We are adopting an industry-leading Content Delivery Network to assist in the hosting of static assets in our system. This will result in better performance for everyone, but customers outside of North America will likely notice the biggest improvements.
What to do right now
Whitelist the following domains BEFORE JULY 1, 2022:
- media.contextall.com
- static.contextall.com
- api.contextall.com
- visualsponline.azurewebsites.net
- visualsponlineteams.azurewebsites.net
- visualspmedia.azurewebsites.net
If you don't do this by July 1st it is possible VisualSP will stop working.
Please whitelist these URLs on any proxy servers, firewalls, and / or other network security methods - even if your organization isn’t currently blocking internet traffic. Modern network security devices are more likely to detect changes in traffic and pro-actively block unrecognized patterns.
After July 1, 2022
Most customers should plan to redeploy various VisualSP elements this year to get the full benefit from the improvements and to prevent future problems with backward compatibility.
Effective July 1, 2022: Custom application embedded deployments
Some customers have embedded VisualSP within their own custom web apps using a script tag. This deployment method will keep working, but will not update automatically.
We recommend that you download these deployment tools and re-run them in your environment as soon as possible. This will increase your performance, and will also prevent future complications with backward compatibility.
See this article for details on how to retrieve your new script references:
Adding App Scopes to other applications
Effective July 1, 2022: Microsoft SharePoint-specific deployments
Some customers have deployed VisualSP to SharePoint using our Site Collection Installation Wizard or our PowerShell cmdlets. SharePoint Online environments may have also deployed the VisualSP Web Part to their app catalogs.
Sites using the older version of these SharePoint-specific methods will continue to work, but they will not update automatically and will not see the full performance gains until you redeploy. We recommend that you download these deployment tools and re-run them in your environment as soon as possible using the new download provided in the article linked below. This will increase your performance, and will also prevent future complications with backward compatibility.
See these articles for details on using our Installation Wizard, PowerShell cmdlets, and downloading the webpart:
https://support.visualsp.com/knowledge-base/install-visualsp-with-installation-wizard/Deploy VisualSP to SharePoint Online Via PowerShell
VisualSP SharePoint Web Part
Effective July 1, 2022: Microsoft Dynamics-specific deployments
Some customers have deployed VisualSP as a managed solution within their Dynamics 365 environment. Like the SharePoint deployment method mentioned above, this deployment method will keep working, but will not update automatically.Older version of the solution installed will not see the same performance gains as the new version. We recommend that you redeploy the solution as soon as possible using the new download provided in the article linked below. This will increase your performance, and will also prevent future complications with backward compatibility.
Install VisualSP for Dynamics CRM
After August 1, 2022: Microsoft Teams-specific deployments
The new version 1.4.0 of our extension to the Microsoft AppSource and Teams App Store will be available on July 1, 2022.
It is very likely that no action will be required on your part. The Microsoft app stores for Teams will usually provide the updated version transparently to all of your users that had the previous version installed. You can check your own version number by going to the Manage Extensions tool within your browser.
See this article for details on retrieving our app from Microsoft Appsource:
How do I get the VisualSP plug-in for the Teams app?
After August 1, 2022: Browser extensions
This is the most modern, flexible, and preferred deployment method for most customers. One of the reasons for this is how updates are handled. We will publish the new version 1.4.0 of our extension to the various browser app stores by July 1, 2022.
It is very likely that no action will be required on your part. The Chrome and Edge app stores that manage browser extensions have likely already provided the updated version transparently to all of your users that had the previous version installed. You can check your own version number by going to the Manage Extensions tool within your browser.
You can update your browser extension from our installation page here:
Download and Install VisualSP browser extensionNotes:
- If your version does not update automatically due to unusual security restrictions in your environment, please contact our support team or drop by our daily Office Hours call at 10:00 Central Time to discuss recommended steps.
- Another update will be deploying automatically to the Chrome and Edge extensions before Q4 of 2022. This will be necessary to due to changes mandated by the browser manufacturers, themselves. The same scenario described above will apply again then.