create multiple variants: Test up to six variants (including a control variant) of any component on your page. (https://tinyurl.com/255e8u68)
- Choose from four goals: Select a goal to see which variants increase page views or form submissions, or reduce bounce or exit rates from your site. (https://tinyurl.com/22tn8wmo)
- Control traffic assignment: Easily manage how traffic is split between component variants. (https://tinyurl.com/22tn8wmo)
- Track performance: Monitor each variant’s performance in the XM Cloud Analytics dashboard. From this dashboard, you can either end a test manually or have it end automatically when statistical significance is reached. (https://tinyurl.com/28xr8kdx)
- Replace with best variant: Automatically replace the original component with its top-performing variant after testing concludes. (https://tinyurl.com/2yp2srj6)
- Server-side components creation: Component variants are now generated and stored on the Edge, ensuring changes are immediately available when a page loads in the user's browser. This update improves load times, enhances user experience, and boosts security.
Note: you must be on JSS SDK version 22.1 or newer.
Documentation: https://tinyurl.com/2yb7dpmt
The legacy rich text editor in Pages will be deprecated on May 8th, 2025
The newer CKEditor rich text editor will become the default.It features many more formatting options, such as the ability to create tables, find and replace text, and apply various image styling options and supporting custom markup.
You can enable the inline rich text editor now:
1. For each of your environments, add the environment variable PAGES_ENABLE_NEW_RTE_EDITOR in the Deploy app and set its value to ‘true’.
2.Redeploy the affected project(s).
The newer CKEditor rich text editor will become the default.It features many more formatting options, such as the ability to create tables, find and replace text, and apply various image styling options and supporting custom markup.
You can enable the inline rich text editor now:
1. For each of your environments, add the environment variable PAGES_ENABLE_NEW_RTE_EDITOR in the Deploy app and set its value to ‘true’.
2.Redeploy the affected project(s).
XM Cloud Deploy now supports pnpm (Performant Node Package Manager)
What is pnpm? Performant Node Package Manager is a JavaScript package manager that's designed to be faster and more efficient than other package managers
XM Cloud Deploy now supports pnpm for dependency management, giving you another option for managing your monorepos.
Installation
1. Inside the root
2. Define your workspace: add a
3. Update the deployment configuration:
Inside the
```
"buildCommand": "install-build",
"runCommand": "start:app"
``
Inside the root
4. Deploy as usual
PNPM: https://pnpm.io
What is pnpm? Performant Node Package Manager is a JavaScript package manager that's designed to be faster and more efficient than other package managers
XM Cloud Deploy now supports pnpm for dependency management, giving you another option for managing your monorepos.
Installation
1. Inside the root
package.json ensure the packageManager and engines values are defined for pnpm:"packageManager": "pnpm@9.11.0",
"engines": {
"node": ">=20.0.0",
"pnpm": ">=9.11.0"
}
2. Define your workspace: add a
pnpm-workspace.yaml file to the root of your project and define the packages.3. Update the deployment configuration:
Inside the
xmcloud.build.json file and define the buildCommand and runCommand values:```
"buildCommand": "install-build",
"runCommand": "start:app"
``
Inside the root
package.json, define your pnpm commands for your build and run steps:"install-build": "pnpm install && pnpm build",
"start:app": "pnpm -F=node-xmcloud-sample start"
4. Deploy as usual
PNPM: https://pnpm.io
You can now create custom hostnames from the Sitecore Cloud Portal. Previously, you could only create them using the Edge Platform Admin API.
Set up a custom hostname: https://tinyurl.com/27gxyrm3
Set up a custom hostname: https://tinyurl.com/27gxyrm3
ASP.NET Core SDK for XM Cloud
The public alpha release of a new, open-source SDK for ASP.NET Core. The SDK lets developers integrate XM Cloud and XM/XP into ASP.NET Core applications. This initial release introduces essential functionality and all the documentation to help you get started, with more features planned for upcoming releases.
Included:
- Support for the Context ID when integrating with XM Cloud.
- SXA features, such as multiple sites, redirects, and sitemaps.
- Compatibility with .NET Core 8.0.
- Open source for you to access and contribute.
- Support for all features in version 22 of the legacy ASP.NET Core Rendering SDK.
- Features that enable you to integrate your ASP.NET Core applications with an XM Cloud or XM/XP back end, such as model binding, view components, partial views, Razor views, service registration, middleware, Sitecore tag helpers, and hot reloading.
Coming soon:
- XM Cloud Forms
- XM Cloud personalization
- XM Cloud Pages metadata editing
- XM Cloud FEaaS components
GitHub: https://github.com/Sitecore/ASP.NET-Core-SDK
Starter Kit: https://github.com/Sitecore/xmcloud-starter-dotnet
Note: you can also install the SDK in your existing ASP.NET Core app (https://tinyurl.com/299wu7sp)
Docs: https://tinyurl.com/286et6ve
The public alpha release of a new, open-source SDK for ASP.NET Core. The SDK lets developers integrate XM Cloud and XM/XP into ASP.NET Core applications. This initial release introduces essential functionality and all the documentation to help you get started, with more features planned for upcoming releases.
Included:
- Support for the Context ID when integrating with XM Cloud.
- SXA features, such as multiple sites, redirects, and sitemaps.
- Compatibility with .NET Core 8.0.
- Open source for you to access and contribute.
- Support for all features in version 22 of the legacy ASP.NET Core Rendering SDK.
- Features that enable you to integrate your ASP.NET Core applications with an XM Cloud or XM/XP back end, such as model binding, view components, partial views, Razor views, service registration, middleware, Sitecore tag helpers, and hot reloading.
Coming soon:
- XM Cloud Forms
- XM Cloud personalization
- XM Cloud Pages metadata editing
- XM Cloud FEaaS components
GitHub: https://github.com/Sitecore/ASP.NET-Core-SDK
Starter Kit: https://github.com/Sitecore/xmcloud-starter-dotnet
Note: you can also install the SDK in your existing ASP.NET Core app (https://tinyurl.com/299wu7sp)
Docs: https://tinyurl.com/286et6ve
Caching updates for XM Cloud
1. The media cache is no longer populated by indexing operations, to prevent situations where the instance might run out of disk space during an index rebuild.
2. Content in XM Cloud applications is now also indexed and searchable in languages that are not part of the default Solr schema.
3. The memory cache was separated into different databases, resulting in less frequent memory allocations and improved performance.
1. The media cache is no longer populated by indexing operations, to prevent situations where the instance might run out of disk space during an index rebuild.
2. Content in XM Cloud applications is now also indexed and searchable in languages that are not part of the default Solr schema.
3. The memory cache was separated into different databases, resulting in less frequent memory allocations and improved performance.
Word docs and PDFs now supported in Media link fields
Pages builder, in any link field configured as Media, you can now select the following file types if they have been uploaded to the Media library:
-
-
-
Pages builder, in any link field configured as Media, you can now select the following file types if they have been uploaded to the Media library:
-
.doc-
.docx-
.pdfSitecore Cloud SDK v0.4
If you haven't heard of Cloud SDK, you must definitely check it here - https://tinyurl.com/2yroqfzt.
New version 0.4 brings lots of so expected features:
- Web experiences: run Sitecore Personalize web experiences and experiments in your app. If you previously chose the Engage SDK because of the support for web experiences, consider switching to the Cloud SDK.
- Unified tracking: set up tracking for an event once in your app, then find the event data in your Sitecore DXP products - XM Cloud, CDP, Personalize, and Sitecore Search.
- Sitecore Search events: capture widget view and widget click events.
- Improved initialization: centralize your SDK initialization code for better scalability and easier enablement of further SDK packages in the future.
- More granular cookie handling: as a direct benefit of the new initialization logic, cookies will only be stored by those SDK packages that depend on them.
Start building
Access the SDK packages on npm, then start building with the SDK using the official documentation - https://tinyurl.com/288qy7rv. The documentation contains:
- https://tinyurl.com/2aakbpr5: Guides that take you from initialization to event tracking to enabling web experiences, step by step.
- https://tinyurl.com/2c2qqphw: An upgrade guide for developers currently on SDK version 0.3 or earlier.
- https://tinyurl.com/29lcftmx: A list of terms to help you understand the most important Cloud SDK concepts.
- https://tinyurl.com/27ufff5l: Extensive reference documentation with code examples to help you during development.
- https://tinyurl.com/22we6958: In-depth explanations and code examples of the new initialization process
- https://tinyurl.com/292n6ngt: Everything about tracking
- https://tinyurl.com/2dql5md8: Personalization options
- https://tinyurl.com/26hv7oz5: Cookie settings
One cannot underestimate the importance of Sitecore Cloud SDK. he good news is that it is already built into the latest version of XM Cloud StarterKit also knows as Foundation Head, located at: https://tinyurl.com/23xugwwl
If you haven't heard of Cloud SDK, you must definitely check it here - https://tinyurl.com/2yroqfzt.
New version 0.4 brings lots of so expected features:
- Web experiences: run Sitecore Personalize web experiences and experiments in your app. If you previously chose the Engage SDK because of the support for web experiences, consider switching to the Cloud SDK.
- Unified tracking: set up tracking for an event once in your app, then find the event data in your Sitecore DXP products - XM Cloud, CDP, Personalize, and Sitecore Search.
- Sitecore Search events: capture widget view and widget click events.
- Improved initialization: centralize your SDK initialization code for better scalability and easier enablement of further SDK packages in the future.
- More granular cookie handling: as a direct benefit of the new initialization logic, cookies will only be stored by those SDK packages that depend on them.
Start building
Access the SDK packages on npm, then start building with the SDK using the official documentation - https://tinyurl.com/288qy7rv. The documentation contains:
- https://tinyurl.com/2aakbpr5: Guides that take you from initialization to event tracking to enabling web experiences, step by step.
- https://tinyurl.com/2c2qqphw: An upgrade guide for developers currently on SDK version 0.3 or earlier.
- https://tinyurl.com/29lcftmx: A list of terms to help you understand the most important Cloud SDK concepts.
- https://tinyurl.com/27ufff5l: Extensive reference documentation with code examples to help you during development.
- https://tinyurl.com/22we6958: In-depth explanations and code examples of the new initialization process
- https://tinyurl.com/292n6ngt: Everything about tracking
- https://tinyurl.com/2dql5md8: Personalization options
- https://tinyurl.com/26hv7oz5: Cookie settings
One cannot underestimate the importance of Sitecore Cloud SDK. he good news is that it is already built into the latest version of XM Cloud StarterKit also knows as Foundation Head, located at: https://tinyurl.com/23xugwwl
XM Cloud forms support all accessibility standards (including autocomplete)
Keyboard navigation - form elements are accessible via keyboard, with logical tab order and visible focus indicators.
Screen reader compatibility - controls are labeled and announced correctly by screen readers. This includes descriptive aria labels for navigation buttons and error messages.
Form labels and instructions - fields have visible, programmatically associated labels and clear instructions.
Error handling - error messages are clear, specific, and linked to the relevant fields. Also, icons have been added to error messages to assist people with color blindness.
ARIA attributes - forms uses appropriate ARIA roles and attributes for custom elements, and includes dynamic content announcements.
Responsive design - accessibility is tested across various devices and screen sizes.
Input assistance - forms supports autocomplete features offered by the browser, and ensures that custom inputs are accessible via keyboard and screen readers. For example, when the user of the form enter text in fields like name, email, and address, the browser provides relevant suggestions based on previously entered data.
Form's accessibility validation tool: https://tinyurl.com/2yb7jwsa
Keyboard navigation - form elements are accessible via keyboard, with logical tab order and visible focus indicators.
Screen reader compatibility - controls are labeled and announced correctly by screen readers. This includes descriptive aria labels for navigation buttons and error messages.
Form labels and instructions - fields have visible, programmatically associated labels and clear instructions.
Error handling - error messages are clear, specific, and linked to the relevant fields. Also, icons have been added to error messages to assist people with color blindness.
ARIA attributes - forms uses appropriate ARIA roles and attributes for custom elements, and includes dynamic content announcements.
Responsive design - accessibility is tested across various devices and screen sizes.
Input assistance - forms supports autocomplete features offered by the browser, and ensures that custom inputs are accessible via keyboard and screen readers. For example, when the user of the form enter text in fields like name, email, and address, the browser provides relevant suggestions based on previously entered data.
Form's accessibility validation tool: https://tinyurl.com/2yb7jwsa
Cloud portal SSO now supports up to 50 domains for all new SSO connections (OIDC and SAML).
Pages Editor now allows editing all written content at both page-level and content datasource item fields
Content fields that are associated with the page itself, including metadata, can be edited in the Page content pane. This pane can be viewed alongside the page canvas, letting you edit content while also viewing the page presentation. Alternatively, you can expand the content view to a full screen mode that persists as you browse your pages.
You can also edit any content item fields that are included in a component. To do this, select the component and, in the right-hand panel, click the Content tab. This tab displays the content item selector and all content fields belonging to the selected content item.
As part of this enhanced authoring experience, the page builder now also enables you to edit the following fields:
- File
- Droplist
- Droplink
- Droptree
- Taglist
- Checklist
- Multilist
- Treelist
- Multiroot treelist
- Checkbox
- General link with email links.
Link: https://tinyurl.com/28pkztj5
Content fields that are associated with the page itself, including metadata, can be edited in the Page content pane. This pane can be viewed alongside the page canvas, letting you edit content while also viewing the page presentation. Alternatively, you can expand the content view to a full screen mode that persists as you browse your pages.
You can also edit any content item fields that are included in a component. To do this, select the component and, in the right-hand panel, click the Content tab. This tab displays the content item selector and all content fields belonging to the selected content item.
As part of this enhanced authoring experience, the page builder now also enables you to edit the following fields:
- File
- Droplist
- Droplink
- Droptree
- Taglist
- Checklist
- Multilist
- Treelist
- Multiroot treelist
- Checkbox
- General link with email links.
Link: https://tinyurl.com/28pkztj5
Cloud SDK 0.5.1 released. This minor features two things mainly:
- you now need to manually enable the capture of geolocation data. This ensures compatibility with Next.js 15, which no longer captures geolocation data automatically.
- document grouping, which lets you display all variations of an item (such as a product entity) as individual search results, or as a single grouped result based on a specific attribute.
- capture of country and referrer in search event interfaces is now supported
Cloud SDK release notes: https://tinyurl.com/32ww4whk
- you now need to manually enable the capture of geolocation data. This ensures compatibility with Next.js 15, which no longer captures geolocation data automatically.
- document grouping, which lets you display all variations of an item (such as a product entity) as individual search results, or as a single grouped result based on a specific attribute.
- capture of country and referrer in search event interfaces is now supported
Cloud SDK release notes: https://tinyurl.com/32ww4whk
Content SDK – a revolution in front-end application development for XM Cloud!
As part of Sitecore’s drive to support developers building optimized applications for XM Cloud, we’re proud and excited to announce the first beta release of Content SDK. This new SDK not only extracts the functionality of JSS designed for XM Cloud development but also makes that functionality simpler to build with and maintain.
When you build an app using Content SDK, you’ll get all the packages and services you need to support your XM Cloud environment. This vastly reduces the size and complexity of your template apps, and you no longer need to remember which parts of JSS are necessary for XM Cloud. The apps you create using the Content SDK’s Next.js starter template require minimal decision-making and fine-tuning, but you’ll find them significantly easier to adapt to your needs.
In line with our focus on simplicity, we’ve shifted focus away from the XM-centric Experience Editor to enable Content SDK to keep pace with the ever-growing feature set of XM Cloud Pages, which is integrated out of the box with Content SDK. As a result, the chromes integration necessary to integrate with Experience Editor has been removed from Content SDK, resulting in further code optimizations.
Documentation: https://tinyurl.com/5dzht745
How to migrate: https://tinyurl.com/7unfjyub
As part of Sitecore’s drive to support developers building optimized applications for XM Cloud, we’re proud and excited to announce the first beta release of Content SDK. This new SDK not only extracts the functionality of JSS designed for XM Cloud development but also makes that functionality simpler to build with and maintain.
When you build an app using Content SDK, you’ll get all the packages and services you need to support your XM Cloud environment. This vastly reduces the size and complexity of your template apps, and you no longer need to remember which parts of JSS are necessary for XM Cloud. The apps you create using the Content SDK’s Next.js starter template require minimal decision-making and fine-tuning, but you’ll find them significantly easier to adapt to your needs.
In line with our focus on simplicity, we’ve shifted focus away from the XM-centric Experience Editor to enable Content SDK to keep pace with the ever-growing feature set of XM Cloud Pages, which is integrated out of the box with Content SDK. As a result, the chromes integration necessary to integrate with Experience Editor has been removed from Content SDK, resulting in further code optimizations.
Documentation: https://tinyurl.com/5dzht745
How to migrate: https://tinyurl.com/7unfjyub
Minor but pleasant fix: An XM Cloud user’s name, as defined in the Cloud Portal, is now correctly presented in the User Manager and Content Editor interfaces.