Release Notes

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• BlueSpice free: community.bluespice.com
• Subskriptionskunden: To update, please create a ticket with the title Update to BlueSpice 5.0 in the ticketsystem.

5.0

This release is a cloud release only.

Content change	Description
Multiple extensions	The following features cause content changes and should be reviewed before updating to BlueSpice 5 Detailed info.
Multiple extensions	The following features cause content changes and should be reviewed before updating to this version: Blog, Discussions, PDF export. Detailed info.

Content changes for all releases

Features

• Upgrade to MediaWiki REL1.43 and PHP 8.3 compat (ERM38444)
  • BlueSpice 5 is now based on the LTS version of MediaWiki REL1.43. All functionalities of BlueSpice have been made compatible with this MediaWiki version in order to maintain support for MediaWiki Core functionalities and to be provided with security fixes. Compatibility with PHP 8.3 has also been established.
• Allow the internationalization of wiki pages in farm environments through a translation feature (ERM40835, ERM37250, ERM41110)
  • BlueSpice 5 introduces a new feature that can be used in the farm environment to internationalize wiki instances. This includes the possibility to translate content from a main instance and publish it in other language instances. It is also possible to define title dictionaries and glossary translations in order to ensure consistent word usage. The namespaces and their translations can also be mapped using the configuration manager.
  • In addition, there is also a small feature for BlueSpice 5 Pro in the area of internationalization. Here, pages that do not correspond to your own user language can be easily translated in the browser. This makes it easier to read and understand content in another language more quickly and easily.
  • Important information:
    • In order to use the multilingual feature, a valid DeepL license is required, which can be stored in the Config manager.
    • In order to use the multilingual feature in a cloud environment the configuration needs to be done by Hallo Welt! GmbH.
• Redesign of the CognitiveProcessDesigner extension for improved use in the wiki (ERM34753, ERM34754, ERM34756, ERM34757)
  • The basic functionalities of the Cognitive Process Designer are already familiar from previous versions, but it has been completely revised for BlueSpice 5. The Cognitive Process Designer now introduces an option for modeling bpmn processes in the wiki, which are saved in a separate Process namespace. It is also possible to extend the modeled process by automatically creating sub-pages for specific process steps. The process description pages can be pre-filled with standardized templates and also have a navigation concept linked to the page itself in order to stay informed about incoming and outgoing events and to click through the process using these. The process also contains the linked pages within the bpmn shapes, which are clickable for the user if a process is integrated on a page, for example.

• Provide an improved PDF export backend and allow PDF template editing in the wiki (ERM38759, ERM38695)
  • The new PDF export in BlueSpice 5 comes with a completely new backend, primarily focused on updating existing tools. In the future, the PDF export will offer support for SVG and in the area of accessibility. Starting from BlueSpice 5, users can create and manage their own PDF templates in the wiki. This feature was previously only available in the Cloud but is now also available for OnPrem versions. The PDF template editor has also been integrated with FlexiSkin, so that the applied styles are reflected in the exported file.

Improvements

• Remove all Social extensions and offer an improved replacement (ERM39498, ERM38857, ERM39792, ERM39784)
  • In BlueSpice 5, the former social extensions have been completely removed and rebuilt. The user profile has been visually redesigned and rewritten. The design is now more lightweight as well as modern. These visual changes also affect the ContentDroplet User profile, providing an improved display when embedding a user profile on a page. Additionally, a new blogging system has been introduced, which includes a comment and voting function, as well as a special page listing all blog posts. This special page can be displayed as an entrypoint for blogs in the left sidebar via the configuration manager. Both general and user-specific blog posts can now be created. Furthermore, discussion areas are replaced by comments, which can be configured based on a namespace using the Namespace manager. The former discussions in BlueSpice 5 are migrated via a migration path, ensuring that no information is lost.
  • For further information please see the following page: BlueSpice_5/Content_changes#Blog_functionality
• Move from ExtJS framework to OOJSPlus
  • BlueSpice 5 introduces some changes to the application interface. The former ExtJS framework has now also been completely replaced by OOJSPlus. The interfaces for the manager, maintenance pages and overview pages have been completely moved to OOJS, so that there is consistency in the application, which has a recognition value and is therefore improving the user experience.
  • The following extensions are affected by the transition to the OOJSPlus framework
    • BlueSpiceArticleInfo (ERM39421)
    • BlueSpiceAvatars (ERM39422)
    • BlueSpiceCategoryManager (ERM39424)
    • BlueSpiceContextMenu (ERM39426)
    • BlueSpiceDistributionConnector (ERM39427)
    • BlueSpiceExpiry (ERM39428)
    • BlueSpiceExtendedSearch (ERM39431)
    • BlueSpiceExportTables (ERM39429)
    • BlueSpiceFilterableTables (ERM39434)
    • BlueSpiceFoundation (ERM39435)
    • BlueSpiceInsertCategory (ERM39436)
    • BlueSpiceInsertFile (ERM39437)
    • BlueSpiceInsertLink (ERM39438)
    • BlueSpiceInterWikiLinks (ERM39439)
    • BlueSpiceNamespaceManager (ERM39440)
    • BlueSpiceNSFileRepoConnector (ERM39441)
    • BlueSpicePageAccess (ERM39442)
    • BlueSpicePageAssignments (ERM39443)
    • BlueSpicePageTemplates (ERM39444)
    • BlueSpicePermissionManager (ERM39445)
    • BlueSpicePrivacy (ERM39446)
    • BlueSpiceReadConfirmation (ERM39447)
    • BlueSpiceReaders (ERM39448)
    • BlueSpiceReminder (ERM39449)
    • BlueSpiceRSSFeeder (ERM39450)
    • BlueSpiceSmartList (ERM39451)
    • BlueSpiceSMWConnector (ERM39452)
    • BlueSpiceUserInfo (ERM39456)
    • BlueSpiceUserManager (ERM39457)

Notable changes

Free

• BlueSpiceDiscovery - Implement backlinks in BlueSpiceDiscovery skin (ERM40112)
  • BlueSpice 5 implements a backlink concept to optimize user guidance. If a user is on a special page (e.g. Recent Changes) that contains a link to another page, a backlink will be displayed under the page title in the future.
• BlueSpiceDiscovery - Improve BlueSpiceDiscovery skin for BlueSpice 5 (ERM39274)
  • The BlueSpiceDiscovery Skin has been further optimized as part of BlueSpice 5. The design is overall lighter and brighter. The whitespace in the header and title area has been reduced. The former New button has been replaced by a simple + button, now located next to the search field. In edit mode, the labels for the Save button have been standardized throughout the application, and the Cancel button is now located on the left side of the visual editor's toolbar. Additionally, the action Add to a book has been moved to the actions section in the right sidebar.

• BlueSpiceExtendedSearch - Optimization of the search results display (ERM41052)
  • The display of search results has been improved during the development of BlueSpice 5. Both in the autocomplete search and in the search center, the results are now more clear and easier to read. The corresponding namespace and parent breadcrumb are displayed below each search result. This focuses more on the title of a page without neglecting important additional information.
• BlueSpiceExtendedSearch - Fine tuning the search behavior(ERM40591)
  • The output of file names in the autocomplete search was often considered irritating and not useful. For this reason the File: and Media: namespaces are now excluded from the autocomplete search; instead, files and media can be found via the search center.
• BlueSpiceExtendedSearch - Retain user-related settings for the results in the Search center (ERM39588)
  • This adjustment is a feature request aimed at retaining the search options in the search center for a user without having to set them again after each search. This should have a positive impact on the user experience and support the search process.
• BlueSpiceExtendedSearch - Replace star icon in the Search center to avoid misunderstandings (ERM41170)
  • The icon for the ranking in the search center has been changed. The star gave the impression that the page would be added to the watchlist, as this icon is used in other places. To avoid misunderstandings, the icon has been replaced by a pin, which influences the ranking of the search results in the search center.
• MediaWiki - Replace the webinstaller with a command line wizard (ERM36767)
  • The old web installer is being discontinued, as a CLI installer is available with MediaWiki 1.43, which has wizard-like behavior.
• PDFCreator - How to migrate custom PDF templates in BlueSpice Cloud (ERM40786)
  • BlueSpice 5 does not offer a migration path for existing custom PDF templates, but they can still be used in the new major version. The custom PDF templates simply have to be adapted to the new structure for creating PDF templates. Instructions: Migrating existing cloud templates
  • For further information please see the following page: BlueSpice_5/Content_changes#PDF_templates

• PDFCreator - Update PDF link droplet to PDFCreator (ERM38695)
  • As the PDF export is based on a new extension and a new backend, a replacement for the tag <bs:uenoexport /> had to be implemented. In BlueSpice 5 the new tag can be inserted as usual via ContentDroplets, but has a different name: <pdfexcludestart /> <pdfexcludeend />. When upgrading to BlueSpice 5, the
    tag is not automatically overwritten and must be removed manually. For support the ReplaceText can be used here.
  • For further information please see the following page: hBlueSpice_5/Content_changes#Parser_tags

Pro

• BlueSpiceBookshelf - Remove setting Suprress namespace prefix of book articles in output from ConfigManager (ERM40935)
  • The setting Suppress namespace prefix of book articles in output has been removed from the Config manager, since the PDFCreator offers a replacement for the general handling of the display.
• BlueSpiceBookshelf - Chapter number should be in a separate HTML element (ERM40989)
  • The chapter numbers are now in a separate HTML element so that they can be targeted in a css class. This allows to hide chapter numbers in a book.
• BlueSpiceExpiry - Remove setting Show watermark in print version from ConfigManager (ERM40936)
  • Due to technical limitation the setting Show watermark in print version has been removed from the Config manager.
• BlueSpiceExtendedStatistics - Remove Special:ExtendededStatistics (ERM40884)
  • With BlueSpice 5 the page Special:ExtendedStatistics is no longer offered and has been removed from the product. The page Special:AggregatedStatistic page is still part of the product.
• BlueSpiceRating - Create page properties for Rating and Recommendations (ERM38908)
  • BlueSpice 5 introduces two additional page properties in the course of a feature request. When ratings and recommendations are configured via the Namespace manager, the page properties are automatically created and displayed on Special:Browse. The properties are Number of recommendations and Number of ratings and can be used to create queries.
• CognitiveProcessDesigner - Migration of existing BPMN diagrams (ERM41546)
  • Existing BPMN diagrams are migrated during the update. However, as there have been changes in the functionality of the CognitiveProcessDesigner, the diagrams may have to be revised again with regard to the naming of the individual shapes so that the new functions can be used to their full extent.
• CommentStreams - Implement extension CommentStreams (ERM39784)
  • Since CommentStreams has been implemented as a replacement for the discussion area, the magic word NODISCUSSION__ no longer has any functionality. The comment area can be configured via namespace and can be hidden on a page basis using the tag <no-comment-streams /> .
  • For further information please see the following page: BlueSpice_5/Content_changes#Discussions
• ContentStabilization - Remove property Implicit draft on Special:Browse overview (ERM40602)
  • The Implicit draft property has been removed as it was causing confusion among users. Since the implicit draft doesn't refer to a change on the page itself, it is hardly understable when the property is displayed or whether it's not. The removal of this property does not affect the yellow banner information about an embedded resource change, but does affect the QM/Document status on Special:Browse.
• ContentStabilization - Configuration for creating lists related to stabilization information in PDF file has been removed (ERM40938)
  • The setting for creating a list of pages related to their stabilization information has been removed from the Config manager. This affects:
    • Export: List of approved pages contained in the book
    • Export: List not approved pages contained in the book
    • Export: List pages contained in the book that do not have stabilization enabled
• FlexiSkin - Add font Hyperlegible for selection in FlexiSkin (ERM40251)
  • Due to a feature request, the font Hyperlegible was included in the FlexiSkin. It can be used from BlueSpice 5 onwards. This font is accessible and can therefore support accessible content.
• Workflows - Changes to the user interface and the visibility of WorkflowTriggers (ERM38103)
  • The visibility of the page Special:Workflow_triggers is now tied to the permission workflows-admin, indicating that the entry in the global actions is only visible if a user has this permission. Furthermore, only the UI for creating and editing triggers can be found via the global actions. The source text of triggers can now be edited via the page MediaWiki:WorkflowTriggers.

Farm

• ContentTransfer - Improve the display of the receiving wiki (ERM35764)
  • In course of a feature request, the wiki name is now displayed instead of the internal / canonical URL when transferring content from a wiki to a target wiki, so that the view is more legible.
• ContentTransfer - Auto-setup ContentTransfer in BlueSpiceWikiFarm (ERM40835)
  • All wiki instances are wired for Special:ContentTransfer. There is no dedicated configruation necessary; it simply works by default when creating new wiki instances. The instances can then be found in the dropdown for the receiving wiki.

Bugfixes

BlueSpice Free

• BlueSpiceConfigManager - Improve arrangement of settings in the ConfigManager (ERM37256) and review as well as improve help texts also (ERM39597)
  • The arrangement of settings in the ConfigManager has been reviewed in terms of their meaningfulness and rearranged. For example, the settings for books are now all located under the Books tab. Furthermore, the help texts have been reviewed and improved.
• BlueSpiceDiscovery - Media settings dialog is located above color picker (ERM40096)
  • If the color of the image caption needs to be changed, the color picker is now in the foreground and usable.
• BlueSpiceDiscovery - If the term News is used as the name for a namespace and subpages are disabled, the breadcrumbs are broken (ERM41093)
  • If the term News is used as a namespace and at the same time the subpages are disabled for this namespace, the breadcrumbs title will be parsed correctly.
• BlueSpiceExtendedSearch - Allow search with special characters § (ERM39662)
  • If a search term contains a special character like §, results will now be displayed.
• BlueSpiceExtendedSearch - Search does not return exact results when using "" as well as special characters (like §, $, ...) (ERM39924)
  • The tokenization of special characters has been improved, so that matching results are displayed now when using special characters like "", § and $.
• BlueSpiceExtendedSearch - Operators do not work in Search center (ERM39923)
  • The search operators AND and OR are now fully functional when using full-text search.
• BlueSpiceExtendedSearch - Type filter of TagSearch does not work (ERM40019)
  • Using queries generated by the TagSearch do now preserve the type filter.
• BlueSpiceFoundation - Transclusions do not take the permissions into account (ERM39926)
  • If the content of a page is transcluded to another page, which is protected by permissions in the corresponding namespace, this transcluded content is now only displayed to users who have the corresponding permissions.
• BlueSpiceInsertCategory - Content model book doesn't support categories (ERM39857)
  • It is now prevented to add a category on a page with the content model Book. Categories can only be added to pages that correspond to the content model Page.
• BlueSpiceInsertCategory - Categories are not sorted (ERM40753)
  • The categories are now sorted alphabetically to ensure consistent sorting logic.
• BlueSpiceInsertCategory & BlueSpicePageAssignments - Limitation of display for categories and page assignments to a quantity of 25 (ERM40291)
  • The limit for displaying categories and page assignments has been increased, as otherwise not all of them were shown.
• BlueSpiceNamespaceManager - If a namespace alread existed once, but was renamed and has now been created again, both namespaces are deleted (ERM40415)
  • If the original name of a namespace that has been renamed in the meantime is reassigned and then deleted, only the deletion of the intended namespace will occur.
• BlueSpiceNamespaceManager - Alias for system namespaces is not saved (ERM41169)
  • If an alias is defined for a system namespace, it is now saved properly again.
• BlueSpiceNamespaceManager - When creating an export of the NamespaceManager grid, the numbers of pages is not displayed correctly (ERM31448)
  • If the grid of the NamespaceManager is exported, the number of pages in the respective namespaces appears correctly.
• BlueSpiceSaferEdit - Improve displaying the yellow banner during a page edit (ERM38986)
  • The yellow banner which indicates that a user is editing a page has been enhanced for faster and more reliable display.
• EnhancedStandardUIs - Improve the design of the version history and introduce a backlink (ERM34702)
  • The design of the version history in Diff View has been improved in terms of coloring, the default display mode and the removal of unnecessary information. Furthermore, the version history breadcrumbs have been made clickable and a backlink has been introduced to improve user guidance.
• EnhancedStandardUIs - Special:Pages must be bound to user permissions (ERM41321)
  • The display of namespaces and the contained pages now depends on the permissions of a user. Namespaces or pages that the user does not have read permission to will no longer be shown on Special:Pages.
• NotifyMe - Faulty notification is displayed after a user has been anonymized (ERM40467)
  • After successful anonymization of a user, a clear and accurate notification is now displayed.
• NotifyMe - Improve concept of digest mails (ERM39568)
  • The concept of digest mails has been adjusted. Mails are now sent at 7am for Frequency: Daily and at 7 am on Monday for Frequency:Weekly. In the course of this change, the introductory sentence was also adapted so that it is clear that the changes refer to the last 24 hours or the last week in the wiki.
• OOJSPlus - Styling issue when accessing Readers of this page in page information dialog (ERM39064)
  • The incorrect styling of the pager was fixed in the page information dialog.
• OOJSPlus - Cannot upload file in tiff format (ERM40697)
  • Uploading a tiff file is now possible again.
• PageHeader - Page status sentence is not displayed correctly when using french language (ERM40252)
  • The page status sentence is now correctly displayed if user language is set to french.
• PDFCreator - When exporting pages that contain links with redirects, only the redirected page is printed in the file and not the target page (ERM40109)
  • If a page with links for redirects is exported, now the target page will be exported instead of the redirected page.
• VisualEditorPlus - Inline inspector for formatting is dislocated when using collab-edit (ERM40411)
  • The inline inspector is displayed correctly when using the collaborative editing mode.
• VisualEditorPlus - Underscores without spaces beforehand changes character to italic formatting (ERM39408)
  • Italic formatting using underscores is only done when there is a space after the word. Thus, terms separated by underscores remain unchanged.

BlueSpice Pro

• BlueSpiceBookshelf - Setting for selecting the default view of the bookshelf is obsolete (ERM39946)
  • On Special:Preferences the setting for selecting the default view of the bookshelf has been removed, as this is no longer necessary due to further development.
• BlueSpiceReadConfirmation - If the read confirmation is configured to only trigger a read confirmation for approved pages, then the redirection from the task overview leads to the draft version instead of the approved version (ERM40856)
  • If the configuration of the read confirmation is changed to approved pages only, a task on Special:My_tasks forwards correctly to the approved version.
• Checklists - The content of the page is deleted if a collab session takes place and at the same time a user who is not part of the session changes the status of a checkbox (ERM40413)
  • During an ongoing collab session, it is no longer possible to change the status of a checkbox. This ensures that the content is properly saved after the session is completed.
• CollabPads - Page content is displayed when the page is opened in collab-edit (ERM38918)
  • If a page contains content that cannot be processed by using the Edit together mode, the session can no longer be started in order to avoid data loss.
• ContentStabilization - Align selection for user groups in config manager with groups from permission manager (ERM40862)
  • The user groups should be aligned throughout the application to support more consistency. Therefore, the groups displayed in the configuration manager correspond to the groups defined in the permission manager.
• EnhancedStandardUIs - Sorting for namespaces or categories on Special:File_list breaks displaying results (ERM38961)
  • Due to technical limitations the sorting option for the columns namespaces as well as categories on Special:File_list has been removed.
• Forms - Naming of a form is not consistent when a new page is created from that form (ERM37716)
  • Saving the form now keeps the form name intact.
• HeaderTabs - The use of special characters or umlauts leads to issues when using HeaderTabs (ERM31276)
  • If a heading contains special characters (like / or ( ) or umlauts there are no more issues and switching the tabs with one single click works as well.
• ImportOfficeFiles - Adjust wording for word import in new button (ERM39686)
  • The label for a new Word import via + button has been adjusted to ensure a consistent user interface.
• ImportOfficeFiles - Imported pages are not indexed in search (ERM41242)
  • Importing new pages via the Word import leads to the indexing of these pages so that they can be found via the search again.
• PageForms - System user should be excluded from the selection using bs-usercombo (ERM39874)
  • If the inputfield bs-usercombo is used when creating forms, system users are no longer displayed.
• SemanticMediaWiki - As soon as a namespace GROUP exists Schema_properties are created (ERM41141)
  • When creating the GROUP namespace, system-generated pages such as Schema_properties and Predefined_properties are no longer created.
• Workflows - Message key instead of message is displayed on Special:RecentChanges if page was edited because of workflow activity EditRequest (ERM35247)
  • If a page is now being edited due to the Workflow activity EditRequest, a readable message will appear on Special:RecentChanges.
• Workflows - If an incorrect email address is entered, the dialog is canceled (ERM41016)
  • If an incorrect entry is made when starting a workflow, the dialog no longer aborts, but returns the user to the point where the incorrect entry was made via a Dismiss button.
• Workflows - Special:Log doesn't display start and end events (ERM39016)
  • Besides the workflow activities (such as user votes, user feedback, send mails), the start and end events of the workflows will now also be displayed on the page Special:Log.
• Workflows - In the workflows ui editor it is not possible to pass variables such as user, date, page, etc. (ERM39361)
  • It is now possible to pass variables for the workflow activities checkin, checkout, uservote and approvepage. Also using the parser function {{#time}} for due date works properly.
• Workflows - First column on Special:Workflows_overview is empty (ERM40879)
  • If a workflow has exceeded the due date, an icon is now displayed again in the first column on the Special:Workflows_overview.

BlueSpice Farm

• BlueSpiceFarm - User who creates a new instance should receive sysop rights in this instance (ERM40078)
  • If a user creates a new instance, this user is automatically created with the sysop group assignment in the new instance.
• ContentTransfer - Prevent displaying a empty dropdown for Receiving wiki or Transfer as user if it's not configured (ERM40818)
  • The dropdown menu for selecting the receiving wiki or for selecting the transfer as user on Special:ContentTransfer is only displayed when the configuration is done.

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