vSphere Client SDK 8.0 | 11 OCT 2022 Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

Local plug-ins are being deprecated with the 8.0 release. VMware plans to discontinue the support for local plug-ins with the next major release.

The certification program has been updated and local plug-ins will no longer be certified.

This release of the vSphere Client and the SDK comes with an improved Plug-in Administration view, Integrated Solution Installer for the vSphere Client, new capabilities, enhanced features and bug fixes.

• vSphere Client plug-ins administration view overhaul

There has been a significant change in the way the client plug-ins are displayed in the vSphere Client. A more detailed plug-in topology is shown, making it easy to verify which vCenter Server a particular plug-in is registered with, and which plug-in servers are in use. The enhanced view allows actions to be applied to multiple plug-ins and to directly navigate to a given plug-in global view.

To check out the new Client Plug-ins view functionality, navigate in the vSphere Client to:

Administration > Client Plugins

• Integrated Solution Installer for the vSphere Client

Partners now have the ability to integrate their solutions with the Solution Installer in the vSphere Client. This will simplify the solution’s installation flow and will greatly reduce the need for the user to visit the solution’s standalone UI for configuration and plug-in registration operations.

Sample files to help with the integration process can be found in the vSphere Client SDK deliverable under /samples/solutioninstall/

• Navigating actions defined in the remote plug-in manifest file

Remote plug-in developers are now able to define navigating actions along with the modal menu actions in the plug-in manifest file. This will enable users to use the action to navigate to a view defined by the plug-in.

• Newly promoted core client views for remote plug-in navigation

The list of views to which a remote plug-in can navigate with the navigateToClientView() JavaScript API has been extended with the following views:

• cluster.configure.settings.drs

• cluster.configure.settings.ha

• cluster.configure.settings.quickstart

• folder.configure.keyProviders

• folder.configure.settings.general

• host.configure.networking.physicalAdapters

• host.summary

• namespace.storage.persistentVolumeClaims

• network.summary

• profilesAndPolicies.vmStoragePolicies

• vm.monitor.performance.overview

• vm.summary

• workload-platform.supervisor.summary

The full list of navigable views can be found in the Javascript-API-Remote.html

• Sharing modals between remote plug-ins

Remote plug-ins can create more distributed content sharing. Modals defined by one remote plug-in can be reused by a different remote plug-in.

For more information, see Javascript-API-Remote.html

• Refreshing remote plug-in related items

Remote plug-ins can refresh their related items by using the new JavaScript API - refreshPluginItemsState(). A related item of a plug-in may be a monitor/configure item, an action or a summary view.

• Support for Italian localization

The vSphere Client SDK now allows localization of plug-ins in the Italian language.

• Support dynamic object cards

In addition to dynamic monitor, configure and action extensions, remote plug-in developers are able to define dynamic cards. This means that a particular plug-in card in an object’s summary view can be shown or hidden based on a chosen condition.

• Support for additional plug-in servers for dynamic extensions

Developers can now specify a server endpoint for dynamic extension queries. Formerly, the manifest server was required to handle all dynamic extension queries.

• Remote Plug-in Sample updates

• New library versions: Clarity Design System 3.0.0 and Angular 9.0.0.

• The sample demonstrates the use of dynamic cards.

The sample demonstrates improved security by using a more robust trust strategy.

• Open a modal with a recursive object

The htmlClientSdk.modal.open() method throws an error when a configuration object with recursive references is passed. A new flag sanitizeData was introduced indicating whether the passed modal configuration data should be serialized/deserialized, or not. The default value of the flag is true (i.e., do serialization), which is the previous behavior. Set the flag to false if you pass objects containing recursive references.

• Modified the Remote Plug-in Sample to use a more secure trust strategy

Previous versions of the sample used a “trust-all” strategy, which was insecure. This version correctly verifies server thumbprints.

• Plug-in manifest conversion tool is modified to support both light and dark themes

The tool is modified to generate two sprite sheets, one for the light theme and one for the dark theme. The sprite sheets now contain placeholder icons which should be replaced by the plug-in developers with real icons.

• Fixed a number of layout issues with the plug-in modal dialogs

Fixed the layout of the modal dialogs opened through the vSphere Client SDK JavaScript APIs to eliminate issues previously reported.

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