The Covid-19 pandemic that the world is facing today does not in any way hinder the Magento community from continuously improving each version release.
The community promised to rel3ease the new 2.4.0 version in August 2020, which is actually this month. Every new version release that Magento makes come with a new feature, making the platform perform better in each aspect.

The release of Magento 2.4.0 includes all core quality upgrades, which were included in the 2.3.5-p1, with more than thirty enhancements to security, and over 100 new fixes to the core code.

What to expect from the brand new Magento 2.4.0 this month:

There evidently is a ‘shiny new API’!
The release came with a big chance of pulling out the payment method integrations, including Brainfree and Authorize.net from the core code. The new version has support for PHP 7.4, MySQL 8.0, and ElastiSearch 7.6.x. Changes in security in the Admin are applied by default, such as the Two factor authentication.

The most essential enhancements to Magento 2.4.0:

1. Significant Enhancements to Security

   • Version 2.4.0 includes more than thirty security fixes, as well as improvements in platform security.
   • Legacy mode template filters could be vulnerable to RCE, and thus the strict mode for template filters is by default enabled.
   • Since 2FA is enabled by default, it could not be disabled. Now, 2FA is a must for the Magento Admin.
   • Data rendering for data providers of UI now by default is disabled, to prevent malicious users from executing any JavaScript arbitrary.
   • The version provides new security.txt file support.

2. Upgrades on the Platform

   • Version 2.4.0 could not be installed unless Elastisearch 7.6.x is installed.
   • The platform introduced PHP 7.4 support and abhorred PHP 7.1 and 7.2.
   • The Magento open source and commerce default catalog engine is Elastisearch 7.6.x.
   • MySQL search engine has been improved and replaced with Elastisearch as the default search engine for optimizing the catalog performance.
   • Zend has been deprecated, thus Magento 2.4 introduces dependencies migration on Zend to Laminas project.
   • For enhanced security, reliability, and performance, merchants are encouraged to migrate deployments to MySQL 8.x.
   • Magento 2.4 removed the Braintree core module from the code base.
   • Merchants are required to migrate to Signifyd Fraud & Chargeback Protection extension because integration to the Signifyd fraud protection was removed.

3. Improvements to the Infrastructure

   • Authorize.net payment integration has been removed.
   • PayPal Express Checkout integration is migrated to the latest PayPal JavaScript software development kit.
   • The Magento open source and commerce default catalog engine is Elastisearch 7.6.x.
   • Partial words use in search terms for SKUs and product names now is supported with Elastisearch when a merchant utilizes the quick search.
   • Web SetUp Wizard was removed. CLI instead is recommended to install or upgrade to the new version.
   • Composer update plugin.

4. Performance Enhancements

   • Redis has been optimized with the release, minimizing the number of Redis queries.
   • Enhancement to the customer data section invalidation logic.
   • Fast order add-to-cart performance was improved up to 25-30 percent.
   • Now, in order to load images, Lazy loading can be used by merchants.
   • Improved caching SQL queries results to inventory_stock_sales_channel and inventory_stock tables.

Enhancements to the Merchant Tool

1. New Media Gallery

   In the new release, the replacement for the previous media gallery provides a new and searchable interface for the media assets of the platform. The images, up to 30 times faster now could be searched, filtered, and sorted by administrators. The process was slower in the previous Magento versions. The tool can be used by merchants to evaluate the usage of the storefront image.

2. Inventory Management

   The in-store pickup and improved support of the bundle product has been applied by the Magento community with the new release.

3. GraphQL

   Magento 2.4.0 includes in-store pickup feature support through the use of pickupLocations query, supporting the categories rendering by utilizing the categories query. Moreover, to enable a logged-in user to add all products from a previous cart order, RenderItems is used.

4. Page Builder

   Magento version 2.4.0 Commerce now has support for PHP 7.4 Page Builder.

5. PWA Studio

   Version 2.4.0 has support for PWA Studio 6.0.0 and 6.0.1. Click here for more PWA details.

6. Dotdigital enhancements

   Improvements to dotdigital with the Magento 2.4 Commerce release are:

   • Now, merchants could sync web name, store name, and store view name through the individual data fields.
   • Cart insight data could be forwarded to all active quotes, even if there aren’t any items. If merchants empty their cart, this enables them to exit contacts from a program.
   • A new plugin is able to detect updates on a stock performed by a thirdparty code, outside the admin of the platform.
   • Configurable products have a stock figure, the total of the child products.
   • Now, Review, Wishlist, and order only look up to the transactional data sync once.

Resolved Issues

The Magento 2.4.0 release fixed a lot of core code issues.

• The configuration settings edit is disabled in the index.php at admin.
• Easy website removal, as well as its scope-specific configuration.
• Effortless installation of Magento with the config.php predefined config.
• Refactors the \Magento\Store\App\Config\Source\ RuntimeConfigSource_getEntities to remove the Show Table Status Queries.

With the new release, vendor developed extensions, including Vertex, Yotpo, and Klarna are enhanced.

Upgrade and Installation Process:

With the use of Composer, you could install Magento Open Source 2.4.0. For more details on using Composer and to troubleshoot code access, please read this.

To be honest, there would be so many new improvements and features in Magento version 2.4 for your Magento shop. Moreover, more conversations and debate among our Magento developers at our office is to be expected. We’ll continuously update this blog.