Page Comparison

XperienCentral R36

Release date: June 15, 2022

Check Configuration Files

See Check Configuration Files.

SEO Updates

In R35 and earlier, the application_settings.friendly_url_extension setting was used to determine whether a URL is friendly. In R36 and higher, it's possible to leave the friendly URL extension empty which calculates friendly URLs without extensions. This means that the way that a URL is checked for being friendly has been changed. A new setting has been introduced in the startup_settings section of the General tab of the Setup Tool: seo_path. The value in this field is used to determine if a URL is friendly or not. For example, assume that Apache is not configured to remove /web/ from a URL. In that case a friendly URL in versions R35 or earlier would be /web/home.htm. In versions R36 and higher, it would be /web/seo/myweb.htm.

To make sure this works as intended check the following settings in the Setup tool:

website_settings.friendly_url_prefix

In R35, the default value was /${startup_settings.context}. When Apache is not used to remove the /web/ prefix, this setting should be updated to

/${startup_settings.context}/${startup_settings.seo_path}

If Apache is used, this field is usually empty and can be left as is.

startup_settings.seo_path

The value of this field should be set to seo by default. If this field is not present in the startup_settings.xml check with your hosting provider if a different startup_config.xml is used than the one shipped with the deploy of XperienCentral. In that case, the following line should be added:

<entry name="seo_path" value=$(webmanager seopath)" />

Please also make sure that all changes in settings.xml have been applied.

context_static

The setting application_settings.context_static has been removed in XperienCentral R36. You must modify any custom code that uses this setting to use application_settings.static_files_url instead.

Changes to Apache

A minor change needs to be done to the vhost configuration in Apache to make sure XperienCentral keeps working. Most installations should have something along these lines to redirect requests from Apache to XperienCentral:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/web/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/admin/
RewriteRule ^/(.*)\.htm$ /web/$1.htm [PT,L]

The last line should be updated to

RewriteRule ^/(.*)\.htm$ /web/seo/$1.htm [PT,L]

This applies to both the back- and frontend vhost configurations.

In order to run XperienCentral without extensions at all, see Running XperienCentral without a Friendly URL Extension.

Friendly URL Extension Setting

The setting frontend_settings.friendly_url_extension was removed in R36.

URL Transformations

When transforming a URL from a URL without a context path to one with a context path in custom code, you should now also add the SEO path to the updated URL. This kind of logic is often used in custom implementations of the MetaDataProvider interface.

Update your Solr Configuration

In R36, the Solr version has been upgraded to version 8.11.1, therefore you must make the following changes:

In solrconfig.xml, change the declaration:

<luceneMatchVersion>6.6.6</luceneMatchVersion>

to

<luceneMatchVersion>8.11.1</luceneMatchVersion>

The eDismax query parser parameter lowercaseOperators now defaults to false if the luceneMatchVersion in solrconfig.xml is 7.0.0 or above, therefore you must set the lowercaseOperators parameter explicitly to true:

<bool name="lowercaseOperators">true</bool>

The following spatial-related fields have been removed:

• LatLonType
• GeoHashField
• SpatialVectorFieldType
• SpatialTermQueryPrefixTreeFieldType

Choose one of these field types instead:

• LatLonPointSpatialField
• SpatialRecursivePrefixTreeField
• RptWithGeometrySpatialField

Extra Steps

1. Stop Tomcat if it is running.
2. Remove the directory <webmanager-root>/work/searchengine.
3. If you have a custom solrconfig.xml, you need to modify it — open it in a text editor.
4. Save your custom solrconfig.xml.
5. Start Tomcat.
6. Log in to XperienCentral.

Real-time indexing

If you use real-time indexing (the XperienCentral Realtime Indexing reusable):

1. Navigate to Configuration > Realtime Indexing.
2. Select the "Indexing" tab.
3. Select all the websites that you want to index in the top part of the panel.
4. Click [Index selected items].

No real-time indexing

If you do not use real-time indexing (the XperienCentral Realtime Indexing reusable):

1. Open the Setup Tool.
2. Select the Search Tools tab.
3. Click [Index] in the "INDEX URL" section.

Custom Solr Queries

Check the changes that have been made between Solr versions 6.6.6 and 8.11.1 in order to determine whether you need to modify your custom Solr queries. See https://solr.apache.org/guide/8_11/major-changes-in-solr-8.html.

Deprecated Functionalities

Some query functionalities have been deprecated and/or removed, so it might be necessary to rewrite custom queries. See Solr upgrade (R36/Solr 8.11.1) for specific use cases that GX Software has encountered (login required).

Rebuild the Content Index

Due to a change in the Search functionality, you must rebuild the content index. To do so, manually remove the <webmanager-root>/work/contentindex directory after the upgrade and allow it to be regenerated after restarting XperienCentral. Selecting contentindex_queue_empty_reindex in the General tab of the Setup Tool is not sufficient to trigger the regeneration of the content index.

XperienCentral R33

Release date: July 30, 2021

Check Configuration Files

See Check Configuration Files.

Google Sitemap Automatic Upload

In XperienCentral R33, a new setting for controlling whether XperienCentral automatically uploads generated sitemaps to Google has been introduced. The setting google_sitemap_automatic_upload can be found in the application_settings section of the General tab of the Setup Tool. When enabled, if a Google sitemap is generated, it is automatically uploaded according to the schedule configured in the setting google_sitemap_generator_schedule. When disabled, the latest generated sitemap is not uploaded.

Because it is disabled by default, when upgrading from R32, the option must be enabled manually if XperienCentral should continue to automatically submit the sitemap to Google.

New Channel for the Interactive Forms Panel

Beginning in XperienCentral version R33, the Interactive Forms panel uses the "iafpanel" channel to render forms. This mechanism makes it possible to decouple the IAF visual representations from the website presentation. New presentations should use it for all standard fragment types unless the representation inside the IAF panel must resemble the website's presentation. When upgrading, there are 3 possible options for handling this situation:

1. Add "iafpanel" (without quotes) to the channels_using_fallback setting in the application_settings section of the General tab of the Setup Tool. This will make all presentations without an explicit "iafpanel" channel declaration behave as described in option 3 below. This is the quickest fix. The notes in option 3 below also apply to this option.

2. Add the "iafpanel" channel to all custom formStep, FormSectionVersion and form fragment presentation descriptors. This will deliver the best Edit side presentation and will prevent the custom presentations from being cluttered with Edit-side logic. For a text input fragment, the channel declaration looks like this:
   
   

   Code Block
   theme Eclipse
   <channel> <name>iafpanel</name>  <presentation>FormFragmentTextInput</presentation> <!-- Name of IAF's own presentation --> </channel>

   
   As a result, any code in the presentation JSPs that is specific to the preview mode can be removed.
   
   

3. Add the "iafpanel" channel to all custom formStep, FormSectionVersion and form fragment presentation descriptors and have it refer to itself. The Interactive Forms panel will then continue to use the custom presentations, making it possible to have the same HTML output in the panel as on the website.
   
   

   Note
   title Notes
   Option 1 has the same effect as Option 3 but it is easier to implement. The disadvantage of using Option 1 is that it might not be obvious that an "iafpanel" channel that you want to point to the IAF's own presentation (Option 2) is missing from a presentation descriptor. The IAF panel presentation(s) may look different than the pre-R33 version(s) because of changes to the CSS. Option 2 or 3 can be used separately for each presentation.

   
   

fragmentDiv tag

When the fragmentDiv tag is overruled in a custom presentation plugin, the data-jcr-uuid attribute must now be added in Edit mode by the custom fragmentDiv tag.

An example how this can be implemented can be found in the standard IAF fragmentDiv tag inside the wmformelement plugin.

CSRF Settings

To better protect websites hosted by XperienCentral against CSRF attacks, a new mechanism has been introduced that uses a CSRF token that is stored in a cookie, and an SHA-256 hash of this token plus a random 16 character long nonce, postfixed with the used nonce, must be included in all non-GET requests to the server as a header or form field. This change could affect custom functionality in the following ways:

• If a custom version of the Interactive Form file formvalidationbindings.js is used, it must be updated with the anti-CSRF changes which can be found by searching for "csrf" in the upgraded formvalidationbindings.js.
• If the Interactive Form formsHeadTag presentation is not called from a custom presentation plugin, then the page presentations of this plugin must include the /<context path>/js/form/csrfprotection.js script.
• If XHR form posts are performed in custom panels, elements or widgets, the X-CSRF-Token header must be added to these posts.
• The secure_rest_against_csrf configuration setting and the mandatory use of the X-Session-Verify header when it is enabled are now only relevant for GET requests to XperienCentral's REST API. All other types of requests to the REST API are now always checked, irrespective of the secure_rest_against_csrf configuration setting, and they must contain the X-CSRF-Token header. See the application_settings section of the General tab of the Setup Tool for complete information on the secure_rest_against_csrf setting.
• If custom voting presentations are used, the X-CSRF-Token must be added to the form posts they execute. See voting.jspf in the Community Edition presentation for an example.
• External requests to /services/oembed must add a X-CSRF-Token header to the request. It can be retrieved from the X-CSRF-Token response header when the steps on /wiki/spaces/PD/pages/24718337 have been followed.
• It is not possible to submit forms to XperienCentral from other domains, even when that domain is another channel of the same XperienCentral installation, because browsers do not allow reading cookies from another domain.

See also /wiki/spaces/PD/pages/24718337 for more information.

formvalidationbindings.js

The following changes have been made to the formvalidationbindngs.js file:

• A new initCSFW function has been added that is called in the $(document).ready for all forms and from the IAF_FormLoaded event listener.
• initCSFW calls the new loadScript function which adds a script tag to load the client-side framework.
• The IAF_ShowFormFragment and IAF_HideFormFragment event listeners have been updated to prevent event propagation.
• The IAF_SubmitForm event listener has been updated to add the anti-CSRF header when submitting the form using Ajax and to support form fields that have "submit" as their identifier.
• The IAF_AjaxShowFormStep event listener now checks whether the response contains the X-CSRF-Token header. If it does, then it creates a hidden input with its value. This is done to support IAF forms on external domains.
• The formObj.submit function defined in the init function has been updated to add the anti-CSRF input field when submitting the form.
• A new showGeneralErrorMessage function has been defined that shows a general error message at the top of a form when a communication error occurs.

Interactive Forms Upload Element

The Upload element in Interactive Forms has been modified to allow multiple file uploads. You can also set a minimum and maximum number of allowed files in an Upload element. See Creating Forms for complete information.

Modular Content Tag Property change (v2.0.13)

Properties of type tagare now referenced using an ID instead of by name. For example, suppose you have the following tag property:

TemplateProperty tagProperty = modularVersion.getModularTemplateInstance().getPropertyByIdentifier("mypropertyoftypetag");

Previously, the tag name would be retrieved using tagProperty.getStringValue(). Now the (Siteworks) ID of the property must first be retrieved using getIntegerValue() and, given that, the correspronding MediaTerm can be retrieved using getWrapper. For example:

Previously in Java

TemplateProperty property = modularVersion.getModularTemplateInstance().getPropertyByIdentifier("mypropertyoftypetag");
String tagName = property.getStringValue();

Now in Java

TemplateProperty property = modularVersion.getModularTemplateInstance().getPropertyByIdentifier("mypropertyoftypetag");
Long tagId = property.getIntegerValue();
Session session = getSessionManager().getActiveSession();
MediaTerm categoryTag = (MediaTerm) session.getWrapper(tagId.intValue(), MediaTerm.class);
String tagName = categoryTag.getName();

Previously in JSP Code

<c:set var="mediaItem" value="${presentationcontext.mediaItem}" />
<c:set var="currentMV" value="${mediaItem.current}" />
<c:if test="${wmfn:instanceOf(currentMV, 'nl.gx.product.wmamodularcontent.api.ModularMediaItemArticleVersion')}">
   <c:set var="mti" value="${current.modularTemplateInstance}" />
   <c:set var="supportedContenttype" value="${mti.type.identifier eq 'examplecontenttype'}" />
</c:if>
<c:choose>
   <c:when test="${supportedContenttype && not empty mti.getPropertyByIdentifier('mypropertyoftypetag').getStringValue()}">
      <c:set var="tagName" value="${mti.getPropertyByIdentifier('mypropertyoftypetag').getStringValue()}" />
   </c:when>
   ....
</c:choose>

Now in JSP Code

<c:set var="mediaItem" value="${presentationcontext.mediaItem}" />
<c:set var="currentMV" value="${mediaItem.current}" />
<c:if test="${wmfn:instanceOf(currentMV, 'nl.gx.product.wmamodularcontent.api.ModularMediaItemArticleVersion')}">
   <c:set var="mti" value="${current.modularTemplateInstance}" />
   <c:set var="supportedContenttype" value="${mti.type.identifier eq 'examplecontenttype'}" />
</c:if>
<c:choose>
   <c:when test="${supportedContenttype && not empty mti.getPropertyByIdentifier('mypropertyoftypetag').getIntegerValue()}">
      <c:set var="tagId" value="${mti.getPropertyByIdentifier('mypropertyoftypetag').getIntegerValue()}" />
      <wm:object var="tagObject" objectId="${tagId}" objectType="nl.gx.webmanager.cms.mediarepository.mediaTermMediaTerm" hideError="true" />
      <c:set var="tagName" value="${tagObject.name}" />
   </c:when>
   ....
</c:choose>

Interactive Forms Deprecated Methods

In XperienCentral versions R33 and higher, the following form methods have been deprecated.

FormScope

The following method has been deprecated:

void setUploadFragmentValue(String fragment, UploadedFile file);

use the following method instead:

void setUploadFragmentValues(String fragment, List<UploadedFile> files);

FormValuesMap

The following method has been deprecated:

public UploadedFile getUploadedFile(String key)

use the following method instead:

public List<UploadedFile> getUploadedFiles(String key)

UploadFragmentScope

All methods have been deprecated. Use the following method instead:

List<Object> files = scope.getValues();
if (files != null) {
   for (Object fileObj : files) {
      if (fileObj instanceof UploadedFile) {
         UploadedFile file = (UploadedFile) fileObj;
      
         // Now read the attributes
         File file = file.getFile();
         long size = file.getSize();
         String contentType = file.getContentType();
         ...
      }
   }
}   

XperienCentral R27

Release date: March 26, 2020

Check Configuration Files

See Check Configuration Files.

Language Version Support for Media Items

Beginning in XperienCentral 10.27.0, each version of a media item has a specific language defined for it. During the upgrade R27 or higher, each media item is assigned the default editing language of the home page. A consequence of this is that media items might not be shown any longer if its language differs from that of the page on which it should be shown. This is also the case for (lead) images stored in the Content Repository. This can be solved in many cases by defining a fallback language for the languages on your channel. If the fallback language for Dutch is set to English, for example, and there is no Dutch media item to be shown on a Dutch page, then the English version will be shown. This is the case for all kinds of media items, images as well as articles, for example.

Check the following to ensure that media items in your channel(s) are handled appropriately:

• The "Language" setting (default editing language) for the home page: Properties widget > General > Other > Language.
• Enable/disable fallback language(s) setting: Channel Configuration > General > Options > "Use another language if language is not available".
• The fallback language to use for a language: Language Labels.

Modify your Solr Configuration

In this version of XperienCentral, the Lucene version has been upgraded to version 6.6.6, therefore you must make the following changes to solrconfig.xml:

Change the declaration

<luceneMatchVersion>5.4.1</luceneMatchVersion>

to

<luceneMatchVersion>6.6.61</luceneMatchVersion>



and add the following declaration to the <config></config> section:

<schemaFactory class="ManagedIndexSchemaFactory">
   <bool name="mutable">false</bool>
</schemaFactory>

Deprecated Method

The following method has been deprecated in the XperienCentral API in this release:

• MediaRepositoryManagementService.createMediaItemVersion (MediaItem,MediaItemVersion) — Use createMediaItemVersion(MediaItemVersion) instead.

Removed Methods/Interfaces

The following methods and interfaces have been removed from the XperienCentral API in this release:

• MediaRepository.createContent — Use MediaRepositoryManagementService.createMediaItem(Website, String) instead.
• MediaItemDownloadVersion.getPersonalization() — Use getPersonalizationItem() instead.
• PageVersion.getPersonalization() — Use getPersonalizationItem() instead.
• Element.getPersonalization() — Use getPersonalizationItem() instead.
• Element.setPersonalization() — Use setPersonalizationItem() instead.
• MediaItemDownloadVersion.setPersonalization() — Use setPersonalizationItem() instead.
• Website.getPersonalizations() — Use getPersonalizationItems() instead.
• Utilities.checkPersonalizations() — Use checkPersonalizationItems() instead.
• DirectoryElement
• FileNode

• PollElement

• PollItem

• WhoIsWhoElement

Update your Presentation JSPs

You need to update your presentation JSPs if they use the following methods:

• PageVersion.getPersonalization()
• Element.getPersonalization()
• MediaItemDownloadVersion.getPersonalization()

Perform a global search in your presentation JSPs for the string ".personalization" to ensure that you catch all instances.