Magnolia 6.1 reached end of life on March 31, 2021. This branch is no longer supported, see End-of-life policy.
Magnolia CMS 6.1 brings simplified product packaging. The old Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Pro editions merge into one new edition: DX Core. This new edition has all the features you would expect from a modern CMS. We update our maintenance policy to bring you new releases and new features more often while still guaranteeing the stability of our APIs. We also provide here a sneak peek into the upcoming Connector Packs, which connect Magnolia to adjacent systems in your digital experience architecture.
Authors benefit from many UI and usability improvements. Magnolia UI now uses screen real estate more effectively. There is less white space and more room for actual content. Find Bar suggestions and search results now reflect each individual user's search behavior. Search is also more context aware as results from the current app are displayed at the top. Find Bar gives visual hints for commands and supports keyboard navigation.
The Content Types module is now ready for production. With Content Types, developers can create Magnolia content apps quickly and easily with just a few lines of configuration. Magnolia CMS 6.1 also supports configuring Magnolia Maven modules with a module class via a light module.
The Magnolia 6 UI framework continues to evolve in developer preview. We now support custom form layouts in AdminCentral dialogs and apps. You can use the Vaadin declarative syntax to create custom field layouts, field groupings and form styles. We continue to provide better implementations leveraging the power of Vaadin 8. We encourage developers to try out this preview version and give us feedback and suggestions.
Product packaging
DX Core edition
We are simplifying the product packaging. Starting with this release, the old Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Pro editions merge into a new edition called DX Core. DX stands for digital experience as the new edition makes a great basis for building your own digital experience platform.
The new edition includes nearly all the modules that were previously in the Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Pro editions. A few modules go into Connector Packs. DX Core provides all the content management functionality that you would expect from a modern enterprise CMS, such as authoring tools for structured and unstructured content, asset management, personalization and workflow. It also simplifies product choice for new customers since everything is included in one license.
Community Edition stays
The Community Edition is a great way to try out the product. It is an important gateway for clients to eventually move up to DX Core, and it works well for small websites with limited functionality and scale. We keep offering the Community Edition for free.
Connector Packs
Connector Packs complement DX Core. Each Connector Pack integrates Magnolia with an adjacent software category such as e-commerce. The packs are optional. You typically need to connect multiple systems when building a best-of-breed digital experience platform. Connector Packs make it all easier.
The following Connector Packs will be available shortly after the Magnolia 6.1 release:
- Commerce Connector Pack for connecting to e-commerce systems such as Magento and commercetools AVAILABLE
- Analytics Connector Pack for connecting to web analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Matomo (Piwik) AVAILABLE
- Optimization Connector Pack for connecting to content optimization tools such as Siteimprove AVAILABLE
- DAM Connector Pack for connecting to third-party digital asset storage such as Amazon S3 IN PROGRESS
- Customer Data Connector Pack for connecting to customer data platforms such as CRMs IN PROGRESS
Connector Packs include ready-made connectors to popular tools in the software category. Connector Packs also provide a framework to connect your own systems. The framework typically consists of an API to access content and data from the connected system, an app to view and browse the content and templates to render items on your website.
The framework makes switching tools easy. The framework API is generic and works the same way for all connected systems in the software category. Developers only need to learn the API once. You do not need to change templates when you change e-commerce systems, for instance. Keep using the same familiar API to access the content.
Module documentation reorganized
We have removed the documentation of the following modules from the 6.0 and 6.1 documentation spaces temporarily as the modules are currently being reworked for inclusion in the upcoming Connector Packs:
- External Forms module
- IBM Marketing Cloud connector
- SugarCRM connector
- Salesforce connector
- Amazon S3 module
- Cumulus DAM connector
- IBM WebSphere Commerce Integration module
- commercetools Connector module
- KonaKart Connector module
If you need any of these modules right now, get in touch with support.
Special Features
Special Features are additional functionality available for specific needs and use cases such as managing complex multisite installations that share similar content, monitoring performance and scaling up publication. Special Features are optional. You get the best results when using them with guidance and expertise from Magnolia.
Maintenance policy change
Magnolia has reviewed its maintenance policy and will implement a Long-Term Support model. From version 6.1, Magnolia classifies major releases (x.y) into Long-Term Support (LTS) and Feature releases.
| Version | Status | End of life |
|---|---|---|
| 6.1 | Feature release | Upon release of 6.2 |
| 6.0 | Feature release | June 2019 |
| 5.7 | No change | November 2020 |
| 5.6 | No change | July 2020 |
| 5.5 | No change | November 2019 |
For more information, see our updated end-of-life policy.
Extensions moved to Incubator
Magnolia Extensions will now be known as the Services Incubator. We allow enterprise customers to take advantage of the modules produced by the Services team. The reason for the name change is to make clear that these modules are experimental and come with limited support. As the modules mature and reach more widespread adoption, they can become add-ons or even part of the core platform. However, it is important to note that users of these modules assume some risk. If you have any questions, please direct them to the Magnolia Support team.
Changes for authors
Find Bar improvements
User-based, role-based and custom ranking of search results
The Periscope Result Ranker module uses neural networks to store Find Bar search results and rank them by relevance. The module learns user preferences to offer better result ranking for subsequent searches. By default, search result rankings are stored per user. You can change the configuration as necessary. For example, you can enable an individual ranking for each user or for selected users only. Additionally, you can configure the memory size of networks to mitigate possible memory consumption issues in large setups.
Here is an example showing the Magnolia welcome screen and the Tours app positioned as the top option for editorB, who - compared to editorA - has already interacted with the app several times:
The following Result Ranker strategies are possible:
- User-based ranking: individual result ranking for each author. With this strategy, the module creates one neural network for each user.
- Role-based ranking: only users with the role
superuserorrankerhave local (per-user) ranking memory. Any other users work with the global (per-instance) ranking memory. - Custom ranking: develop your own custom result-ranking strategy.
See Periscope Result Ranker module for more information.
Results from current app appear at the top
Find Bar now considers your working context when ordering search results. Results from the currently open app are displayed first; results from other apps follow. Context-aware ordering is the new default setting. To disable it, clear the Re-order current app to the top checkbox.
The following screenshots show the results for the search term Vietnam seen against the Assets and Tours apps open in the background:
Keyboard navigation supported
You can now use the Up and Down arrow keys to move through Find Bar search results and press Enter to open the highlighted result.
Commands automatically recognized
Find Bar automatically recognizes any command you enter. To execute a command, press Enter or use the speech recognition functionality.
Definitions app migrated to new UI
We have migrated the Definitions app to the new UI and added more filter options to both of its subapps, giving you a more refined control over all definitions and potential problems.
UI improvements
Based on your feedback on Magnolia 6.0, we have improved the UI by optimizing the use of vertical space.
Here is an example from the Tours app:
We have polished the layout throughout the UI. You will find that headers, tasks, notifications and hover/click patterns are harmonized.
The Find Bar behavior is also more natural and user friendly.
Content editor supports richText fields
In a custom content block, you can now use the
richText field type for more advanced text formatting. Previously, only basic text formatting functions were available through the special text block type.
With this Magnolia release, richText initializes correctly in a
multivalue field.
Audit log correctly identifies requestor's user name
With the introduction of the Publishing module, audit log entries for publishing and unpublishing requests always mentioned superuser as the requestor. With Magnolia CMS 6.1, the audit log now correctly identifies the requestor's user name again.
Image editor: no black borders when rotating an image
The image editor in Magnolia's digital asset management no longer creates black borders when you rotate an image.
Scheduler module more robust
A bug has been fixed in the task-management module. The bug affected the Scheduler module, which stopped working after changing its configuration.
About app no longer slow to start
A bug has been fixed in the About Magnolia app to decrease the start-up time of the app.
Changes for developers
Content Types module
Use the Magnolia Content Types module to define the content models of your project in Magnolia.
A Magnolia content type is a formal definition for a type of content in Magnolia, including the properties the type may contain and its relationship to other types of content. A content type is configured in a content type definition that includes the data source definition and the model definition.
Content type items can be managed via a content app. The content can be embedded into web pages or served via REST in a headless approach.
Developers can define content types in light modules on a running Magnolia system without redeploying the WAR file of your Magnolia instances and without restarting the instance or any module. This makes it a perfect approach if you have a Magnolia Cloud subscription package.
Here is an example of a content type definition:
datasource:
workspace: tourguides
namespaces:
mt: https://www.magnolia-travel.com/jcr/1.0/mt
autoCreate: true
model:
nodeType: mt:tourGuide
properties:
- name: birthday
type: Date
- name: gender
- name: shortBio
See the Content Types tutorial for more information.
The !content-type directive
To refer to a content type definition within an app descriptor, use the !content-type directive. For example:
!content-type:tourGuide name: tourGuides-app
In Magnolia 6.0, the directive was !with-type.
Creating richText fields faster in content-type apps
In content-type apps, you can now use the rich text input field without needing to supply extra configuration in the app definition file or decoration. To render a richText field in your app, set the type: richText property for the field in the definition of your content type.
Several stock apps content type ready
We have migrated the following apps to the info.magnolia.ui.contentapp.contenttypes.ConfiguredContentTypeAppDescriptor class and set the
contentType property for each of them:
- Assets app
- Categories app
- Pages app
- Stories app
- Tours app (in Travel Demo)
You can now easily reference the content type of any of these apps. For example, your custom content type can define a field that references categories.
MGNLCT-90, CONTEDIT-204, PAGES-170, MGNLCAT-181, MGNLDAM-777, MGNLDEMO-306
References to submodels and content types more distinct
When referencing a submodel in the type property definition item of a content type model definition, you just need to provide its name (for example, type: vehicleGroup).
If you wish to reference a content type that makes a reference to another content item, prefix the value with reference: (for example, type: reference:tourGuide).
For use cases, see Creating and linking submodels in our Content Types tutorial.
New apps automatically added to App launcher
The defaultGroup property of appLauncherLayout defines the group to which a new app is added automatically, provided that the app has not been added to another group of the layout.
During installation, the value of the property is set to edit. During an update, it is set to edit only if the property has not been set already.
See App launcher layout for more information.
Changes to UI framework
Custom form layouts
DEVELOPER PREVIEW
With the declarative layout in Magnolia CMS 6.1, you can create form entries in an arbitrary Vaadin component container using the Vaadin declarative syntax.
See Form definition: Declarative layout for more information.
Type resolver allows $type to be used as shortcut for class
DEVELOPER PREVIEW
A type resolver has been introduced that can deduce a definition type from a string alias instead of a fully qualified class name. You can now use the $type property as a shortcut for class provided that the definition class is annotated with a string alias. The proper value is defined by the annotation.
Defining datasource for apps
DEVELOPER PREVIEW
You can now define datasource for an app instead of defining the property individually for each subapp. You still have the option to define datasource for every subapp. If no value is specified at the subapp level, the subapp will automatically inherit the property from its app.
Dialogs have Save and Cancel actions by default when no actions are defined
DEVELOPER PREVIEW
The Save and Cancel actions are now provided by default for dialogs when an actions node is not defined.
Configuring Magnolia Maven modules via light module
You can now configure Magnolia Maven modules with a module class via a light module. The YAML file containing module configuration data has to reside in src/main/resources/<module-name>/config.yaml. You can always change module configuration by defining a decorator. See Module configuration for more information.
Compact namespace and node type definition (CND)
In Magnolia CMS 6.1, the CND notation is used to define custom JCR node types and make namespace declarations. While XML node type definitions are still supported, we recommend using CND. See Node Type Notation for more details.
Decorating dialogs with presenterClass
The system threw an exception every time you tried to launch a dialog decorated with a presenterClass property. With Magnolia CMS 6.1, you can now decorate and use dialogs with that property.
Inserting image into rich-text editor of text and image components
In the CKEditor, selecting an image from the server previously did not work because the Asset chooser dialog was hidden behind the Image properties dialog. In Magnolia CMS 6.1, you can now add the following snippet to configJsFile.js as a workaround for this bug (note that this file does not exist by default. If you are experiencing this bug, you may also want to consult this guide). This snippet will allow you to select and insert assets into the rich-text editor.
$('body').on('DOMNodeInserted', 'div.v-window.v-widget.v-has-width.dialog.v-window-dialog', function(e) {
if($('div.v-window.v-widget.v-has-width.dialog.v-window-dialog').length > 1) {
$('.cke_dialog_background_cover').attr('style', 'z-index: 10000 !important;');
$('.cke_dialog').each(function(index, obj) {
obj.style.setProperty("z-index", "10000", "important");
});
}
});
Properties set to null in YAML configuration return an issue
If a property is set to null in YAML configuration, it will now be reported as a minor issue in the Definitions app.
To initialize an empty list or map property so that the Definitions app does not report a problem, use this syntax:
list: []
map: {}
Cleanup of minor problems reported in Definitions app
After we migrated module configuration items to info.magnolia.config.module.ModuleConfigurationRegistry, the Definitions app began reporting a number of minor problems such as the use of deprecated properties or properties no longer defined in module configurations.
Third-party library updates
This release comes with various third-party library updates. All changes are managed via the BOM for third-party modules. If you manage your bundles via Maven using the BOM, all updates will be handled automatically.
- Vaadin 8.8.2 (MGNLUI-5119)
- Tika 1.20 (MAGNOLIA-7492, restricted access)
- Jackrabbit 2.18.1 (MAGNOLIA-7521)
- Ehcache 3.7.1 (MGNLCACHE-213)
Due to an incompatibility issue, the items that are persisted on disk will be deleted after updating.
Deprecations
Google Analytics Visualization module
We are putting the Google Analytics Visualization (GAV) module into maintenance mode. This means we do not make improvements or add new features to the GAV module anymore as we plan to replace and deprecate the module soon. It will be replaced by the Analytics module.
Ehcache 2 submodule
With this release, we have completely removed the Ehcache 2 submodule. This cache submodule was deprecated with Magnolia 5.5.4 and replaced with the 3.x line of Ehcache, which brings important changes and improvements such as:
- Full compatibility with javax.cache API (JSR-107)
- Off-heap storage capabilities
- Revamped API
- Persistence by default
- Improved performance
Missing a feature or improvement? See our Recent features page for an overview of select major features delivered by Magnolia in the last two years.
Others
If you are upgrading from an earlier version, read the Upgrading to Magnolia 6.1.x page first and check the Known issues page.
Security advisory
We have fixed several other security issues with this release. We keep the details of those fixes private in line with our security policy. Contact our Support team if you need more information.
MAGNOLIA-7489, MGNLCTS-102, PSWDMNGR-13, MGNLPUR-178 (restricted access)
Known issues
Documentation screenshot updates
Some of the screenshots in this documentation still show the legacy Magnolia 5 UI. Please bear with us as we work to update them.
Anonymous usage metrics
We collect anonymous non-personal usage data when you use Magnolia CMS. We do so using analytics techniques that exclude any information that might identify you or your organization.
Examples of information we collect and store include:
- Magnolia version
- Magnolia edition
- Instance type (author, public)
- Module names and versions
No personal user or customer information is collected.
Our aim is to improve Magnolia based on real usage data. The feature is enabled by default when you install Magnolia, but your administrator can opt out at any time using the checkbox in the About Magnolia app.
See our privacy policy for more information.
Changelog
See the 6.1 changelog for all the changes.
Updated modules
- Advanced Cache 2.2
- Cache 5.8
- Campaign Publisher 1.3.1
- Categorization 2.7
- Community Edition 6.1
- Contacts 1.7.1
- Content Dependencies 1.9.1
- Content Editor 1.3.1
- Content Tags 1.2.1
- Content Translation Support 2.4
- Content Types 1.1
- DAM 2.6
- Definitions app 2.0
- Demo Projects 1.4.1
- Enterprise Edition 6.1
- Form 2.5.2
- Icons 21
- LDAP support 1.10.2
- License 1.7.1
- Machine Learning 1.1
- Magnolia 6.1
- Mail 5.5.2
- Marketing Tags Manager 1.4.2
- Maven Archetypes 1.2.5
- Multisite 2.0
- Pages 6.1
- Password Manager 1.2.2
- Periscope 1.1
- Personalization 1.8
- Privacy 1.1.1
- Public User Registration 2.7.2
- Publishing 1.1
- Publishing Transactional 1.0.1
- Resources 2.7
- REST Client 1.7
- RSS Aggregator 2.6.2
- Scheduler 2.3.2
- Site 1.2.3
- Task Management 1.2.6
- Templating Samples 6.0.1
- Third-party library BOM 6.1
- UI 6.1
- Vaadin Compatibility Addons 1.3
- Workflow 5.7.3
Acknowledgements
The Magnolia team would also like to thank everyone who reported issues, contributed patches or simply commented on issues for this release. Your continued interest helps us make Magnolia better. Special thanks go to Thomas Duffey, Jörg von Frantzius, Michael Kaiser, Marvin Kerkhoff, Samuel Kohler, Vyacheslav Maksimov, Michael Mühlebach, Hieu Nguyen Duc, Thomas Peintner, Cedric Reichenbach, Frank Sommer, Bence Vass, Hugo Venancio and Andreas Weder.
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