AbanteCart Version 1.4.3 is now released

[abantecart]

We are thrilled to introduce the latest release, AbanteCart v1.4.3!

Release include broad Windows compatibility and a major move to Form Manager, enabling merchants to edit forms, add new fields, group fields, customize field icons, apply restrictions, and control validation messages. Customer registration, customer details, address, and guest checkout forms now load from the database (AForm).

🌟 Highlights

• Form Manager everywhere (merchant-editable). Most customer, account, and checkout forms now come from the database and are managed via the AbanteCart Form Manager—edit/add fields, group them, customize field icons/tooltips, set restrictions, and tailor validation/error messages.
• Windows compatibility. Large refactor and many targeted fixes across the core, controllers, extensions, and the installer.
• Large cart performance update. Faster cart updates and improved robustness for very large carts.
• Payment restrictions by customer group. You can now restrict which payment methods are available per customer group—applies to all payment extensions. Sponsored by Mikko.
• Tax. AvaTax SDK updated with full PHP 8 support; shipping taxation behavior fixed.
• Option value: `require_shipping`. (Sponsored by Mikko.) New `require_shipping` toggle on product option values so options can explicitly force shipping when selected.
• Libraries upgraded: Font Awesome 7.0.0; Bootstrap 5.3.7.
• Internationalization: Languages moved to a dedicated repo: `abantecart/abantecart-languages`. The admin can load 20+ languages directly from that Git repository.
• UPS extension updated to the latest PHP SDK; adds shipment & label creation.
• PayPal Commerce: New card fields UI with billing address for AVS, clearer validation/errors, webhook update fixes, and totals alignment.
• Installer/Upgrader: Download credentials on finish; CLI pre-install of extensions; sample data improvements.
• Database changes: Default MySQL character set/collation switched to `utf8mb4` for full-Unicode support.

More details:
https://github.com/abantecart/abantecart-src/releases/tag/1.4.3