In May 2023 Pimcore, one of the leaders in the PIM segment according to Gartner and Forrester, has released another iteration of the system of the same name, Pimcore 11. The developers have announced more than 800 changes — a real record in product history! Most of the adjustments and modifications are under the hood, so only IT specialists will notice them.
In this article, we've identified seven changes that significantly improve the user experience when working with Pimcore for marketing and e-commerce departments.
Change 1: The Pimcore core is lighter now — fewer resources are needed and you don't have to install hundreds of unnecessary features
Does it look like a “for developers” section? Overall, yes—this is a code level change. But most of all, it will affect the way the business works.
Previously, all product information management tools were built into the Pimcore core. This made it possible to customize the system for specific tasks without additional installations — it was enough to include the necessary options and, if necessary, modify them. In Pimcore 11, developers combined the least popular features into thematic packages and took them beyond the system core.
How did this affect the business user?
The architecture of the PIM system has moved towards a microservice system. Instead of a huge, powerful and cumbersome monolith in the database, you install a lighter version, selecting the necessary options point-by-point.
As a result, the updated Pimcore core does not have to process unnecessary code fragments every time it is launched (which is hundreds of thousands of lines of redundant code!) , and it requires far fewer resources. Therefore, Pimcore 11 handles all requests faster than previous versions, and the system itself is even better protected from the risk of errors.
Change 2: Ability to choose a text editor
Pimcore 11 has a built-in text editor as a basic text editor TinyMCE→, working on the WYSIWYG principle (short from English what you see is what you get, Russian. “what you see is what you get”).
TinyMCE provides all the usual tools for working with text. Below is a preview from the vendor's website, allowing you to try out the basic features of the editor.
However, Pimcore 11 does not limit the user's choice of editor. If you need more (or fewer) tools for working with text or are used to a different interface, you can install any other WYSIWYG editor using the appropriate extensions.
Change 3: Higher safety standards
The system's backend is now configured by default to use the CSP standard (short for English content security policy, Russian). “content security policy”) — in previous iterations of the platform, this aspect had to be taken care of separately.
What is CSP? CSP is HTML that is embedded in the header and regulates the browser's loading of content from unknown Internet resources. If a browser detects a CSP violation, it blocks the download and/or playback of suspicious content.
In addition, CSP allows you to prevent attacks on your systems, including XSS (short for cross-site scripting, Russian). “cross-site scripting”) and attacks through data injection. Using CSP, Pimcore increases the platform's security, minimizing the risk of information leakage and other malicious operations.
As part of the CSP configuration, you can set up a list of trustworthy sources separately for any type of content: scripts, style lists, images, fonts, etc.
Change 4: Working with custom file types
Pimcore can work with all major document and media file formats out of the box.
However, it is critical for some companies to be able to use unique file standards, such as 3D files or InDesign files, that the system does not support in its basic configuration.
Now you can ensure that the platform is compatible with custom file types by adding just a few lines of PHP to its code.
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Even novice developers can easily create their own extension in Pimcore (for example, to support 3D file formats).
This innovation opens up additional opportunities for you to demonstrate and visually present products.
Change 5: New low-infrastructure PDF generator
One of the new microservices in the Pimcore 11 architecture is the Gotenberg PDF generator. Gotenberg allows you to translate into PDF all data contained in the PIM system: Word, Excel, PowerPoint documents, any text, numerical and graphic information from the product card fields.
In just a couple of clicks, the generator creates web-to-print standards files, such as catalogs for printing or sending to dealers, which makes it easier to prepare for offline events and start communicating with new partners.
Gotenberg is integrated into the system infrastructure in the form of a microservice (for example, through a Docker container). Thus, the overall level of complexity of the system does not increase.
Change 6: Updates have affected the entire Pimcore ecosystem: both core products and extensions
All Pimcore products and extensions were updated simultaneously, which ensures a seamless transition to Pimcore 11 (if you already had Pimcore X installed) or its integration from scratch — no matter how many vendor subproducts and extensions you use in your architecture.
Change 7: PHP 8.2 compatibility
Pimcore 11 is compatible with PHP 8.2, the latest version of this programming language as of August 2023; the minimum stack requirement is PHP 8.1. The update allowed Pimcore to use new language features to improve the security of user product information and improve the performance of the Pimcore core core and connected extensions.
Pimcore will be supported on the current stack for at least the next three years.
Does it make sense to switch to Pimcore 11 right now?
Of course, we could very convincingly explain why, even if you have Pimcore X in your IT circuit, you need to switch to Pimcore 11 as soon as possible, using the services of our developers.
However, the purpose of this article is not to induce you to make any decision, but to provide an overview of the added functionality of Pimcore's latest iteration.
And here we can cite two additional points.
First, if you're working with Pimcore X Community Edition, keep in mind that official support for this version of the platform ended on August 16, 2023. The development company will no longer fix detectable bugs, process user requests, or solve system security problems. The situation is unpleasant, but if you have your own development team, it is not critical.
Second, if you're using earlier versions, such as Pimcore 6 or Pimcore 7, you don't have access to many of the convenient features that have been added in the last four or five versions of the platform. But these features can significantly simplify, speed up and stabilize your workflows!
If you have Pimcore X in use, you can upgrade to the current version of the system yourself by following detailed instructions→ on the vendor's website. If you are working with older versions of Pimcore, it makes sense to contact an integrator.
