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What's new in CF237

The following features and updates are available to customers installing HCL Digital Experience (DX) Compose Container Update CF237 and the HCL Java Transition Module for DX Compose CF237 on supported platforms:

  • DB2 HADR support for WebEngine now available
  • Helm values updates
  • Java Transition Module for DX Compose – Support for additional custom Java extension types
  • Managing global settings using Helm values
  • New Oracle 21c TCPS connection requirements
  • New parameters for runtimeController automatic service account token mounting
  • OpenLiberty, JRE, and UBI versions
  • Practitioner Studio Dashboard - New widgets
  • Presentation Designer - Feature updates
  • Rule-based user groups now available

DB2 HADR support for WebEngine now available

WebEngine now supports DB2 High Availability Disaster Recovery (HADR) to provide automated database failover and recovery. Set db2HadrEnabled: true in your Helm configuration to automate application failover during a DB2 HADR takeover. This parameter injects client reroute properties into Liberty data sources and handles SQL1776N errors by restarting the pod to establish clean connection pools against the new primary node. For more information, refer to Enabling HADR support for DB2.

Helm values updates

Helm value properties in HCL DX that were added, removed, deprecated, or changed for this release are documented in DX Helm values updates.

Java Transition Module for DX Compose – Support for additional custom Java extension types

The HCL Java Transition Module for Digital Experience Compose, available separately, adds new support for Authentication and Servlet filters, Content spot exits and Application objects for Personalization. For more information, refer to Java Transition Module for DX Compose.

Managing global settings using Helm values

Settings on the Global page under Administration > Settings in Practitioner Studio are now read-only. To change global settings such as default language, unauthorized portlet visibility, post-login landing pages, and search engine URLs, update the parameters under configuration.webEngine.propertiesFilesOverrides in your custom Helm values file. For more information, refer to Managing global settings and Updating DX properties using Helm values.

New Oracle 21c TCPS connection requirements

Starting in CF237, Oracle 21c database connections using TCPS require modern cipher suites due to security updates in JVM 21. Before upgrading WebEngine to CF237 or later, ensure modern cipher suites are active and appended to SQLNET.CIPHER_SUITE on the database to prevent connection issues. For more information, refer to Oracle 21c requirements.

New parameters for runtimeController automatic service account token mounting

Two new Helm parameters are now available to support cluster security policies that restrict automatic service account token mounting:

  • The automountServiceAccountToken parameter allows explicit configuration of token mounting per component. If your environment prohibits token automounting, set this parameter to false to revoke token access.
  • The configuration.runtimeController.projectedServiceAccountToken parameter specifies settings for projected token volumes in runtimeController. If token automounting is disabled, set enabled to true to supply a projected token volume and maintain Kubernetes API access.

For configuration details and examples, refer to Managing service account token automounting.

OpenLiberty, JRE, and UBI versions

HCL DX Compose 9.5 CF237 contains the following:

For more information, refer to OpenLiberty, JRE, and UBI versions.

Practitioner Studio Dashboard - New widgets

The Practitioner Studio Dashboard includes two new widgets to enhance content management and project tracking capabilities:

  • My Projects: Tracks assigned project workflows, approval statuses, and recent updates to streamline content delivery.
  • Tags & Keywords Manager: Centralizes tag and keyword administration to manage content taxonomies across sites.

For more information, refer to My Projects and Tags & Keywords Manager.

Presentation Designer - Feature updates

The following features have been added to Presentation Designer:

  • Added automatic locking for presentation templates during active editing sessions to prevent conflicting edits. These locks release upon exiting Edit mode, saving and closing the template, or cancelling and navigating back to the Authoring portlet. For more information, refer to Automatic presentation template locking.
  • Added the Layers panel to display a hierarchical tree view of canvas elements. The panel maps out parent containers and child contents to help you navigate complex presentation templates without clicking through nested elements in the workspace. For more information, refer to Layers.
  • Updated the Style items panel to validate style values in real time by highlighting syntax errors in red, preventing invalid CSS from rendering on the canvas. The Save button is disabled until all errors are resolved. For more information, refer to Style validation.
  • Added Button and Video static elements. For more information, refer to Static elements.
  • Integrated DX Picker into the Canvas Context Preview feature, allowing you to select content items and digital assets directly from WCM libraries to evaluate real-time layout rendering. For more information, refer to Canvas Context Preview.

Rule-based user groups now available

You can now use the SoftGroups feature in HCL DX Compose to define dynamic portal user groups, also known as rule-based user groups, using Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) search filter expressions. SoftGroups store group definitions in the portal database instead of the primary LDAP directory, which avoids modifications to the LDAP directory schema.

This feature enables administrators to define portal user groups by applying LDAP search filters to user attributes, while the system evaluates user group membership dynamically at runtime. You can create, update, search, and delete rule-based groups using the Portal User Management Architecture (PUMA) or the SoftGroups portlet.

For configuration details, refer to Configuring rule-based user groups.

Access the latest HCL Digital Experience 9.5 Education Materials on HCLSoftware U

The HCLSoftware U offers technical education for the HCL Software portfolio of products, organized by practitioner role. See the HCL Digital Experience section of HCLSoftware U and the What’s New for Digital Experience section for more information.