New in XWiki Cloud, now updated to 14.10.6

26 Apr 2023 5 min read

Written by

The XWiki Team

We are excited to share that XWiki Cloud is now running on version 14.10.6. This release brings many new features for working with PDFs, attachments, and the CKEditor, while also bringing a variety of macros improvements that enhance the usability of your XWiki instance. Please read on to find out more about the updates.

PDF improvements

Multi-page PDF export

The new browser-based (client-side) PDF Export Application is used by default. Some of the benefits of this change are:

  • Dynamic content generated with JavaScript code is now included in the PDF export;
  • The CSS styles used in the PDF export are the same as those used when viewing the wiki page;
  • Multi-page export is supported by default;
  • Writing custom PDF templates is easier.

Also, the default PDF template adds support for multi-page PDF export:

  • The title of each exported wiki page is included both in the content and in the table of contents, styled differently in order to distinguish it from normal content headings;
  • The PDF header shows the title of the "current" wiki page, i.e. the wiki page that provided the content for the current PDF page;
  • Each exported wiki page starts on a new PDF page.

If you want to get back the old PDF export implementation, head to the configuration option in the PDF Export wiki administration section. If you want to disable the new PDF export implementation completely, either leave the list of PDF templates empty in the dedicated administration section or uninstall the PDF Export Application.

XWiki-PDF-export-multiPage-instance

Cancel PDF Export

You can now cancel a running multi-page PDF export job, either because you triggered it by mistake or because it takes too long, or for any other reason.

XWiki-PDF-cancel

New Export Modal

The Export Modal has been redesigned as you can see below. In order for you to use it, you should:

  • Firstly, select the export format from the list of available formats, which are grouped by category and show an icon and a label. You can also type to filter the list of formats;
  • If the selected export format doesn't support multi-page export or the current page is terminal, then the export is triggered directly;
  • If the selected export format supports multi-page export and the current page is nested then the Export Tree Modal will be shown. Here, you can select the pages you want to export.;
  • Depending on the selected format:
    • The export tree may show hidden pages (e.g. for XAR export) or not (e.g. for PDF export);
    • The initial selection in the export tree may consist only of the current page (e.g. for PDF export) or the current page and all its child pages (e.g. for HTML export).

Each export format may further customize the export tree or add additional steps, such as the PDF Export Options modal.

Attachments improvements

Pagination for Attachments

A notable improvement is that the attachments tab is displayed using the new LiveData. In order to avoid crowding this section, only 5 rows are displayed at a time. This way, on pages with multiple attached files, you can use the navigation and filtering options to search for specific attachments.

XWiki-attachments

The attachment selector can use the temporary attachment store

When uploading an attachment using the attachment selector, and the attachment has savemode set to form, new attachments are not saved directly on the document anymore. Instead, the attachment is kept in a temporary attachment store and only persisted when the form containing the attachment selector is saved. Temporary attachments are presented with a clock icon (clock)  when presented in the attachments selection modal.

XWiki-attachment-selector-temporary

CKEditor improvements

New CKEditor Image Dialog improvements

The new CKEditor Image Dialog comes with two new tabs when selecting images either the id of an icon or the use of external URLs. Additionally, the image dimensions are now locked by default, and the ratio between the width and height of an image is preserved when one of them is changed.

CKEditor Macro Dialog filters by categories

The CKEditor Macros dialog has been enhanced to include category filtering, making it easier for users to find specific macros. Additionally, all listed macros now display their respective categories for improved clarity. Moreover, macros that belong to hidden categories, such as "Deprecated" and "Internal" by default, will not be visible to users who have "Display hidden pages" set to "False" in their preferences. Admins have the ability to configure hidden macro categories starting with XWiki version 14.8+.
 

ckeditor-macro-select.png

Macros improvements

Wiki macros can have several categories

The wiki macros can now be placed in several categories. The deprecated "Default" category is replaced by "Default categories".

XWiki-wiki-macro-categories

Macro categories listed in the available macros page

The list of all the categories of the macros is now listed on the available macros page.

XWiki-help-available-macro

Improved macro picker for "Not installed" macros

In our previous Cloud release, we introduced a new macro directly in the WYSIWYG macros picker that showed a list of not yet installed compatible macros for your instance. With Cloud version 14.10.6, the usability of the macro has been improved so that you can see which recommended extensions a macro belongs to, and also receive a clearer warning about what will happen when you select such macros.

XWiki-extension-recommended

Figure macro type configuration

You can now manually set the type of a figure macro ("figure" or "table)", instead of relying on the automatic type detection feature.

XWiki-figure-macro-type-selection

Other improvements

Redirect deleted page link to a new page

This new feature improves the management of your content and keeps your links up-to-date. When deleting a page, you can now select a new target (destination link), using a page picker, to update links that were pointing to the deleted page. You can also create automatic redirects from old locations to new targets to fix broken external links, like bookmarks or links from emails. Plus, we've added a Replace action for deleted pages to support restoring pages with redirects (i.e. a page with the same name, but with an XWiki.RedirectClass added). See Index Application Documentation for more details.

Breadcrumbs on Copy, Delete and Rename operations

Now you can navigate easily from a deleted, copied, or renamed page. When a delete, copy, or rename operation is started or its progress is displayed, the breadcrumbs are visible at the top of the page. 

XWiki-copy-start-with-box.png

How are you finding the new features?

To try out these features and other improvements, you can create a cloud demo, in a couple of minutes. XWiki Cloud is the most convenient and cost-effective way to run XWiki. We take care of the setup, hosting, upgrades, maintenance, and backups, so you can focus on getting things done.

If you are already an XWiki Cloud client and would like to have the wiki updated to this version with priority, please get in touch. We will be more than happy to assist!

You may also be interested in:

Cloud News

New in XWiki Cloud, now updated to 15.5.4

XWiki SAS has upgraded XWiki Cloud to version 15.5.4 of XWiki. XWiki Cloud is a convenient and cost-effective solution for running XWiki. XWiki SAS handles the setup, hosting, upgrades, maintenance, and backups, allowing you to focus on your work. To try out all the new features and improvements, set up a Cloud demo in just a few minutes.