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Removed and Backward Incompatibility

All the deprecated features that have now been removed and any backward incompatibilities. There should be an explanation of how to mitigate the removals / changes.

Compat plugin​

The following list of changes belong to the compatibility plugin and work when enabled, but are mentioned here, so developers can prepare for upcoming changes in the next major release:

Functions that throw an error​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47911
  • Files:
    • /libraries/src/Factory.php
    • /libraries/src/User/User.php
  • Description: The compatibility plugin defines the constant COMPAT_JOOMLA_7 when loaded. The constant is used in functions to check if compatibility mode is enabled. If the constant doesn't exist, an exception is thrown in the respective function. Like that get extension developers and site admins, with old overrides, an idea what might not work anymore in the next major version. In the deprecation message and The following list of functions will throw an error when the compatibility plugin is not enabled:
    • \Joomla\CMS\Factory::getConfig()
      Get the config from the application.
    • \Joomla\CMS\Factory::getSession()
      Get the session from the application.
    • \Joomla\CMS\Factory::getMailer()
      Create a mailer from the injected factory or global container.
    • \Joomla\CMS\User\User::get()
      Access directly the property from the user object.

CMS Crypt package​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47899
  • Folder: /libraries/src/Crypt
  • Description: The Crypt package of the CMS (\Joomla\CMS\Crypt) has been deprecated for a long time. Please use the framework Crypt package (\Joomla\Crypt). The packages can be used nearly interchangeably, expect for
    • Crypt::timingSafeCompare() use hash_equals() instead
    • Crypt::safeStrlen() use mb_strlen() instead
    • Crypt::safeSubstr() use mb_substr() instead
    • Cipher\SodiumCipher::class use \Joomla\Crypt\Cipher\Sodium::class instead
    • Cipher\CryptoCipher::class use \Joomla\Crypt\Cipher\Crypto::class instead

Radiobasic form field​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47930
  • Files:
    • /libraries/src/Form/Field/RadiobasicField.php
    • /layouts/joomla/form/field/radiobasic.php
  • Description: The form field radiobasic is obsolete and the normal radio form field should be used with the layout joomla.form.field.radio.switcher.
// Old:
<field type="radiobasic" />

// New:
<field type="radio" layout="joomla.form.field.radio.switcher"/>

Removed legacy OTP code from UserModel and ProfileModel​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47457
  • Files:
    • /administrator/components/com_users/src/Model/UserModel.php
    • /components/com_users/src/Model/ProfileModel.php
  • Description: With the introduction of multi-factor authentication in Joomla 4.2, several methods for the one-time-password feature were made obsolete and deprecated. They were not working since 4.2 anyway, but with 7.0 they have been removed entirely. The following methods in the administrator part of com_users were removed:
    • UserModel::getOtpConfig()
    • UserModel::setOtpConfig()
    • UserModel::getOtpConfigEncryptionKey()
    • UserModel::getTwofactorform()
    • UserModel::generateOteps()
    • UserModel::isValidSecretKey()
    • UserModel::isValidOtep()
    • ProfileModel::getTwofactorform()
    • ProfileModel::getOtpConfig()

Removed deprecated static functions from module helpers​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47891
  • Files:
    • /administrator/modules/mod_feed/src/Helper/FeedHelper.php
    • /administrator/modules/mod_latest/src/Helper/LatestHelper.php
    • /administrator/modules/mod_latestactions/src/Helper/LatestActionsHelper.php
    • /administrator/modules/mod_logged/src/Helper/LoggedHelper.php
    • /administrator/modules/mod_login/src/Helper/LoginHelper.php
    • /administrator/modules/mod_privacy_dashboard/src/Helper/PrivacyDashboardHelper.php
    • /administrator/modules/mod_privacy_status/src/Helper/PrivacyStatusHelper.php
    • /administrator/modules/mod_sampledata/src/Helper/SampledataHelper.php
    • /administrator/modules/mod_stats_admin/src/Helper/StatsAdminHelper.php
    • /administrator/modules/mod_version/src/Helper/VersionHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_articles_archive/src/Helper/ArticlesArchiveHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_articles_categories/src/Helper/ArticlesCategoriesHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_articles_category/src/Helper/ArticlesCategoryHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_articles_latest/src/Helper/ArticlesLatestHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_articles_news/src/Helper/ArticlesNewsHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_articles_popular/src/Helper/ArticlesPopularHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_banners/src/Helper/BannersHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_breadcrumbs/src/Helper/BreadcrumbsHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_feed/src/Helper/FeedHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_finder/src/Helper/FinderHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_languages/src/Helper/LanguagesHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_login/src/Helper/LoginHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_menu/src/Helper/MenuHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_random_image/src/Helper/RandomImageHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_related_items/src/Helper/RelatedItemsHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_stats/src/Helper/StatsHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_syndicate/src/Helper/SyndicateHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_tags_popular/src/Helper/TagsPopularHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_tags_similar/src/Helper/TagsSimilarHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_users_latest/src/Helper/UsersLatestHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_whosonline/src/Helper/WhosonlineHelper.php
    • /modules/mod_wrapper/src/Helper/WrapperHelper.php
  • Description: Modules traditionally were written with a static helper class to retrieve data from the system. This isn't desirable from a dependency injection perspective and thus the modules were rewritten to use instantiated helper objects instead with dependency injection. Instantiate the helper object and call the non-static version of the respective method instead. For example you can use:
// Old:
ArticlesNewsHelper::getArticles($params);

// New:
Factory::getApplication()->bootModule('mod_articles_news', 'site')
  ->getHelper('ArticlesNewsHelper')
  ->getArticles($params, Factory::getApplication());

CMSPlugin db and app properties detection removed​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47881
  • File: libraries/src/Plugin/CMSPlugin.php
  • Description: The autodetection and fill of the $app and $db properties in the CMSPlugin got removed. Inject the database and application in the provider.php. If it is not possible to use the aware trait or inject the application, then use $this->app = Factory::getApplication(); and $this->db = Factory::getContainer()->get(DatabaseInterface::class); in the constructor of your plugin. For example you can use:
// Old:
$this->app;
$this->db;

// New:
$this->getApplication();
$this->getDatabase();

ActionLogPlugin db and app properties removed​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47880
  • File: /administrator/components/com_actionlogs/src/Plugin/ActionLogPlugin.php
  • Description: The $app and $db properties in the ActionLogPlugin got removed. Inject the database and application in the provider.php. For example you can use:
// Old:
$this->app;
$this->db;

// New:
$this->getApplication();
$this->getDatabase();

FieldsPlugin app property removed​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47904
  • File: /administrator/components/com_fields/src/Plugin/FieldsPlugin.php
  • Description: The $app property in the FieldsPlugin got removed. Inject the application in the provider.php. For example you can use:
// Old:
$this->app;

// New:
$this->getApplication();

PrivacyPlugin db property removed​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47880
  • File: /administrator/components/com_privacy/src/Plugin/PrivacyPlugin.php
  • Description: The $db property in the abstract class PrivacyPlugin extends CMSPlugin got removed. Inject the database in the provider.php. For example you can use:
// Old:
$this->db;

// New:
$this->getDatabase();

LogcreatorField class removed​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47874
  • File: /administrator/components/com_actionlogs/src/Field/LogcreatorField.php
  • Description: The LogcreatorField got removed as it is better to use the user field instead. For example you can use:
// Old in form XML file:
<field name="user" type="logcreator" label="COM_ACTIONLOGS_NAME" class="js-select-submit-on-change">
	<option value="">COM_ACTIONLOGS_SELECT_USER</option>
</field>

// New in form XML file:
<field name="user" type="user" label="COM_ACTIONLOGS_NAME" class="js-select-submit-on-change">
	<option value="">COM_ACTIONLOGS_SELECT_USER</option>
</field>

The CSS custom property --cassiopeia-link-color removal​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47883
  • Files:
    • /media_source/templates/site/cassiopeia/scss/global/colors_alternative.scss
    • /media_source/templates/site/cassiopeia/scss/global/colors_standard.scss
  • Description: The CSS custom property --cassiopeia-link-color is not used and got removed.

Removed unused methods from localise​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47897
  • File: /administrator/language/en-GB/localise.php
  • Description: Unused filters removed: --getIgnoredSearchWords --getLowerLimitSearchWord --getUpperLimitSearchWord --getSearchDisplayedCharactersNumber

Removed legacy stubs for component helpers​

  • PR's:
  • Files:
    • /components/com_contact/helpers/route.php
    • /components/com_content/helpers/icon.php
    • /components/com_finder/helpers/route.php
    • /components/com_newsfeeds/helpers/route.php
    • /components/com_tags/helpers/route.php
    • /administrator/components/com_banners/helpers/banners.php
    • /administrator/components/com_categories/helpers/categories.php
    • /administrator/components/com_contact/helpers/contact.php
    • /administrator/components/com_content/helpers/content.php
    • /administrator/components/com_content/src/Model/FeaturedModel.php
    • /administrator/components/com_content/src/View/Featured/HtmlView.php
    • /administrator/components/com_contenthistory/helpers/contenthistory.php
    • /administrator/components/com_fields/helpers/fields.php
    • /administrator/components/com_fields/src/Plugin/FieldsPlugin.php
    • /administrator/components/com_finder/helpers/language.php
    • /administrator/components/com_installer/helpers/installer.php
    • /administrator/components/com_joomlaupdate/src/Model/UpdateModel.php
    • /administrator/components/com_menus/helpers/menus.php
    • /administrator/components/com_modules/helpers/modules.php
    • /administrator/components/com_modules/src/Service/HTML/Modules.php
    • /administrator/components/com_newsfeeds/helpers/newsfeeds.php
    • /administrator/components/com_plugins/helpers/plugins.php
    • /administrator/components/com_privacy/src/Plugin/PrivacyPlugin.php
    • /administrator/components/com_redirect/helpers/redirect.php
    • /administrator/components/com_templates/helpers/template.php
    • /administrator/components/com_templates/helpers/templates.php
    • /administrator/components/com_templates/src/Service/HTML/Templates.php
    • /administrator/components/com_users/helpers/debug.php
    • /administrator/components/com_users/helpers/users.php
  • Description: The non-namespaced helper classes in the helpers/ folder of several components were deprecated in 4.3 and only forwarded to their namespaced replacements. They have now been removed entirely. They are not registered in the behaviour/compat7 plugin classmap, so referencing the old global class name results in a "class not found" fatal error. Replace any use of the old class with the namespaced class below (add the matching use statement); all public method signatures are unchanged. To fix any errors, make a search and replace to use the namespaced versions now, e.g.
  • Class list mapping:
    • ContactHelperRoute — use \Joomla\Component\Contact\Site\Helper\RouteHelper\ContactHelperRoute instead
    • JHtmlIcon — use \Joomla\Component\Content\Administrator\Service\HTML\Icon instead
    • FinderHelperRoute — use \Joomla\Component\Finder\Site\Helper\RouteHelper\FinderHelperRoute instead
    • NewsfeedsHelperRoute — use \Joomla\Component\Newsfeeds\Site\Helper\RouteHelper\NewsfeedsHelperRoute instead
    • TagsHelperRoute — use \Joomla\Component\Tags\Site\Helper\RouteHelper\TagsHelperRoute instead
    • BannersHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Banners\Administrator\Helper\BannersHelper instead
    • CategoriesHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Categories\Administrator\Helper\CategoriesHelper instead
    • ContactHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Contact\Administrator\Helper\ContactHelper instead
    • ContentHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Content\Administrator\Helper\ContentHelper instead
    • ContenthistoryHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Contenthistory\Administrator\Helper\ContenthistoryHelper instead
    • FieldsHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Fields\Administrator\Helper\FieldsHelper instead
    • FinderHelperLanguage — use \Joomla\Component\Finder\Administrator\Helper\LanguageHelper instead
    • InstallerHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Installer\Administrator\Helper\InstallerHelper instead
    • MenusHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Menus\Administrator\Helper\MenusHelper instead
    • ModulesHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Modules\Administrator\Helper\ModulesHelper instead
    • NewsfeedsHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Newsfeeds\Administrator\Helper\NewsfeedsHelper instead
    • PluginsHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Plugins\Administrator\Helper\PluginsHelper instead
    • RedirectHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Redirect\Administrator\Helper\RedirectHelper instead
    • TemplateHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Templates\Administrator\Helper\TemplateHelper instead
    • TemplatesHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Templates\Administrator\Helper\TemplatesHelper instead
    • UsersHelperDebug — use \Joomla\Component\Users\Administrator\Helper\DebugHelper instead
    • UsersHelper — use \Joomla\Component\Users\Administrator\Helper\UsersHelper instead
// Old:
BannersHelper::function();

// New
\Joomla\Component\Banners\Administrator\Helper\BannersHelper::function();

Removed local log entry functionality in debug plugin​

// Old:
$app->bootPlugin('debug', 'system')->logger();

// New:
\Joomla\CMS\Log\Log::add();

Make onDisplay methods private in editor button plugins​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47902
  • Files:
    • /plugins/editors-xtd/article/src/Extension/Article.php
    • /plugins/editors-xtd/contact/src/Extension/Contact.php
    • /plugins/editors-xtd/fields/src/Extension/Fields.php
    • /plugins/editors-xtd/image/src/Extension/Image.php
    • /plugins/editors-xtd/menu/src/Extension/Menu.php
    • /plugins/editors-xtd/module/src/Extension/Module.php
    • /plugins/editors-xtd/pagebreak/src/Extension/PageBreak.php
    • /plugins/editors-xtd/readmore/src/Extension/ReadMore.php
  • Description: Removes the onDisplay() method and added a private 'getButton()' method

Removed deprecated layout files​

Removed stub generator and PSR12 converter​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47897
  • File: /build/stubGenerator.php
  • Folder: /build/psr12
  • Description: The stub generator was only for transition to make it easier to translate from Jx namespace to real php namespaces. The PSR12 converter was a onetime shot to get the Joomla code base to PSR12 / PER Coding Style. If you still need the stub generator or the psr12 converter, use it from an older joomla version.

Removed Joomla.popupWindow function​

Removed the window.Calendar instance in calendar.js​

// Old:
window.Calendar.setup();

// New:
JoomlaCalendar.init();

Removed Methods from models​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47501
  • Files:
    • /administrator/components/com_joomlaupdate/src/Model/UpdateModel.php
    • /administrator/components/com_modules/src/Service/HTML/Modules.php
    • /components/com_content/src/Model/ArchiveModel.php
  • Description: The method to get the archived article list getData() is removed, use getItems() instead. The method to get the positions list positionList() is removed without replacement. The method createRestorationFil() is removed, use createUpdateFile() instead.
// Old:
$updateModel->createRestorationFile();
$archiveModel->getData();

// New:
$updateModel->createUpdateFile();
$archiveModel->getItems();

Removed tinymce uploaddirs field​

// Old:
<field type="Uploaddirs" />

// New:
<field type="Folderlist" />

Removed Joomla.JText proxy​

// Old:
Joomla.JText._('COM_FOO');

// New:
Joomla.Text._('COM_FOO');

Removed support for string parameters to generate template thumbnails​

// Old:
HTMLHelper::_('templates.thumb', $item->name);
HTMLHelper::_('templates.thumbModal', $item->name);

// New:
HTMLHelper::_('templates.thumb', $item);
HTMLHelper::_('templates.thumbModal', $item);

Url layout file is not escaping the url​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47929
  • File: /layouts/joomla/form/field/url.php
  • Description: The url layout file is not escaping the url anymore, the logic is moved to the UrlField class. If the layout file /layouts/joomla/form/field/url.php is used in an extension, then the encoding must be done by again.
// Old:
LayoutHelper::render('joomla.form.field.url', ['value' => 'https://www.joomla.org']);

// New:
LayoutHelper::render('joomla.form.field.url', ['value' => htmlspecialchars(PunycodeHelper::urlToUTF8('https://www.joomla.org'), ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8')]);

BannerHelper class got removed​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/47937
  • File: /components/com_banners/src/Helper/BannerHelper.php
  • Description: The BannerHelper got removed as it contains only an image test function. When testing the image file, use \Joomla\CMS\Helper\MediaHelper::isImage($url) for pixel-based image files in combination with \Joomla\CMS\Helper\MediaHelper::getMimeType($url) === 'image/svg+xml' for vector based image files. Be aware that the image url should first be sanitized with the helper function.
// Old:
BannerHelper::isImage($url);

// New:
MediaHelper::isImage(HTMLHelper::cleanImageURL($url));

Removed deprecated code in the application classes​

  • PR: https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/45866
  • Files:
    • libraries/src/Application/CMSApplication.php
    • libraries/src/Application/CMSApplicationInterface.php
    • libraries/src/Application/AdministratorApplication.php
    • libraries/src/Application/ApiApplication.php
    • libraries/src/Application/ConsoleApplication.php
    • libraries/src/Application/WebApplication.php
  • Description: Several pieces of deprecated code have been removed from the core application classes.
    • The obsolete loadSession() method and static purgeMessages() method have been removed. For example you can use:
    • The magic __get() accessor on the console application has been removed, so protected/dynamic properties can no longer be read directly as $app->somProperty use the dedicated getter methods instead.
    • The deprecated getCfg() method has been removed (read configuration with get()).
    • The API application doesn't have anymore the getApiRouter function.
// Old:
$value = $app->getCfg('sitename');
AdministratorApplication:purgeMessages();
ApiApplication::getApiRouter();
$value = $app->input;

// New:
$value = $app->get('sitename');
Factory::getApplication()->bootComponent('messages')->getMVCFactory()
            ->createModel('Messages', 'Administrator')->purge(Factory::getApplication()->getIdentity()->id);
Factory::getContainer()->get(ApiRouter::class);
$value = $app->getInput();