nopCommerce 3.70 is released

We continue to improve nopCommerce granting more and more functionality based on the latest SEO trends and general convenience for all parties of eCommerce process. Check out the new and exciting highlight features offered by 3.70

Web farms and multiple instances in Windows Azure

Version 3.70 is a great step forward in regard to scalability and now has the features that users have demanded for so long (i.e. support for multiple instances in Windows Azure and web farms). Now with this version, you will no longer have to worry whether your site can handle a large number of visitors. So what exactly has been done to support multiple instances in Azure and web farms?

1. BLOB storage account support in Windows Azure. Please learn more about storage accounts in Azure here.

   How to configure: once your BLOB storage is set up in Azure, open your web.config file, find "AzureBlobStorage" element and specify your BLOB storage connection string, container, endpoint.

2. We’ve added distributed caching and session management support. Redis has been chosen as a caching server (already available in Azure, Amazon, other cloud hosting companies).

   How to configure:

   • First, you have to install and setup Redis. Please find more about how to use Redis in Azure here
   • Once it’s done, you have to configure it in nopCommerce. In order to enable caching in Redis open web.config file. Find "RedisCaching" config element. Set its "Enabled" attribute to "true" and then specify "ConnectionString" pointing your Redis server (configured in the first step)
   • You also have to enable Redis as your distributed session management. Please open web.config file. Find and uncomment “sessionState” element. Specify its’ attributes (host, accessKey, etc) pointing to your Redis server. Please find more about distributed session support in Azure here.
3. Ensure that your scheduled tasks are running on one farm node at a time.

   How to configure: In order to enable this functionality open web.config file, find "WebFarms" element, and set its "MultipleInstancesEnabled" attribute to "True". If you use Windows Azure Websites (not cloud services), then also set "RunOnAzureWebsites" attribute to "True".

Conditional product attributes

Now a store owner can specify a condition for a product attribute when this attribute should be visible depending on other attribute value. Conditional attributes that only appear if a previous attribute is selected, such as having an option for personalizing clothing with a name and only providing the text input box if the "Personalize" radio button is checked.

You can configure conditional attributes on a product details page (admin area), “product attributes” tab, in “view/edit conditions” column.

Access control list (ACL) for topics

We have also made an improvement for all who have enjoyed the functionality of Access Control List. Now a store owner can apply Access Control List restrictions or permissions to any topic on a page. Use it if you want to personalize the site look for a certain group of users like leaving a message for your vendors or addressing your premium users with a new sale on the front page.

Allow users to apply for vendor account in public store

We have introduced an easy procedure of applying for a vendor role, due to a popular demand. Now the whole procedure is done in couple of clicks. Firstly, the vendor request is made by a registered user (in public store), thus creating a vendor account. Then the request is presented to the store-owner to be approved (email notification). Voila! You have the new vendor!

Please note that a store owner has to manually add appropriate customer record to "Vendors" role if he wants to grant access to admin area to this vendor.

Notes for vendors

Now there is a tool to record notes concerning vendors. You will always have your bookkeeping organized and track payable amounts separately for each of your store's vendors.

Discontinued products page

Google is very scrupulous even about unpublished product pages. Knowing this, we’ve made discontinued product pages search-engine friendly. If the search engine displays links to discontinued products from your nopCommerce store in search results, the link would not lead to 404 page or home page but will show the product page with a “no longer available” message. Doing so will result in greater positions for your web store in search results.

Apply discounts to categories, including subcategories

Previous versions had quite time-consuming procedures of applying discounts to categories. Administrator had to manually check all subcategories in a category. Now it is done in one click.

Significant performance and security enhancements

We are continuously working on performance and security. Everything is faster now. Just download 3.70 and check it out yourself!

To check the list of all improvements and bugs fixed click here. Please download the latest version here

It would be great if you could share the news about the new version on your Twitter and Facebook accounts (please use hashtags #nopCommerce #ecommerce).