This release of TotalCMS 2.31 includes an update of Blox Core to 1.58.0 as well as a major change to the platform admin account and a number of other fixes.
**********IMPORTANT NOTE FOR APPLIANCE UPGRADES*********
Local administrators using the "admin" appliance account to login to the BLOX interface must now use this account's email adress: admin@tms.local instead of "admin". The Sandstone admin still requires the username string "admin".
After upgrade you will need to change/update the "admin" account password to use it to login to the BLOX admin. Logins to the BLOX system will fail until a password update is completed.
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Major Included Packages
- BLOX CMS version 1.58.0 (from 1.52.2)
- Syndicate 1.33.0 (from 1.28.2)
- PageTracker 1.15.3
- Client 5.57.0
BLOX CMS version 1.57.0-1.58.0
Key Improvements:
NEW ARTICLE PRESENTATION TOOLS
- In this major release of BLOX Core, we are adding several new features, such as new article presentation properties, new Access Control methods, and new "get live URL" buttons in the admin. In addition, we are fixing several issues and making improvements to the UI.
- We are adding some new article inline presentation capabilities: two-thirds and one-third width. In addition, we will have a new "hide details" mode on inline video and image assets. (TNCMS-7839)
BETTER HANDLING OF UNPUBLISHED ARTICLES
- In order to prevent accidental caching of unpublished assets on the front end, we will be disabling the "live view" button in editorial assets. If it is necessary to retrieve the live URL of the asset, a "get live URL" button has been added. (TNCMS-7889)
- A new button will be available to copy the live URL of an asset from within the BLOX CMS editor. This helps to get the asset's URL without having to actually visit the page, but it is also keeps editors from having to visit the live URL (and create a cached version) before it is actually live. (TNCMS-7924)
"TYPES OF WORK" LABELS & SCHEMA
- We are adding new "types of work" selections for articles. These different attributes can be applied in order to set schema on that article. Some "types of work" will also add labels to the article, above the headline. These labels help end users identify different types of content. (TNCMS-7838)
NEW ACCESS CONTROL FUNCTIONALITY
- In the Access Control application, you can now select multiple rules to batch edit all at once. (TNCMS-7870)
- A new rule created in Access Control will be automatically set as disabled upon creation so that it can be tested or changed before going live. (TNCMS-7871)
- In Access Control, there is now a "redirect URL" rule, which will send the user to a splash page instead of firing the paywall. (TNCMS-7127)
EMAIL IMPROVEMENTS
- We have created a new systems email templating system. In the next few months, we will be working to re-design our systems emails to be more user friendly. (TNCMS-6539)
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS
- It is no longer possible to remove all columns the DMP audience access criteria menu in Access Control. (TNCMS-7702)
- We are improving the security and efficiency of front-end login sessions by moving authentication token and associated cookies into consolidated, signed JSON Web Tokens. (TNCMS-7720)
- In the Access Control application, you can now select all or none of subscription, custom JavaScript, or meters. (TNCMS-7753)
- When multiple rules are selected in the Access Control application, users can now hit the "Disable" button to apply to all selected rules. When multiple rules are selected, users will not be able to hit the "Delete" button. (TNCMS-7861)
- In order to improve security and performance within the BLOX CMS admin, we will be ending support for older, insecure browsers which do not support ECMAScript 2015 (ES6) specifications. Starting in this version of BLOX Core, we will be showing a warning message on the BLOX admin log in screen for users on these old browsers. For more information, read our main announcement about this update. (TNCMS-7913)
- When access is granted in the Access Control system, the access method that provided access was not returned in the JSON payload. This has been fixed. (TNCMS-7915)
- The JS library for the Access Control code will now allow for as many calls as desired to the checkAccess() call by returning the last response automatically to the success method if the state was cached. (TNCMS-7921)
BUG FIXES
- Ad blocker detection in Access Control did not work correctly with some browsers. This has been fixed. (TNCMS-7210)
- We have removed Yahoo! from our federated authentication providers list because it no longer functions. (TNCMS-7577)
- Viewing the front page of a site that does not have an active URL map gives a 500 error. This has been fixed. (TNCMS-7799)
- Access Control's new Offer Builder will now show all active services - whether or not they are hidden. This is because hidden offers can still be purchased on the frontend or renewed—they just aren't offered as standard public rate. (TNCMS-7896)
- An issue related to paging within BLOX's Twitter search feature has been fixed. (TNCMS-7909)
- When creating or modifying a block which has search rules with values that are numeric. The save fails, saying: "Invalid value for query rule." This has been fixed. (TNCMS-7920)
- AMP login will now work in a cookieless fashion. (TNCMS-7926)
- Exporting a block instance from one URL map on a site to another URL map on the same site causes the newly created duplicate block to retain its placements on the URL map it was copied from. Map name references in region placements that accompany the imported block should be entirely ignored and placements applied to matching URL paths in the destination map. (TNCMS-7944)
- We had discovered an edge-case issue related to resizing large PNG files. This has been fixed. (TNCMS-7957)
- Recent changes to the front-end user login heartbeat use JavaScript constructs which break in older browsers, such as iOS 9 and earlier. This has been fixed. (TNCMS-7961)
- The newest version of tidy-html5 adds a new default behavior of moving <style> tags found in the document's <body> up into the document's <head>. The editorial HTML asset—which uses Tidy to sanitize its content—ignores the resulting document's header block. This results in style elements being effectively stripped from HTML assets upon save. This was fixed in an urgent release. (TNCMS-7968)
Full Release Notes:
PageTracker 1.15.3:
In this minor release of PageTracker, we are addressing some issues related to application settings, as well as fixing a few other behind-the-scenes issues.
BUG FIXES
- We have removed the ability to select "Assign User" unless a page is selected. (PAGETRACK-727)
- In a few different locations, options in the PageTracker Application Settings did not save if they were changed. This has been fixed. (PAGETRACK-739) (PAGETRACK-740) (PAGETRACK-744) (PAGETRACK-745)
Syndicate 1.33.0
In this release we are updating Wordpress and Associated Press channels, and adding the ability for BLOX to attempt to autoplay a Field59 video when used in a block.
NEW FEATURE
- Adding support to Wordpress channels for hiding headlines and/or description and byline information on gallery content imported from the Rayos Platform. (SYNDICATE-654)
IMPROVEMENTS
- Child image assets on imported AP articles that were previously imported with a prior article will now have delete dates updated to match the newly added parent article asset. (SYNDICATE-659)
- Adding support for BLOX CMS to define an autoplay override parameter when using the Field59 render method to generate a script tag embed code. (SYNDICATE-666)
BUG FIX
- Video subtypes for JWplayer and Field59 VMS now properly pull provider info on import to get poster image information. (SYNDICATE-653)
Client
While no official version of the client is being packaged with this appliance release, the current version of the client available is the 5.57.0 branch.
Release notes for that version can be found here: https://www.help.townnews.com/blox_total_cms/technical_users/client_release_notes/client-5-57-release-notes/article_ef9d59d4-f8dd-5589-9832-4e069d9d0bf3.html