Introduction
The Joomla 3 (J3) life cycle will reach end of support on 17th August 2023 (https://developer.joomla.org/roadmap.html). We have developed a new Joomla 4 (J4) Joomla Wise extension. It works similarly as the J3 extension with some improvements. Now that the J4 version of the Wise extension is available, it's time to begin planning and executing your migrations from J3 to J4. OCLC will continue to support the J3 Wise extension until August 2023.
Differences in the J3 and J4 Wise Extension
- Unused modules have been removed (My Account, Wrapper)
- Modules for Aanwinsten, New Arrivals, and Boekenlijst have been removed. The module mod_wisebookcarousel (Wise Bookcarousel) will replace them all. You can load aanwinsten carousels via the Wise Manager into the Bookcarousel module. Here are the instructions to do so: Instructies Aanwinsten bij overgang naar Joomla 4.
- The Bookcarousel module has MANY enhancements.
- Show title/author below book covers
- Better customisations for responsiveness for mobile and large monitors
- The ability to not show the Wise carousel title
- Options to show the previous/next arrows or not, or the navigation dots or not
- Previous/next arrows are now CSS so you can customise them more easily
- They're faster to load on the page than they were before (depending on server speed)
- The J3 and J4 extension packages are completely different packages. The J3 Wise extension will not run on a J4 site. The J4 Wise extension will not run on a J3 site.
- New menu item type for the Wise Wrapper (formerly the Joomla 3 core iframe wrapper menu item type was used).
- ticketWise can still be used with RSEvents Pro. Zoccolo will help you with the customisation. Code for RSEvents Pro overrides will not be provided or maintained by OCLC in J4.
- Session management improvements between Joomla pages, Wise Apps pages, and Catalog pages.
When do you need to migrate by
As soon as possible. Certainly by 17th August 2023.
What are the next steps
Start planning your migration by reviewing the Joomla documentation at https://docs.joomla.org/Why_Migrate for basics on Joomla migration between J3 and J4.
Contact Zoccolo if they are assisting with your migration. They have the new J4 Wise Extension Package.
If you are executing your own migration, see the Wise Migration Guidelines in the rest of the Joomla 3 naar Joomla 4 documentation and request the new J4 Wise Extension Package from OCLC (Emiel, Martijn, or Jenn).
What happens if I don't migrate to J4
Great question. In the coming year (12-24 months), the Wise catalog will be undergoing major changes. Those major changes will require a completely different, brand-new Joomla Wise Extension. OCLC will not be writing that new extension in J3. It will only be written for J4. Thus, in order to take advantage of the major changes in Wise with Joomla, your sites must be running Joomla 4 before the Wise changes take place. It is required to migrate to Joomla 4. Remaining on Joomla 3 is not an option.
Certainly if you have any questions, let us know.