What's new in Joomla 4.2?

In this article I will show you the main improvements and new features that the Joomla 4.2 version brings.

Have you not previously worked with Joomla 4, but you are familiar with older versions of Joomla, then I recommend you to first read the article"What's new in Joomla 4.0?" and"What's new in Joomla 4.1?".

About 200 improvements in Joomla 4.2

As with every update, there are improvements and optimizations in the code. These are not always immediately noticeable when managing a website or building a new website, but these improvements are no less important to the project than the new features that are added. For a complete list of all changes, check Joomla's public Github repository.

Keyboard shortcuts in Joomla 4.2

In Joomla 4.2 there is a new plugin that allows you to perform certain actions using keyboard shortcuts.

To view all actions click on your keyboard on J followed by X

Are you editing an article or module and want to save and close it, click on J followed by S

This way you can work just a bit faster, although personally I would have liked you to be able to choose these buttons yourself.

Smart search in parts of words

There are more new options in the smart search component. By default it searches for the exact word, but when a language supports compound words, the search term can be modified at the beginning or anywhere within words in the index.

In this example, I created the article "Color Scheme."

When I have the setting to search the exact word I get no results for the search term "color".

But when I have the setting set to "search for words beginning with the search term" it does find the article when I search for "color".

However, when I search for the term "Schema" it also does not find the article because the name does not start with the word "Schema". When I enable the "search for words containing the search term" option, it does find the article.

Choose your own columns

1 of the frequently heard comments after the release of Joomla 4 was that some columns take up a lot of space so that not all information is clearly visible, especially on small screens. It is now possible to decide which columns are shown/hidden in the various overview pages.

For example, if you have a fairly simple website with 1 author, you can hide this column, giving the other columns more space.

These settings are stored in the browser and can therefore vary from user to user.

Would you like to add this feature to your own components? Then you need to add these lines to the items summary view.

/** @var $wa */
$wa = $this->document->getWebAssetManager();
$wa->useScript('table.columns')
->useScript('multiselect');

reference: https: //github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/blob/4.2-dev/administrator/components/com_content/tmpl/articles/default.php#L28

2-factor authentication becomes Multi-factor authentication

Where you could previously use verification code from the authenticator app, you now have multiple options to provide additional protection for your account.

1) Authentication code.
2) YubiKey
3) Web Authentication
4) Code via E-mail

Each user can choose their own method and it is possible to show an onboarding screen for new users.
One visible change is that the field for the authentication code is no longer shown at the login screen. It is only shown in a next step after you enter your username and password. Also, through the new options in the "Multi-factor authentication" tab of the user management, it is possible to set which modules/templates are visible.

I will elaborate on each "Multi-factor authentication" method in a separate article.

Joomla Update checks

Since Joomla 4, when you update from Joomla 2 you get control screens where you have to confirm that you have made a backup and that there may be extensions that are not compatible with the new Joomla version. Starting from Joomla 4.2, you can disable these 2 screens in the options of the Joomla Update component.

Possible incompatible extension checkbox:
Displays the check box in the pre-update check if any of the extensions installed on the site may not be compatible with the version of Joomla being upgraded to. Note: The check box is displayed when upgrading to a new Joomla version family (main or point version).

Confirm backup checkbox:
Displays the checkbox to confirm that a backup has been made and is ready to update in the last step before the update is actually performed.

Status display for articles in a de-published category

When you depublish a category, the articles in that category are no longer visible on the website, even if those articles have been published. This sometimes causes confusion and/or 404 error messages on the website. In Joomla 4.2, the articles of a de-published category now get a visible status, with a notification that the category is unpublished.

Permissions in media manager

In version 4.1, permissions for managing images have been added. In the media manager, the buttons were always visible, even when you did not have permissions for a particular action. This sometimes caused notifications as shown below.

From Joomla 4.2, the buttons such as "delete" are no longer visible in the media manager when you as a user do not have rights to delete images.

Type the URL of the image in the media field

From Joomla 4.2 it is again possible to type the URL yourself in the media field. Previously, this field was "read only" and you could only add an image via the "select" button.

Saving (and not closing) articles on the website frontend

When editing articles on the website frontend, another additional button has been added. Previously, it was only possible to save and close an article. In Joomla 4.1 there is the button "Save as copy" added and in Joomla 4.2 the button "Save" is added. This button ensures that you stay on the same editing page, but can save the article in between without being sent to another page.

Follow Disable session metadata for guest users

In the general configuration it was already possible to disable session metadata, but from Joomla 4.2 it is also disable for guest users only.

This option should improve performance for websites that do not use the login/registration feature. If disabled, only data for registered users will be logged. This option does not affect the use of cookies. It is still created for all visitors.

Package filter in extension management

When you install a package, several extensions are placed around the website at the same time. It is not always clear which extensions are then installed and which ones belong to a specific package. This is derived from the package ID in extension manager, but from Joomla 4.2 you can select a package through a new filter and you get a nice overview of all installed extensions from that package.

User action log messages

The setting for sending user action log messages has been changed. Previously this was a checkbox with all options checked by default. Now it's a fancy select box where you can click on the messages. It seems like a small thing but chances are you don't want to receive a message from all actions, so it's better to select only the necessary items.

Joomla 4.1 version:

Joomla 4.2 version:

How can I update to Joomla 4.2?

If your website was created in Joomla 4, then you can update by pressing 1 button. If you still have a Joomla 3 version (or even older) then you need a migration. You can read more about this in the article"What's new in Joomla 4.0?"

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