Umbraco Product Update - August 2024

Overview:

• Umbraco CMS
• Umbraco Cloud
• Umbraco Heartcore
• Umbraco Commerce
• Umbraco Workflow
• Umbraco Forms
• Umbraco UI Builder
• Umbraco Deploy
• In other news…
• Until next time… Let’s look ahead!

Umbraco CMS

At the end of May, we shipped Umbraco 14 with a new backoffice implementation (aka. Bellissima). Since then we've shipped versions 14.1 and 14.2. While most of the changes have been adding polish and fixing bugs after the major release, some smaller features have been finalized. Here are  a couple of notable changes that we think you'll enjoy: 

Umbraco Flavored Markdown

In Umbraco 14.1, we introduced Umbraco Flavored Markdown (UFM) to enhance property descriptions and advanced labels in block editors and collection view columns. Currently, we support basic label values and localized components, with more features on the way. You can already implement your own custom UFM and render it within your web components. Find out how in the documentation for Umbraco Flavored Markdown.

Custom Views for Blocks

Umbraco 14.2 introduces Custom Views for blocks which enables complete control over how content is represented and edited in the backoffice. Prior to Umbraco 14, this used to be a configuration in the Backoffice. Now it is a Backoffice Extension Type where registration is done via code. It's also worth noting, that where previous views were written as AngularJs templates, they are now based on web components.

Umbraco CMS: Coming up

For the upcoming release of Umbraco 14.3, you continue to see a decent amount of bug fixes, as well as some smaller features that didn’t make it to Umbraco 14 yet: Expect to see Media Library Preview Extensions, Import/Export of Document- and Media Types, and hopefully also the Clipboard service (copy/paste).

For Umbraco 15 we are currently working on three main things:

• Lazy Loaded Content Cache. This project is internally split into three sub-projects; one for navigation, one for routing, and one for the actual cache handling. When it's done, you'll be able to utilize a hybrid cache and benefit from better performance during boot time and in general benefit from more flexibility related to cache.
  
  
• Block Level Variants will let you have blocks that are related to a specific language.
  
  
• Client Credentials, to ensure system-to-system integrations to the management API and the content delivery API based on Client ID and Client Credentials

Aside from the standard versioned releases, we've  done some updates to the "dotnet new"-template, to make it quicker to get started in the way you want to build. You can now enable the Content Delivery API, set a Runtime Mode, set the Models Builder mode, install the starter kit, and add a Docker file. For Docker, we've made a docker compose template, so it's just a matter of firing the command "docker compose up", and you have your image running in Docker.

Umbraco Cloud

Sustainability Dashboard

As environmental responsibility becomes increasingly important, we are committed to providing tools that empower you to make informed decisions about your digital infrastructure.

This is the first step to help you track, analyze, and report carbon emissions associated with your Umbraco Cloud projects. The dashboard provides clear metrics, helping you understand the environmental impact of your cloud usage.

The Sustainability Dashboard shipped last month to all Umbraco Cloud organizations. It is part of our ongoing commitment to empower users and customers to create more sustainable solutions. You can read more about how it works in the Sustainability Dashboard documentation.

Enhanced UI and UX in Umbraco Cloud

The user experience within the Umbraco Cloud portal has also seen significant enhancements, designed to make managing your projects smoother and more intuitive.

The new Project History and Upgrade Details pages offer clearer insights into your project’s development. Track changes over time with the Project History page, and stay informed about specific upgrades with detailed logs.

Navigating your projects is now easier than ever with the Improved Search functionality on the Projects Dashboard. Quickly find the projects you need with more accurate and faster search capabilities, saving you time and streamlining your workflow.

The updated New Project page with real-time updates and a dynamic content loading feature ensures you're always informed of the latest project changes. The UI's consistent design across devices enhances your workflow on any platform. Additionally, Long-Running Activities are now more transparently managed, allowing you to track and monitor extended tasks.

New Database Features

We’ve introduced several powerful updates to Umbraco Cloud, including the new Import Database feature, alongside the previously released Export Database and Upload Custom Database functionalities.

Export Database with Point-In-Time Recovery (PITR)

The PITR feature allows you to easily export backups of your Umbraco database from Azure, perfect for securing data before updates or reverting changes. Organized backups can be downloaded or deleted as needed, providing peace of mind during project management.

Upload and Import Database

Building on PITR, the Upload Custom Database feature lets you upload your own Umbraco database to the cloud. Now, with the new Import Database capability, you can seamlessly import and swap databases across environments, making it easier to manage and restore specific database states.

Umbraco Cloud: Coming Up

The first step for more Flexible Environments

We are introducing the Flexible Environments feature, designed to give users more control over their environment and workflows. Traditionally, Umbraco Cloud environments (such as Development, Staging, and Live) were predefined and fixed. This new feature will allow users to create, customize, and manage additional environments tailored to their specific project needs. The first part of this feature will be the ability to add a Feature Environment which is only connected with the left-most environment. We are also giving you the ability to name the environments, meaning the mandatory Development, Staging, and Live terminology will disappear.

Custom Login Provider feedback 

Umbraco Cloud is introducing a feature that allows users to enable their own login providers. This enhancement gives organizations the flexibility to integrate their preferred identity providers, such as Azure AD, Google, or custom OAuth solutions, directly into their Umbraco Cloud projects. This feature empowers users to customize authentication in Umbraco Cloud, aligning with their security and operational requirements.

We are in the early stages of feature development and are looking for more conversations with current and future users and customers to help make this feature the best possible. If you want to influence the new feature you can reach out to reach out to Kristian Egebæk-Carlsen, Head of Cloud at Umbraco, on his email kec@umbraco.dk and set up a short 15-minute meeting to discuss how you would like to bring your own login provider to Umbraco Cloud.

Stay Up-to-date

For more details on the features released over the last several months head over to the Umbraco Cloud release notes. Release notes for Umbraco Cloud are added roughly every month, or when larger new features are released. 

Umbraco Heartcore

Webhook enhancements

We recently updated the webhook functionality in Heartcore. Our goals were to bring it more in line with the core CMS, but still fire hooks from the delivery platform so that all the retries, delivery guarantees, and other current Heartcore-specific capabilities are still supported.

As a result of this refresh, you’ll also see some expanded functionality in Heartcore webhooks. For example, it is now possible to specify custom headers to send along with the payload. You’ll be able to select multiple content types and trigger events where before you had to manage many hooks for the same purpose.

Core dependency upgrade - existing sites

Back in October of 2023, we announced a major technology upgrade for Heartcore. This upgrade came with some concrete benefits, such as making the Block Grid editor available in Heartcore and increasing the responsiveness of the backoffice.

In February this year, we made that the default for all new sites. Since then we’ve been busy rolling out the upgrade to all existing sites so that they too can benefit from these enhancements.

Check out the release notes for all the juicy details.

Umbraco Heartcore: Coming up

Persisted GraphQL Queries

Have you ever wished that Umbraco Heartcore supported more fine-grained access control to content? Well, wish no longer, because persisted queries will soon be here.

Persisted queries are to GraphQL what stored procedures are to SQL. They will allow you to save your query up-front and then execute it by name afterward. Furthermore, you’ll have the ability to put your GraphQL API into persisted query-only mode, meaning that GraphQL will only return specific responses you’ve specified in your queries. Gone are the days when GraphQL will unequivocally return everything in the tree - unless, of course, you want it to do that.

One other advantage of persisted queries is performance. Since it is no longer necessary to send a large blob of query text with every request which means that the API can immediately start executing your persisted queries rather than waiting for the payload.

Umbraco Commerce

We’re excited to announce that Umbraco Commerce is fully compatible with Umbraco 14. Our team has worked hard to align the product and all associated packages, including payment and shipping providers, with Umbraco 14’s new backoffice architecture. 👏 

Key Features in Umbraco Commerce 14

With this release, we’ve not only ensured compatibility but also embraced the new extension-first architecture, converting the old UI config system to the new manifest system. This brings added flexibility and new features that make it easier for you to extend and customize Umbraco Commerce.

• Umbraco Commerce 14 comes with backoffice localization, giving you the freedom to introduce any given language to the backoffice. 
  
  
• The Management API is introduced in Umbraco Commerce 14. One key thought whilst developing this API has been to ensure external developers might use this to build other UI's for Umbraco Commerce such as a dedicated mobile app and so we've tried to ensure there are no "special" endpoints just for the Umbraco CMS UI. 
  
  
• More flexibility to handle orders the way you want
  
  
• You can store any data you want against orders and display the exact information needed for managing your orders
  
  
• When editing customer details you can create custom properties to extend customer and payment details or display them elsewhere within the order overview. A significant upgrade from Umbraco 13 where properties only were possible on the order line and info box.
  
  
• Quick Actions, such as Change Status, Send Email, Print Order, can now be defined and made custom.
  
  
• Bulk Actions has gotten an improved API for the bulk actions in the order overview to give a smoother experience when extending
• Finally, Analytics Widgets are updated for better and more defined extensions 🎉

Read the full release note for all the details and info on breaking changes.

Config code introducing color picker on the order line, and the UI will look like…

…this! 👏

Umbraco Commerce: Coming soon

Dynamic Tax Rates

If you’re managing a store with variable tax rates, especially in the US, you’ll love our upcoming advanced tax calculation feature. This new feature is designed to handle scenarios where a tax rate is unknown before the order is placed and can vary based on the purchase location (e.g. different US states). The new tax feature will calculate and apply the correct tax rate at checkout, and if needed, integrate seamlessly with third-party services to determine the exact tax.

You’ll also find a new backoffice UI that makes it easy to configure API credentials and define when tax calculations should be applied—just like the process you’re familiar with when integrating Payment and Shipping Providers into Umbraco Commerce.

Asynchronous APIs 

As we prepare for Umbraco version 15, we’re enhancing the performance of Umbraco Commerce by introducing asynchronous APIs. This update allows your system to handle tasks concurrently without waiting for API responses, leading to a more streamlined and efficient workflow.

Adopting asynchronous APIs aligns with the best practices established by both Umbraco CMS and Umbraco Commerce. Starting with Umbraco 15, all provided endpoints will be asynchronous, so make sure to plan accordingly for upgrading your Umbraco Commerce projects.

Umbraco Workflow

Recent big features? 🤔 Yes, Umbraco 14! 

Umbraco Workflow is fully compatible with Umbraco 14. While you won’t notice any visible changes in your favorite backoffice editor tool, this update ensures that Workflow is aligned with the latest frontend architecture of Umbraco 14, and is a great foundation to build new features and enhancements.

Exciting Enhancements Coming to Umbraco Workflow

Umbraco Workflow is set to expand the selection of editor tools with new features designed to streamline your content management:

• Bundle and Schedule Content Nodes: You’ll soon be able to group content nodes into Release Sets, schedule them, and route them through your defined approval flow.
• Enhanced UI Overview: The updated user interface will offer a comprehensive view of your scheduled Release Sets, their statuses, and additional task lists related to each set, such as social media material and partner communications.

We’re excited to introduce these improvements and enhance your content scheduling experience with Umbraco Workflow.

Bundle content into versions and work specifically with upcoming releases or campaigns, ensuring no interference with already published content

Visual overview of your current and planned release plan.

Umbraco Forms

Enhance Your Forms Workflow with New Form Data Features 

With the latest update in Forms 13 and 14, you can now include additional data when rendering forms, which will be saved with each submission. This new capability allows you to easily customize workflows to better suit your needs. For example, you can send notification emails to different addresses based on data you provide, or use the data as another source for "magic strings". These updates give you more flexibility to make your forms work smarter for your specific requirements. 

Umbraco UI Builder

Umbraco UI Builder 14 Alpha Release Coming Soon

We’re excited to announce that the alpha release of Umbraco UI Builder 14 is just around the corner! Your feedback on this new alpha release is invaluable, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts. 

The biggest change in UI Builder is the implementation of the new Umbraco 14 backoffice architecture. And though Umbraco CMS has moved to a front-end pattern for registration of backoffice features, with UI Builder, you can continue to use the same server-side patterns you are used to. Behind the scenes, we translate the configuration you provide into the necessary backoffice extensions. 

Additionally, Umbraco UI Builder can save you time when updating your custom backoffice UIs to Umbraco 14. By building your custom UIs with Umbraco UI Builder, you can smoothly migrate to the new backoffice architecture, streamlining your upgrade process and making it more efficient.

C# config for adding a section with a couple of collections in the default dashboard. 

Umbraco Deploy

All features and improvements for Umbraco Deploy are included with your Umbraco Cloud projects and are available for Deploy On-premises.

Supporting Migration from Legacy Grid Layout to Block Grid  

The import/export feature in Umbraco Deploy now supports the migration of content and schema from the legacy Grid Layout (introduced in version 7) to the Block Grid (introduced in version 10.3).

Imagine you’re moving to a new home and hiring a moving truck to help. You pack everything up, but some boxes are heavier and more complex to move around than others. In your Umbraco project, the Grid Layout property editor is one of those heavy, complex boxes when upgrading from one version to another. Think of Umbraco Deploy as your moving company, with the import/export feature as the truck, and this new migration support as the movers handling that heavy box. They’ll carry it from your old project and unpack it into your new project using the Block Grid property editor—almost no lifting required on your part! Hurrah! 📦🎉

You can find all available migrators with the import/export feature of Umbraco Deploy here. If you are curious for more, you can watch the talk “Umbraco Deploy, a deep-dive into migrating between major versions” from Codegarden 2024.   

Upcoming features in Umbraco Deploy

This autumn, you can look forward to new features in Umbraco Deploy that will enhance the experience for both the developers and editors.

Schema Comparison Overview Updates and Configuration Options 

As a developer, you’ll now have the ability to actively work with the schema comparison view in the Deploy settings dashboard. This update allows you to perform:

• Existing update functionalities on individual schemas (whether these exist in your Umbraco database or UDA file on disk) 
• Individually delete schema in either the Umbraco database or UDA file on disk.
• Additionally, we’re introducing a configuration option that allows for automatic deletion of schemas that don’t exist as an entity in your Umbraco database and as UDA file on disk.   

Enhanced Export Options

Exporting content between environments from your Umbraco backoffice is about to become more flexible, with new export options designed to give you greater control over content export:

• Export queued items: Select individual content items from the content tree, add to the queue, and export them - rather than exporting separate content (including all descendants).
• Export all schema: This includes the ability to export schema independently of any content references, such as dictionary items.
• Export of Umbraco Members: If configured, you’ll also be able to include Umbraco Members in your Deloy export. This feature ensures that members are seamlessly transferred when moving between environments or upgrading major versions, saving you time. 

In other news…

Welcome, uMarketingSuite! 🎉

In case you haven’t heard, Umbraco has acquired uMarketingSuite, bringing powerful analytics, A/B testing, and personalization tools to your Umbraco projects.

We're currently fine-tuning this new product to ensure you have an Umbraco-supported solution later this year, aligning it with Umbraco versioning, and onboarding support and sales teams🤝

Check out the announcement blog post for more details.

Security & Privacy Community Team

A new Security & Privacy Community Team has been formed and the first meeting is in the books. It’s an awesome group of very skilled personalities. Expect to hear more from this team, but until then, read about the team members in this blog post. 

CMS Advisory Board

The CMS Advisory Board has existed for more than two years and they decided it is time to open for renewals to ensure openness and provide opportunities to a wider audience. Read about the new members in this blog post. 

Umbraco 8 EOL on the Horizon

Just a reminder that Umbraco 8 will reach its End-of-Life (EOL) on February 24, 2025. After this date, it will no longer be supported with security patches and updates. Umbraco 8 will continue to work after the EOL date but we encourage you to consider rebuilding or upgrading to a supported version of Umbraco.

You can read more about Umbraco 8 EOL and the options available, including a free EOL session, in the Product Knowledge Center.

Until next time… Let’s look ahead!

As always, we are committed to keeping you informed and involved in the evolution of Umbraco. Remember that you can stay updated on what we’re working on by checking out the Umbraco Product Roadmap, where you’ll find our current, upcoming, and recently completed projects. It’s a great way to see how your feedback directly influences the future of Umbraco.

Speaking of staying informed, I will be publishing an article on the Four Lighthouses of Umbraco in the next edition of the Umbraco Newsletter (out Tuesday, September 2). This article will delve into the areas we see are the most influential in the CMS space. They help steer our decision-making process and shape the direction of our products. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the strategic thinking behind Umbraco’s products and features.

To ensure you don’t miss out on this and more articles from Umbraco HQ, sign up for the Umbraco Newsletter. It’s the best way to receive the latest news, expert tips, and exclusive content directly in your inbox - every month.

Thank you for your continued support and feedback—it’s what drives us to keep improving and innovating. If you have any questions, feature requests, or issues, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at product@umbraco.com or through our Github issue trackers.