Release Notes / Version 9.9 / February 2, 2024
Highlights
Release Information
Znode v9.9 includes new features, enhancements, security enhancements, v9.7.2.3, v9.7.2.4 merges, and minor bug fixes.
Disclaimer
When upgrading the script to Znode v9.9, it is mandatory to clear the data and republish it.
When the v9.8 database is restored and is to be worked with the latest code version 9.9, it is essential to execute the v9.9 upgrade database script
This step is necessary to ensure the catalog is properly published
Software Upgrades
[ZPD-28822] - log4net Upgrade
log4net has been upgraded from 2.0.8 to 2.0.15.
[ZPD-28823] - System.Text.Encodings.Web Upgrade
System.Text.Encodings.Web has been upgraded to the latest stable version 7.0.0.
[ZPD-28824] - crypto-js Upgrade
Scrypto-js has been upgraded to the latest stable version 4.2.0.
[ZPD-27461/ZLMC-5107/ZPD-23579/ZLMC-4201] - jQuery Upgrade
Upgraded jQuery to the latest stable version 3.7.1
New Features
Commerce Portal
Enhancements
UPS Migrate from SOAP APIs to REST APIs
USPS Migrate from SOAP APIs to REST APIs
FedEx Migrate from SOAP APIs to REST APIs
Webstore - The Behavior of Different Products on the Cart/Checkout Page When Removed from the Webstore (Extended)
Admin Side - The Behavior of Different Products on the Cart/Checkout Page When Removed from the Webstore
Buy One Get One (BOGO) Promotion
Important Information And Breaking Changes
Commerce Portal
Payment Methods
Payment methods configured and associated with the store in the Admin Console will not be supported in the Commerce Portal.
Shipping Methods
In this release of the Commerce Portal, the only shipping method that will work as expected is Custom Shipping >> Flat Rate Per Item.
Taxes
Only Sales Tax and its related configuration will be supported in the Commerce Portal.
Product Types
Group and Bundled products are out of scope in this release.
Configurable Product Attributes
To display and save information against configurable product attributes in an Order, it is mandatory to add them manually to the database.
Order Statuses
Any modifications to system-defined Order Statuses will only have an impact on the Commerce Portal.
User-defined statuses will only be available in the Commerce Portal and not in Znode OMS.
Other Important Information related to the Commerce Portal:
Managing line item shipping fees is not part of the release.
The Commerce Portal Head is not responsive.
Localization is also not supported.
For UPS and USPS
When calculating Non-LTL Shipping Service estimates, Znode will submit individual line items in a single request and display the total shipping rate estimated for each line item on Znode by summing all the individual line item rates.
The Shipping Service “UPS - LTL Freight Urgent” with service code “310” is no longer active.
All previously created UPS - LTL Freight Urgent shipping methods will be disabled by default; however, if the admin user enables the shipping method from the admin console, the request for this shipping method will be sent to UPS, and an error will be returned, which will be documented in the Application Logs.
For UPS and USPS there might be differences in the rates due to parameter changes
For FedEx
If the system gets “REQUEST.MISMATCH” in response after using the Sandbox credentials then make use of Production credentials and the below key needs to be updated in the Api web config.
Key:"IsFedExRestGatewayTestMode" Value: "false"
The Drop-off Type and Packaging Type dropdowns under the FedEx Configuration Section under the Manage Store--> Shipping Origin has been deprecated
For FedEx there might be differences in the rates due to parameter changes
Behavior of Different Products on the Cart/Checkout Page When Removed from the Webstore
The 'IsShoppingCartValidationRequired' flag is set to 'True' by default in the ZnodeGlobalSetting table which earlier was set to ‘False’ by default.
The points that were considered out of scope in version 9.8 are now covered in the 9.9 release:
The inactive status of the group and its child products and add-ons for all types of products.
The admin application changes.
BStore changes
Whenever a product is marked as deactivated on the cart page, the total price will display as 0, since the product record is not present in the ZnodePublishProductEntity table.
No implementation done for Cart Summary: It will only show the pricing calculations for the available products. It will work as it is.
Admin Application Behavior of Different Products on the Cart/Checkout Page When Removed from the Webstore
The 'IsShoppingCartValidationRequired' flag is set to 'True' by default in the ZnodeGlobalSetting table which earlier was set to ‘False’ by default
No implementation done for Cart Summary: It will only show the pricing calculations for the available products. It will work as it is.
Buy One Get One (BOGO) Promotion
Import for the Buy One Get One (BOGO) Promotion is not included in this release.
Group and Bundled products are out of scope in this release.
Password Changes
Regex for the password has been changed wherein the password will no longer allow the customers to set a password comprising of curly braces i.e. { }
Bstore Captcha Changes
The Captcha implementation on the Bstore registration page on the webstore has been deprecated.
Label Changes In Site Search
Under Site Search > Manage PIM Index > PIM Index Settings Tab >Add New
View title ‘ADD SEARCH INDEX SETTING’ is changed to “ADD SEARCH INDEX SETTINGS”.
Under the Site Search > Manage PIM Index > PIM Index Settings Tab > Edit
View title ‘EDIT - <CATALOG NAME> - is changed to “EDIT SEARCH INDEX SETTINGS - <CATALOG NAME>.
Other Breaking Changes
Please refer to this Breaking Changes Document for more information.
New Features
[ZPD-24589] - Commerce Portal
Administration and Commerce Portal Experience
Znode has launched the "Commerce Portal", a comprehensive order management system that will assist clients (and their representatives) in the process of order creation to order finalization.
Also, a new menu named "Commerce Portal Settings" has been added to the Znode Admin Console under Dev Center, where all the settings/configurations related to Commerce Portal Head can be done.
The following enhancements have been made in the Znode Admin Console apart from adding a new menu “Commerce Portal Settings”:
Customer Profile
Two new sub-sections have been added to the Customer profile:
Roles
Admin users can associate Roles that will define the access rights for the customer.
It is mandatory to have at least one Role associated with the customer profile, whether a Znode Role or a Commerce Portal Role.
Customers can have multiple Commerce Portal Roles associated with their profile but only one Znode Role.
User Groups
Admin users can associate User Groups that the users will be part of.
Roles & Access Rights
While creating a new Role or editing the existing one, the admin user will be able to view 2 sections:
Admin Permissions (Znode Admin Console)
This section will function as is.
Commerce Portal (CP Head)
This section will contain a list of permissions that will be used to define the admin user's access to the Commerce Portal.
Enhancements
[ZPD-10482/ZPD-26224/ZPD-26238/ZPD-25762] - Migration of Shipping Methods UPS, USPS, and FedEx from SOAP to REST API
Administration/ Commerce
This patch includes upgrading the shipping method integration and seamlessly migrating from SOAP to REST API.
Following are the changes for respective shipping methods:
UPS Upgrade
The following fields are introduced with this SOAP to REST conversion and old ones are deprecated:
UPS Client ID
UPS Client Secret
UPS Account Number
UPS LTL Account Number
UPS LTL Client ID
UPS LTL Client Secret
Shipment Drop-Off Type
Packaging Type
If the credentials used in the Store Setting > Store Origin are those of the testing environment, the value for the key "IsUPSRestGatewayTest" in the web.config file should be set to "true.
Important:
All previous credentials will no longer work after the upgrade and must be reconfigured.
USPS Upgrade
The following fields are introduced with this SOAP to REST conversion and old ones are deprecated:
USPS Consumer Key
USPS Consumer Secret
Important:
All of the previous credentials will no longer work after the upgrade and must be reconfigured.
FedEx Upgrade
The following fields are introduced with this SOAP to REST conversion and old ones are deprecated:
Account API Key
Account Secret Key
Declare Package Value
Important:
All of the previous credentials will no longer work after the upgrade and must be reconfigured.
[ZPD-28631/ZPD-26598/ZLMC-5012/ZPD-21738/ZLMC-3852/ZPD-29244] - Behavior of Different Products on the Cart/Checkout Page When Removed from the Webstore (Full Version)
Shopper Experience
This version covers all the required validations involving:
Is the Product associated with any published catalog/category?
Is the Catalog associated with the Store to which the Product is associated to?
Product Status (Activated/Deactivated)
IsObsolete
Is the Inventory available?
Does the add-on or add-on group is associated with the product (the product combination) that is in the Shopper’s Cart?
On-load page or refresh the cart page: In case of deactivation, validation checks are only placed on the on-load or refresh of the cart page. in the other remaining cases, the validation checks are placed on the ‘Checkout’ and ‘Request quote’ buttons.
In the case of re-login, the system will perform validation checks for all the scenarios such as marking it as obsolete, changing its product status, modifying add-ons, or changing its association with a published catalog or category, and updating the product's inventory availability.
When we add any product to the cart and mark the product status as deactivated from the admin side the validation appears on the cart page. Still, when we again activate that product from the admin side and refresh the cart page, the validation message will appear on the webstore because the validation message is coming from session data rather than live data. In the case of re-login, it is working as expected.
For the category/catalog check, we are unable to track the category or the catalog through which the product is coming once it is added to the cart. So the approach here is that the system will only check if the product is available in any of the currently associated catalogs no matter earlier from which catalog/category the product was added to the cart, if available then the add to cart will be enabled and if unavailable then the message The product or product combination is no longer available will appear.
Important Points:
Whenever a product is marked as deactivated on the cart page, the total price will display as 0, since the product record is not present in the ZnodePublishProductEntity table.
[ZPD-27762] - Admin Application - Behavior of Different Products on the Cart Page when the products are unavailable for purchase due to certain scenarios
Administration
This version covers all the required validations in the admin application involving:
Is the Product associated with any published catalog/category?
Is the Catalog associated with the Store to which the Product is associated?
Product Status (Activated/Deactivated)
IsObsolete
Is the Inventory available?
Does the add-on or add-on group is associated with the product (the product combination) that is in the Shopper’s Cart?
When a user creates an order/quote with products in a cart, it will get validated on the Next Add Products button. In the case of unavailable products, the Next Review button, Get Shipping Option, and Quantity options will be disabled.
Add to Cart: If a user adds a product that meets five of the conditions then the product will be marked as unavailable and the error message for unavailable products will be displayed. In this case, the buttons (Next Review, Next Add Notes, Get Shipping Option) and the quantity will be disabled.
Next Review: If a cart is intact and there is a change in any of the conditions out of the five that makes the product unavailable then the validations will occur on the Next Review/Next Add Notes Button click
The admin user will not be able to proceed further until the unavailable product is removed from the cart.
Important Points:
No implementation done for Cart Summary: It will only show the pricing calculations for the available products. It will work as it is.
If an unavailable product is in a cart and a user tries to apply a coupon or voucher, then an error message is displayed. As a user removes an unavailable product from the cart then the user will be able to apply a voucher and coupon and process for the next step.
[ZPD-24422/ZLMC-4513/ZPD-23743/ZLMC-4252] - Buy One Get One (BOGO) Promotion
Shopper Experience and Administration
A new promotion/coupon option is implemented to facilitate the buy one get one feature for the customers.
This feature will not only allow the admin to have the one is to one condition satisfied but then the admin will also have the capability to configure any of the conditions as per the need say buy two get 3 discounted, etc.
Under Marketing→Promotions and Coupons→Add Promotion and Coupon within the Discount Information Tab, there will be two options added under the Discount
Amount off BOGO
Percent off BOGO
Upon choosing the Amount of BOGO following new fields will be visible on the screen that is needed to set the promotion (The Store and the Profile fields will work as is with no changes to the same)
For Each Qty Bought (BO): Here the admin will have to specify the quantity of product that has to be in the cart to make this promotion applicable for the product to be discounted
Discount Qty (GO): Here the admin will have to specify the quantity of product that has to be in the cart to make this promotion applicable for the product to be discounted
Two new sections have been introduced within the Discount Information Tab reading as
When Buying
Gets Discounted
In the when buying section, the admin will have the capability to specify the products, categories or brands to be considered under the BO
In the get discounted section, the admin will have the capability to specify the products, categories or brands to be considered under the GO
Each Qty Bought (BO) will comprise the minimum quantity of the products defined in the When Buying section.
Discount Qty (GO) will comprise the minimum quantity of the products defined in the Get Discounted section.
Max Qty To Discount will comprise the maximum quantity of the products on which the discount will be applicable as per the products defined in the Get Discounted section.
Important Points:
There is no limitation in the number of Products/Categories/Brands that can be added to the When Buying list, as well as the, Get Discounted list.
The Buy One and Get One (BOGO) promotion import is not considered.
Group and Bundled products are out of scope in this release, thus, the BOGO will work only for the configurable and simple products.
[ZPD-28543/ZPD-27284/ZLMC-5094/ZPD-27283/ZLMC-5095] - PowerBI Security Enhancement
Administration
Enhancements have been made by replacing the Username and Password with the Client's Secret Key which gives additional security concerning the PowerBI credentials. There is also a setting available in the webconfig file through which this enhancement can be enabled.
The "IsGeneratePowerBIReportUsingSecureSecretValue" credentials flag in the Web config of Znode.Engine.Admin. If the value of this flag is ‘TRUE’, Znode will load the report using a secure secret value using the service principle. If set to ‘FALSE’, the Admin gets an option to enter the Username and Password which when entered is saved into the database in an encrypted format. While fetching the report these credentials will be decrypted by the system and will be used accordingly which eventually ensures the security of the user credentials.
Important Points:
The Secure secret key approach if selected using the Flag will require a PowerBI premium capacity account.
After taking this patch, power BI credentials need to be updated again because they have been encoded.
[ZPD-28657/ZLMC-5346/ZPD-28746] - Enhancements to the Product Import and Category Product Association Import Process
Administration
Performance-related enhancements have been made to the product import/update process.
[ZPD-24195/ZLMC-4372/ZPD-24213/ZLMC-4383/ZPD-26177 ZLMC-4929/ZPD-26424] - Security Enhancement
Commerce
Sensitive information in the header response has been further secured to void any security attacks.
API and Payment site security enhancement
Enhanced the security over Server or Technology versions available under the headers from certain requests
URL Redirection security enhancement.
Issues Resolved
[ZPD-19608] - Admin - There were some incorrect validations shown under the CMS banner slider section
[ZPD-21115/ZLMC-3607] - Admin - System did not validate the email addresses in the scenarios wherein incorrect email formats were entered
[ZPD-24172/ZLMC-4360/ZPD-26803/ZLMC-5044/ZPD-29200/ZLMC-5536] - Webstore - On the Product listing page, the sorting was not working as intended when changed from one page to another.
[ZPD-25018/ZPD-26929/ZLMC-5053] - Admin and Webstore - Two different return IDs were generated with a single product of the same order. Also while processing the refund Failed to create validation was displayed for the second returned order.
[ZPD-25050/ZLMC-4748] - Admin and Webstore - Multiple %off Category promotions and coupons were applied and it was found that some of them were getting applied and some were not although all the criteria were fulfilled
[ZPD-25490] - Webstore - The Webstore PDP page was displaying blank and on click of Quick view, the page went into a loading state
[ZPD-25669/ZLMC-4852] - Admin - Menu icons looked crooked in Admin when the hamburger menu was set to show less
[ZPD-26200] - Admin - While placing orders and quotes, object reference not set to an instance of an object error message was displayed
[ZPD-27175] - Webstore - Tier pricing was not working correctly on the PDP page
[ZPD-28172/ZLMC-5212] - Webstore - Email was not being sent to the customer upon successful registration through the webstore
[ZPD-28444/ZLMC-5265] - Webstore - When a User was on the reset password page and attempted to reset the password wherein the new password did not meet the required parameters, the user was redirected to the Login page
[ZPD-28461] - Webstore - On the checkout page, when a guest user directly attempted to place an order, the wrong validation message was displayed.
[ZPD-28581/ZLMC-5312] - Webstore - Products were associated with the category which was a part of the active catalog on the webstore but still the products were not appearing
[ZPD-28603] - Admin - While editing a Search Profile, the admin search to check the configurations was not working as expected
[ZPD-28664] - Webstore - Personalized Products were not working on the webstore if the newly created personalize attribute was not set as "Required".
[ZPD-28684] - Admin - Custom Table functionality was not working and was showing an Object reference error
[ZPD-28816/ZLMC-5427] - Webstore - The customers were stuck on the loading page when using PayPal as the payment method at checkout
[ZPD-28858/ZLMC-5438] - Admin - Incorrect validation message was displayed while saving a new Bstore without selecting the pricelist even though the Pricelist was associated from the parent store
[ZPD-28948/ZLMC-5463] - Admin and Webstore - In case of multistore, the form submission notification emails were being sent to the emails mentioned for first store, irrespective of the form being created from some other store in the list.
[ZPD-28971] - Admin - After managing the copied Bstore and switching to the users tab, a user gets associated automatically even though we have not associated any user to the original B store.
[ZPD-28986 ZLMC-5474] - Admin - Admin user was unable to copy the products within the application
To resolve this issue, changes were made in the CopyProduct() method of the Products.ts file
[ZPD-29031] - Admin - Under the PIM Index Settings labels of some attributes/fields were missing when the isused in search flag for them was disabled
[ZPD-29069/ZLMC-5498] - Admin - Short Description attribute was not displaying as searchable attribute while configuring a Search Profile
[ZPD-29174/ZLMC-5514] - Admin - When an admin had access to multiple stores but not All stores and tried to search for users then the result showed list of only the users from one specific store
[ZPD-29175/ZLMC-5512] - Admin - In a scenario wherein the admin had access to multiple stores but not All stores, the admin was able to impersonate users of a specific store only
[ZPD-29176/ZLMC-5511] - Admin - It was noticed when the pricing was imported, the Activation Date and Expiration Date were set to certain default values although there was no data supplied for the same
[ZPD-29447] - Webstore - Access Token Issue was observed in Multiple Areas for the shoppers on the webstore
[ZPD-19064/ZLMC-3326] - Admin - While performing SEO import, any URL whose Product SKU had slash ( / ) resulted in an error and the import failed for that specific SKU
[ZPD-23859] - Webstore - The shopper was unable to place an order through the Checkout Page by choosing Card Connect as a payment method after the session timed out for Card Connect.
[ZPD-27482/ZLMC-5112] - Admin - Moving a media from one folder to the other caused it to lose its custom media attribute values
[ZPD-27739/ZLMC-5132] - Webstore - When personalized fields had a display order, on the PDP they appeared with the correct display order but on the cart, they did not display in the correct display order
[ZPD-28683/ZLMC-5378] - Admin - 'Replace' in DAM was not working as per the expectations
[ZPD-28936/ZLMC-5454] - Webstore - The personalization lines were not displaying correctly when there was more than one personalization on the product when clicked on the Edit Saved Cart.
[ZPD-29018/ZLMC-5487] - Admin - Admin was unable to delete the OOTB Stores
[ZPD-29198/ZLMC-5534] - Commerce - The data in custom fields was not getting saved
[ZPD-29311/ZLMC-5559] - Admin - Unknown semicolon was being displayed on the Export list page
[ZPD-29402/ZLMC-5571] - Admin and Webstore - Facets defined within the search profiles were not working for B Stores.
[ZPD-28568] - Webstore - Tiered pricing was getting reflected for an invalid variant combination for a configurable product
[ZPD-29607] - Admin - The ‘Next: Add Product button’ was getting disabled while creating an order if found that there was an issue with one or many existing cart line item(s)
[ZPD-29710] - Admin - The system was not accepting any numeric values as a record within the custom table if the number had a zero integer in it.