What's new in Sitecore 10.3?

27 January 2023 at 10:00 by ParTech Media - Post a comment

Sitecore is one of the leading Content Management Systems currently available on the market. Recently, it released its latest version: Sitecore 10.3. Along with this new release comes a host of new features and improvements that will assist enterprises in building, managing, and delivering more personalized digital experiences to customers. In this post, we will take a closer look at all these new improvements and understand how they can improve your business.

Table of Contents

  1. GraphQL Authoring and Management API
  2. Embeddable Forms Framework
  3. xConnect Data Export Tool
  4. Sitecore CLI
  5. Webhooks
  6. Conclusion

GraphQL Authoring and Management API

With the introduction of version 10.3, Sitecore now allows users to use GraphQL API calls for performing authoring and management commands. Earlier, this was made available only via the user interface. Thanks to this upgrade, you can now fully automate operations around different items, templates, and search, along with managing sites. However, as of now, user management is not supported. Alsearchesso, enabling this API is not easy despite the availability of a detailed walkthrough in the Sitecore documentation.

Embeddable Forms Framework

This new feature uses Sitecore’s Headless Services and the Layout Service to enable you to embed Sitecore forms on any page (similar to FXM). Interestingly, this includes non-Sitecore pages as well. This is primarily achieved via Tailwind CSS and Lit. To the unversed, Lit is a library that helps you to perform the development of web components with the help of state management, scoped styles, and a declarative templating system. On the other hand, Tailwind CSS is a CSS framework that comes equipped with an exhaustive set of reusable CSS classes. It not only reduces the volume of custom CSS but can also scan source codes and reduce the number of unwanted CSS class definitions. End result - a concise and crisp CSS stylesheet for the prod team to use.

Note: You must have at least Headless Services 21.0.0 to handle the Layout Service and the endpoint for submitting data.

xConnect Data Export Tool

This is a tool that exports all the contact and interaction data from xDB to files. This allows for easy storage backup. It also enables sharing and use on external reporting systems. The tool supports both Azure Blob and File Storage providers for your deployment processes. At the same time, it can also write into a network folder. This is mainly helpful for local instances.

Sitecore CLI

Sitecore CLI version 5.1.25 has now become an integral part of the 10.3 version. It works with a Linux-based environment and also comes with features publishing to Edge. There is also the option to employ integrated telemetry that enables developers to improve the CLI even more. But telemetry can result in certain security concerns, particularly for governed environments.

Webhooks

A webhook is an HTTP request that is triggered by an event in the source system. It carries important data to the destination. Think of webhooks as user-defined HTTP callbacks. There are 3 types of webhooks - Event handler, Validation action, and Submit action. Webhooks have now been introduced into the XM/XP platforms. It enables Sitecrore to send information about different items and workflow events to third-party systems. It can be configured in such a way that it can be triggered on workflow state changes. It can also be configured to have 3rd-party systems perform the validation.

Conclusion

In this post, we have seen the wealth of new features and improvements that have come along with Sitecore 10.3. These are key changes that will improve this digital experience platform. They will offer a more powerful and flexible way to manage digital experience by streamlining the process of creating and managing digital content. In conclusion, Sitecore 10.3 is a must-have upgrade for any enterprise looking to stay ahead of the curve in this digital world.

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