Release notes for Sitecore Commerce powered by Commerce Server 8.1 rev. 8.1 rev. 160205 and Commerce Server 11.3.507.0. Contains information on late breaking developments, known issues, and workarounds.
Some of the issues described in this document contain internal reference numbers listed in parentheses. You can use these reference numbers to communicate with Sitecore about a particular issue or feature.
January 14th, 2015
Sitecore Commerce powered by Commerce Server 8.1 rev. 160205 and Commerce Server 11.3.507.0 are released.
Tested with Sitecore XP 8.1 rev. 151207 and Sitecore Sitecore Commerce Connect 8.1 rev. 160205
Upgrading
To upgrade from a previous release, review the Breaking Changes section in this document, and install the new versions of all packages.
Highlights
Commerce Server 11.3
The focus of the 11.3 release was to make it much simpler to get up and running with a Commerce Server site and really reduce the steep learning curve that many people face. Additionally we wanted to make sure that Commerce Server is more fully able to leverage Azure and its services.
Azure PaaS
Commerce Server can now run entirely in Azure SQL (v12) and in Azure Cloud Services. Previous releases allowed you to run Commerce Server with a IaaS deployment in Azure, you can now setup a full PaaS deployment and take full advantage of additional Azure scaling services including high availability. Azure WebApps are not supported currently, but look out for them in a later release.
Site setup and Management via PowerShell
Previously, the only way to create Commerce Server sites and add resources was via PuP, and the only way to manage those resources was with Commerce Server Manager. You can now perform all of these tasks by using a new suite of PowerShell CmdLets. The CmdLets mean you are no longer reliant on PuP packages, and instead can create and delete resources and import and export data at will by usingPowerShell. The CmdLets will also perform some additional tasks that were not possible before, such as when you delete a resource, you can also delete its associated databases.
Web Service and Web Deploy packages
Web Services are no longer dependent on PuP packages for setup. You can now set up Commerce Server web services at any point using the new CmdLets or using a set of Visual Studio Web Deploy packages that can be found in the WebServices folder on the Commerce Server installation.
NuGet Packages
Inside the Commerce Server install folder there is a new NuGet folder that contains a number of NuGet packages. To use these packages you can set up a local repository in Visual Studio, or add the packages to a central NuGet repository you have in your organization. This folder contains some useful NuGet packages such as:
Windows 10
Commerce Server has been successfully tested against Windows 10. Windows 10 is only recommended as a developer environment, not as a runtime environment for production sites.
Sitecore Commerce Server Connect
Commerce Server Connect had shared goals with Commerce Server to make deployment simpler, and to ensure an Azure PaaS deployment was possible.
Deployment
One of the main ways to accomplish a better Commerce Server Connect deployment is to remove the amount of content that needs to be merged into the web.config. To accomplish this goal we have introduced the following:
Sitecore Azure
Sitecore Commerce powered by Commerce Server is now fully compatible with Sitecore Azure. The benefits of a full PaaS deployment can now be applied to your Sitecore Commerce solution. There are no additional tools required to set up the Sitecore Azure experience. You can use the Commerce Server Configuration wizard and CmdLets to set up the site as you would expect.
Enabling/Disabling Search indexes
All search indexes have been broken out into separate configuration files so it is easier to enable and disable the indexes you that need based on your environment.
Merchandising Manager
Merchandising Manager Manager 8.1 rev. 8.1.543.0 is released.
Multi-term search for product Ids and categories.
There is now support for a comma separated list of search strings within the search box. For example, a search term of: "AW123, AW234” will return search results that include items matching those criteria.
Two-way Relationship management.
When creating a Relationship, you have the option to indicate whether the same Relationship should be made from the target item to the source item. For example, in relating Product B to Product A, you can automatically have Product A linked to Product B. A new icon is displayed on each relationship to provide an indicator for whether the Relationship exists in one or both directions.
Workspace
Workspace provide an area to store frequently changed products and/or categories, as a kind of "favorites" list. Workspace also provides a mechanism for “bulk editing” of products, product families, categories, and relationships. Based on your needs, it also allows for customization of list columns.
General Improvements
Compatibility
This version of the module only runs on Sitecore XP 8.1 rev. 151207 or later.
There are no known issues at this time.
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