The modernization of Lutece continues.
The upgrade to version 7 has allowed us to:
- upgrade existing code
- address technical debt on a number of non-compliant plugins
- prepare for the upgrade to Java 11 and compatibility with Java 17
- prepare for the transition from JEE to JAKARTA-EE (compatible with Tomcat 10 and later)
- work on replacing JQuery scripts
- improve deployment on different types of media (Docker, new Maven Run goal, etc.)
Version 7.010 continues this modernization process.
- jQuery has been externalized into a plugin to allow its use in legacy projects, with the goal of deprecating it in version 8.
- We are continuing to prepare for the transition to Jakarta EE, and at the same time, Lutece's legacy components have been removed and migrated to generic Jakarta components. * A new theme has been created for frameworks with a more generic implementation (switch to Bootstrap 5 and discontinuation of Bootstrap 3).
Version 7.010 is the bridge to 7.1, which will secure and modernize legacy applications. 7.1 will enable upgrades across all components for legacy applications, subject to the upgrade capabilities of these components, for which an update would require a complete rewrite.
What's new in Lutece v7
Independence from CSS frameworks
Before Lutece v7, each version of the core was linked to a version of a CSS framework. Since Lutece v4, the core relied only on Twitter's Bootstrap framework which brings all the "Responsive Design" features to adapt to mobile consultations. Each major evolution of this framework included a complete break of compatibility with the previous version. This resulted in having to modify all the HTML templates when Lutece's core was upgrading from the Bootstrap framework. In Lutece v6, a set of macros of the Freemarker HTML template engine have been created to encapsulate the management of CSS classes depending on the version of Bootstap. This effort has been finalized in Lutece v7 so that the macros allow the creation of HTML templates that are completely independent of the CSS Framework. To reach this result and validate it, Lutece v7 aimed at supporting at least 3 frameworks simultaneously :
- Bootstrap 3 - for compatibility with v6 plugins that do not use macros encapsulating CSS styles
- Bootstrap 4 - to support new features
- Bulma - to demonstrate independence from Bootstrap For each of these frameworks, Lutece v7 proposes a specific implementation of macros. To support another CSS framework, you just have to create a new implementation of the set of macros.
A new graphical look of the Back Office
The possible independence of the CSS framework allowed to choose a look and feel based on the very trendy "Material Design" charter launched by Google for Android and then Angular. https://dev.lutece.paris.fr/lutece-core/style_guide/output/Bootstrap4MaterialKit/index.html
Upward compatibility
Upward compatibility was a major concern in the design of Lutece v7. Some Freemarker macros and Java classes have been removed to clean up obsolete functions but alerts are generated by Sonar analyses in order to evaluate any corrections that need to be made to be fully compatible with Lutece v7. Beyond that, Lutece v7 offers a compatibility mode based on Bootstrap3 which keeps the deleted macros in the standard version in order to run a v6 plugin in Lutece v7.
A new organization of the technical settings
The layout of the technical settings in the Back Office has been completely redesigned to bring all these functions together in a single menu. This has allowed to reduce the number of functions appearing here and there in the Back Office menus.
Support of configuration settings by environment variable
New functions allow bookmarks to be valued from environment variables. The first application is for setting up the db.properties file in which the database server, database and connection information can be defined based on environment variables. If the name of the environment variable ends with _FILE, the value must be taken from the file named by the current value of the variable.
Example: To evaluate the string "${DB_PASSWORD_FILE}". where the file DB_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/mariadb-pwd
the method takes into account the content of the file. This feature is useful to manage Docker secrets.
The event trace
New trace functionalities are proposed by Lutece v7. They are intended for applications that wish to set up a history of certain sensitive actions for security audit purposes.
Upgrading to Java 11
Starting with version 7.0.15, Lutece is compiled in Java 11. Components currently in Java 8 can now be compiled in Java 11 by adding dependencies removed in versions after JDK8.
Management of resource access controls extended to the Front Office
RBAC (Role Based Access Control) role management has been extended to back office users. This will allow very precise management of access rights to resources, particularly in the context of workflows. These mechanisms can also be implemented for daemons or REST web services.
PluginWizard and CodeWizard code generators updated
The PluginWizard (generation of a complete plugin) and CodeWizard (generation of unit files) code generators now produce code for Lutece v7, in particular HTML templates using the new macros.