Sitefinity 6.2 Beta Announced

Posted by Community Admin on 05-Aug-2018 12:33

Sitefinity 6.2 Beta Announced

All Replies

Posted by Community Admin on 26-Sep-2013 00:00

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.

WHAT’S NEW

Inline editing

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:

  • Short text (such as: News Title, Blog Post Title, etc.)
  • Long text (such as: Content Blocks, News Content, Blog posts) –uses Kendo Web UI editor
  • Images (in Image Widget, Image Dialogue in HTML Editor)
  • Categories and Tags

Edits made to the content on a page are published at once using a Publish All button.
Inline editing is available for Custom Modules.

Dynamic Content on the Dashboard

Sitefinity Dashboard displays recently updated content. The following reports are available by default:

  • Analytics timeline –report on last visits to the site (requires activation of Analytics, see below)
  • My content – recently updated content, modified by the current user
  • Everyone's content – recently updated content by all users
  • Recent blog posts – recently updated blog posts

Administrators can make changes to the Dashboard in section Backend Pages>Dashboard using the following widgets:

  • Recent Items – can be filtered to show reports by content type, status and user
  • Analytics Timeline – users can select between the Google Analytics metrics to show in the report: Visits, Visitors, Time on site, New Visits, etc. 

Captcha Widget in Forms

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.

Pages Backend Optimizations

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.

Ecommerce Offsite Payments

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.

Analytics Integration in Backend

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)

Thunder

  • Code Sync – Synchronize code between different Sitefinity instances
  • Code Deploy – Deploy Modules and Widgets from Thunder to any Sitefinity web site

DAM

  • Preview Video/Audio files from Sitefinity Libraries
  • Publish MS Word files as PDF on the website
  • Improvements in Replace Images and Files in posts
  • New address field support with Maps
  • Application Skins (by popular request)
  • Customer Improvement Program and anonymous usage statistics

Marketo Connector

  • Integration of page tracking from a central place
  • Integration of Sitefinity Forms with Marketo
  • Connect even external forms in widgets or templates with Marketo
  • Content personalization based on any Marketo Lead field

SalesForce Connector

  • 2 way connection of SalesForce Leads and Contacts  to Sitefinity users and roles
  • Connect Forms responses with SalesForce Leads and Contacts

 

UPGRADE INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Follow the standard procedure and use the license file from the download link, associate it to your project to enable the new features.
  2. Add the following configuration to the web.config 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-->

KNOWN ISSUES

  • (Updated) Analytics module doesn't work on Cassini
  • Google Analytics Module doesn’t support in MultiSite Mode
  • Site Synch doesn’t work

We look forward to receiving your comments and reports!

 
Regards,
Sitefinity Team

Posted by Community Admin on 26-Sep-2013 00:00

Does this release include the ability to add comments to module builder items?

Posted by Community Admin on 27-Sep-2013 00:00

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

Posted by Community Admin on 27-Sep-2013 00:00

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

Posted by Community Admin on 27-Sep-2013 00:00

@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!

Posted by Community Admin on 27-Sep-2013 00:00

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:

  1. Go to code.google.com/.../ -> API Access 
  2. In "Client id for web applications" when you add your URL in redirect URL and javascript origin URL make sure to add the port number. Your URL should look like "localhost:22266/.../Analytics"
  3. Make sure to set Product name and Google account in branding information under API access

Posted by Community Admin on 27-Sep-2013 00:00

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

The thing is that this URL does not exists, like I mentioned in my previous post: 'marketing' should be with a capital 'M'.

And no, I did not entered this URL in the Google API console, so it is strange that the redirect URL points to a wrong, non-existing URL.

The ones I entered are:
Redirect URL's: localhost:41355/.../Analytics
Javascript origins: http://localhost:41355

Also, you can't use subsites / virtual directories within the Javascript origins, so it will be hard to test locally?

-Daniel

Posted by Community Admin on 30-Sep-2013 00:00

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...

Posted by Community Admin on 01-Oct-2013 00:00

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?

Posted by Community Admin on 01-Oct-2013 00:00

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


Posted by Community Admin on 01-Oct-2013 00:00

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

Posted by Community Admin on 01-Oct-2013 00:00

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.

Posted by Community Admin on 02-Oct-2013 00:00

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

Posted by Community Admin on 02-Oct-2013 00:00

Hi Sean,
The open access files can be downloaded on this link.
We look forward to receiving your feedback!
Regards,
Kalina

Posted by Community Admin on 03-Oct-2013 00:00

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:

  1. 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))
  2. 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
  3. 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.
  4. 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?
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.

Good job!

Posted by Community Admin on 03-Oct-2013 00:00

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

Posted by Community Admin on 03-Oct-2013 00:00

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!

Posted by Community Admin on 08-Oct-2013 00:00

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

Posted by Community Admin on 09-Oct-2013 00:00

@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.

Posted by Community Admin on 09-Oct-2013 00:00

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.

This thread is closed