Release Notes for OpenCms 19

April 2, 2025: OpenCms 19 brings new tools for website translation like quick language switching in the form editor, an improved "Compare locale" dialog in the sitemap and localized “mappings” from XML Schemas to selected file properties. When uploading images, a preview of the image is now shown and the filenames entered for all uploaded resources are now validated. In the category selection dialog, the system now automatically provides quick access to the most recent selections. The “Optimize image gallery” dialog can now be accessed directly from the page editor and also from the sitemap editor. Display of validation errors in the form editor has been optimized to better identify the fields where errors have occurred. The filter box in the “Websites” app now retains the restriction of the list after a website has been edited.

See the Mercury documentation website for a detailed description of the new features in the Mercury Template that ships with this release.

Main new features of OpenCms 119

• Show available languages as buttons in the form editor for quick switching.
• The "Compare locales" dialog in the sitemap now shows a context menu for both languages.
• XML content now supports mapping values to localized file properties.
• The upload dialog has been improved with image preview and filename checks.
• Quick access to recently used categories in the editor.
• Improved display of validation errors in the form editor.
• The "Website" and "Module" apps in the workplace "remember" the selected filter.

Further improvements in OpenCms 19

• Page editor: Default element settings are no longer written to the container page.
• Page editor: Allow access to the "Optimize gallery" dialog without workplace access.
• Page editor: "Delete unused element" is now supported on detail only pages.
• Page / Form editor: Image galleries now use retina thumbnais and optimized CSS.
• Form editor: Always use "date descending" sort order when opening the gallery view.
• Sitemap editor: The folder path is now displayed in the in "Properties" editor.
• Sitemap editor: Creation of nested galleries has been disabled.
• Optimize gallery: Added note in case there are no "unused" images.
• Optimize gallery: Show count of images without copyright or description set.
• Workplace: Experimental option to display categories in an explorer column.
• Workplace: Improved saving of user's explorer column selection.
• Workplace: OpenCms "About" dialog now shows a "Build date" for a custom local build.
• JSP API: Added EL functions to check if a resource has certain categories.
• JSP API: Added EL functions for WCAG color test / calculation.
• JSP API: Added EL function CmsJspResourceWrapper#getToLink.
• JSP API: Added option to manipulate element settings before passing them to the formatter.
• JSP API: Added method to get the id of the current page, accounting for detail only and new pages.
• JSP API: Extended I_CmsInfoWrapper implementations to support description.addon.
• Core API: Optionally pass ids not in the table to the tables update method.
• Core API: Extended detail page configuration with optional folder field.
• Core API: Copy groups now all to set the "Copy this element" option.
• Core API: Deleted detail-only content is now automatically published together with the detail content.
• Detail page hander: Return 404 instead of 401 response for unavailable resources.
• Updated SOLR and several other dependencies to the latest version.

Bug fixes in OpenCms 19

• Security: Fixed 2 "Cross Site Scripting in OpenCms" issues reported by INCIBE (INC-2025-0031)
• Fixed some issues in the place element mode introduced in OpenCms 18
• Fixed issue with workplace explorer context menus not functional after title change operations in explorer list
• Fixed issue where clicking the icon in the "Links to element" dialog not using the same action as "Open page"
• Fixed issue in content editor where validation errors for VFS links could be displayed in the wrong locale
• Fixed issue with CSS for SVG in "Optimize gallery" dialog that caused distorted SGV display
• Fixed issue with CSS for internal "diff" showing too much space between lines
• Fixed issue with NPE in CmsJspContentAccessValueWrapper that could occur during scripted setup
• Fixed issue where an unnecessary password change email was send to a "web user"
• Fixed issue with removing broken links to restricted areas
• Fixed issue in Chrome where using the browser "Back" button may cause the workplace to freeze or become nonfunctional
• Fixed issue #808 with redirects not working in the offline project when triggered by container elements.
• Fixed issue #809 with device-specific contents being lost when modifying a container page.
• Fixed issue #810 with location picker widget not being correctly initialized when used in an optional content field.

General OpenCms features

• The page editor allows WYSIWYG inline editing of web pages and arrangement of content by drag & drop.
• The form based editor allows editing of structured content in a well defined form mask.
• The sitemap editor allows to create new pages and re-arrange the navigation tree by drag & drop.
• Responsive "Mercury" default template based on Bootstrap 4 with many features.
• Headless API for accessing content as JSON from external applications.
• Content creation for mobile devices with preview and device specific content control.
• Structured contents can be defined using a simple XML schema.
• Easy to use "Online / Offline" workflow, changes must be approved before they become visible.
• Link management for all internal resources with broken link detection.
• Integrated image scaling and cropping.
• SEO features with automatic sitemap.xml generation and page alias support.
• Full featured user management that supports the concept of "Organizational Units" (OUs).
• Allows management of multiple websites within one installation.
• Contents can be served dynamically or exported to static HTML files.
• File access to the OpenCms content repository over a shared network / SMB drive.
• CMIS and WebDAV access to the OpenCms content repository.
• Integrates Apache SOLR for powerful content searching and noSQL like queries.
• Full text search for web pages as well as in office documents like PDF, MS Office and Open Office.
• Extensions can be added through a flexible module system.
• The "time warp" feature allows to view resources which are expired or not yet released.
• JSP integration for dynamic functionality in templates, dynamic forms etc.
• ... and many more

Backward compatibility

OpenCms 19 is backward compatible with all OpenCms versions from 10 to 18. Templates and other OpenCms developed code from these versions should work mostly "out of the box" with version 19.

Notice for users of Alkacon OCEE Users of Alkacon OCEE require a new OCEE version for OpenCms 19. The update is free for Alkacon customers with a valid OCEE subscription. Please contact Alkacon to receive the new version.

Compatibility with Java versions, servlet containers and databases

OpenCms 19 is compatible with Java 21, 17 and 11.

OpenCms 19 requires a Java Servlet 4.0 compatible web container. We have tested this release using Jetty and Tomcat. It works "out of the box" with Jetty 12 or Tomcat 9. Others have reported deploying OpenCms successfully on other web servlet containers like WildFly, GlassFish, WebLogic, WebSphere and Resin.

On the database side, we provide support for MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, DB2 and HSQLDB.