February 2024 - Version 4.19

Please review the updates below and follow the upgrade instructions to upgrade your Events application.

Breaking Change

Event Groups using the Aspen, List, and Calendar UIs previously combined keyword filters with “AND” logic. The default behavior has changed to combine keyword filters with “OR” logic. See the related release note.

If you prefer to maintain the existing “AND” logic, Event Groups with the affected UIs must be updated so that Combine Keyword Filters with AND Logic = True.

Combine Keyword Filters with AND Logic is a new field included in the February Events release for Salesforce and should be added to your Event Group page layout if needed.

• Previous behavior for Aspen, List, and Calendar Event Group UIs:
  • A user selects the “Evening” and “Spanish” keywords and only sees Events that include both Evening and Spanish keywords.
• New behavior for Aspen, List, and Calendar Event Group UIs:
  • A user selects the “Evening” and “Spanish” keywords and sees all Events that include either Evening or Spanish keywords.

Important Update

The Smart Scheduler (Blackthorn Base package) was added to the Blackthorn Candy Shop. Messaging customers can now use Smart Scheduler without downloading the Events or Storefront apps.

Off-Cycle Releases

March 15, 2024

This hotfix improves SEO for Event pages by aligning with SEO best practices. The Events app now sets the “title” and "canonical title" values in the HTML of the Event pages. Those values are set according to the Account name of the customer organization, with the default Blackthorn.io values used as a fallback.

March 8, 2024

Form field values will now map correctly to custom fields on custom objects, including Blackthorn objects. Previously, a Form field’s picklist value would not map to a custom field on the Attendee object. (Known Issue: 000003345)

March 6, 2024 - Version 4.19.1

This hotfix is part of our continuing effort to address issues our customers are experiencing with events failing to appear consistently within event groups.

What This Hotfix Does
When the cache is overloaded, a cache update (referred to as cache invalidation) can fail, preventing the event group from showing all relevant events. This hotfix reduces overload by lowering the number of connections to the cache by grouping event IDs within the event group.

What This Hotfix Does Not Do
This hotfix does not prevent incomplete events from being displayed. Although this hotfix is an improvement, it does not prevent all scenarios where missing events can occur. However, it does introduce improvements that should minimize the rate of occurrence.

Next Steps
We continue to work on additional underlying issues that can cause events to disappear from the event group and will release any fixes as soon as they are ready. In addition, we are working on a larger, more permanent caching solution to be included in a future release.

February 20, 2024

• In addition to the hotfix described above, this fix adds an enhancement that guarantees the following.

  • The cache will always be populated.
  • Events that are no longer part of the Event Group will be deleted at the end of all iterations to Salesforce.

• As an informational note, each of the Blackthorn Salesforce products have a Package Name that shows on the Installed Packages page in your org. As of February 20th at 8am ET, we started updating some of these package names to improve our internal automation. The package name is a label, and it does not affect the functionality of the product in any way. These four packages will have the “bar” character removed from the package name.

  • Blackthorn | Events
  • Blackthorn | Mobile Payments
  • Blackthorn | Paylink
  • Blackthorn | Connected App

February 14, 2024

We have added an improvement for missing events. However, this hotfix does not prevent incomplete events from being displayed. It is possible missing events can still happen if there is some type of failure while refreshing the cache or other potential causes. Although this hotfix is an improvement, it does not prevent all scenarios where missing events can occur. However, it does slow the rate of occurrence.

We continue to work on additional underlying issues that can cause events to disappear from the event group and will release any fixes as soon as they are ready.

BT Salesforce Release

Bug Fixes

• Users creating an Event with the Event Builder can now utilize the sections for creating new records from different zoom levels. Previously, content overflowed the modal’s boundaries at certain zoom levels, preventing users from accessing all the fields and buttons. This issue has been fixed for the following sections:
  • General
    • Create New Event Group
    • Create New Keyword
  • Sessions
    • Create New Track
    • Create New Staff
  • Tickets
    • New Ticket > Create New Form (Per-item questions)
    • Donation > Create New Custom Questions
• Users can add and remove conditional questions from the Form Builder when creating a Form, and the proper values will be saved. Previously, a bug caused conditional questions to be erroneously saved.
• Users with a custom, non-system admin profile can use the Event Wizard to upload a banner image for an Event. Previously, a bug prevented this from happening. (Known Issue: 000003211)
• When a relationship setting matches new Contact records with Accounts, the Contact record will be assigned to the designated Contact Bucket Account. Previously, if an Account was found to be a duplicate Account, the Contact was assigned to the wrong Account. (Known Issue: 000003186)
• The help text for the Contact Bucket Account field has been updated to the following. “When the Contact Account Rule field = Bucket Account, new Contacts without a matching account will be added to this Account.”
• Users can upload images and enter text in the Alternative Text for Visual Impairment field in the Speakers, Sessions, Event Items, and Donations sections in the Event Wizard and Builder. Previously, trying to save text in the Alternative Text for Visual Impairment field resulted in a validation rule error. (Known Issue: 000003267)
• The Primary Color field will now appear on the Event Group page layout. Previously, the field had to be added manually to the page layout.

Enhancements

• Each Blackthorn Salesforce product has a Package Name on your org's Installed Packages page. On February 20th, starting at 8 am ET, we will update these package names to improve our internal automation. The package name is a label and does not affect the functionality of the product in any way. As of February 20, 2024, each package name will no longer contain the “bar” character.
  • Blackthorn | Events
  • Blackthorn | Mobile Payments
  • Blackthorn | Paylink
  • Blackthorn | Connected App
• The Blackthorn | Events (Lite User) permission set is now available. Users with this permission set have Create/Read/Edit access for the Attendee, Attendee Group, Session Attendee, and Track Attendee objects and Read-only access to most Events’ objects. Users with the Blackthorn | Events (Lite User) permission set can also check in Attendees using the Mobile Check-in app.
  • The Blackthorn | Events (Lite User) permission set does not grant access to the following Events’ objects: Waitlist, Hotel Room, Hotel Room Block, Expense Entry, Event Notification, Event Item Purchase, Event Group Association, Attendee Data Message, Data Sync Retries, Budget Expense, Badge Printing Configuration, Badge Printing Configuration Details, and Flight.
• When users edit a BT Rule from an Experience Cloud site and click Save, they will see the first ten Contacts listed in the Eligible Contacts Preview list. The user can sort the list by any column header and click the Contact name to view the Contact record.
  • If no Contacts meet the conditions of the BT Rule, then the following message will appear. “You do not have access to any contacts that meet your rule conditions. Check your conditions against a record you would expect to appear.”
  • The Blackthorn | Rule Filter: Contacts Preview Fields (RF_Contacts_Preview_Fields) field set on the Contact object allows users to change which fields are displayed on the Eligible Contacts Preview component.
• Using the Combine Keyword Filters with AND Logic field, a user can designate whether keyword filters work together with AND logic or with OR logic in an Event Group.
  • Object: Event Group
    • Field Label: Combine Keyword Filters with AND Logic
    • Field Name: conference360__Keyword_Filter_AND_Logic__c
    • Data Type: checkbox
    • Default: “False” or unchecked
    • Description: This field overrides the default OR logic when multiple keywords are used to filter an Event Group. When using AND logic, selecting additional keywords generally decreases the number of visible Events. When using OR logic, selecting additional keywords generally increases the number of visible Events.
  • Note for customers using the Aspen and List user interfaces.
    • This update has changed the logic for customers using the Aspen and List user interfaces. To maintain your current search keyword logic, you must set Combine Keyword Filters with AND Logic = “True”.

Experience Cloud

• Experience Cloud users with the Blackthorn | Events (Community/Platform User) permission set can perform the following tasks.
  • Create and edit Forms and Form Elements and add them to Events or Event Items.
  • Preview Forms and see and edit Form Submissions and Form Submission Answers.
  • Edit existing Forms and Form Elements if the record has been created by or shared with the Experience Cloud user making the edits.
  • Add Form Elements to Forms that they do not own.
• Experience Cloud users can select, add, and edit BT Email Templates and link them to Events and Event Items.

Webapp Release

Bug Fixes

• When the Duplicate Rules’ BT Event Attendee Duplicate Rule Action on Edit = “Allow” and Action on Create = “Block”, Attendees cannot create multiple Attendees with the same information. If they try to, they will receive the following error message. “Warning - Duplicate attendee registration not allowed.” (Known Issue: 000002990)
• Time zone abbreviations for an Event's webpage will be selected from the IANA library or here. (Examples: GMT, EST, and AEST) The Event's webpage will not show an abbreviation if a value not in the IANA library is chosen. Previously, the time zone was not displaying the correct abbreviation. (Known Issue: 000003199)
• If a registrant using a TouchNet Payment Gateway enters a card security code (CVV) incorrectly, they will receive the following error message. “Touchnet Error – Please make sure you entered the correct card security code.” Previously, users were redirected to the Checkout page without receiving information about the error.
• Users can enter any city when setting the time zone without causing the Events app to crash. If the Events app does not recognize the time zone, the time zone will default to EST.

Enhancements

• Attendees will experience one of the following scenarios depending on whether the keyword filters work together with AND logic or with OR logic in an Event Group.
  • When an Attendee views an Event Group that has Combine Keyword Filters with AND Logic = “True” (checked), then they will see the number of visible Events decrease (or remain the same) after each additional keyword is selected.
  • When an Attendee views an Event Group that has Combine Keyword Filters with AND Logic = “False” (unchecked), then they will see the number of visible Events increase (or remain the same) after each additional keyword is selected.

Field/Layout Updates

New

• Location: Event Group object
  • Field Label: Combine Keyword Filters with AND Logic
  • API Name: conference360__Keyword_Filter_AND_Logic__c
  • Data Type: checkbox
  • Default: “False” or unchecked

Removed

• Location: Blackthorn | Events Settings
  • Field Label: Enable Accessibility
  • API Name: conference360__Enable_Accessibility__c

Admin Upgrade Instructions

Go to the Blackthorn Candy Shop to upgrade Events to the newest version.

Blackthorn has adopted Salesforce’s managed package installer to simplify the installation process. The installer will confirm that the correct Base Package and Payments versions are installed before upgrading Events.

For step-by-step instructions, click here.

If you have any questions about this or need help with testing, please don't hesitate to reach out to Blackthorn Support.