All You Need to Know: Magento 2.4.4 Latest Release
Written by Manpreet Kaur
Content WriterAdobe has recently released its Magento 2.4.4 version, which is packed with enhanced capabilities, security, performance improvements, and several bug fixes. The Magento 2.4.4 release notes reveal that around 250 bug fixes and quality enhancements have been rolled out and some significant updates include support for PHP 8.1, latest versions of jQuery, OpenSearch, MySQL, and ElasticSearch. Let’s explore the latest updates this version introduces for developers.
Security Enhancements
Adobe has made tremendous security improvements to ensure compliance with advanced security practices. These enhancements include:
- Eliminated the need of integration tokens for API Bearer token authentication. Earlier, an integration token was used as a key for authentication, resulting in a never-ending access token. Now, this action has been deactivated.
- Session IDs are not stored in the Magento database.
- Offers reCAPTCHA support for coupon codes.
- Disabled Swagger by default.
- Removed email variable usage as a part of security risk mitigation to incorporate a stricter variable syntax.
- Encrypted OAuth access token and password reset tokens stored in the database.
- Enabled HTTPS by default for Magento storefront.
- Mandatory to have the dependency confusion plugin for all Magento Open-Source installations.
- Prevents the upload of non-alpha-numeric file extensions with strong validation.
Platform Enhancements
Magento 2.4.4 supports PHP 8.1. In addition, all project libraries and dependencies have been updated to ensure compliance with PHP 8.1. Major platform enhancements include:
- Offers support for Elasticsearch 7.16 and OpenSearch 1.2. All the deployments hosted in the cloud have OpenSearch as their default search engine.
- Eliminated TinyMCE4 from the codebase allowing TinyMCE 5.8.1.
- Updated JavaScript libraries to their latest versions. For example, the JQuery library has been updated to version 3.6, and the jquery-ui library has been updated to 1.13.0.
- Most Laminas dependencies have been updated to their latest versions ensuring compatibility with PHP 8.1.
- Upgraded RequireJS library to the latest version (v2.3.6).
- Updated PHPUnit to the newest version, 9.5.x.
GraphQL
Magento has addressed an extensive list of GraphQL issues listed below:
- Enhanced performance of GraphQL cart. The collectQuoteTotals() method is called once when a GraphQL request occurs, thus reducing response time.
- Improved caching of GraphQL requests to improve performance.
- Updated webonyx library to its latest version, 14.9.
- Changes made to admin configuration settings. For instance, the storeConfig displays configuration settings for Zero Subtotal Checkout and Check/Money Order payment methods.
- Solved all the translation problems with the GraphQL resolver.
Vendor Bundled Extensions
All the vendor-bundled extensions, excluding Braintree, have been dismissed from Adobe Commerce 2.4.4 codebase. Now, the merchants need to move to the following extensions.
- Amazon Pay
- Klarna
- Vertex
- dotdigital
- YotPo
PayPal Payment Enhancements
The critical updates in the PayPal payment methods are:
- Offers support for Venmo payment mode.
- Allows Pay Later option for buyers. The checkout web page's messaging shows what the shoppers need to pay when they use Pay Later option.
- The merchants can specify buyer’s country while testing shopper experience. Earlier, testing was possible for the merchant’s country only.
- The buyers are directed to the success page once PayPal Payments Advanced payment is completed successfully.
Library Upgrades
The following Magento libraries have been updated to their latest versions:
- script.aculo.us
- Chart.js
- moment.js
- moment-timezone-with-data.js
- matchMedia.js
- underscore.js
- PrototypeJS
- RequireJS
- LessCSS
Library Removals and Deprecations
The below-mentioned libraries have been removed as Magento 2.4.4 supports the functionality these libraries offer:
- es6-collections.js
- MutationObserver.js
- Modernizr
- FormData.js
- jquery.hoverIntent
- grunt-autoprefixer package
Performance and Scalability Enhancements
Magento 2.4.4 optimizes the throughput order processing and message queue to deliver enhanced performance. Some of the top changes include:
- Offers support for the ‘Enable Inventory Check on Cart Load” option to prevent inventory checks ensuring easy checkout.
- Introduced AsyncOrder feature
- Works with input variables volume
- Compatibility with PWA Studio v.12.3.0
Fixed Issues
The latest update handles various issues to empower the developers to develop applications seamlessly. The main points are listed below:
- Accessibility
- Resolved accessibility errors with navigation on cart & checkout pages.
- Access rich text editor toolbar using the Tab key.
- All table controls in the Catalog > Product web page has visible labels.
- Accessible name & textual alternative have been assigned to the magnifying glass icon.
- Pencil icon has textual alternative.
- Installation, Upgrade, Deployment
- Static content deployment errors are logged in build log files.
- No duplicate values are inserted in MySQL database table.
- Change the sitemap generator configuration from the command line.
- Modifications in the product alert configuration resulted in errors. However, now the bin/magento app:config:import runs without errors when changes are made.
- Backend
- Allows admins to log in into deployment with configured custom admin path.
- Eliminated redirection to All Store View Scope when multi-store hierarchy is modified.
- Cache
- Optimized cache cleaning algorithm executed during re-indexing, ensuring bundle products are displayed instantly when a category is cached.
- Doesn’t wipe out the full-site page cache.
- Index
- Displays products in storefront after re-indexing.
- Fixed the consistency issues in merged indexer.xml files.
- Implements synchronization mechanism to stop full and partial indexers.
- Search
- Specify search weight on SKU attributes.
- Diacritic-insensitive Elasticsearch catalog searches.
- Includes price fields to Elasticsearch price index mapping.
- Displays sub-categories of the current category in layered navigation.
- Test
- Compatibility of integration, unit, and WebAPI tests with PHP 8.1.
- Updated test coverage for call_user_func_array.
- Functional issues in WebAPI tests have been fixed.
- Errors that caused false positive static tests have been resolved.
- Stabilized functional tests for compatibility with PHP 8.1.
- Magento\Framework\MessageQueue\TopologyTest test works with AWS MQ for RabbitMQ service.
- Shipping
- Disable shipment update emails using Stores > Configuration > Sales > Sales Emails.
- Contains tracking number for the current shipment only.
- Shows UPS rates while creating shipping labels.
- Allows import of table rates.
Conclusion
Adobe Commerce has rolled out significant changes to empower developers to create optimized eCommerce solutions seamlessly. It is essential to update the existing applications and leverage the new features and improvements of the platform. Are you looking for support to manage your Magento upgrade? Royal Cyber’s certified team of Magento developers can help to create, modify, and optimize storefronts depending on your business needs. Contact us and learn how we can help you.
