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Documentation & User Guides | Fotoware

Fotoware release history - build numbers and new functionality

This article lists the functionality for Fotoware 8.1 as well as the individual Fotoware 8.0 Feature Releases and the new functionality introduced with each release.

Updates are available to all customers covered by an Agreement.

Fotoware tests upgrading from the previous two On-Premises releases to the current release, and we offer support for the current On-Premises release as well as the last major On-Premises release.

Looking for Fotoware SaaS updates?

See Fotoware SaaS releases.
 

Fotoware On-Premises Feature Releases and Hotfixes

Feature Release 19 Hotfix 6

January 2024

Product build number
FotoWeb 8.1.1224

Fixed issue

  • There was an issue with logging metadata information for Activity Logging when deleting assets. This is now fixed. 

 

Connect release

June 2023

Product build number
Connect 8.1.1109

Fixed issues

  • The Save button is activated when additional outputs are added to a channel.
  • The Directory (tenant) ID field is only displayed for server types where it has meaning.
  • Previously, transferring images from an Index Manager source would only work once after each service restart. This is now fixed. 
  • The Save button is activated when you change the destination folder in a channel.
  • Previously, when you deleted a channel, it was not always deleted. This is now fixed; you can delete channels, servers, and routings successfully.
  • Previously, when creating a new channel, the channel was saved, but an error message appeared, and the Connect settings app had to be restarted. This is now fixed.
  • Source and destination servers in a channel are listed alphabetically based on the server name.

 

Feature Release 19 Hotfix 5

May 2023

Product build number
FotoWeb 8.1.1223

Fixed issues

  • The Run now action is executed only once, regardless of how often the action is selected. 
     

Feature Release 19 Hotfix 4

April 2023

Product build number
FotoWeb 8.1.1222

Fixed issues

  • To ensure better control of asset integrity, Upload new version will only be available when Version Control is activated for an archive. 
  • Extended search now combines different search values correctly again when using the OR logical operator.
     

Feature Release 19 Hotfix 3

April 2023

Product build number
FotoWeb 8.1.1221

Fixed issues

  • The FotoWeb Selection Widget now applies the mask marker to the selected assets panel when using multi-select mode. 
  • There is no longer a limit on adding metadata criteria when using Extended search.
     

Feature Release 19 Hotfix 2

March 2023

Product build number
FotoWeb 8.1.1220

Fixed issues

  • The ID counter of SQL table "dbo.UserMemberships" no longer overflows after many runs of data pump if legacy reporting module is used.
  • A guest user can now successfully connect to Index Manager and see indexes that allow access to everyone.
  • When assets were moved from one pool to another (with an action, for example), users sometimes received an error message even though the action was successful. This is now fixed.
  • The asset preview page was displaying a blank image for zip files containing a "preview.jpg" with the zip preview option enabled. This is now fixed, and the asset preview displays the "preview.jpg" image for the zip file.
     

Feature Release 19 Hotfix 1

February 2023

Product build number
FotoWeb 8.1.1216

Fixed issues

  • In the previous release, using or creating an archive was limited to 100 archives. This limit is now removed and there is no limitation on the number of archives that can be used or created.
  • The Hide option for assets connected to actions now works as expected again in the Main Interface.
     

Feature Release 19

February 2023

Product build numbers
FotoWeb 8.1.1215
Operations Center 8.1.1119
Index Manager 8.1.1036
Color Factory 8.1.1024 
Connect 8.1.1107

New and updated functionality 

Fixed issues

In the previous release, alert emails were not being sent. This issue is now fixed, and alert emails work as expected. 

Known issues

The following issues will be fixed as part of a hotfix: 

  • Data pump fails with The INSERT statement conflicted with the FOREIGN KEY constraint "FK_UserMembership_User" error if the legacy reporting module is used.
  • Guest access to FotoStation FWP configuration is not working.
  • The Hide option for assets connected to actions is not working in the Main Interface. It works as expected in the Pro Interface.
  • Anonymous guest access to indexes from FotoWeb is not working. 

 

 

Fotoware 8.1 (Feature Release 18)

July 2022

Product build numbers
FotoWeb 8.1 Build 1206
Index Manager 8.1 Build 1022
Connect 8.1 Build 1106
Color Factory 8.1 Build 1013
Operations Center 8.1 Build 1114

This 8.1 version comes with the major underlying changes described below as well as an updated User Interface (UI). 

Overall underlying changes in 8.1:

  • separate native configuration applications and web-based status/monitoring interfaces
  • all Microsoft Silverlight interfaces have been removed
  • the web-based status/monitoring interfaces cannot be opened with Internet Explorer. Instead, another browser must be used, such as Google Chrome, Safari, or Microsoft Edge.

Note: The 8.1 versions of Index Manager, Connect, Color Factory, Operations Center, and FotoWeb Server settings cannot be installed on the same server as the 8.0 versions of the respective products. If you are running multiple Fotoware suite products on the same server, you must update them to 8.1.

The Fotoware 8.1 release is a major update to all Fotoware server components that, in addition to major new features, contains important component upgrades, including:

  • Update of all .Net Framework dependencies
  • Removed dependency on Internet Explorer (Microsoft ended support  in June 2022)
  • Removal of Silverlight-based components (Microsoft ended support in October 2021)
  • Support for Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022

 

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer 11 is no longer officially supported in any web-based Fotoware user interfaces. Fotoware 8.1 (and future releases) have no dependency on Internet Explorer. Previous versions of Fotoware have an indirect dependency on Internet Explorer due to Silverlight, it can be still used with Microsoft Edge after end of support for Internet Explorer. Learn how to open Fotoware Operations Center 8.0 in Microsoft Edge. 

 

Microsoft Authentication Library

Starting with version 8.1, all versions of FotoWeb use the new Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL). Customers using FotoWeb On-Premises with Azure AD single sign-on (SSO) should update FotoWeb 8.1 version. ADAL, used by all 8.0 versions of FotoWeb, is no longer in use in 8.1.

No configuration changes in Azure AD or SSO configuration in FotoWeb are necessary for this update, but due to improvements in the SSO integration on our side, it is now possible and recommended to switch to role-based access control (RBAC) and disable implicit grant. See our documentation for details.

 

Silverlight

All Silverlight-based components are removed. The new Operations Center applications are independent of Silverlight and, from this On-Premises release onwards, Fotoware also becomes independent from Internet Explorer.

All settings related to FotoWeb sites are available in Site Configuration directly in the Fotoware user interface. All Color Factory, Connect, Index Manager, and FotoWeb Service settings are available in native configuration apps. The status monitoring screens for Fotoware server components are available in a modern web interface.

 

Reporting

Fotoware comes with its own custom reporting tool that generates regular reports in common formats such as HTML, CSV, and XML. The configuration of these reports has been done in a Silverlight-based tool. We aim to have a solution for this by Q1 2023. In the meantime, we will ensure that the legacy tool continues to work as a Silverlight out-of-browser application. This toolkit has no dependency on browsers such as Internet Explorer or Edge.

 

New and updated functionality

  • New Operations Center applications
    Operations Center is replaced with the following apps which you access directly on the server (usually though RDP). The overall functionality remains the same as the latest 8.0 version.
    • Operations Center Setting
    • Operations Center Status
    • Index Manager Settings
    • FotoWeb Settings
    • Color Factory Settings
    • Connect Settings
  • Version Control 
    You will receive the necessary Version Control licenses automatically with your next agreement renewal. If you would like to use Version Control before that, contact Fotoware. Version Control needs to be actively enabled. Note that enabling Version Control directly affects storage capacity as the asset and metadata are stored multiple times. 
    For more information, see Version Control in Fotoware On-Premises and Setting archive access and permissions.
     
  • Support for large file uploads through our APIs and Web Uploader
    For more information, see Large File Upload API.
     
  • Metadata Macros on Ingestion
    For more information, see Updating asset metadata on ingestion to an archive.
  • Full support of dark mode
    For more information, see Toggling light and dark mode in Fotoware.

  • Update of our database engine MongoDB 
     
  • New SSO implementation
     
  • New Session Management UI


Note: We are continuously updating Learn with all of this new information, so you may notice some discrepancies between the available functionality and the Learn topics describing same. We will be up-to-date as soon as possible!

Feature Release 17

September 2021

Product build numbers: 

Fotoware 8.0 build 1062

 

News:

Changes

  • MongoDB updated from version 2.6 to version 4.4.
    The Fotoware Update Assistant will migrate the existing database. We recommend manually backing up the MongoDB database before installing the updated Fotoware version. Also worth noting is that the drive hosting the MongoDB database will require additional space during the update as the database will be duplicated before migration. Roughly 1,5 times the size of the existing database size will be required. The space taken up by the additional database will be freed up after migration.
  • Changes to user password hashing for increased security. Make sure you learn about the changes and things to consider before upgrading.

Important things to note about this update

  • FotoWeb FR17 can no longer be installed on Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2. The minimum required Windows Server version is 2016.
  • A downgrade from FR17 to earlier versions is not possible. The only way to downgrade is to restore the entire configuration from a backup.
  • FR17 includes an updated version of MongoDB (specifically, version 4.4). See the Changes section above for recommendations before proceeding with the update.
  • FotoWeb 7.0 can be upgraded directly to FotoWeb 8.0 FR17, so long as it runs on Windows Server 2016 or higher. 
  • FotoWeb 8.0 FR17 is the last version where updates from Fotoware 7.0 are supported. Future versions will only allow updates from Fotoware 8.0 and up.

 

Feature Release 15

March 2020

Product build numbers: 

FotoWeb 8.0 build 972

New features:

Improvements:

A host of bug fixes and minor user experience improvements - a complete list of fixes and changes is available in the release notes on the Fotoware Customer Portal.

Aug 2017 Update to the Fotoware 8.0 suite

August 2017

This release introduces Fotoware Protocol (FWP) version 2.0, which enables full client-server communications without requiring client access to Index Manager's document folders over Windows networking (SMB) or Apple File Protocol (AFP). This change affects FotoStation, Index Manager, and Color Factory. Several new features not directly associated with the FWP 2.0 implementation have also been added, as outlined below.

Products and build numbers:

  • FotoStation 8.0 build 771
  • Index Manager 8.0 build 770
  • Color Factory 8.0 build 770

New and improved features:

Index Manager

New features:

  • All remote file operations available via the FWP protocol without requiring access to the file repositories via SMB

Feature Release 10

June 2017

Product build numbers:

  • FotoWeb 8.0 build 810
  • Index Manager 8.0 build 766

New features:

Feature Release 9

October 2016

Product build numbers:

  • FotoWeb 8.0 build 790

New features:

Feature Release 5

April 2016

Product build numbers:

  • FotoWeb 8.0 build 730

New features:

Feature Release 4

February 2016

Product build numbers:

  • FotoWeb 8.0 build 724
  • Index Manager 8.0 build 720

New features:

Feature Release 3

October 2015

Product build numbers:

  • FotoWeb 8.0 build 715

New features:

Feature Release 2

August 2015

Product build numbers:

  • FotoWeb 8.0 build 710
  • Index Manager 8.0 build 708

New features:

Feature Release 1

June 2015

Product build numbers:

  • FotoWeb 8.0 build 705
  • Index Manager 8.0 build 705

New features: