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Release: 2.19

· 7 min read
Josquin Fougeray

2.19: the first version of our connector with the search tool Attraqt, Google Analytics 4 for Front-Commerce, GitLab Migration, and Chronopost Relay​

It's been a busy autumn for Front-Commerce!

We launched our first version of the Front-Commerce Cockpit and were able to work on a variety of topics, for the core of Front-Commerce, our cloud offering, and many other topics!

Without further ado, here is the Front-Commerce 2.19.0 program, with a whole host of new features:

  • We have developed the first version of our connector with the headless search tool Attraqt
  • We worked on a beta version for the API-first content platform Contentful
  • We made Front-Commerce compatible with Google Analytics 4
  • We ensured compatibility with Magento 2.4.5 for Front-Commerce
  • We made Chronopost Relay Pick-up available for Front-Commerce with Magento 2
  • We migrated our code away from Gitlab.com to cope with the new Gitlab.com pricing not being adapted to our context

As always, should you have any requests regarding the product roadmap, do not hesitate to contact us 👋

Analytics: a new foundation allowing to use GA4 with Front-Commerce​

As announced by Google, Universal Analytics will disappear on July 1, 2023. Google Analytics 4 is a next-generation measurement solution and is replacing Universal Analytics.

Well, good news: from 2.19, Front-Commerce is compatible with Google Analytics 4!

Compatibility with GA4 forced us to prioritize a new foundation for our analytics components.

The library we previously used (analytics.js) has changed over time and the latest versions require merchants to use Segment.com. We considered this as a blocker and benchmarked different alternatives for platform-agnostic analytics tracking.

We selected the analytics library (https://getanalytics.io/) as a new foundation for our core analytics components. Front-Commerce 2.19 allows you to leverage this new foundation to use up-to-date integrations with the main platforms you might need, including Google Analytics 4.

Here are some highlights of this new version:

  • It has a similar intuitive plugin system, which fills all our analytical requirements.
  • Out-of-the-Box Integrations (plug & play) already cover the main existing use cases we've identified so far: Simple Analytics (https://www.simpleanalytics.com/) and Plausible (https://plausible.io/) are GDPR-friendly solution you can already use as an alternative to Google Analytics if need be.
  • You (and we) could contribute new plugins in the future. See the current plugin requests (we plan to contribute Matomo - french GDPR-friendly alternative to Google - in the near future)
  • We kickstarted a new Analytics Examples repository, providing integration examples for common plugins not yet included in Analytics, also feel free to contribute if you have any ideas!

For previous versions of Front-Commerce (2.18 and below), we detailed the procedure to migrate from Analytics.js to Analytics.io on our Help site. However, we recommend upgrading your Front-Commerce version to 2.19 for an easier integration.

Attraqt: the first version of the connector (Search and Merchandising)​

Front-Commerce is already compatible with Algolia, ElasticSearch, and Magento 2’s native search features. With our Attraqt connector, you now have a whole range of solutions to offer your customers an outstanding experience while browsing your website and searching for content, whether that is products, categories, or even blog posts.

Here is a quick demo of the connector:

Chronopost Relay for Front-Commerce with Magento2​

Within our shipping methods, we already handle Colissimo and Mondial Relay, displaying a map directly in Front-Commerce to help your customers select the pick-up point they want their products to be delivered to.

Magento2 retailers can now provide Chronopost pick-up point selection to their customers. Front-Commerce 2.19 brings compatibility with Magento2 to the Chronopost official extension.

Here is a quick demo:

Performance Improvements: fewer API calls for faster applications!​

As a headless front-end solution for e-retailers, we strive to improve your application's web performance.

In Front-Commerce 2.19, we added some improvements directly related to transactional events, by reducing the number of cart-related API calls and adding support for current customer caching in session. These changes are available for Magento2, and must be enabled in your project after upgrading to 2.19.

This should help you gain precious performance points and directly impact your conversion rates!

Contentful: beta version​

During the past weeks, we built a beta version of a connector with the API-first content platform Contentful. The results are very promising. To test it in real conditions, we were able to deploy a full Adobe Commerce B2B x Front-Commerce x Contentful demo.

Want to now more? You can schedule a personalised demo with Laurent or Christian!

Magento 2.4.5 compatibility​

Magento launched version 2.4.5 in August 2022.

At Front-Commerce, to ensure compatibility with different modules and provide a safe migration path to our Magento customers, we’ve decided to provide compatibility with new Magento versions for their "p1" releases.

This is done with Front-Commerce 2.19, compatible with the Community Edition and Commerce Edition of Magento 2.4.5-p1 (which was planned for the 11th of October: see Magento release schedule)

⏭️ The next compatibility version will be made with Magento 2.4.6-p1, for which the date is still unknown (Magento 2.4.6 is planned for March 14, 2023)

Autumn clean: technical debt management and low-hanging fruits​

For the first Autumn days, we decided to treat ourselves to a week of tackling technical debt issues and low-hanging fruit tasks that we’d postponed or had no time to deal with before (if you are a developer or work with developers, you should know all about this 🙃)

This "out of the flow" week allowed us to tackle small topics that you will find in the Other Changes section.

GitLab Migration: welcome Blackswift!​

Earlier this year, Gitlab announced a new pricing that took place on October 19, 2022. Much like for many other users, this new pricing was not adapted to our context. We discovered this information in September and have been trying to find the best solution since then.

We've decided to migrate our repositories and users from Gitlab.com to another Gitlab SaaS provider: Blackswift 🇫🇷. We continue to provide you the code and everything you already know… the only difference is the domain name!

If you are curious about the topic, you can read our article about it 👀

Other changes​

Features

  • dx: allow app to add new components to existing WYSIWYG components (8e6bd7b)
  • dx: improved Icon component override DX to add custom icons (efb6936)
  • dx: merge tsconfig in skeleton (2ae1af1)
  • dx: improve HTTP cache debug message (f54aa68)
  • magento1: Expose isDefault in country resolver (1baa68f)
  • magento2: Expose isDefault in country resolver (8c78b49)
  • magento2: add a category search fallback using Magento's Graph (1df091b)
  • magento2: add a product search fallback using Magento's Graph (d8cb5cb)
  • magento2: compute active facets when the Graph based search fallback is used (d8a28f1)
  • stripe: allow to configure stripe module to not capture payment (316ccc7)
  • account: Clear the password form after update success (ea3bfe6)
  • cache: add FRONT_COMMERCE_BACKEND_IGNORE_BUILD_CACHE_REGEX to disable build caching (16b4f2a)
  • csp: allow reportOnly categories and log violated rules (3367a9f)
  • codemod: add codemod script to cli (27752bb)

Bug Fixes

  • images: support empty preset sizes (dbf3a07)
  • magento2: regions were not returned in the graph (447ff04)
  • magento2: prevent unnecessary calls to customers/me from perMagentoCustomerGroup (ec3c82b)
  • hipay: remove useless reference check in HiPay callback URL (3ae8342)
  • imageResizer: replace mkdirp with make-dir to prevent TypeError: Cannot read property 'catch' of undefined at imageResizer errors (c8f7c5f3)
  • quick-order: fixes addToCartCallback method (91e52eff)

Fixes from 2.19 have also been backported into previous minor versions. The following patch versions were released: 2.18.2, 2.17.3, 2.16.4, 2.15.6, 2.14.6, 2.13.9, 2.12.8, and 2.11.9.

Upgrade to Front-Commerce 2.19.0 or read the full changelog (Customers only)

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