What’s New In Coveo for Sitecore 4

What’s New In Coveo for Sitecore 4

This page explains what are the new features available in Coveo for Sitecore 4. The minor version 4.1 is the currently developed solution with a new version coming out approximately every six weeks.

Usage Analytics and Coveo Machine Learning

If you’re familiar with Coveo for Sitecore 3, you know that Coveo Usage Analytics (Coveo UA) was introduced in this version, but you still had to configure it and contact the Professional Services to initialize your organization. With version 4 and Cloud indexing, the Coveo UA feature is enabled by default right out of the box (see Coveo Usage Analytics). Furthermore, Coveo for Sitecore 4 enables you to leverage the precious analytics and feed them to Coveo Machine Learning (Coveo ML), Coveo artificial intelligence powered service that analyzes search behavior patterns to increase the relevancy of the Coveo search results (see Get Started With Coveo Machine Learning).

Cloud Indexing

Coveo for Sitecore 4 offers the possibility to have your indexes hosted in the Coveo Platform (see Understanding the Architecture of Coveo for Sitecore). Migrating to a cloud-based index brings many advantages:

Less software: you don’t need to install Coveo Enterprise Search (CES) nor the Coveo Search API. Now, there’s no need to deal with the Admin Service and RabbitMQ anymore.

Less hardware: you don’t need to maintain servers for your index as those servers are provided through your Coveo for the Sitecore solution.

Fewer endpoints: the architecture has been greatly simplified, so there’s way less port configuration and firewall openings to make.

Less configuration: no more complicated configuration steps like copying certificates from CES to your CM and CD instances.

Less license management: the license is handled by the Coveo Platform.

Technical Changes

Coveo for Sitecore 4 brings some changes to its methods:

• Query pipelines are now configurable by the user right from the Coveo Search Component properties (see Using a Query Pipeline).
• The on-premises architecture was modified (see Understanding the Architecture of Coveo for Sitecore).
• The configuration file location changed and Coveo now promotes patch file as a good development practice (see Introduction to the Coveo Configuration files).

Coveo for Sitecore Hive

Coveo for Sitecore 4.1

The Coveo for Sitecore Hive components allow you to create search pages by adding the components you want directly from the Sitecore Experience Editor (see Coveo for Sitecore Hive UI Framework).

JavaScript Search Framework V2

Coveo for Sitecore 4.1

Coveo for Sitecore now uses the JavaScript Search Framework V2 for its Coveo for Sitecore Hive components instead of V1 (see July 2017 Release (v2.2900.23)). The Coveo JavaScript Search Framework V1 is still used for the legacy Coveo for Sitecore components.

The Coveo JavaScript Search Framework V2 comes with the following new features:

• Lazy loading means only the code of the components you’re using is loaded on the page.
• Individual placeholder animations for components ensures that, as soon as the component is loaded, it’s ready to be interacted with.
• SVG icons ensure that your icons scale no matter the screen size or device.
• An evolving open-source framework currently under active development (see Coveo JavaScript Search Framework on GitHub).

Upgrading from Coveo for Sitecore 4.0 to 4.1

Upgrading from 4.0 to 4.1 shouldn’t be harder than upgrading from one 4.0 release to another. However, you’re still encouraged to follow the upgrade steps carefully to ensure that the smoothest upgrade possible (see Upgrading from Coveo for Sitecore 4.0 to Coveo for Sitecore 4.1).

Upgrading from Coveo for Sitecore 3.0

To help you transition from 3.0, you can review the documentation about configuration file differences and the steps you need to undertake to adapt search pages, search components and layouts to JavaScript Search Framework V1 (see Upgrading from Coveo for Sitecore 3.0 to Coveo for Sitecore 4.0). Take a look at the Supported Sitecore Versions and Dependencies to make sure your setup is fully compatible with Coveo for Sitecore 4.