Here are some of the key changes made to xConnect and the xDB in the recently released 9.0 Update 1 – including links to documentation. For a full list of changes, see the official release notes.

xDB.Tracker identifier available as a constant

Any contact that visits your website is given a tracker identifier. The identifier is a GUID (the same GUID represented by Sitecore.Analytics.Tracker.Current.Contact.ContactId) and the identifier source is “xDB.Tracker”. In 9.0.1, the identifier source is available as a constant: Sitecore.Analytics.XConnect.DataAccess.Constants.IdentifierSource. This means that you can retrieve a contact by his or her tracker identifier without hard-coding the source.

Trigger interaction outcomes with custom data from tracker

In the context of the tracker, you can trigger an outcome for a particular page or for the entire interaction. In 9.0.0, you could trigger a page-level outcome with custom data. In 9.0.1, you can include custom data for outcomes triggered at an interaction level as well.

Reload contact from xConnect after setting facets

In 9.0.1, the RemoveFromSession() method on the ContactManager class has made public. This method reloads a contact from xConnect into shared session state, and can be used to refresh the facet values available in session after submitting changes to xConnect.

Use custom facets in your custom activity types

Custom facets are now supported in custom activity types.

Automation pool worker configuration

Automation pool workers are now added to the engine automatically, although you can still configure the pool workers individually. You can also configure the number of times a work item will be retried before it will be stalled