2023 Apps Release Notes

December 2023

December 14, 2023

New Features

• We added the following new features in Feedback:

  • App team members now can assign priority to feedback items and filter feedback items by their priority.

  • It is now possible for the reporter of the feedback item and the assigned team member to upload images when they send each other messages.

Improvements

• We display a warning sign on the Settings page in the Developer Portal if an app has no Scrum Master or if a licensed app has no Technical Contact. This can happen if a person with those roles submits a "forget me" request with us.
• We merged the History tab on the Teams page and the History tab on the Settings page into one and we made sure you can download the history log. This is to prepare for the implementation of an audit trail retention policy sometime soon.
• If you have connected your project to a Jira board, you can now alter the settings without having to deactivate the connection first.
• We have stopped support for IBM as a cloud target. All projects currently deployed to the IBM cloud have been enabled for the Mendix Cloud.

Fixes

• We fixed an issue where the invitation wizard would not give the inviter feedback that the invitee was invited already (and has not accepted yet).

December 7, 2023

Improvements

We have made the following improvements to the Access Management page in Portfolio Management:

• On the Members tab, the Status column in the list now shows whether a user is active or deactivated. Moreover, you can remove all the deactivated users from a portfolio in one go.
• All the pending invites now appear on the Pending Invites tab.

November 2023

November 23, 2023

New Features

• In Portfolio Management, you can now link epics to an initiative.

November 17, 2023

Improvements

• In Epics, we added a filter on the Epics page, allowing you to sort and view epics based on their status. We also add a mini survey on the filtering experience – tell us what you think!
• In Epics, on the Board page you can now see the total number of stories in each swimlane – it is displayed right next to the name of the swimlane.

Fixes

• We fixed a bunch of bugs in Epics, mostly related to the dark mode.

November 16, 2023

Improvements

• We made some minor adjustments to the Jira Connector based on your feedback. The list of Jira issues in Studio Pro is now ordered by the story key, instead of the Jira rank attribute. We also made the configuration pop-up window that appears when setting up your Jira connection more clear.

Deprecations

• We removed Company Buzz.

November 9, 2023

New Features

• In Feedback, we implemented a rich text editor in the text box of Team Comments and the text box where the feedback reporter and team members send messages to each other.
• In Mini Surveys, if you now click an individual response in the list at the bottom of the Responses tab, you can see the details of the response on a side panel.

Fixes

• We fixed an issue in Feedback where tags could be incorrectly duplicated.
• We fixed an issue in Feedback where deleting tags or statuses caused errors.

November 2, 2023

Improvements

• When your company has connected its own Identity Provider to the Developer Portal, you should be using personal access tokens to connect to the Team Server. To reflect this, we show a different URL on the Team Server page.

Fixes

• We fixed an issue where under certain circumstances some attributes were not exposed in the Feedback API.

October 2023

October 26, 2023

New Features

• We released a feature in Feedback to allow you manage tags there. You can now create, delete, and rename a tag, and change the color of a tag.

Improvements

• We have improved the formatting on all Feedback notifications.

Fixes

• We fixed a bug in Feedback where a small number of users were experiencing an error when converting a feedback item to a story.
• We fixed an issue where deactivation of some apps led to unexpected errors.

October 19, 2023

New Features

• We added the following features to Epics:
  • We added the new section Audit Trail to the story details page to log the information on all the updates related to the story, including who updated the information and when.
  • We enabled filtering both on the Board page and the Planning page. You can filter stories by story title, story ID, epic name, or assignee. You can also filter by any tag and combine the results.

Improvements

• We improved the Sprint filter in Story Archive so that you can now type the Sprint name in a text box.

Fixes

• In Epics, we fixed the following issues:
  • We fixed an issue that stories were not getting removed from the board after a Sprint is completed.
  • We fixed an issue regarding dark mode where the screen would flicker.
• We fixed an issue where the last Scrum Master could be removed from an app with API keys.
• We fixed an issue that allowed new members to accept an invitation to an app multiple times.

October 12, 2023

New Features

• In Portfolio Management, you can now export and import initiatives using an Excel file.

October 1, 2023

Improvements

• We improved the migration flow to make it as easy as possible for you to move your data from Stories to Epics.

Deprecations

• Stories is officially retired and Epics is the only official Mendix agile planning tool now. You can still migrate all your data from Stories to Epics.

September 2023

September 28, 2023

Fixes

• We fixed an issue in Feedback where a feedback item with other feedback Items linked to it could not move between inbox and archive.
• We fixed an issue for the legacy Feedback widget in Feedback, where it would error if you had too many user roles.
• We fixed an issue in Feedback where the Feedback widget could not send items due to the incorrect pre-populated app ID value.

September 21, 2023

New Features

• We released a few new features for Epics:
  • We have added a new section named Revisions in the story details dialog box, which shows the revision history of a story. This feature is only available for apps that use Git for version control.
  • On the Planning page, you can now export stories to an Excel file.
  • If you export archived stories on the Archive page, you can find two new columns in the Excel file: Assigned to and Archived by.
  • On the Planning page, you can now type bug or feature in the search bar to filter on the story type so that it only shows bugs or features. More ways to filter out stories are coming soon.

Deprecations

• We have done all the preparation work for retiring Stories (remember it will happen on October 1, 2023). After that date, you will still be able to go into Epics and migrate all your stories, comments, attachments, and more, but Stories will not be available for any app anymore.

September 7, 2023

Fixes

• We fixed feedback items not being sent from Native Templates to Feedback in App Insights.
• We fixed an issue where trying to close a feedback item threw an error.

Deprecations

• We deprecated the numerical 1-10 rating question option in Mini Surveys in App Insights.

August 2023

August 24, 2023

New Features

• We added the following features to Feedback and Mini Surveys in App Insights:

  • In Feedback, we added a new filter called "status" on the Inbox page and the Archive page.
  • In Feedback, we introduced a tag called “Handled” for migrated feedback items that were already handled. You can search for feedback items using this tag on the Inbox page.
  • We added documentation links on the home page of Feedback and Mini Surveys.

Improvements

• We improved the Feedback in App Insights as follows:

  • When you manually create feedback items, you can now leave your email address.
  • You can now archive multiple feedback items in one go.
  • You can now download the attachments of feedback items that reporters have uploaded.
  • If you have the right permission, you can now delete comments on the side panel of a feedback item.

• We fine-tuned our Jira integration support for Scrum boards. The Stories pane in Studio Pro now shows all stories belonging to the active Sprints of your board (this used to be all open Sprints with a limitation of 50 stories)

Fixes

• We fixed an issue where new users who were trying to access Feedback for the first time via a URL would be presented with an error.
• We fixed an issue where special characters in the email address of a feedback submitter would not be properly supported.
• We fixed an issue where users would get an error when using the URL provided by the Share Link button on the survey details page.
• We fixed an issue where users would not be brought to the Developer Portal home Page when clicking Developer Portal within the MxDock.

August 12, 2023

New Features

• We released App Insights for GA as a brand new suite that enables you to collect, analyze, and act on the input of your users while innovating faster. App Insights includes two tools: Feedback and Mini Surveys.

• The new feedback management tool Feedback does the following:

  • Allows you to add tags to feedback items so you can see patterns more easily
  • Enables you to define custom statuses for feedback items – you can create your workflow, your way
  • Supports identifying which environment the feedback item comes from (for example, production or test environment)
  • Search more easily – you can now filter on environment, submission dates, and assignees
  • Supports linking feedback items together, so that if multiple users report the same bug, you can treat and update all their feedback as one
  • Enables submitters to see and update their feedback items in the Developer Portal
  • Supports linking feedback items with Jira – for all of you who make use of our new Jira connector

  You can find all your existing feedback data already in the new Feedback tool. If you have set up Epics or Jira as your project management tool, Feedback is already linked to your tool. In other words, you do not need to do anything, just try it out and tell us what you think.

• Complementing Feedback, Mini Surveys helps you to set short, effective surveys to gather diverse feedback, and enables data-driven decision-making to improve app and features. Mini Surveys does the following:

  • Enables easy configuration of a survey questionnaire with up to three questions in any desired format
  • Allows you to tailor the survey setup to specify its display location, trigger timing, and target user group
  • Supports defining the duration of the survey
  • Offers the toaster feature for you to designate the survey's on-screen placement
  • Allows you to select your preferred survey format from options including rating scales, multiple choices, open questions, and net promoter score (NPS)
  • Supports recording all survey responses, even if a customer does not complete the entire survey
  • Offers the test mode functionality for you to experiment prior to deploying the survey to a broader audience
  • Provides a comprehensive view of responses for in-depth analysis

August 10, 2023

Fixes

• We fixed an issue with Jira connector where sub-tasks in Kanban boards in Jira would cause duplicate entries in the Stories pane in Studio Pro, causing it to throw an error.
• We fixed an issue where under certain circumstances, it was possible to remove the last Scrum Master of an app.

August 8, 2023

Improvements

• We released the Webhooks API for general use. This API allows you to manage webhooks for actions which are performed on your Mendix apps.

July 2023

July 27, 2023

Improvements

• In Mendix 10, we have combined the strength of Mendix Studio and Studio Pro – they are not separate anymore, so we have removed the last links from the Developer Portal to Studio.
• We have improved the information regarding the sunsetting of Mendix Stories (remember, that will be October 1!).
• We are preparing the platform for the big upgrade of the Feedback management experience. The new Feedback management and Mini Surveys are a part of our brand new product suite called App Insights. The date for upgrading Feedback management is August 12. If you are using the current Feedback management tool, you will have received more detailed information in an email sent on Monday, July 24 (subject line: "Upgrade to new Feedback Management").
• You asked, we listened: In Epics, you can now see who created a story on the story details page.

July 13, 2023

Improvements

• We have improved your ability to create stories within Epics. You can now add a new story directly from any swimlane.
• To streamline your app editing process, we have added a new Edit in Studio Pro button in Epics. With a single click, you can open your app directly in Studio Pro, similar to the rest of the platform.
• In Epics, you now have the ability to sort your story and epic comments based on their time of submission, either showing the newest or the oldest on top.

Fixes

• We fixed a bug where we accidentally tried to migrate stories that were marked for deletion from Mendix Stories to Epics. (They were not actually migrated, but they ended up as errors in the migration log.)

June 2023

June 29, 2023

New Features

• With both Epics and Jira connector as new options to plan your work, we are getting ready to say goodbye to Mendix Stories on October 1, 2023. As of today, once you switch to Epics or Jira, we will archive all your work in Mendix Stories and you will not be able to switch back to Mendix Stories anymore. The Scrum Master of your team can choose the right project management tool for you on the Project Management tab on the General Settings page.
• To highlight the story tool you choose for your app, we gave it its own section in the navigation, called Project Management.
• With these changes, navigation in Epics works a bit differently than before: the navigation items are on a pane on the left now instead of at the top, so it is easier for you to get from one part of the Developer Portal to another. (If you need more space on the screen, you can always collapse the navigation pane.)
• Speaking of Epics, we have released the new public API. You can find all the information in our documentation.

June 22, 2023

New Features

• Jira is here! You can now assign your Studio Pro commits to user stories in your Jira board. We offer this functionality as a beta version and welcome your feedback. Read all about the features and how to set it up in Jira connector.

Improvements

• Our Portfolio Management tool is now released for GA. At the same time, we also made a few improvements to the tool:
  • We renamed Projects to Initiatives.
  • You can now request access to restricted portfolios in your company.
  • Filters in the Initiatives Overview are now preserved when switching views.
• We simplified the app invitation flow. If someone from your own company invites you to an app that also belongs to your company, you will no longer have to accept the pending invitation. Instead, you will be immediately added to the team.
• You can now see everyone who was invited to the app and by whom. You will find this information on the History tab of the General Settings page.
• We had a close look at the messages we post on the History tab of the Team page and revised some of them to make them more readable.
• You can now see all pending invitations to your app on the Team page.
• We fixed an issue where, under certain circumstances, the app logo was not updated in Studio Pro after you changed it on the Settings page.

June 15, 2023

New Features

• We have released Webhooks API for beta usage.

June 1, 2023

Improvements

• We improved the user experience of the Git migration. In case of any issues, we now provide information about why your project could not be successfully migrated from Subversion to Git and which specific branches might be the reason.

May 2023

May 18, 2023

Improvements

• We changed the default app logo.

May 16, 2023

New Features

• You can now use a Personal Access Token to access SVN repositories in Team Server without using your personal Mendix credentials.

May 4, 2023

New Features

• In Epics, you can now select multiple stories on the Planning page, and then move them to a different category, archive them, or delete them in one go.
• In Epics, you can now use keyboard shortcuts to select stories on the Planning page.

Fixes

• We fixed an issue where under certain circumstances you were not able to retry to migrate your repository to Git if the first try resulted in errors.
• We fixed an issue where a redirect to a user story that is linked to a feedback item would result in an error if this story is hosted by Epics.

April 2023

April 20, 2023

Improvements

• We added a pre-condition check to the Git migration process. We will inform you of any errors in the check, so that you can resolve them before proceeding with the migration.
• If your app is between versions 9.0 and 9.11, we now alert you to upgrade and become eligible to migrate. You see, we really want you to migrate to Git!

Fixes

• We fixed an issue where authors of a feedback item would receive notifications on that item even though they specifically set the system not to send any notifications.

April 13, 2023

Improvements

• We added the following features to Epics:
  • You can now add, rename, and delete tags, as well as change tag colors (21 colors to choose from!).
  • You can now create, link, or remove stories directly from an epic.
  • The address bar in your browser now shows the link to the exact board, story, and epic, so you can bookmark individual pages and easily come back to them.
  • If you use Scrum, you can now see a summary of your completed Sprint on the archived Sprint details page. You can see how many stories were completed and uncompleted, as well as the breakdown of completed points in the Sprint.
  • You can now import and export stories using Excel files.

Fixes

• We fixed an issue that prevented some apps from being migrated to Git.
• We fixed an issue that incorrectly removed Team Server access for some app team members when changing the permissions of an app role.

April 4, 2023

Improvements

• We have made the option to migrate your app to Git more prominent. The banner is now displayed on all pages within the Collaborate section of the Developer Portal. Read more information on how to migrate and if you are eligible to migrate here.
• Have you tried Epics yet? You should! It is awesome if we do say ourselves. We are also working in the background to make it possible to connect your Mendix apps to your Jira boards – stay tuned!

March 2023

March 23, 2023

Improvements

• In preparation for the merging of Studio and Studio Pro, we removed the Edit in Studio button. You can still open your app in Studio via the More Options ( ) button in the app tile on the My Apps page.
• After the big overhaul we released on February 13th, our logging showed a decrease in the overall performance of Stories. We took some counter-measures and made performance improvements.
• We made some minor improvements to the flow for inviting app team members. For example, when you invite someone new to your app, the default role will be Business Engineer (as long as this role exists in your app).
• We made some improvements to the layout of the App Buzz page so that it displays better on small screen resolutions.
• The navigation pane is now collapsible, which makes for a far better experience on small screen resolutions.
• We are preparing the Developer Portal for a brand new feedback experience. Please stay tuned!

March 16, 2023

Deprecations

• We have deprecated General Settings > Webhooks for stories and Sprints. You can now set webhooks for building and deploying your app. These are described in Webhooks.

March 9, 2023

Improvements

• As of now, only Scrum Masters can manage the app team.

Fixes

• We fixed an issue where the users you administered for your app's environment were not displayed in the correct order.

February 2023

February 23, 2023

Fixes

• We fixed a performance issue that occurred when opening an App Buzz page for an app with a large team. We now show no more than 25 team members in the team list in the right corner at a time.

February 16, 2023

Improvements

• We enabled more options for search in Epics. On the Board page, you can now search stories based on tags, epic name, assignee (and unassigned stories), story title, and story ID. On the Planning page, you can search stories based on tags, epic name, assignee (and unassigned stories), status name (only in the Scrum workflow), story title, and story ID.
• The Epics listed on the Epics overview page now have visible tags.

Fixes

• We fixed an issue in Epics where the unsaved changes pop-up window did not take you to the correct story after clicking Leave.
• We updated the text in the notifications when a story is assigned to you in Epics.

February 13, 2023

Improvements

• We overhauled the entire Project Management to a completely new design. This design brings the benefit of using the full body width of your screen, scales much better across several devices and screen resolutions, and is dark-mode ready.
• Have you lost track of where your apps live? We now display the cloud plan on the app tile in My Apps.
• We simplified the team member invitation flow from a multi-step wizard to a single page.
• We moved the Pending Invites to a tab on the My Apps page. You will find both the pending invitations to apps that you have received (which you can Accept or Decline) in addition to the invitations you have sent.

Fixes

• We fixed a performance issue on the Team page.

January 2023

January 26, 2023

Improvements

• We fixed an issue where the story description did not appear in Studio Pro.
• Epics now have different colors so that you can distinguish between them more easily. The color is currently assigned randomly (as is done with story labels), but we may add management functionality at a later point.
• If you practice Scrum, you can now see the status of the stories in your active Sprint on the Planning page.
• Sprint details are now editable, so you can change the date, name, and goal of your Sprint after you start it. Use this power wisely, as committing to a Sprint goal is important, so only change the goal if there really is no other option.
• We have implemented the new Mendix Feedback module, so now you have much better screenshot functionality. Do send us feedback, we love hearing what you think. And also try out the new Mendix Feedback module in your own apps, it's awesome!