Upgrade Guide#

This upgrade guide lists all breaking changes in Volto and explains the steps that are necessary to upgrade to the lastest version.

Note

There are times that updating the Volto boilerplate (the one generated by @plone/create-volto-app) is enough to fulfill all the changes. If you haven't heavilly modified it, moving things around and copying over your dependencies might do when dealing with upgrades. We keep the generator up to date and in sync with current Volto release.

Upgrading to Volto 8.x.x#

Upgrade package.json testing configuration#

The dummy-addons-loader.js file has been renamed to jest-addons-loader.js, to be more in line with the rest of the existing files. You should add the following value to the moduleNameMapper property of the jest key in your project's package.json:

"load-volto-addons": "<rootDir>/node_modules/@plone/volto/jest-addons-loader.js",

Upgrading to Volto 7.x.x#

A misspelled file has been renamed. If you import strickthrough.svg in your project, you'll now find that file at @plone/volto/icons/strikethrough.svg.

New webpack resolve alias for Volto themes#

As a "nice to have", a new resolve alias is provided that points to Volto's theme folder. So, in your project's theme.config file, you can replace:

@themesFolder: '../../node_modules/@plone/volto/theme/themes';
@siteFolder: "../../theme";
@fontPath : "../../@{theme}/assets/fonts";

with:

@themesFolder: '~volto-themes';
@siteFolder: '[email protected]/../theme';
@fontPath: "~volto-themes/@{theme}/assets/fonts";

You might consider moving your theme files to a subfolder called site, to prepare for the arrival of addons theming and their overrides. In that case, you would set your @siteFolder to:

@siteFolder: '[email protected]/../theme/site';

Upgrading to Volto 6.x.x#

First, update the package.json of your Volto project to Volto 6.x.x.

  "dependencies": {
    "@plone/volto": "6.0.0",
    ...
  }

Note

This release includes a number of changes to the internal dependencies. If you have problems building your project, might be that you need to remove your node_modules and, ultimately, remove also your yarn.lock file. Then run again yarn for rebuilding dependencies.

Upgrade to Node 12#

We have now dependencies that requires node >=10.19.0. Although Node 10 has still LTS "maintenance" treatment (see https://nodejs.org/en/about/releases/) the recommended path is that you use from now on node 12 which is LTS since last October.

The underlying Razzle package has been upgraded, and although that does not suppose any change in Volto itself, a lot of development dependencies have been upgraded and they should be updated in your local projects as well. Might be that the builds continue working if you don't update them, but it's better for you to do so for a better development experience.

Upgrade local dependencies versions#

You need to update devDependencies in package.json in your local environment:

  "devDependencies": {
    "eslint-plugin-prettier": "3.1.3",
    "prettier": "2.0.5",
    "stylelint-config-idiomatic-order": "8.1.0",
    "stylelint-config-prettier": "8.0.1",
    "stylelint-prettier": "1.1.2",
  }

and remove entirely the resolutions key:

  "resolutions": {
    "@plone/volto/razzle/webpack-dev-server": "3.2.0"
  }

Update `package.json` config#

Add this key to the jest.moduleNameMapper:

"jest":
  "moduleNameMapper": {
    "@plone/volto/babel": "<rootDir>/node_modules/@plone/volto/babel",
    ...
  }

because new Jest is a bit more picky when importing externals.

Prettier#

Prettier has been updated, introducing some breaking formatting changes. It's recommended that you upgrade your local version of prettier and reformat your code with it using:

yarn prettier:fix

Stylelint#

stylelint has been upgraded too, and it introduces some changes in the declaration of the styles order. It's recommended that you upgrade your local version of prettier and reformat your code with it using:

yarn stylelint:fix

CSS modules are not supported anymore#

Razzle does not support them anymore, so neither do we. If you need them, you could add a Webpack config in your local razzle.config.js.

Update your eslint config#

Introduced in the Volto 5 series, it's recommended that you update your local ESLint config. In the past, we used .eslintrc file to do so. In order to support automatically Volto addons, you should remove it and use a JS based config one .eslintrc.js with this contents:

const path = require('path');
const projectRootPath = path.resolve('.');
const packageJson = require(path.join(projectRootPath, 'package.json'));

// Extends ESlint configuration for adding the aliases to `src` directories in Volto addons
const addonsAliases = [];
if (packageJson.addons) {
  const addons = packageJson.addons;
  addons.forEach(addon => {
    const addonPath = `${addon}/src`;
    addonsAliases.push([addon, addonPath]);
  });
}

module.exports = {
  extends: './node_modules/@plone/volto/.eslintrc',
  settings: {
    'import/resolver': {
      alias: {
        map: [
          ['@plone/volto', '@plone/volto/src'],
          ...addonsAliases,
          ['@package', './src'],
        ],
        extensions: ['.js', '.jsx', '.json'],
      },
      'babel-plugin-root-import': {
        rootPathSuffix: 'src',
      },
    },
  },
};

New wrappers in block editor#

We have improved the overall UX of the block drag and drop feature by using the library react-beautiful-dnd in the block editor. It introduces new wrappers (belonging to the lib machinery) in the structure. The original structure and class names are still in there (as children of these wrappers) to maintain maximum backwards compatibility. Those might be cleaned up in next major versions, so if for some reason you have customized the styling of your blocks in edit mode relying in the old structure, you might want to review and adapt them.

Update `config.js`#

Note

This is required since Volto version 6.1.0 1541

Add these to the config.js of your project:

export const addonRoutes = [];

export const addonReducers = {};

Upgrading to Volto 5.x.x#

First, update the package.json of your Volto project to Volto 5.x.x.

  "dependencies": {
    "@plone/volto": "5.0.0",
    ...
  }

New lazy loading boilerplate#

Volto is now capable of splitting and lazy load components. This allows for better performance and reduced bundle sizes, the client also has to parse and load less code, improving the user experience, specially on mobile devices.

The boilerplate includes changes in the structural foundation of Volto itself. So if you have updated in your projects any of these components:

src/helpers/Html/Html.jsx
src/components/theme/App/App.jsx
src/server.jsx
src/client.jsx

you should adapt them to the newests changes in Volto source code. You can do that by diffing the new ones with yours.

Testing lazy load components#

The whole process has been designed to have a minimal impact in existing projects. However, only a thing should be changed in your components tests. Specially if your components are composed of original Volto components (not SemanticUI ones, though).

You should adapt them by mocking the Volto component or resolve (await) for them in an async construction before the test is fired. See this Codepen example:

https://codesandbox.io/s/loadable-async-tests-l2bx9

import React from "react";
import { render } from "@testing-library/react";
import App from "./App";
import { Component1, Component2 } from "./components";

describe("CustomComponent", () => {
  it("rendered lazily", async () => {
    const { container, getByText } = render(<App />);

    await Component1;
    await Component2;

    expect(container.firstChild).toMatchSnapshot();
    expect(getByText("Component1"));
    expect(getByText("Component2"));
  });

This is also another pattern used in Volto core for testing, you can transform your test in async aware like this:

--- a/src/components/manage/Preferences/PersonalPreferences.test.jsx
+++ b/src/components/manage/Preferences/PersonalPreferences.test.jsx
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import renderer from 'react-test-renderer';
 import { Provider } from 'react-intl-redux';
 import configureStore from 'redux-mock-store';
 import { MemoryRouter } from 'react-router-dom';
+import { wait } from '@testing-library/react';

 import PersonalPreferences from './PersonalPreferences';

@@ -13,7 +14,7 @@ jest.mock('react-portal', () => ({
 }));

 describe('PersonalPreferences', () => {
-  it('renders a personal preferences component', () => {
+  it('renders a personal preferences component', async () => {
     const store = mockStore({
       intl: {
         locale: 'en',
@@ -36,7 +37,8 @@ describe('PersonalPreferences', () => {
         </MemoryRouter>
       </Provider>,
     );
-    const json = component.toJSON();
-    expect(json).toMatchSnapshot();
+    await wait(() => {
+      expect(component.toJSON()).toMatchSnapshot();
+    });
   });
 });

Helmet title now it's centralized in `View.jsx`#

All the calls for update the title in the document performed by Helmet are now centralized in the View.jsx components. It's recommended to remove all the Helmet calls for updating the title from your components specially if you are using some of the SEO addons for Volto, since not doing that could interfere with them.

Upgrading to Volto 4.x.x#

First, update your package.json to Volto 4.x.x.

  "dependencies": {
    "@plone/volto": "4.0.0",
    ...
  }

New initial blocks per content type setting in Alpha 37#

Not breaking change, but now there's a new setting in Blocks, initialBlocks where you can define a the initial blocks for all content types. You can override the default ('title' and a 'text' block) and provide your own by modifying the configuration object:

const initialBlocks = {
    Document: ['leadimage', 'title', 'text', 'listing' ]
};

provide an empty object if you don't want to define any additional initial blocks and keep the default.

const initialBlocks = {};

ImageSidebar moved to Image Block directory in Alpha 29#

For better resource grouping, the ImageSidebar component has been moved to the Image block component directory: components/manage/Blocks/Image

Copy `yarn.lock` from volto-starter-kit in Alpha 17#

Due to changes in the dependency tree, it's required to use an specific yarn.lock file by deleting it and copy the one here: https://github.com/plone/volto-starter-kit/blob/master/yarn.lock before upgrading to Volto alpha 17.

Forked Helmet into Volto core#

Due to the inactivity of the Helmet project, we decided to fork it to the core. It's part of the Volto helpers now. You have to update your imports accordingly. Please notice that now it's a named import:

--- a/src/components/Views/ReportView.jsx
+++ b/src/components/Views/ReportView.jsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import React from 'react';
 import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
-import Helmet from 'react-helmet';
+import { Helmet } from '@plone/volto/helpers';
 import { defineMessages, injectIntl, FormattedMessage } from 'react-intl';
 import { format, parse } from 'date-fns';
 import { filter, map } from 'lodash';

Alpha 16 is a brownbag release#

There was a problem with the projects using Volto eslint config when upgrading to latest versions related to typescript, we will take of that in the near future. So skip this version.

Stylelint and prettier config in Alpha 14#

In your project's boilerplate, you need to update the stylelint and prettier configuration accordingly to the changes made in Alpha 14 in package.json like this:

diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 7c8194c..5c63469 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -46,26 +46,51 @@
   },
   "prettier": {
     "trailingComma": "all",
-    "singleQuote": true
+    "singleQuote": true,
+    "overrides": [
+      {
+        "files": "*.overrides",
+        "options": {
+          "parser": "less"
+        }
+      }
+    ]
   },
   "stylelint": {
     "extends": [
-      "stylelint-config-standard",
-      "stylelint-config-idiomatic-order",
-      "./node_modules/prettier-stylelint/config.js"
-    ]
+      "stylelint-config-idiomatic-order"
+    ],
+    "plugins": [
+      "stylelint-prettier"
+    ],
+    "rules": {
+      "prettier/prettier": true,
+      "rule-empty-line-before": [
+        "always-multi-line",
+        {
+          "except": [
+            "first-nested"
+          ],
+          "ignore": [
+            "after-comment"
+          ]
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    "ignoreFiles": "theme/themes/default/**/*.overrides"
   },
   "engines": {
     "node": "^10 || ^12"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "@plone/volto": "4.0.0-alpha.10"
+    "@plone/volto": "4.0.0-alpha.14"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "eslint-plugin-prettier": "3.0.1",
-    "postcss-overrides": "3.1.4",
-    "prettier": "1.17.0",
-    "prettier-stylelint": "0.4.2"
+    "prettier": "1.19.1",
+    "stylelint-config-idiomatic-order": "6.2.0",
+    "stylelint-config-prettier": "6.0.0",
+    "stylelint-prettier": "1.1.1"
   },
   "resolutions": {
     "@plone/volto/razzle/webpack-dev-server": "3.2.0"

Note

If you are linting activelly your project, the build might be broken after this update. You should run:

$ yarn prettier:fix
$ yarn stylelint:fix

then commit the changes.

openObjectBrowser API change in Alpha 11#

The API of the ObjectBrowser component changed in alpha 11 to make it more flexible. In case you had custom blocks using it, you have to update the call in case you were using a link mode:

@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ const OtherComp = ({
                     href: '',
                   });
                 }
-              : () => openObjectBrowser('link')
+              : () => openObjectBrowser({ mode: 'link' })
           }
           onChange={(name, value) => {
             onChangeBlock(block, {

See the blocks section for more details.

Renaming Tiles into Blocks#

An internal renaming to use the term Blocks everywhere was done to unify naming through the code a and the documentation.

Plone RESTAPI was updated to that purpose too, and running an upgrade step (do so in Plone's Addons control panel) is required in order to migrate the data. No step is required if you are using a brand new ZODB.

This is the versions compatibility table across all the packages involved:

Volto 4 - plone.restapi >= 5.0.0 - kitconcept.voltodemo >= 2.0

Note

The renaming happened in Volto 4 alpha.10 and plone.restapi 5.0.0. Volto 4 alpha versions under that release use older versions of plone.restapi and kitconcept.voltodemo, however if you are using alpha releases it's recommended to upgrade to latest alpha or the final release of Volto 4.

The project configuration should also be updated, in your src/config.js:

diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index f1fe9c2..9517c38 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import {
   settings as defaultSettings,
   views as defaultViews,
   widgets as defaultWidgets,
-  tiles as defaultTiles,
+  blocks as defaultBlocks,
 } from '@plone/volto/config';

 export const settings = {
@@ -31,6 +31,6 @@ export const widgets = {
   ...defaultWidgets,
 };

-export const tiles = {
-  ...defaultTiles,
+export const blocks = {
+  ...defaultBlocks,
 };

Add theme customization to your project#

Volto 4 now also expects a file named src/theme.js with this content by default:

import 'semantic-ui-less/semantic.less';
import '@plone/volto/../theme/themes/pastanaga/extras/extras.less';

Remove enzyme configuration#

Enzyme has been removed, in favor of @testing-library/react, and the configuration should be removed in package.json:

diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 27c7f8d..8f5f088 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -44,9 +44,6 @@
       "default",
       "jest-junit"
     ],
-    "snapshotSerializers": [
-      "enzyme-to-json/serializer"
-    ],
     "transform": {
       "^.+\\.js(x)?$": "babel-jest",
       "^.+\\.css$": "jest-css-modules",

Blocks engine - Blocks configuration object#

The blocks engine was updated and there are some important breaking changes, in case that you've developed custom blocks. The configuration object is now unified and expresses all the properties to model a block. This is how a block in the defaultBlocks object looks like:

const defaultBlocks = {
  title: {
    id: 'title', // The name (id) of the block
    title: 'Title', // The display name of the block
    icon: titleSVG, // The icon used in the block chooser
    group: 'text', // The group (blocks can be grouped, displayed in the chooser)
    view: ViewTitleBlock, // The view mode component
    edit: EditTitleBlock, // The edit mode component
    restricted: false, // If the block is restricted, it won't show in in the chooser
    mostUsed: false, // A meta group `most used`, appearing at the top of the chooser
    blockHasOwnFocusManagement: false, // Set this to true if the block manages its own focus
    security: {
      addPermission: [], // Future proof (not implemented yet) add user permission role(s)
      view: [], // Future proof (not implemented yet) view user role(s)
    },
  },
  ...

There is an additional object groupBlocksOrder that contains an array with the order that the blocks group should appear:

const groupBlocksOrder = [
  { id: 'mostUsed', title: 'Most used' },
  { id: 'text', title: 'Text' },
  { id: 'media', title: 'Media' },
  { id: 'common', title: 'Common' },
];

You should adapt and merge the configuration of your own custom blocks to match the defaultBlocks and groupBlocksOrder one. You can modify the order of the groups and create your own as well.

Blocks engine - Simplification of the edit blocks wrapper#

The edit block wrapper boilerplate was quite big, and for bootstrap an edit block you had to copy it from an existing block. Now all this boilerplate has been transferred to the Blocks Engine, so bootstrapping the edit component of a block is easier and do not require any pre-existing code.

In order to upgrade your blocks you should simplify the outter <div> (took as example the Title block):

--- a/src/components/manage/Blocks/Title/Edit.jsx
+++ b/src/components/manage/Blocks/Title/Edit.jsx
@@ -138,11 +138,7 @@ class Edit extends Component {
       return <div />;
     }
     return (
-      <div
-        role="presentation"
-        onClick={() => this.props.onSelectBlock(this.props.block)}
-        className={cx('block title', { selected: this.props.selected })}
-      >
+      <>
         <Editor
           onChange={this.onChange}
           editorState={this.state.editorState}
@@ -185,7 +181,7 @@ class Edit extends Component {
             this.node = node;
           }}
         />
-      </div>
+      </>
     );
   }
 }

The blocks engine now takes care for the keyboard navigation of the blocks, so you need to remove the outter <div> from your custom block, then your block doesn't have to react to the change on this.props.selected either, because it's also something that the blocks engine already does for you.

The focus management is also transferred to the engine, so no needed for your block to manage the focus. However, if your block does indeed require to manage its own focus, then you should mark it with the blockHasOwnFocusManagement property in the blocks configuration object:

    text: {
      id: 'text',
      title: 'Text',
      icon: textSVG,
      group: 'text',
      view: ViewTextBlock,
      edit: EditTextBlock,
      restricted: false,
      mostUsed: false,
      blockHasOwnFocusManagement: true,
      security: {
        addPermission: [],
        view: [],
      },
    },

Default view renaming#

The default view for content types DocumentView.jsx has been renamed to a more appropiate DefaultView.jsx. This view contains the code for rendering blocks in case the content type has been Blocks enabled. Enable Blocks on your content types by composing the view of your content type using DefaultView component.

Deprecations#

The old messages container has been removed since it's not used anymore by Volto. We changed it to use Toast library.
Improve the Pastanaga Editor block wrapper container layout, deprecating the hack .ui.wrapper > *.

Upgrading to Volto 3.x#

Volto was upgraded to use Razzle 3.0.0 which is not a breaking change itself, but it forces to some changes in the boilerplate on your Volto projects. You should change the babel config by deleting .babelrc file and creating a new file babel.config.js with these contents:

module.exports = require('@plone/volto/babel');

Then update your package.json to Volto 3.x.

  "dependencies": {
    "@plone/volto": "3.0.0",
    ...
  }

Volto 3.x is compatible with the new changes introduced in the vocabularies endpoint in plone.restapi 4.0.0. If you custom build a widget based in the Volto ones, you should update them as well. Volto updated its own widget set to support them:

components/manage/Widgets/ArrayWidget
components/manage/Widgets/SelectWidget
components/manage/Widgets/TokenWidget

They all use react-select third party library for render it.

Upgrading to Volto 2.x#

Improved Blocks HOC#

The Blocks HOC (High Order Component) was changed to lift off some of the features from the blocks themselves and now it takes care of them by its own.

The delete block feature was moved to it
The keylisteners for navigating through blocks was moved to it
The properties passed down to the blocks are improved and documented

This change only applies to your existing blocks, you have to update them accordingly by delete the trash icon and action from the end of your blocks

{this.props.selected && (
  <Button
    icon
    basic
    onClick={() => this.props.onDeleteBlock(this.props.block)}
    className="block-delete-button"
  >
    <Icon name={trashSVG} size="18px" />
  </Button>
)}

Modify the parent element of your block making this changes:

<div
  role="presentation"
  onClick={() => this.props.onSelectBlock(this.props.block)}
  className={cx('block hero', {
    selected: this.props.selected,
  })}
  tabIndex={0}
  onKeyDown={e =>
    this.props.handleKeyDown(
      e,
      this.props.index,
      this.props.block,
      this.node
    )
  }
  ref={node => {
    this.node = node;
  }}
>

Add the keylisteners to the parent element of your block

  onKeyDown={e =>
    this.props.handleKeyDown(
      e,
      this.props.index,
      this.props.block,
      this.node
    )
  }

Add a ref to it and assign it to this.node.

  ref={node => {
    this.node = node;
  }}

Add a proper role for it

  role="presentation"

Take a look into the implementation of the default Volto blocks to get a grasp on all the edge cases related to keyboard navigation and how to deal with them.

Reordering of the internal CSS, added an extra#

The internal Volto CSS has been tidied up and reordered, for that reason, some other extras have been introduced and the theme.config in your project needs to be updated by making sure you have these two extras in the theme.config file:

/* Extras */
@main        : 'pastanaga';
@custom      : 'pastanaga';

Upgrade Guide#

Upgrading to Volto 8.x.x#

Upgrade package.json testing configuration#

Upgrading to Volto 7.x.x#

New webpack resolve alias for Volto themes#

Upgrading to Volto 6.x.x#

Upgrade to Node 12#

New Razzle version and related development dependencies#

Upgrade local dependencies versions#

Update package.json config#

Prettier#

Stylelint#

CSS modules are not supported anymore#

Update your eslint config#

New wrappers in block editor#

Update config.js#

Upgrading to Volto 5.x.x#

New lazy loading boilerplate#

Testing lazy load components#

Helmet title now it's centralized in View.jsx#

Upgrading to Volto 4.x.x#

New initial blocks per content type setting in Alpha 37#

ImageSidebar moved to Image Block directory in Alpha 29#

Copy yarn.lock from volto-starter-kit in Alpha 17#

Forked Helmet into Volto core#

Alpha 16 is a brownbag release#

Stylelint and prettier config in Alpha 14#

openObjectBrowser API change in Alpha 11#

Renaming Tiles into Blocks#

Add theme customization to your project#

Remove enzyme configuration#

Blocks engine - Blocks configuration object#

Blocks engine - Simplification of the edit blocks wrapper#

Default view renaming#

Deprecations#

Upgrading to Volto 3.x#

Upgrading to Volto 2.x#

Improved Blocks HOC#

Reordering of the internal CSS, added an extra#

Update `package.json` config#

Update `config.js`#

Helmet title now it's centralized in `View.jsx`#

Copy `yarn.lock` from volto-starter-kit in Alpha 17#