Aimeos 2024.04 Released - What are the new enhancements?

Aimeos 2024.04 was released on 24 April 2024, and it is the first stable release of the Aimeos ecommerce framework for Laravel and TYPO3 in 2024. The new release has come up with an array of updates and new features to offer a more seamless experience with the platform, which was missing in previous versions. Aimeos 2024.04 is also prepared for the upcoming accessibility requirements in the European Union (EU).

Some of the significant updates are WCAG AAA compatible templates, improved GraphQL admin API, product CSV upload in the backend with locally bundled JS libs, top-level URLs for products and imports per site, full Laravel 11 support, and many more.

Let’s learn more about this latest Aimeos version.

Features of Aimeos 2024.04!

• WCAG AAA compatible template

  From 2025, the European Union is expected to make it essential for all companies to have accessible websites in order to cater to disabled users. And as it is apparent that Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a standard help for websites to comply with the required accessibility standards. Thus, the default Aimeos theme and the Berlin theme for marketplaces are now transformed for accessibility with WCAG 2.2 AAA implementation.

• Full Laravel 11 support

  The Aimeos Laravel package is supporting Laravel 11 which was released a month ago. Thus, adapting to its breaking changes for the Aimeos Laravel package was possibly simple. For the latest version, the Aimeos shop distribution is also based on Laravel 11.

  Please note that the crucial change in Laravel 11 is the simplified./app/directory but the old structure is still supported. Only the AuthServiceProvider class is not used anymore.

• Top-level URLs for categories/products/pages

  The Aimeos Laravel package and the Aimeos shop distribution based on Laravel support now URL segments without sub-paths. It implies that now URLs will be like /bags, /leather-blue-top-bag, and /contact as URLs for categories, products, and CMS content pages.

  The top-level URLs are managed by the ResolveController which reviews if a category, product, or CMS page with that URL segment exists. However, this feature needs to be enabled because it requires additional database queries to check the type of entity assigned to the URL segment. The README of the Aimeos shop distribution includes a section on how to enable the multi-routine feature to help developers.

• VueJS 3 in admin backend with locally bundled JS libs

  The latest Aimeos 2024.04 has got rewritten admin backend, which is using VueJS 3.x for the dynamic features. However, the upgrades of the VueJS library can be seen only if parts of the admin backend are overwritten. The code for initializing the Vue JS apps is different now and inline templates are also not supported by the platform anymore.

  Rather than using JS files from a content delivery network (CDN), the files are now bundled by NPM and included in the local file system. It reduces the dependency on external CDNs, supports environments without internet connections and the bundled files are smaller which ultimately improves the loading time.

• Improved GraphQL admin API

  The Aimeos GraphQL API is fully featured now, and it can handle all necessary requests to fetch and manage resources including the aggregations required for the dashboard. Unlike previous Aimeos versions, the API supports getting the total number of items. The only missing part is file uploads, which will be added in the next version.

  The existing JSON admin API will be deprecated in the beginning of 2025 and removed in later versions, so it required to use the GraphQL API in the backend from now on. The JSON API for the frontend won’t be affected in any way and is the only supported option for fetching data to create the frontend.

• Product CSV upload in the backend and imports per site

  Aimeos 2024.04 has a major change in that CSV and XML files can be now imported per site in multi-site environments, which was not available in the previous versions. Thereby the files are required to be saved in sub-directories of the product, catalog, supplier, etc. directories named after the code of the website to import the files within the fs-import file system.

  This change is meant to implement uploading CSV files in the product list panel. Further, the files get stored in the appropriate directory of the fs-import file system and are processed by the product CSV job controller, which is required to be executed regularly by a cron job because of time and memory constraints in HTTP requests.

• Simplifications for developers

  Aimeos has made this version simplest for developers to build new projects in shorter spam. Unlike previous experiences, now creating new managers will not require writing a lot of code. It can be done by following some simple steps.

  The address sections in the checkout process and the account profile page in the HTML frontend have been unified and now using a common address partially. Therefore, they can be configured using the same settings only by renaming the existing configuration options.

  The controller/common and controller/jobs code in the ai-controller-jobs extension have been merged to simplify the structure. And the controller/common code from the aimeos-core package has been moved to the media and order managers from where they belong to.

In a nutshell,

Aimeos 2024.04 is a version full of much-needed upgrades and new additions. It will benefit developers to complete their projects with more efficiency in less time. On the other hand, website performance will improve with in-built accessibility and other optimized features.

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We provide complete Aimeos ecommerce development services including store design, development, customization, content management, upgrades, migration, multi-channel multi-vendor marketplace, multi-tenant SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions, maintenance, and support. Our expert Laravel developers are experienced in handling multidisciplinary and multi-technology projects of all sizes. In case if you have any requirements, feel free to share all your requirements by requesting a quote or email us at [email protected].