Cascade CMS 8

Cascade CMS 8 is a major release that introduces a completely redesigned and reorganized interface, modal-based actions, updated search and replace, upgraded WYSIWYG editor, and a new asset choosing and context menu experience.

  View Requirements

Overview

Highlights

  • Modern look and feel
  • Bigger buttons
  • Bigger/clearer web-friendly fonts
  • Simpler menus, fewer buttons, more advanced functionality hidden away
  • More emphasis on core end-user operations: e.g. Create/Edit/Copy/Publish
  • Separation of Dashboard from Site Tree
  • Clear separation of areas: My Content, All Content, Site Management, Reports, System Administration

Features

  • Fast modal-based actions throughout for speedy user interactions and greater focus
  • Mobile-friendly interface for both tablets and phones
  • Built-in search/filtering into almost all tables
  • Bulk actions on Site Management components and Sites
  • TinyMCE 4 editor
  • Client-side validation of form fields as you type
  • Right-click context menu for assets
  • New Bulk Change experience: start from a folder, search, filter by type
  • New Asset Chooser experience

Notes

Issues Resolved

  • Fixed issue where Index Block Rendering Cache doesn't get discarded when an asset referenced in a Data Definition Block or Index Block is moved
  • Fixed issue where Cascade does not shutdown completely due to running Jetty threads
  • Fixed issue where unable to set Metadata Set expiration folder field visibility and required in Web Services
  • Fixed issue where element expansion produces invalid self-closing HTML elements
  • Fixed issue where auditing messages were swapped for assuming and un-assuming users
  • Fixed issue where Google Analytics sync would fail when no data exists for the time interval
  • Fixed issue where search indexes were not automatically being rebuilt in the file system when they didn't exist on startup
  • Fixed issue where Global CSS would override the Site CSS in Structured Data Blocks with multiple WYSIWYGs
  • Fixed issue where errors would occur as a result of deleting Content Types and Metadata Sets (and parent containers) being referenced by working copies of Pages, Files, etc. Now prevents deletion of those Content Types, Metadata Sets, or Containers until Working Copies are removed.
  • Fixed issue where Symlink URLs were limited to a 250 character length
  • Fixed issue where 'Publish all relationships' button loads blank page for Administration area assets
  • Fixed issue where certain 'Login Failed' messages would not provide additional details in the log file
  • Fixed issue where user input can cause parse errors Advanced Search

Additional Notes

The Administration and Manage Site areas are now completely separate in Cascade CMS 8. As a result, Roles (that were not the Administrator role) who may have previously had access to Administration only have access to Manage Site.

Upgrade Guide

Important notes about the upgrade

Cascade CMS 8 no longer supports Global

As of Cascade CMS 8, the Global area is no longer supported. Please read the preparation guide to help ensure that you've successfully removed all content from the Global area before attempting the upgrade.

You cannot upgrade to Cascade CMS 8 if content remains in the Global area.

Tomcat 8 Required

Cascade CMS 8 will not run in any other version of Tomcat except Tomcat 8 at this time. For this reason, use of the full installer during upgrade is required. ROOT.war upgrades are not supported.

First Time Installation?

Be sure to import our default database schema prior to installing Cascade CMS for the first time. Then follow our standard installation instructions.

Upgrade Steps

  1. Shut down your currently running Cascade CMS instance.
  2. Before you upgrade, we strongly recommend that you back-up your production database. as well as set up a test instance and perform a trial run of the upgrade. All customers are entitled to a test license for this purpose.
  3. Read the release notes and upgrade guides for all releases between your version and the latest version.
  4. Cascade CMS 8 requires a full installation.
  5. Certain versions require that specific steps be taken during the upgrade process. Be sure to read over any and all items that apply to the version to which you are upgrading:
  8.0: Global area not supported

Cascade CMS 8 will not run if any content or site management components still exist in the Global area. Please review the prepration guide.

  8.0: Requires Tomcat 8. Tomcat 6 or 7 are not supported

Cascade CMS 8 will not run in any other version of Tomcat except Tomcat 8 at this time. For this reason, use of the full installer during upgrade is required. ROOT.war upgrades are not supported.

  7.14: Requires Java 8. Java 6 and Java 7 no longer supported

As of this release, Java 8u40 or later is now required to run Cascade. The OS X, Linux, and Windows packages all ship with Java 8 JREs included for easy execution. If you're using the ZIP installer or the ROOT.war, you'll need to ensure you're pointing the application to a Java 8 JRE. See this page for instructions on updating Cascade to point to a JRE.

  7.14: SQL Server and Oracle driver updates

Organizations that use the ROOT.war upgrade method and are using SQL Server or Oracle are required to upgrade their drivers using the steps below:

    SQL Server Users
  • Download jtds-1.3.1.jar from the jTDS web site
  • Replace the file tomcat/lib/jtds-1.2.5.jar with the jtds-1.3.1.jar file
    Oracle Users
  • Download ojdbc7_g.jar from the Oracle web site
  • Replace the file tomcat/lib/ojdbc14_g.jar with the ojdbc7_g.jar file

  7.12.5: Important information for SQL Server users

7.12.5 and later do not support SQL Server 2005. This version of Cascade will no longer start against SQL Server 2005. Please upgrade to a supported version

All other versions of SQL Server must be running above compatibility level 80. To view and/or change the current compatibility level of your database, follow the instructions in this article: SQL Server: View or Change the Compatibility Level of a Database. We recommend setting the compatibility level to 100.

  7.12.3: EhCache configuration files in 7.12.3 or later

Organizations that use the ROOT.war upgrade method and are upgrading to 7.12.3 or later must follow these steps:

  • If running in a load balanced environment, check to see if the file tomcat/conf/ehcache.xml exists on each node. If this file exists, please contact support [at] hannonhill.com prior to performing the upgrade. If the file does not exist, proceed with the upgrade as usual.
  • If not running in a load balanced environment, remove the file tomcat/conf/ehcache.xml prior to performing the upgrade.
  7.12.2: MySQL 5.6 driver library updated in 7.12.2 or later

Organizations that use the ROOT.war upgrade method and are upgrading from 7.12.1 or earlier to 7.12.2 or later and use MySQL 5.6 must manually update the driver library in tomcat/lib folder from mysql-connector-java-5.1.18-bin.jar to mysql-connector-java-5.1.31-bin.jar. The file mysql-connector-java-5.1.31-bin.jar can be obtained by downloading ZIP version of Cascade CMS.

  7.10.2: EhCache library changes on upgrades to 7.10.2 or later

Organizations that use the ROOT.war upgrade method and are upgrading from 7.10.1 or earlier to 7.10.2 or later must remove the ehcache-core-*.jar and slf4j-api-*.jar from the ${CATALINA_BASE}/lib of Tomcat.

  7.8.2: Database optimization on upgrades to 7.8.2 or later

Organizations upgrading to 7.8.2 or above for the first time may notice a delay during the initial startup accompanied by messages like these in the log file: 


2014-01-01 11:53:25,405 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Clearing orphaned assets...
2014-01-01 11:53:25,405 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Clearing orphaned Data Definition nodes...
2014-01-01 11:54:09,508 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Deleted 7 orhpaned Data Definition nodes
2014-01-01 11:54:09,508 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Repeating the operation until there are no more orhaned nodes to delete
2014-01-01 11:54:57,350 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Deleted 14 more orhpaned Data Definition nodes
2014-01-01 12:02:30,529 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Repeating the operation until there are no more orhaned nodes to delete
2014-01-01 12:02:58,724 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Deleted 0 more orhpaned Data Definition nodes
2014-01-01 12:02:58,725 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Finished clearing 224 orphaned Data Definition node record(s)
2014-01-01 12:02:58,725 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Fixing Structured Data with missing owner entity property
2014-01-01 12:03:29,712 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Found 211 broken Structured Data nodes
2014-01-01 12:03:32,451 INFO  [OptimizeDatabaseServiceImpl] Fixed a total of 9 assets with broken Structured Data nodes
It is important that the Cascade CMS process not be stopped during this time. Once the orphaned Data Definition nodes have been removed, the application will start up normally.

  7.4.1: Rebuild search indexes on upgrade

If you are upgrading from Cascade CMS 7.4.1 or later, you should rebuild search indexes after the upgrade is complete and the application is running. To do so, navigate to System Menu -> Utilities -> Search Indexing, check the Rebuild Index? checkbox and then click Submit.