Sitefinity 6.2 Beta Announced
Hi all,
We are glad to announce that Sitefinity 6.2 Beta is available for download here.
(Update): To download the open access files click here.
This release contains dynamic reports on the Dashboard, reworked Inline Editing, performance improvement in Pages backend, Google Analytics in HTML5, Captcha Widget in Forms, Marketo and SalesForce connectors, improvements in DAM and Thunder. Details are below. We look forward to seeing your comments in the forum!
Important: Please, note that this build is for preview purposes only and upgrades from it will not be supported.
Inline editing replaces the current Browse and Edit feature, and introduces improvements in the overall usability and experience with the use of HTML 5.
Once logged in, users can switch to inline editing mode via a toolbox menu showing on the right if each page.
Editing is supported for the following field types:
Edits made to the content on a page are published at once using a Publish All button.
Inline editing is available for Custom Modules.
Sitefinity Dashboard displays recently updated content. The following reports are available by default:
Administrators can make changes to the Dashboard in section Backend Pages>Dashboard using the following widgets:
In section Forms editors can drop a Captcha Widget to a form, and set its appearance and behavior. It will display captcha to users attempting to submit the form on the public site.
Decreased number of database operations when working with pages in the backend which lead to performance boost. Clean-up procedure were implemented to optimize the storage of pages. Please, take part in testing upgrades! Instructions can be found in this post.
Customers can be redirected to pages outside the site to make payments on their orders. Support for PayPal Payments Standard (see instructions) and WorldPay (see instructions) is provided.
Analytic module is rewritten in HTM5 thus removing the Silverlight dependency.Links to Analytics reports are available from Content Backend.
Note: Analytics module requires entering Client ID and Client Secret due to the fact that we use Google Analytics API v.3 now (instructions are in this file)
<!-- SERVICE STACK-->
<
location
path
=
"Sitefinity/Restservices"
>
<
system.web
>
<
httpHandlers
>
<
add
path
=
"*"
type
=
"ServiceStack.WebHost.Endpoints.ServiceStackHttpHandlerFactory, ServiceStack"
verb
=
"*"
/>
</
httpHandlers
>
</
system.web
>
<!--Required for IIS7-->
<
system.webServer
>
<
modules
runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests
=
"true"
/>
<
validation
validateIntegratedModeConfiguration
=
"false"
/>
<
handlers
>
<
remove
name
=
"ServiceStack.Factory"
/>
<
add
path
=
"*"
name
=
"ServiceStack.Factory"
type
=
"ServiceStack.WebHost.Endpoints.ServiceStackHttpHandlerFactory, ServiceStack"
verb
=
"*"
preCondition
=
"integratedMode"
resourceType
=
"Unspecified"
allowPathInfo
=
"true"
/>
</
handlers
>
</
system.webServer
>
</
location
>
<!-- END SERVICE STACK-->
Regards,
Sitefinity Team
Does this release include the ability to add comments to module builder items?
Hi Kali,
A minor issue I have is when I want to access the Analytics page.
The link from the Dashboard as well as the link from the menu are referring to: /marketing/Analytics
However, this doesn't work, it should be /Marketing/Analytics
Although I would prefer all urls to be lower-case urls, also in the backend.
Kind regards,
Daniel
I also tried to setup Analytics by creating a v3 API client within the Google console. I would let it redirect to the urls pointed out in the document from Sitefinity, but I get an error from Google after signing in:
Error: redirect_uri_mismatchThe redirect URI in the request: localhost:22266/.../Analytics did not match a registered redirect URI
-Daniel
@James, the release will include ability to add comments to module builder items. This feature was not included in the beta as we have some final polishing to do.
@Daniel, we will fix the links issue and will follow-up on the set up problem. Thanks!
Hi Daniel,
If you have followed the steps in this document:
sfprojecttest.blob.core.windows.net/.../GoogleAnalytics-Account-Setup.pdf
You should be able to get Analytics module rolling.
However I want to add some details to the instructions:
Hi Stoimen,
Thanks for the reply.
I followed the document, yes.
The error I'm getting is:
The redirect URI in the request: http://localhost:41355/Sitefinity/marketing/Analytics did not match a registered redirect URI
6.2 Beta Notes
Analytics:
- Would love to see some instructions on the step 2 page about how to get these /Sitefinity/marketing/Analytics#/step-2-login-details
- Instructions:
- Step 6: Rename to "Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID"
- Step 6: Webapp doesn't happen here, its on the next step, remove this from step 6
- Couldn't test more than that, couldn't get it to work on a custom hostfile entry domain...maybe I did something wrong
Dashboard:
- "Then, consider to..." sounds weird :)
- "Then maybe..." or "Then perhaps..."
- "Sitefinity Welcome control" at the top...no designer or way to edit the links\content...guess I can delete and add a content block?
Pages:
- Stats link directly on /Pages: COOOL!! :) (Url has a double slash at the end though: /Sitefinity/marketing/Analytics#/Content/Top_content//homepage)
Inline Editing:
- MUUUUCH nicer...
- Moving content down is a bit annoying atm: screencast.com/.../BTmczLWAdiQy (dropdown confuses the page)
- Gear -> Edit all properties ...verbage doesn't make any sense...dumps me into full page edit mode (as you know)
- HTML mode popup window still WAYYY too thin (scrollbar).
- Text beside the gear says "Editing PageDraftControl"??
- I think inline editing content is showing up in html mode: www.dropbox.com/.../inlineediting.PNG
- Kendo Editor thing: screencast.com/.../7olXaWeVxE - No ability to delete a table without html mode?
Forms Captcha:
- Please make the captcha error message configurable...I dont see it on the designer or advanced settings. "Incorrect value for the captcha image " is the default, user doesn't know what a "Captcha" is...
Couple other things (not sure if you saw the g+ post)
1) Question on ServiceStack...You guys know it's not going to be opensource anymore, right? (at least in Sitefinitys case)
plus.google.com/.../z12tfvoackvnx1xzd04cfrirpvybu1nje54
I've been researching it in prep for 6.2 and came across that nugget
2) Since we need to put in the client\secret to get access to the analytics API...does that mean I could also enable the drive API and re-use that same auth?
Hi,
Thank you for the feedback guys and I apologize for the late response. Your feedback is appreciated and sent directly to the development teems.
However I want to shed some light on the "Analytics set up" issue.
@Daniel - Based on the URL in your report I assume you are using the project manager. Could you try to create a website in IIS without virtual directory ( without the "/test/" part as in your case). I tested with website on port 80 and other ports and it was working with urls like localhost:8080/.../Analytics and www.telerik.com/.../Analytics. I have logged a bug about the virtual directories and we will try to resolve it. Hopefully it won't be some limitation from Google.
@Steve - I think your issue with analytics is the same as in Daniel's case. Try creating a website without virtual directory in IIS. About the documentation - you are right. We will update it.
I need some more time to investigate it but the very first client id created in a Google account is different from any other created afterwards and I had some trouble using it. Try creating a second client id to clear this case out. screencast.com/.../gft2oxnx
The Analytics set up will be revised because it is very long at the moment and it is not very clear what should happen in it. We are going to try to make it as easy as possible with lots of detailed information and maybe even videos how to set it up.
If you are still experiencing issues with using Analytics module we would love to schedule a GoToMeeting so we can investigate your issues further and gather feedback which part of the setup has to be improved.
Regards,
Stoimen
About ServiceStack: Steve we know that ServiceStack is not going to be open source from version 4.0. We plan to cover this in terms of what telerik needs to license to be able to distribute it with the product.
Basically the reasoning to use this framework is the same that is publicly communicated for it's biggest advantges over WCF and WebAPI. FIrst it's server architecture is message oriented versus RPC - which suites better our idea how a REST API should be built and not have methods like GetCustomerByID,GetCustomerByName etc...but have CustomerFIlterRequestDTO that can be later enriched with more filters without breaking changes.
Second it is kicking ass in terms of performance (serialzation etc.)
Third it has great community support, and seems to be something stable enough as a concept versus constantly emerging and changing Microsoft API's.
There is no limit in which REST framework a customer will use in Sitefinity for their custom modules. They can still use WCF and we continue to support all the infrastructure for it. For ServiceStack though they will have to stick with some pre-defined start route (/restapi/) - cause an applicaiton can have just one SS host and it has to stick with some top route.
Regards
You don't need to sell me on SS :) I was already excited, just concerned someone didn't notice it going commercial (like the fancybox\fancybox2 incident).
SS is the reason why I can't wait for 6.2...I mean comments and the dash are cool too...but I have a ton of services.
Hi Kali,
With these beta releases etc, is it possible to accompany them with the the files required to build custom modules utilising OpenAccess, it is very rare for us to have a realworld project that doesn't utilise this as such we can never test the beta's on existing projects. I am of course referring to the all the files used in this article:
documentation.telerik.com/.../external-tools-howto-integrate-enhancer-msbuild
This would allow us to provide valid feedback, thanks!
Thanks
Hi Sean,
The open access files can be downloaded on this link.
We look forward to receiving your feedback!
Regards,
Kalina
Hey Kali,
Thanks for the quick turn around on this one.
I have finally got one of our newest projects (not quite released yet) upgraded to it and this is my feedback so far, some of the issues may be because it is an upgrade / css causing issues, but I am sure you can let me know either way:
Hi Steve,
Follow up on your feedback is below with >>>
6.2 Beta Notes
Analytics:
- Would love to see some instructions on the step 2 page about how to get these /Sitefinity/marketing/Analytics#/step-2-login-details
- Instructions:
- Step 6: Rename to "Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID"
- Step 6: Webapp doesn't happen here, its on the next step, remove this from step 6
>>> Additional instructions will be provided.
- Couldn't test more than that, couldn't get it to work on a custom hostfile entry domain...maybe I did something wrong
>>> Please follow the recommendation of Stoimen above and try to create a site on IIS without virtual directory.
Dashboard:
- "Then, consider to..." sounds weird :)
- "Then maybe..." or "Then perhaps..."
>> Will be fixed.
- "Sitefinity Welcome control" at the top...no designer or way to edit the links\content...guess I can delete and add a content block?
>>> This message is not customizable as of now, in next iterations probably. However, you are right - you can delete and add your custom block.
Pages:
- Stats link directly on /Pages: COOOL!! :) (Url has a double slash at the end though: /Sitefinity/marketing/Analytics#/Content/Top_content//homepage)
>> Will be fixed.
Inline Editing:
- MUUUUCH nicer...
- Moving content down is a bit annoying atm: screencast.com/.../BTmczLWAdiQy (dropdown confuses the page)
>> We'll try to fix this.
- Gear -> Edit all properties ...verbage doesn't make any sense...dumps me into full page edit mode (as you know)
>> The idea of this link is to open the backend edit screen of the content item. Some pieces, however are not content items (such as Content Blocks), and the page edit screen opens for them. We were trying to think of a generic name which covers all cases, and Edit all properties seems to be generic enough while not very exact in all cases.
-- HTML mode popup window still WAYYY too thin (scrollbar).
>> We are waiting for Kendo team to fix that. I hope it is ready for the release.
- Text beside the gear says "Editing PageDraftControl"??
>> Fixed already.
- I think inline editing content is showing up in html mode: www.dropbox.com/.../inlineediting.PNG
>> We'll be fixed.
- Kendo Editor thing: screencast.com/.../7olXaWeVxE - No ability to delete a table without html mode?
>> Good point. I submitted it to Kendo team, hopefully they can provide a solution.
Forms Captcha:
- Please make the captcha error message configurable...I dont see it on the designer or advanced settings. "Incorrect value for the captcha image " is the default, user doesn't know what a "Captcha" is.
>> Nice catch! Will be done.
As always, thanks for the helpful comments!
Kalina
Hi Sean, my feedback is with >>> below:
I have finally got one of our newest projects (not quite released yet) upgraded to it and this is my feedback so far, some of the issues may be because it is an upgrade / css causing issues, but I am sure you can let me know either way:
>>> Please, have in mind that we will not support official upgrades form this version. It is for testing/preview purposes only. >>>
Where is the new dashboard, the dashboard looks the same except has the title "Legacy Dashboard", could something have gone wrong with the upgrade? (No issues reported in UpgradeTrace. Log and has the line Message: PASSED : SiteInitializer: Upgrade to 5000 (method: AddGroupDashboardPage))
>>> We'll investigate this. If we cannot reproduce it, I will write back. >>>
I am concerned that there isn't enough of a hint as to what is editable when in Inline Edit mode, could we have like a dashed line around what is editable or something? This is before you click on an area
>>> Yes, we realized this problem as well. We are working to highlight in yellow the editable items on mouse over. Hopefully, this will make the feature more usable. >>>
We almost always customise the widget templates in terms of css classes used etc for the News Module etc, the inline editing doesn't seem to work in our case would this be because the inline editing looks for specific classes, is there any documentation we could look at on this that we could provide feedback on, even if just in draft status? On this particular project we have a couple of custom widgets that also utilise the old style inline editing so I am very keen to see what sort of changes we will need to make to change our widgets to use the new style.
>>>- For custom widgets you will need to manually add the
following attributes to the widgets in order to have the Inline Editing.
Attributes of the whole container(usually the item itself)
- data-sf-provider – the provider of the item
- data-sf-id – the id of the item.
- data-sf-type – Item type
Attributes to the fields:
- data-sf-field – field name
- data-sf-ftype – field type.>>>
The supported field types for inline editing is that the definitive list? What will happen in more complex scenarios will we be able to fall back to the old style for certain widgets where the user can click edit and be presented with a widget designer?
>>> Currently the supported field types are:
ShortText, LongText, YesNo, Choices, FlatTaxon, HierarchicalTaxon, ImageControl, ImageField, DateTime>>>
That is all I have picked up so far. The inline editing looks great but we do need to make sure that it almost impossible for customising the templates/css to break the usability of it.
>>> Please let me know if you encounter more problems with the instructions provided above. >>>
Good job!
could it be that the new stats icon on the right side of the pages will lead to an error if analytics is not set up? If yes - please hide that column untill analytics is set up
Markus
@Markus: The new stats icon on the right side of the pages will not show if Analytics is not installed.
If Analytics is not set up, the links will open the Analytics setup page.
Hi all, Sitefinity 6.2 Beta 2 was announced in this thread. In addition to many improvements since the last Beta, this release includes reworked Comments.The discussion can continue in the new thread.