Smartstore Releases Versions 6.0.0, 5.1.0, and 5.0.5 with Major Features, Improvements, and Security Updates

About Smartstore

Smartstore is a comprehensive e-commerce platform built on ASP.NET technology, designed to support B2B, B2C, and marketplace scenarios. It offers a scalable and customizable environment for developers and merchants to build and manage online stores. The platform includes a variety of plugins and modules to extend functionality, including payment providers, media management, and marketing tools.

Smartstore 6.0.0 Highlights

Released on December 6, 2024, Smartstore 6.0.0 introduces several new features and improvements, alongside breaking changes primarily related to payment integration and data storage.

Key Breaking Changes

• The Sofort payment provider was removed from the PayPal module following PayPal's discontinuation of Sofort on April 18, 2024. This aligns with PayPal's broader strategy to retire certain payment methods.
• The storage location for Customer.LastVisitedPage has been changed, requiring historical data to be recollected after update.

New Features

• Conditional Product Attributes: Attribute visibility can now depend on other attribute selections, enhancing product customization.
• Checkout Process Improvements: Quick-Checkout enables skipping address and payment method selection when known, a sticky sidebar shows order totals, and a one-click checkout is available for retail terminals.
• Essential Specification Attributes: Marking specification attributes as essential displays them during checkout.
• Cart and Wishlist Enhancements: Users can disable cart items, and additional product details like delivery time and stock info are visible.
• Grouped Product Enhancements: Associated products can be shown in collapsible panels with paging.
• EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) Plugin: Adds manufacturer info and safety warnings to product details.
• Commercial Plugins: MailChimp for marketing and Pixlr for image editing directly in the Media Manager.
• Updated to .NET 8: Resulting in faster startup, better performance, and reduced memory usage.
• Developer Tools: New widget zone preview panel for easier UI management.

Improvements and Bugfixes

The release includes numerous backend and frontend improvements, such as enhanced database optimization, better security features like CAPTCHA on password recovery, and refined PayPal integration including package tracking and address handling. Many bugs related to product attributes, checkout, search functionality, and UI responsiveness have been addressed.

Smartstore 5.1.0 Highlights

Published on November 7, 2023, this update focuses on currency rounding and theming enhancements.

New Features

• Currency Rounding: New settings allow control over midpoint rounding, skipping rounding for net prices, and rounding unit prices before or after quantity multiplication. This ensures accurate invoice totals and reduces rounding discrepancies.
• Recycle Bin for Products: Enables restoration or permanent deletion of products.
• Commercial Plugins: Introduction of payever and Botsonic plugins.
• Media Manager Enhancements: Image files can be re-processed with current settings.
• Cart Quantity Input: Now respects product stock limits.

Theming Improvements

• Forked and customized Bootstrap combining versions 4.6 and 5.x for better RTL support and developer convenience.
• Revamped styling for buttons, dropdowns, pagination, modals, badges, and form controls.
• Frontend updates include a new grid breakpoint, improved product listing action bar, revamped menus, galleries, and checkout progress indicators.
• Backend UI improvements for settings, plugin managers, and locale editors.

Other Improvements

Performance enhancements include faster variant lookup and optimized product category loading. MegaSearch and Web API received new features and bug fixes. PayPal credit card integration was updated to remove address fields and support Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).

Smartstore 5.0.5 Highlights

Released on July 6, 2023, this update includes breaking changes, new features, and bug fixes focusing on security and API functionality.

Breaking Changes

• Deprecation of Store.SecureUrl and Store.ForceSslForAllPages settings. Now, all pages are secured by default if Store.SslEnabled is true.
• Reindexing MegaSearch is required due to category tree path changes.

New Features

• Introduction of commercial plugins PersonalPromo and Wallet.
• MegaSearch logical AND option for search terms.
• Reverse proxy support with ForwardedHeadersMiddleware.
• SqliteDataProvider backup and restore capabilities.
• Expanded Web API endpoints for shopping cart, orders, gift cards, and checkout attributes.
• Payment method brand icons can be displayed on product detail pages.
• Added social media links for more platforms in the footer.
• SEO improvements including trailing slash options for internal links.

Improvements and Bugfixes

Better usability on small devices, updated FontAwesome icons, and improved PayPal integration were introduced. Numerous bug fixes addressed issues in price calculation, product lists, imports, checkout, Web API, Google Analytics, and UI responsiveness.

Conclusion

These three recent Smartstore releases demonstrate ongoing commitment to enhancing e-commerce functionality, security, and user experience. The removal of deprecated payment methods aligns with external provider changes, while new features like conditional attributes and currency rounding offer merchants more control and precision. Theming and backend improvements also contribute to a more modern and responsive platform for developers and store administrators alike.