Magento 2.3 – What Can We Expect From The New Version?
In October, Magento Live Barcelona hosted the largest Magento event in Europe and the representatives of Global4Net had the pleasure to be there. Numerous interesting presentations were performed. However, the most exciting topic was the release of the new version of Magento 2.3. It should be noted that this will be the first new version of the system since the acquisition of Magento by Adobe. So what can you expect from the new version?
WHAT NEW FEATURES WILL MAGNETO 2.3 INTRODUCE?
A NEW TOOL FOR BUILDING WEB STRUCTURES
The new Page Builder with drag and drop technology will make it easier to create dynamic CMS pages in Magento, making content creation even easier. What now often requires the involvement of a Frontend Developer, for example in the case of creating Landing pages will become much simpler thanks to the new built-in tool. In Magento 2.3, a preliminary version of the page creator will be available, which will be further refined in future versions.
GRAPHQL
GraphQL is the query language used in API communication for a smooth data transfer. Until now, only SOAP / REST requests have been used in Magento to define data and gather information, but thanks to the new Magento 2.3, GraphQL will not only allow you to define precise data but also to combine different data in a single request. It is a revolution in relation to the existing architecture. Unlike SOAP or REST, GraphQL will be able to process individual requests even within smaller stacks, and display only the information the user specifies and needs. As a result, it will not be necessary to process all returned data each time, but only the part that the recipient needs.
ACL – CACHE MANAGEMENT
In the new version of ACL (Access Control List), i.e. granting access to users, it will also include cache. Thanks to this, it will be possible not only to refresh the entire Magento cache but also to individual cache elements, which will allow better control over the content of the store and reduce the risk of full cache refresh by an inexperienced administrator or person responsible only for creating content for the store at a traffic peak.
GOOGLE RECAPTCHA
The solution that could be installed to Magento in versions 2.1 and higher in Magento 2.3 will appear as a native part of the application. Thanks to Google reCaptcha, it will be possible to fully protect the website from bots and people whose goal is to attack the site. The service will be able to be included on the login/registration subpage, contact form, password reminder, and the administration panel.
POSSIBILITY TO DECLARE SCHEMES
In earlier versions of Magento, developers had to create scripts with SQL to execute, update or delete tables, which were then executed by functions, the Magento 2.3 version does not need to create SQL queries but it will be possible to create scripts inside XML files that define changes that are to occur in the database structure. Magento will convert the XML statements into the SQL queries to be executed.
MSI – MULTI STOCK INVENTORY
Version 2.3 will make it possible to create and manage many warehouses. This is one of the longest-awaited projects alongside PWA which the Magento Community worked on. The new Magento 2.3 will now allow sellers to define and add multiple warehouse locations. Using the interface, traders will also be able to combine different channels, such as e-commerce stores, physical stores, marketplaces, etc. What is more, they will actually reflect the accumulated stocks for all resources and will also take into account warehouse shifts. In the case of a canceled order, it will go back to the warehouse from which it was issued. Additionally, delivery costs will take into account the physical location of the warehouse from which the product will come.
PROGRESSIVE WEB APPLICATIONS (PWA)
PWA, which is definitely the hottest topic of 2018 in e-commerce, completely changes the way users use online stores and web resources. Magento provides a set of PWA Studio tools that enable the creation of PWA applications specifically for Magento stores and will provide pre-made functionalities. Unfortunately, in version 2.3, the scope of functions provided for PWA will be very limited, but it shows the direction in which Magento will strive. Thanks to PWA, it will be possible to significantly reduce page load time, including pages on mobile devices, and thus one of the biggest Magento problems will be solved – the level of application complexity affecting the long loading times of the website.
SUPPORT FOR PHP 7.2
Magento 2.3 will be compatible with the latest version of PHP – PHP 7.2. This will allow the platform to be updated using supported technologies and the use of the latest language functions. The update will additionally replace mcrypt with a more secure libsodium as an encryption technique.
ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS IN MAGENTO 2.3
Along with the main features that will be released in Magneto 2.3, much more improvements have been made on the Magento platform:
– Built-in two-step authorization (up to now it is required to be installed)
– Asynchronous APIs
– Update of the Tiny MCE editor to version 4
– Elastic Search update
– New Magento Payments
– Further improvement of platform security
– Built-in integration with Amazon
The new Magento 2.3 in the beta version was released in the third quarter of 2018, while the official release is planned for the first quarter of 2019. All in all, you can see that the work on Magento after being taken over by Adobe gained a significant acceleration. In my opinion, version 2.3 is the first fully developed one, for which it is worth changing from Magento 1. The architecture of the system itself is also changing, which from now on is also to be prepared for the use of microservices. The new direction of system development will surely make Magento strengthen its undisputed position as an enterprise-class leader for e-commerce.
