Welcome to the BlueConic product release notes for Q1-2024. This article lists BlueConic product updates, new connections, bug fixes, and API updates released to customers as part of Release 91 (January 2024) and will be continuously updated with any other platform and plugin changes made between January and March 2024.
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Testing new features
Please note that any newly released features may impact existing configurations and require testing before using the feature.
What's new in BlueConic (January to March 2024)
Updates to BlueConic React Native Library
As of March 4th, several updates were made to the BlueConic React Native Library, which now houses the newest versions of the iOS (3.2.0) and Android SDKs (5.1.0). For more on the changes made to the React Native Library and each SDK, visit the BlueConic SDK for React Native Release Notes, the BlueConic SDK for iOS Release Notes, and the BlueConic SDK for Android Release Notes, respectively.
BlueConic SDK updated for Android
The Android SDK was updated to v5.0.0. The following changes were made:
- The SDK was modernized and migrated from Java to Kotlin (the widely adopted Android language). Given Kotlin’s interoperability with Java, you can continue to use the SDK in your existing Java integrations.
- The SDK APls were updated to support Kotlin, and integration documentation now contains both Kotlin and Java examples. A KDoc release will follow in an upcoming product release.
- Permissions were streamlined to reduce the number of manual steps for developers, by adopting manifest merging in the SDK.
For more information, review the articles BlueConic SDK for Android and BlueConic SDK for Android Release Notes.
SFTP Connection updates
The SFTP Connection now supports importing compressed (.gz) and encrypted (.pgp) files within the group import goal. Previously, this could only be done in the profile import goal. By implementing this change, the group import process is optimized by reducing file transfer time and protecting sensitive data during transit.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud Connection updates: Groups export filtering
When sending a group type to Salesforce Marketing Cloud, users now have the option to only export groups that have changed since the last run. By only sending groups that have changed, customers reduce runtime and data operation costs.
Shopify Connection updates
The Shopify Connection now supports importing timeline events and custom fields (i.e., metafields) on an hourly basis. Additionally, both types of import goals have been merged into one import goal to streamline the way data is imported from Shopify. If interested in adding these updates to your tenant, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
Please note: With this update, all existing Shopify connections will need to be re-authenticated in order to continue usage.
January 2024 BlueConic product updates for Release 91
The latest BlueConic product updates in Release 91 was delivered to your tenant between January 13 and January 27, 2024.
New and enhanced features
Connection updates
Other updates and bug fixes
Reminders and recaps
New and enhanced features
Read-only, system-created profile properties introduced
To preserve data integrity during the merge process, BlueConic introduced a new set of out-of-the-box profile properties that are read-only with non-editable merge rules. This ensures that users cannot modify specific property settings and that no unexpected profile changes occur when a merge strategy is applied.
There are currently five designated read-only properties:
- Creation date
- Last visited
- Domain group
- Last modified date
- System has property
If you have a property in your system defined with the same ID as one of these read-only properties, then your original property:
- Was updated to be read-only, too, and now uses the configured settings of that read-only property.
- Now uses the data type of the read-only property (in the unlikely event your data type was different).
- Is now marked as "Created by BlueConic" on its property page.
- Has the same property name and labels you previously assigned (which can be edited).
Property values stored in your profiles were not affected.
Note: These read-only properties are automatically generated by the platform, appearing in read-only state on the Profile Properties page (More... > Properties).
UI updates
All read-only properties are listed in gray in the table on the Profile Properties page, distinguishing them from other properties. They are all clickable and lead to the dedicated page for that property.
When you open one of these read-only property pages, "Created by BlueConic" appears in the metadata section at the top, indicating that it is system-created.
Almost all fields under "Settings" and "Expert settings" are grayed out and uneditable. You can, however, edit the name of the property at the top, as well as the fields in the metadata section: Favorite, Labels, and Description.
Note: The one setting you can configure is "Hide from UI" at the bottom; when this setting is enabled, the profile property can be used for creating segments from server-side plugins but not from the Segments page.
Merge strategy
Read-only properties do not follow normal merge strategies. The merge strategy for these properties, which you cannot edit or alter, involves a "leading profile" that the other profiles get merged into. When a profile merge is enacted involving any of these read-only properties, the system automatically determines which is the leading profile.
For the properties "Creation date," "Last visited date," and "Last modified date," the value of the leading profile is always kept. The properties "Domain group" and "System has property" do not need to be merged.
For full details on these read-only properties and how they are merged, review the article Managing read-only, system-created profile properties.
Sample ID
Sample ID is another system-created property, but this one is not read-only (i.e., you can still edit its "Settings" and "Expert settings"). It is not listed in gray on the Profile Properties page like the five read-only properties.
Sample ID is calculated whenever two profiles are merged. It is never saved to the database and never involved in the merging process; thus, the Merge strategy setting is hidden from its property page.
Group filtering added to the Python API
To reduce time to value, enhance data accuracy and efficiency, and reduce operational cost, the Python API now allows you to filter groups—in a similar way to how you filter profiles. When you use these new filtering capabilities, the system will only process relevant groups that meet your specified criteria, ensuring optimal system performance (without compromising security or scalability).
For more information, review Filtering profiles and groups on the BlueConic Python API documentation site.
Security and privacy updates
jQuery version updated
To enhance platform security and improve performance, the BlueConic user interface was updated to the latest version of the jQuery library, 3.7.1. In addition, the jQuery Migrate plugin was updated to the latest version, 3.4.1.
Note: If you have developed custom plugins and referenced these platform versions, you will need to update your plugins to work with the most recent jQuery version.
X-CSP removed
The deprecated X-Content-Security-Policy (X-CSP) header, which was in place for older browsers and overlapped with the original Content Security Policy, is now completely removed from the platform. This aligns with industry security standards and reduces security risks associated with having multiple CSP headers.
Referrer-Policy header implemented
To better ensure user and website privacy, "no-referrer" was implemented as the Referrer-Policy header in BlueConic.
D3.js upgraded in Segment Over Time insight
To reduce security risks, the Segment Over Time insight now uses the latest version of the D3.js library, 7.8.0.
Connection updates
GA4 Connection updated with new method for Dimensions
Based on updated functionality and terminology in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the old method of sending BlueConic data directly to Universal Analytics Dimensions is no longer applicable. Now, in the Google Analytics 4 Connection, BlueConic data is mapped and exported to custom event parameters. These event parameters can then be used within the Google Analytics 4 platform to create Dimensions, which are primarily used for reporting.
Note: In 2023, Google replaced Universal Analytics with GA4; as a result, the Universal Analytics Connection in BlueConic was deprecated.
The Trade Desk Connection updated with new export step
In The Trade Desk Connection, you can now enable an optional step within your export goals to remove profiles from The Trade Desk audiences when the profiles are no longer part of the exported BlueConic segment. Previously within this connection, when BlueConic sent segments of profiles as audiences, the profiles would stay within The Trade Desk until the time to live expired (default 30 days).
Marketo Connection updated with more run options
When scheduling a Marketo Connection to run, you now have more frequent run options. While the default is once a day, you can now choose 8, 12, and 24 runs as a scheduling option on the Set up and run page.
Timeline Query Connection updated with new Timeline events filter
A new Timeline Events filter was added to the Timeline Query Connection, allowing you to retrieve only configured properties, as opposed to all properties, when running queries against Timeline events. Queries can be run as frequently as every three minutes, and once configured properties are retrieved, they can be stored as profile properties.
Other updates and bug fixes
- For new tenants, when "Rest of the World" or "Whole World" is enabled on the Privacy page with the "Opt-in" option selected, profiles in the system without a specified legislation zone will not be exported unless they provide explicit consent.
- BlueConic passwords can no longer contain the percent symbol (%).
- Two insights were removed from the Plugins page and the Insights gallery: Universe insight and Segment Export Templates insight. All instances of these insights were removed from dashboards in customer tenants. You may notice your BlueConic home dashboard has been slightly rearranged with the removal of the Universe insight.
- The Opt In-Opt Out plugin was removed from the Plugins gallery.
- On the General page, under "Your subscription," the metrics for "Data traffic" and "Data storage" are now properly displayed in bytes (e.g., B, KB, MB, GB).
- In scheduled dashboard notification emails, an issue was fixed that caused an error when users clicked the unsubscribe link.
- An issue was fixed in which Notification Bar dialogues added to SPA websites would not display on the page (with no HTML added) yet would still be treated as visible by the system.
- For new users logging in to the platform for the first time, an issue was fixed that prevented them from changing their password when using an autofill tool like 1Password.
- To fix an issue with syntactically incorrect email addresses being imported into BlueConic, enhanced syntactical checks were implemented to properly validate imported email addresses before they're mapped to a profile property with the "email address" data type.
Reminders and recaps
BlueConic REST API migration reminder
Last July, the new BlueConic REST API v2 was released. As a reminder, if you currently use the BlueConic REST API v1, you need to migrate your applications to v2. For key dates and resources pertaining to this migration, review the article BlueConic REST API migration.
Mobile SDK release recap
In October 2023, several updates and fixes were made to the BlueConic SDK for both iOS and Android. (The iOS SDK was updated to v3.0.0, while the Android SDK was updated to v4.0.0.) For more on the changes made to each SDK, review the BlueConic SDK for iOS Release Notes and the BlueConic SDK for Android Release Notes.