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What's new in CF234

The following features and updates are available to customers installing HCL Digital Experience (DX) Container Update CF234 on supported platforms:

All Digital Experience Versions (8.5, 9.0, 9.5)

  • Blueprint updates
  • My HCLSoftware delivery portal
  • New How-to articles now available
  • Presentation Designer - Canvas Context Preview
  • WCM AI Analysis - Additional configuration options for custom AI providers

Digital Experience 8.5 and 9.0 Versions

  • Extended Support option now available for DX versions 8.5 and 9.0
  • Automatically apply 9.5 from a later CF installation

Digital Experience 9.5 Container Version

  • DAM - New actions available in Database Analysis
  • Helm values updates
  • Search V2 - Expanded support for Certificate DNs
  • WAS, JDK, and iFix versions

Notices of deprecation

  • CKEditor Rich Text Editor (8.5, 9.0, and 9.5)
  • Removal of automated Pod restart on ConfigMap updates (9.5)
  • Woodburn Studio demo site installation removed (9.5)

Go to the HCL Software Support Site/HCL DX Software Fix list for the list of software fixes, including Container Update releases.

All Digital Experience Versions (8.5, 9.0, 9.5)

Blueprint updates

The HCL DX Blueprint design system has been updated for CF234. For more information on the changes, improvements, and bugfixes, refer to the Blueprint changelog.

The HCL DX Blueprint design system has been updated for CF234. For more information on the changes, improvements, and bugfixes, refer to the Blueprint changelog.

My HCLSoftware delivery portal

HCL DX software is available through the My HCLSoftware portal for customers licensed for the HCL Digital Experience v9.5 offering. For more information, refer to the following knowledge article and help center topics:

HCL DX software is available through the My HCLSoftware portal for customers licensed for the HCL Digital Experience v9.5 offering. For more information, refer to the following knowledge article and help center topics:

New How-to articles now available

A new batch of How-to articles has been migrated from the knowledge base to the HCL DX Help Center. For more information, refer to the New and migrated articles section.

A new batch of How-to articles has been migrated from the knowledge base to the HCL DX Help Center. For more information, refer to the New and migrated articles section.

Presentation Designer - Canvas Context Preview

The Canvas Context Preview feature in Presentation Designer lets you preview how presentation templates render with Web Content Manager (WCM) content items. Visualizing templates with real data helps you verify layouts and data mapping across different device views before publishing. For more information on this feature, refer to Canvas Context Preview in Presentation Designer.

The Canvas Context Preview feature in Presentation Designer lets you preview how presentation templates render with Web Content Manager (WCM) content items. Visualizing templates with real data helps you verify layouts and data mapping across different device views before publishing. For more information on this feature, refer to Canvas Context Preview in Presentation Designer.

WCM AI Analysis - Additional configuration options for custom AI providers

You can now use two additional configuration parameters to connect the default AI provider to alternative, OpenAI-compatible services: OPENAI_HOST and OPENAI_SCHEME. Use OPENAI_HOST to connect to a different AI analysis host. Use OPENAI_SCHEME to set the protocol scheme for AI calls. For more information on these configuration options, refer to OpenAI ChatGPT specific custom configurations.

You can now use two additional configuration parameters to connect the default AI provider to alternative, OpenAI-compatible services: OPENAI_HOST and OPENAI_SCHEME. Use OPENAI_HOST to connect to a different AI analysis host. Use OPENAI_SCHEME to set the protocol scheme for AI calls. For more information on these configuration options, refer to OpenAI ChatGPT specific custom configurations.

Digital Experience 8.5 and 9.0 Versions

Extended Support option now available for DX versions 8.5 and 9.0

HCLSoftware announced End of Support for HCL Digital Experience versions 8.5 and 9, effective June 30, 2025. Customers are encouraged to upgrade to HCL Digital Experience version 9.5, released in a continuous delivery model. Refer to the Deprecated features page for more information.

To accommodate the customers who might be unable to update from DX versions 8.5 and 9.0 to DX version 9.5 by that date, customers can sign up for Extended Support. For more information, see the article Starting on August 30, 2024, Extended Support will be available for HCL Digital Experience V8.5.x and 9. Extended support will be offered from June 30, 2025 until June 30, 2026.

Automatically apply 9.5 from a later CF installation

In CF219, a feature was introduced where DX version 9.5 is automatically applied to an 8.5 or 9.0 installation if the configuration setting install_95=true is set. Note that a later CF might apply 9.5 by default unless you set install_95=false. This statement is not a guarantee of future releases or their features.

Digital Experience 9.5 Version

Digital Experience 9.5 Container Version

DAM - New actions available in Database Analysis

New actions are now available in the Database Analysis feature of HCL Digital Asset Management (DAM). You can now retrigger failed operations, generate access references, and move orphaned media items into your desired collections. For more information on these new actions, refer to Operations Metrics, Collections Missing Access Reference ID, and Media Items not in Collection.

Helm values updates

Helm value properties in HCL DX that were added, removed, or changed for this release are documented in DX Helm values updates.

Search V2 - Expanded support for Certificate DNs

The Search V2 backend now supports comprehensive Distinguished Name (DN) validation and role mapping for administrative certificates. This update ensures compatibility with complex organizational security standards by supporting seven core attribute types: CN, OU, O, L, ST, C, and DC.

The OpenSearch entrypoint script now automatically parses the Common Name (CN) from your adminDN and maps it to the all_access administrative role in the security configuration. For more information refer to Installing the Search V2 backend.

WAS, JDK, and iFix versions

HCL DX 9.5 CF234 contains the following:

Notices of deprecation

Advanced Rich Text Editor (CKEditor) (8.5, 9.0, and 9.5)

The Advanced Rich Text Editor (CKEditor) component in HCL DX was deprecated on August 05, 2025 and will reach End of Support (EOS) on August 04, 2026. For more information, refer to Deprecated features.

The Advanced Rich Text Editor (CKEditor) component in HCL DX was deprecated on August 05, 2025 and will reach End of Support (EOS) on August 04, 2026. For more information, refer to Deprecated features.

Removal of automated Pod restart on ConfigMap updates (9.5)

Runtime Controller triggering Pod restarts for direct configuration changes in ConfigMaps is removed. You must restart the appropriate Pods manually to apply the changes made to the ConfigMaps for testing configurations. For more information, see Deprecated features.

Woodburn Studio demo site installation removed (9.5)

The Woodburn Studio demo site in HCL DX was deprecated on August 5, 2025, and will reach End of Support (EOS) on August 4, 2026. Starting with CF234, it will no longer be available for installation. For more information, see Deprecated features.

The Woodburn Studio demo site in HCL DX was deprecated on August 5, 2025, and will reach End of Support (EOS) on August 4, 2026. Starting with CF234, it will no longer be available for installation. For more information, see Deprecated features.

Access the latest HCL Digital Experience 9.5 Education Materials on HCLSoftware U

The HCLSoftware U offers technical education for the HCL Software portfolio of products, organized by practitioner role. See the HCL Digital Experience section of HCLSoftware U and the What’s New for Digital Experience section for more information.