Magento Version 1.3.0 is Now Available!

We are extremely happy to announce the availability of Magento version 1.3.0 for download and upgrade. This version includes numerous issue resolutions for Magento version 1.2.x and new features such as:

• Added support for customer file upload and date/time/datetime custom options
• Described all methods in WSDL for SOAP web-services to improve compatibility with .NET, Java and other languages
• Frontend Flat Catalog and improved performance. From early test and benchmarks we see up to 40% performance improvement when comparing to Magento 1.2.x both in page loads and memory usage. We will publish formal results over the next few days.

To see the full list of fixes and changes please visit the release notes page. A diff file for Magento version 1.3.0 is available here. Please use this forum to discuss any issue with Magento 1.3.0 and please report all bugs on the bug-tracker

Note: We do NOT recommend upgrading a production installation of Magento directly. Please backup database and all files before upgrading. Please make sure to check file permission before trying to upgrade through your Magento Connect Manager.

Frontend Flat Catalog

Working with the Frontend Flat Catalog

• The Flat Catalog has two parts: Categories and Products
• Flat Categories are recommended for any Magento installation for improved performance, whereas the Flat Products is designed and recommended for catalogs that have over 1000 SKU's
• To enable one or both first go to your admin panel and navigate to System->Cache Management. Under Catalog click on the Rebuild button next to Rebuild Flat Catalog Category or Product. Note: If only Flat Catalog Categories are to be used there is no need to rebuild the Flat Catalog Product.
• Navigate to System->Configuration click on Catalog and select the Frontend tab. Choose Yes next to the appropriate selection of either Use Flat Catalog Category or Product. Note: If you want to use only Flat Category there is no need to enable Flat Product.

Upgrading an Existing Magento Version

Upgrade your existing Magento installation to 1.3.0 through the Magento Connect Manager:

• Do NOT use your live or production site. We suggest making a copy of your site and upgrading that copy first.
• Log into your Magento Connect Manager.
• Select the 'Setting' tab.
• Change the Preferred State to 'Stable', and save settings.
• For the Mage_All_Latest package select upgrade.
• Click on the 'Commit Changes' button. The upgrade should start.
• After upgrade is complete click on the 'Refresh' button.
• You should now have Magento 1.3.0 installed.