The Umbraco 12 release on May 17, 2023 introduces several significant updates and enhancements, aimed at improving the functionality and user experience of the popular content management system. Some key highlights include:
- Content Delivery API
- Entity Framework Core Support
- Updated Dependencies
- New Documentation
- Breaking Changes
- Known issues
Content Delivery API
The Content Delivery API in Umbraco enables the retrieval of content items in a JSON format, providing a straightforward and efficient alternative to default content retrieval methods. This API serves as a convenient shortcut for incorporating headless capabilities, utilizing a modified content model for optimal performance. It is designed to be flexible and easily extendable, offering developers a versatile solution for accessing Umbraco content.
Entity Framework Core Support
Umbraco 12 enables the integration of custom EF Core contexts within the same transaction scope as Umbraco services, offering flexibility to manage custom database tables seamlessly while emphasizing the use of Umbraco services for interacting with content.
Updated Dependencies
ImageSharp 3
ImageSharp 3 ImageSharp has been released in a new version that is even more performant and supports even more features from the different file formats. One of the highlights supported in ImageSharp 3 is HMAC image processing protection.
Dependencies
- Umbraco.Cms.Imaging.ImageSharp2 (>= 12.0.0-rc)
- Umbraco.Cms.Persistence.Sqlite (>= 12.0.0-rc)
- Umbraco.Cms.Persistence.SqlServer (>= 12.0.0-rc)
- Umbraco.Cms.Targets (>= 12.0.0-rc)
Other dependencies
MailKit and NPoco have also been updated to the new versions including potential breaking changes. All other dependencies have only received patch updates.
New Documentation
The Umbraco 12 updates are thoroughly documented, covering features such as the Content Delivery API, EF Core usage tutorials, and getting started with the Release Candidate, thanks to the efforts of the Docs team.
Breaking Changes
Umbraco 12 introduces binary breaking changes, notably with migrations now running in their own transactions, potentially impacting users. Additional modifications include new notifications to replace Post Migrations, while some interfaces and abstract classes feature new methods, detailed in the release notes.
Known issues
The Content Delivery API in Umbraco utilizes global default API versioning configuration, posing a risk of potential overrides for users. There’s a plan to explore options to decouple from the global API explorer and versioning settings.