Sitefinity Release Notes

Dear Sitefinity customers and partners,

We are excited to announce the release of Sitefinity 15.3. Below you can find details about what is included in this release.

Sitefinity 15.3 is also available as part of Sitefinity Cloud where you can take advantage of the latest integrations and updates, while benefiting from the robust features and seamless experience. Learn more…

What's new in Sitefinity 15.3

Support for AI-powered content optimization

When text is selected, a selection menu now appears that allows you to use the AI content features such as Generate text, Improve writing, and more. Also, two new actions are available: you can now make the text shorter or longer using AI. Simple actions that don't have additional parameters (besides the Content parameter) do not require a modal window to complete the action.

Learn more…

AI-powered image search

Hybrid AI-based search is now available enabling you to search images in the backend with keywords. This feature allows Sitefinity backend users to search images based on their content, as well as perform a standard full-text search using the library name, tag, category, or file URL.

NOTE: Hybrid AI image search is currently available only with Sitefinity Cloud.

Learn more…

Section presets in Multisite

Previously, section presets created on a specific site could only be used on pages of that site and not be shared between sites. Now section presets can be shared and used across multisite sites. This is a useful productivity feature that allows you to use previously created presets and share them across your websites.

Learn more…

Ability to edit widgets on pages from templates (decoupled frontend)

You can now edit, customize and personalize widgets from ASP.NET Core and Next.js templates on the page level. This enhancement matches the available functionality for MVC pages.

Profile widget in Next.js

Previously introduced for ASP.NET Core, Profile widget is now available for the Next.js decoupled frontend. You can use the Profile widget to preview and edit user profile details on the frontend. It offers configurable display modes and supports custom fields and field validation.

Learn more…

Improved cache invalidation for Next.js Renderer

The Next.js Renderer starter template now includes CDN caching configuration, enhancing cache invalidation processes.

Modular and performance optimized widget designers in Next.js

Widget designers in the Next.js frontend are now modular and performance optimized, implemented with a tree-shakable approach in mind. This optimization enables faster load times.

Option to exclude content types from the Content list widget

This option allows users to specify which content types are available in the Content list widget of the decoupled frontend (ASP.NET Core and Next.js).

Learn more…

Search improvements

• Ability to search while reindexing:
  A temporary index is created and populated with the new data while the old index remains available for use. Once the temporary index is fully populated, the two indexes are swapped. By default, the option is enabled.
• Error handling during search index operations:
  When creating or reindexing a search index, you’ll now get error messages on the active screen if any problem occurs during index creation, deletion, or merge.
• Renaming a classification updates the content items using it
  Content items using tags/categories are now automatically updated in the search index when renaming an assigned classification.
• Lucene.NET and Azure.Search.Documents are upgraded to latest versions
  Note: After installing or upgrading to Sitefinity 15.3, all clients using the Lucene or Azure AI search services should reindex due to the upgrades of Lucene.NET and Azure.Search.Documents. For more information, see Additional step when installing or upgrading Sitefinity to version 15.3.

Developer tools updates

Sitefinity analysis and migration tools to assist migration from Web Forms and MVC

To help clients migrate from Web Forms and MVC based frontend to the recommended alternatives (ASP.NET Core and Next.js), we have introduced the following tools:

• Sitefinity Migration Analyzer helps you assess the state of your Sitefinity CMS project, gain visibility on which frontend frameworks (Web Forms, MVC, ASP.NET Core, or Next.js) are used in your project, and which components you need to migrate to a recommended frontend rendering technology. This way, you can better plan the time and resources needed to perform the migration. Learn more…

• Sitefinity CLI executes the migrate command line, which is dynamically generated by the Sitefinity Migration Analyzer - this helps automate the migration of Web Forms and MVC pages and page templates to ASP.NET Core pages and page templates. Learn more…

Third-party libraries updates

• As of Sitefinity 15.3, the Bootstrap4 package is no longer distributed with the Telerik.Sitefinity.Feather NuGet package.
  NOTE: Backing up your project prior to starting Sitefinity CMS upgrade is recommended, so that any files that were removed during the upgrade can be restored if required.
• Kendo 2024.4.1112
• ASP.NET Core 9.0
• Next.js 15.1.4
• Angular 19.2.2
• WebP 1.5.0
• HtmlSanitizer 9.0.876
• MSTest.TestAdapter 3.7.1
• MSTest.TestFramework 3.7.1
• ServiceStack 8.5.2
• System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe 6.1.0
• Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc v5.3.0
• Microsoft.AspNet.Razor v3.3.0
• Microsoft.AspNet.WebPages v3.3.0
• Microsoft.Rest.ClientRuntime 2.3.24
• System.Text.Json 8.0.5
• Telerik.DigitalExperienceCloud.Client 4.1.7
• Azure.Core 1.44.1
• Azure.Search.Documents 11.7.0-beta.2
• Lucene.Net.Highlighter 4.8.0-beta00017
• Lucene.Net.QueryParser 4.8.0-beta00017

What's Fixed

• Personalization: sf-prs-lu cookie saving non-encoded URL (539103)

• Preview link for group pages should not be available in Page templates » Used in pages (539479)

• HyperLinkHelpers.GetFullPageUr returns incorrect domain (539470)

• MVC widgets are misplaced in Edit mode, when there is a Grid widget on the page template (426642)

• Constructing the redirect URL of detail item is not done by DataResolver.Resolve (539591)

• MVC widget templates disappear after using revision history to revert to older version (539935)

• Image resizing does not work as expected (535307)

• Workflow: Value not persisted when Page has a parent page under it (540366)

• Duplicate group page display in reorder view during scroll in Pages section (539684)

• Personalized page is still locked after user A saved their draft changes, even though user A is out of the page and user B is not notified beforehand (532393)

• Possible duplicated provider creation in Load balancing scenario (540808)

• Video widget - uploading a video from computer does not reset on video change (539296)

• Ordered/Unordered list does not add the number/bullet points to the Arabic text in Rich Text editor (538607)

• Filter value changed if a specific submit is opened (539390)

• NullReferenceException when resetting user password through the API (540878)

• Expanding a group page in the backend, containing a child page scheduled for unpublishing, throws an error: Index was outside the bounds of the array (540857)

• Accessing the offline site displays Id cannot be an Empty Guid error (541133)

• Editing Content Block table properties inserts a table (541187)

• Error 404 when using two tabs with two different sites in Multisite (540292)

• Fields tooltip is aligned with the text (518162)

• Autogenerated field types: MixedContentContext - selecting an image from a different provider throws an error (541274)

• Script added through the page's Title & Properties screen gets executed in the backend (542473)

• Difference between the HTML field in the resource packages and the embedded one (542598)

• Disabling comments globally and keeping them for a particular content type leads to inconsistent behavior (542689)

• Related Data: Modifying a related item while on the Edit view of the parent item and then publishing the parent, causes removal of related items (542489)

• Sharepoint Connector: Sitefinity does not update ShortText or LongText fields from Sharepoint, if they come with an empty string (542712)

• Search Index: Related Image field for a dynamic module returns null (542874)

• Sitefinity sends multiple choice form values in an invalid format to HubSpot (542706)

• Prevent deleting the latest revision history item (540951)

• A third token record is executed when you publish a news item (536513)

• Performance problem in IDocumentExtensions.SetContentItemLink (543671)

• Inconsistent behavior among headless Create, Delete, and Update endpoints for libraries for a user with a custom role (543394)

• Widget designers: Persisting multiple levels does not deserialize properly in ASP.NET Core Renderer (543952)

• AdminApp: No validation for additional URL duplicates (543851)

• Missing progress indicator when setting permissions for a role (542924)

• Cannot upload image to S3 in Turkish language (543900)

• "Show all libraries" should be displayed when there are more than 5 libraries (529661)

• Performing search with press enter result in two interactions (544807)

• Personalization Insight: Cannot connect to the datacenter when domain starts with 'sitefinity' (544108)

• Events: affecting OData requests for news and dynamic modules (544652)

• Improvements on filter on filtering by current site in Forms grid (543387)

• Introduced filter by current site in Section presets grid (543387)

• Filter by ‘Not shared with any site’ causes issues in other filters (542760)

• Module Builder export content not working (545688)

• Content creation does not respect the user's "stay on the same page after publish" preference (552334)

• Cannot sign-in with 'Forgot Password' workflow (544322)

• Email campaign links cannot be resolved if the issue is sent out from a subfolder site context (545604)

• Files not downloading when served behind Azure CDN with ByteRangeSettings enabled (351202)

• Kendo and Widget Designer: Unable to use Grids in designer after upgrading (545362)

• Registering content location for custom widget does not work (546033)

• Unpublished images' URLs return 404 in the backend when using blob storage provider with CDN parameter (535779)

• Renaming a classification should update items in search indexes which use it (540181)

• Backend search index does not work when there is corrupted Content type name (546491)

• Changing page type and template breaks page editor (545816)

• AdminApp: Cannot upload media files using RTE if the user does not have permissions for the Default library (545288)

• Cannot regenerate thumbnails for library when there is a running task (546739)

• Not all fields get refreshed with new data when modifying an item that has already been edited and published (544464)

• Decoupled Renderers: Search suggestions do not work when searching in Cyrillic (546719)

• Search in Shared in component does not work with capital letters (542759)

• Using UseOnlyUploadMode on related media field in single item selection mode breaks the UI and the upload functionality (545356)

• External auth provider users cannot persist updates to classifications in users (546922)

• Issue with items not loaded for Multiple Providers and Content Types (547083)

• Console error on expanded translation badges if a system language is removed (546025)

• System language is not visible in grid when translation expander is collapsed (547350)

• Url.WidgetContent overload does not append version parameter (547150)

• Language Selector: Redirect to Home when the translation is missing fails to resolve the URL for the specific site, resulting in 404 error (547406)

• Shared Content block: “You do not have permissions to modify this item” message is hidden (547742)

• Change on classification from site-specific to shared is not marked as pending for sync (548061)

• JS error is thrown upon opening MVC Content block for editing (544599)

• System email templates customization per site for identity emails is not sent correctly (549438)

• Adding new child items does not invalidate cache for parent when using ChildItems extension method (550127)

• Performance issues in System Email Templates in Basic Settings (550136, 550716)

• MediaItem images field allows selection of multiple images but persists only the first one (544136)

• 'Select All' button on tree view deselects items when more than 20 are expanded (550256)

• Multilingual: Manually added page links in Content block generate incorrect 'sfref' attribute (547965)

• Error logging improvement: Site Sync error message for redirect responses is misleading (550785)

• Registering content location for custom widget does not work when IsFilterable (550831)

• Decoupled Renderers: OpenGraph Image field value is always set to the Image type (551104)

• Pages: Infinite redirect loop when having the same additional URL as the main URL (550294)

• 'X-File-Name' property not working correctly when creating documents through OData (546394)

• Session expiration is not handled (535563)

• Uploading .eot and .woff2 fails when EnableChunkedUploads is checked (550890)

• Output cache of Activation page / Email change in Profile page is caching when should not (551398)

• MVC Profile widget incorrect view on invalid email edit (551404)

• Change permissions to an image creates unpublished item (551414)

• Cannot revert to item's revision history version if the type has a required Address field (547649)

• PostLogoutRedirectUrl not respected when configured as absolute URL (551090)

• Images: Resizing not working in some cases (550161)

• Personalization Insight: Cannot connect to the datacenter when domain starts with 'sitefinity' (544108)

• Personalization using lead scoring with three stages does not work properly (539050)5516

• Site Sync: Cannot sync images and documents when CDN is in front of Sitefinity (538293)

• Site Sync: Cannot schedule site sync at a specific date on 1/1/2025 at 12:00 AM (544411)

• Site Sync: Translating a Blog post, which was previously synced in "Scheduled for publish" state, breaks the EN version (539140)

• Site Sync: There is no dashboard system notification sent after successful sync (543809)

• Site Sync: Form sync in one language reverts the other translations (544753)

• Site Sync: Page set as new homepage does not appear for sync (548066)

• Site Sync: Synchronization settings link is visible in SaaS deployment mode (550537)

• Site Sync: Boolean field custom widget property does not sync to target (548962)

• Site Sync: Section Presets image thumbnail should not be synced (551625)

• Next.js Renderer: Dynamic list widget displays "No list type has been selected" message even though list type is selected (534335)

• Next.js Renderer: LinkModel (link Insert) returns unexpected JSON in some cases (542604)

• Next.js Renderer: RestClient does not serialize filter properly for non-primitive fields (543652)

• Next.js Renderer: Inconsistent behavior when registering custom views for built-in widgets (543484)

• Next.js Renderer: Link properties nested more than 1 level deep are not resolved correctly (544400)

• Next.js Renderer: Rendering error when deleting widget personalization (546042)

• Next.js Renderer: Content locations for custom widgets does not work (550064)

• Next.js Renderer: LinkModel in complex object on level 5 not serialized correctly (547139)

• Next.js Renderer: Nested complex objects cannot be opened in a dialog beyond the 2nd level of nesting (539775)

• Next.js Designers SDK: Multiple links properties are loading as single selection in designers (545057)

• Next.js Designers SDK: Does not deserialize properly multiple enum choice field (543435)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Error in InitializeViewModel when trying to extend built-in Image widget (540015)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Translating Form is not working during the import of the XLIFF file (541333)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Configuration to hide or propagate widget exception (540300)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Configuration to load page related fields during page render (505542)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Fix GetPageTemplates request exception when connecting to cloud SaaS locally (542429)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Using the RestClient to relate media item to dynamic content does not work, if the related media field uses all site sources (539402)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Filtration by custom choice field returns no items (541406)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Multilingual Form submission missing checkbox data (544957)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Images from external providers are not displaying on the page (545133)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Share Preview Link URL for non-English page is not working (550868)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: Using select expression and related items requires space between fields (548824)

• ASP.NET Core Renderer: OpenGraph description value pulled from the incorrect field (545569)

API and Breaking Changes

• API changes
  Learn more...
• Telerik.Sitefinity.Services.Search.ISearchService is extended with a method that is used to rename a specified search index: void RenameIndex(string indexName, string newIndexName);
• Telerik.Sitefinity.Services.Search.Data.SitefinityCustomScoreQuery: GetCustomScoreProvider and CustomizedScoreProvider methods are changed to receive parameter of type AtomicReaderContext and not IndexReader. This change is related to the upgrade of the Lucene.NET version.
• Telerik.Sitefinity.Search.ISearchServiceFactory: GetSearchService(string catalogName) method is introduced to resolve SearchService based on the catalog name.

Known issues

After an upgrade, you may find an entry in your Error and Upgrade log related to “DashboardModule: Upgrade”. This is a false positive and does not indicate an actual issue.

Documentation improvements

• A new Upgrade and migration section has been included.
  Explore the recommended upgrade paths and learn how to plan and execute Sitefinity upgrades from start to finish. This section also includes information about migrating Web Forms and MVC-based frontends to ASP.NET Core or Next.js using the Sitefinity analysis and migration tools.
  Learn more...
• Sitefinity 15.3 version of the documentation introduces a revamped documentation structure.

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Regards,
Progress Sitefinity Team