Introducing Frends 5.7: Enhanced API Capabilities, New Process Templates, and .NET 8.0 upgrade

The latest release to the Frends platform is version 5.7. Central to this release is the introduction of Passthrough APIs (Application Programming Interface), enriched API Monitoring, process templates for business users, and a strategic upgrade to .NET 8.0, all designed to empower your business with efficiency and security.

Here is the release overview:

Enhanced API Monitoring: Visibility and Security

Frends is introducing enhanced API Monitoring capabilities. API Monitoring views offer detailed insights into API health, execution statistics, and comprehensive HTTP Request Result data. Designed to enhance performance under heavy user loads, this improvement also includes upgraded API Endpoint security. The new security measures protect against potential threats and help maintain compliance.

Sample API_5.7 release

Simplifying API Management with Passthrough APIs

Our new Passthrough API functionality simplifies API calls forwarding to backend systems, along with enhanced monitoring capabilities. This allows easy adjustments of HTTP Headers, authentication methods, and URL paths, providing deep visibility into your API operations—essential for operational management.

Group 1_5.7

Passthrough Editor

Development Performance and Usability improvements

Frends has significantly enhanced the developer experience by making substantial improvements to the performance of its developer tools and user interface (UI). This enhancement is noticeable the first time you save a new process or update an existing one, reducing the saving time to just 1/10th to 1/20th of what it used to be. Alongside this major improvement, there have been numerous minor performance enhancements as well.

Process Templates: Empowering Business Users

Process Templates make it easier for business users to manage automation and integration, reducing reliance on IT and consultants, and saving costs. These templates solve issues like long deployment times, high custom development costs, complex system integrations, and the need for quick market adaptation.

How Process Templates Work:

Provide easy-to-use, no-code templates.
Allow customization for specific business needs.

Examples of how the Process Templates can be leveraged:

A retail company uses Process Templates to quickly connect their online store with their inventory management system. This integration streamlines the process of updating stock levels in real-time, significantly reducing discrepancies between online listings and actual inventory. As a result, customer satisfaction improves due to more accurate stock information and faster order fulfillment.
A logistics company employs templates to automate their shipment tracking process. This automation enables the company to update shipment statuses automatically, enhancing operational efficiency. Customers benefit from real-time updates on their shipments, leading to better transparency and trust in the logistics firm's services.
A company uses Invoice and Order Processing Templates to automate the management of CSV and Excel documents. This automation connects their accounting and order systems, speeding up invoice handling and order fulfillment. The result is fewer errors, quicker processing, and improved customer satisfaction due to accurate financial records and faster product delivery.

Benefits:

Our Process Templates aim to drastically cut costs associated with custom development and consultancy fees, with potential savings of 30% to 50% on integration specialist costs and custom development.

Use Process Templates for a 60% faster deployment, allowing your business to adapt quickly to market changes and realize a faster time-to-value.
Align Business, Development, and Operations teams and lower the barrier to entry for non-technical users by equipping them with process templates to manage business process automations.

Embracing .NET 8.0

Frends has upgraded to the latest version of the Microsoft .NET framework, .NET 8.0. By upgrading to .NET 8.0, Frends has enhanced its performance, security, and scalability.

Performance and Scalability: .NET 8.0 delivers improvements in performance and efficiency, enabling your applications to run faster and more reliably, even under the pressure of growing workloads.
Advanced Security Features: With cybersecurity threats evolving rapidly, .NET 8.0's enhanced security features provide a fortified foundation to protect your data and applications.
C# 12 Features: By introducing new features that simplify coding and improve readability, C# 12 enhances the overall development experience, allowing for quicker turnaround times and easier maintenance.

What you get with Frends 5.7

Enhanced API Management and Monitoring: Gain deep visibility into API health, manage workloads efficiently, and ensure data protection.
Empowerment Through Templates: Enable rapid development and deployment, reducing dependency on IT and cutting down costs.
Minimized Technical Debt: Stay up-to-date with the latest .NET framework, ensuring high performance, security, and scalability.
Latest improvements from .NET 8.0 and C#12: Utilize the advanced features of C# 12 for more refined scripting in your integrations, simplifying code, boosting readability, and enriching the development process for faster, more dependable outcomes.
Improved User Experience with the performance improvements of the user interface and backend functionalities, making development faster and easier.

Join the Webinar

We invite you to explore the new possibilities with Frends! For a deeper dive into these features and to understand how they can benefit your specific business needs, join our upcoming demo webinar:

Introducing Frends 5.7: A Detailed Walkthrough of the Latest Enhancements

March 21, 9:30 - 10:00 CET

Learn more and sign up