We are pleased to announce the release of cloudscribe v8.5, which includes important changes to licensing, plus some new features, enhancements and bug fixes.

Major Licensing Change

Commercial Components Now Free

  • Announcement: All cloudscribe commercial components are now available for free use
  • Components Included:
    • TalkAbout Commenting System
    • TalkAbout Forums
    • Membership Paywall
    • Newsletter Management
    • Forms and Surveys
    • Stripe Payment Integration
  • Impact: License key requirements have been completely removed for all commercial components
  • Source Code: Components remain proprietary (subject to potential future open-sourcing)
  • Benefit: Full cloudscribe ecosystem now accessible without licensing barriers

New Features

Admin Application Restart

  • Feature: Added capability for administrators to restart the application directly from the cloudscribe admin interface
  • Benefit: Eliminates need for direct server access when application restart is required
  • Configuration: Controlled via appsettings.json configuration boolean for security
  • Issue: #1102

Enhanced Summernote Editor - Element Path Display

  • Feature: New element path breadcrumb display showing current cursor position in DOM hierarchy (similar to CKEditor)
  • Functionality: Real-time updates with clickable breadcrumbs for easy navigation
  • Implementation: Custom Summernote plugin with comprehensive HTML5 tag support
  • Issue: #1208

Enhanced Summernote Editor - Improved Link Behavior

  • Change: Hyperlinks no longer open in new windows by default
  • Configuration: Controlled via linkTargetBlank: false in summernote-config.json
  • Issue: #1209

RSS Feed Styling Support

  • Feature: Added ability to style RSS feeds with custom CSS stylesheets
  • Implementation: Support for XML stylesheet meta tags in RSS feeds
  • Functionality: Automatic XSL and CSS file deployment with user override protection
  • Benefit: RSS feeds can now match site branding and provide better user experience
  • Documentation: New documentation available at https://www.cloudscribe.com/cloudscribesyndication
  • Issue: cloudscribe.Syndication #7

Enhancements

Enhanced Auto-Logout System

  • Improvement: Resolved session timeout issues for users actively using JavaScript API endpoints
  • Features:
    • Server-side middleware for intelligent session activity tracking
    • Client-side JavaScript for cross-tab session management
    • Configurable timeout thresholds
  • Benefit: Prevents unexpected logouts during active user workflows while maintaining security
  • Issue: #1204

System Information Improvements

  • Enhancement: Updated System Information page to include previously missing packages
  • Added: Compiled views, static files, integration packages, and Bootstrap components
  • Fixed: Removed duplicate "cloudscribe.Email.Templating.Web" entry
  • Benefit: Improved visibility for troubleshooting and support scenarios
  • Issue: #698

Bug Fixes

IdentityServer4 Support Resolution

  • Fixed: Resolved token creation issues caused by dependency version conflicts
  • Root Cause: System.IdentityModel.Tokens.Jwt version 8.2.* breaking changes
  • Solution: Updated dependency chain management and explicit package references
  • Impact: Restored proper JWT signature validation and metadata endpoint functionality
  • Issue: #1205

Email Queue Background Task Exception Handling

  • Fixed: Resolved cancellation exception thrown during app pool recycling
  • Error: "A task was canceled" in EmailQueueBackgroundTask.ExecuteAsync
  • Solution: Improved cancellation token handling in background services
  • Impact: Eliminates log noise during normal application lifecycle events
  • Issue: cloudscribe.Messaging #13

Upgrading to v8.5

To upgrade your cloudscribe installation to version 8.5:

  1. Update all cloudscribe package references in your .csproj files to version 8.5.*
  2. Run your application and verify all features are working as expected

Note: As always, we recommend testing the upgrade in a development environment before deploying to production.

Community and Support

We appreciate the continued support and feedback from the cloudscribe community. For questions or issues related to this release, please visit our GitHub repository or join the discussion in our community forums.

Thank you for using cloudscribe!