abp/docs/en/Blog-Posts/2020-08-20 v3_1_Release/Post.md

ABP Framework v3.1 RC.1 Has Been Released

Today, we are releasing the ABP Framework version 3.1 Release Candidate 1 (RC.1). The development cycle for this version was ~7 weeks. It was the longest development cycle for a feature version release ever. There were two main reasons of this long development cycle;

• We've switched to 4-weeks release cycle (was discussed in this issue).
• We've re-written the Angular service proxy generation system using the Angular schematics to make it more stable. There were some problems with the previous implementation.

This long development cycle brings a lot of new features, improvements and bug fixes. I will highlight the fundamental features and changes in this blog post.

About the Preview/Stable Version Cycle

As mentioned above, it is planned to release a new stable feature version (like 3.1, 3.2, 3.3...) in every 4-weeks.

In addition, we are starting to deploy Release Candidate (RC) versions 2-weeks before the stable versions for every feature releases. You can think these releases as "preview" version.

Today, we've released 3.1.0-rc.1 as the first RC/Preview version. We may release more RC versions if it is needed until the stable version.

The stable 3.1.0 version will be released on September 3, 2020. Next RC version, 3.2.0-rc.1 was planned for September 17, 2020 (2 weeks after the stable 3.1 version and 2 weeks before the stable 3.2 version).

We won't add new features to a version after publishing the RC/Preview version. We only will make bug fixes until the stable version. The new features being developed in this period will be available in the next version.

About the Nightly Builds

Don't confuse RC/Preview versions and nightly builds. When we say RC or preview, we are mentioning the preview system explained above.

We will continue to publish nightly builds for all the ABP Framework packages. You can refer to this document to learn how to use the nightly packages.

Get Started with the RC Versions

Please try the preview versions and provide feedback to us to release more stable versions. Please open an issue on the GitHub repository if you find a bug.

Update the ABP CLI to the 3.1.0-rc.1

TODO

New Solutions

The ABP.IO platform and the ABP CLI are compatible with the RC system. You can select the "preview" option on the download page or use the "--preview" parameter with the ABP CLI new command:

abp new Acme.BookStore --preview

This command will create a new project with the latest RC/Preview version. Whenever the stable version is released, you can switch to the stable version for your solution using the abp switch-to-stable command in the root folder of your solution.

Existing Solutions

If you already have a solution and want to use/test the latest RC/Preview version, use the abp switch-to-preview command in the root folder of your solution. You can return back to the latest stable using the abp switch-to-stable command later.

Note that the abp switch-to-preview command was being used to switch to nightly builds before the v3.1. Now, you should use the abp switch-to-nightly for nightly builds.

What's New with the ABP Framework 3.1

Angular Service Proxies

ABP provides a system to generate Angular service proxies (with TypeScript) to consume the HTTP APIs of your application. Service proxy generation system has been completely re-written with the ABP Framework 3.1. The main goal was to build more stable and feature rich system that is better aligned with other ABP Framework features (like modularity).

See the documentation to learn more about the service proxy generation for Angular applications.

Authorization Code Flow for the Angular UI

We were using the resource owner password authentication flow for the Angular UI login page. We've implemented Authorization Code Flow for the Angular account module and made it default for new projects. With this change, the Angular application now redirects to the login page of the MVC UI which was implemented using the Identity Server 4. We also removed the client secret from the Angular side with this change.

Old behavior remains exist. If you want to switch to the new flow (which is recommended), follow the steps below:

1. Add authorization_code to the IdentityServerClientGrantTypes table in the database, for the client used by the Angular UI (the ClientId is YourProjectName_App by default, in the IdentityServerClients table).

2. Add http://localhost:4200 to IdentityServerClientRedirectUris and IdentityServerClientPostLogoutRedirectUris tables for the same client.

3. Set RequireClientSecret to false in the IdentityServerClients table for the same client.

ABP Commercial users can make these changes on the Identity Server Management UI.

4. Change the oAuthConfig section in the src/environments/environment.ts file of the Angular application.

You can take this new configuration as a reference. Main changes are;

• Added responseType as code.
• Added redirectUri
• Added offline_access to the scope.
• Removed oidc: false option.
• Removed the client secret option.

Global Feature System

The new "Global Features" system allows to enable/disable features of an application or a module in a central point. It is especially useful if you want to use a module but don't want to bring all its features into your application. If the module was so designed, you can enable only the features you need.

When you disable a feature;

• The database tables related to that feature should not be included in the database.
• The HTTP APIs related to that feature should not be exposed. They returns 404 if they are directly requested.

So, the goal is that; when you disable a feature, it should behave like that feature doesn't exists in your system at all.

There is no way to enable/disable a global feature on runtime. You should decide it in the development time (remember, even database tables are not being created for disabled global features, so you can't enable it on runtime).

"Global Features" system is different than SaaS/multi-tenancy features, where you can enable/disable features for your tenants on runtime.

Assume that you are using the CMS Kit module (this module is in a very early stage) where you only want to enable the comment feature:

GlobalFeatureManager.Instance.Modules.CmsKit().Comments.Enable();

You can check if a feature was enabled:

GlobalFeatureManager.Instance.IsEnabled<CommentsFeature>();

Or you can add [RequiresGlobalFeature(...)] attribute to a controller/page to disable it if the related feature was disabled:

//...
[RequiresGlobalFeature(typeof(CommentsFeature))]
public class CommentController :  AbpController
{
    //...
}

See the issue #5061 until this is fully documented.

Social/External Logins

Implemented the infrastructure for social/external logins in the account module. So, now you can easily configure your application to support social/external logins by following the documentation. Once you configure a provider, a button will appear on the login page to use this provider.

Forgot/Reset Password

TODO

External Login System

TODO

User Security Logs

TODO

New BLOB Storage Providers

TODO: AWS & Aliyun

Other Features / Highlights

• UOW level caching system
• Console app template changes
• Make Volo.Abp.Ldap support multi-tenancy.
• Upgraded to AutoMapper 10.
• Allow to put static resources (js/css) under the Components folder
• Introduce BasicAggregateRoot base class
• Try to set GUID Id in the InsertAsync method of the EF Core repository
• Added GetPagedListAsync methods to the repository
• Configure Prettier for the solutions
• Define new layout hooks: before page content & after page content

What's New with the ABP Commercial v3.1

Social/External Logins

TODO

LDAP Authentication

TODO (with settings UI)

Security Logs UI

TODO

Others

• Lock a user for a while
• Angular UI Code Generate re-written