Add Forms 13.6 and 16.1 release notes

Author: ronaldbarendse

13/umbraco-forms/developer/configuration/README.md

@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@ For illustration purposes, the following structure represents the full set of op
         "PrevalueSourceTypes": {},
         "WorkflowTypes": {},
       },
-      "MandatoryFieldsetLegends": false
+      "MandatoryFieldsetLegends": false,
+      "UseViewEngineFormThemeResolver": false
     },
     "Options": {
       "IgnoreWorkFlowsOnEdit": "True",
@@ -241,6 +242,10 @@ When creating a form with Umbraco Forms, adding captions to the groups for field
 
 If you want to ensure form creators always have to provide a caption, you can set the value of this setting to `true`.
 
+### UseViewEngineFormThemeResolver
+
+Forms introduced an alternative `IFormThemeResolver` in 13.6 that uses the View Engine (`ICompositeViewEngine`) to resolve theme views, instead of relying on physical files to exist (and doing I/O lookups via the Partial Views file system abstraction). To take advantage of this new resolver, you can set the value of this setting to `true`.
+
 ### Form default settings configuration
 
 The following configured values are applied to all forms as they are created. They can then be amended on a per-form basis via the Umbraco backoffice.

13/umbraco-forms/release-notes.md

@@ -16,6 +16,39 @@ If you are upgrading to a new major version, you can find information about the
 
 This section contains the release notes for Umbraco Forms 13 including all changes for this version.
 
+### [13.6.0](https://github.com/umbraco/Umbraco.Forms.Issues/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aclosed+label%3Arelease%2F13.6.0) (August 28th 2025)
+
+#### Add support for subscription licensing using product key
+
+In addition to the existing one-off license using the `umbracoForms.lic` file, support for configuring a subscription license using a product key is added. As [announced](https://github.com/umbraco/Announcements/issues/25), Forms 17 will only be available through a subscription-based license. To make the transition to this upcoming major easier, you can already purchase a new subscription (avoiding the one-off purchase) or convert your recently purchased one-off license into a subscription.
+
+The 14-day trail license isn't generated anymore on install, but you can still fully test Forms on localhost. Configuring the license from the backoffice is also removed due to the direct integration with the legacy license infrastructure and to align the license management to the Licenses dashboard in the Settings section.
+
+Read more about [the licensing model](./installation/the-licensing-model.md).
+
+#### Only show reCAPTCHA v2 or v3 fields when settings are configured
+
+Forms provides reCAPTCHA v2 and v3 fields out-of-the-box, but both were always shown to editors in the backoffice. These fields are now only shown when their respective settings are configured. This avoids editors adding a reCAPTCHA field that doesn't work due to missing configuration and/or mixing up the v2 and v3 versions.
+
+If the settings aren't configured in `appsettings.json` or environment variables (and thus available through `IConfiguration`), the required field needs to be manually added. This can be the case when manually configuring the `Recaptcha2Settings` or `Recaptcha3Settings` object in code:
+
+```csharp
+builder.Services.Configure<Recaptcha3Settings>(options =>
+{
+    options.SiteKey = "...";
+    options.PrivateKey = "...";
+});
+
+// Ensure the field is added and available
+builder.FormsFields().Add<Recaptcha3>();
+```
+
+#### Allow using ViewEngine to resolve theme views
+
+The default theme views are resolved using the [Partial Views file system](../umbraco-cms/extending/filesystemproviders/README.md#other-ifilesystems) (an abstraction over the `/Views/Partials` directory). This requires I/O lookups to determine whether specific theme views exist and manually specifying all files when using a [Razor Class Library](./developer/themes.md#shipping-themes-in-a-razor-class-library).
+
+By enabling the [`UseViewEngineFormThemeResolver` setting](./developer/configuration/README.md#useviewengineformthemeresolver), theme vies are resolved using the `ICompositeViewEngine`, which will include compiled views (including those shipped in RCLs).
+
 ### [13.5.0](https://github.com/umbraco/Umbraco.Forms.Issues/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aclosed+label%3Arelease%2F13.5.0) (June 12th 2025)
 
 * All items detailed under 13.5.0-rc

16/umbraco-forms/developer/configuration/README.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ With Umbraco Forms it's possible to customize the functionality with various con
 
 ## Editing configuration values
 
-All configuration for Umbraco Forms is held in the `appSettings.json` file found at the root of your Umbraco website. If the configuration has been customized to use another source, then the same keys and values discussed in this article can be applied there.
+All configuration for Umbraco Forms is held in the `appsettings.json` file found at the root of your Umbraco website. If the configuration has been customized to use another source, then the same keys and values discussed in this article can be applied there.
 
 The convention for Umbraco configuration is to have package based options stored as a child structure below the `Umbraco` element, and as a sibling of `CMS`. Forms configuration follows this pattern, i.e.:
 
@@ -72,7 +72,8 @@ For illustration purposes, the following structure represents the full set of op
         "PrevalueSourceTypes": {},
         "WorkflowTypes": {},
       },
-      "MandatoryFieldsetLegends": false
+      "MandatoryFieldsetLegends": false,
+      "UseViewEngineFormThemeResolver": false
     },
     "Options": {
       "IgnoreWorkFlowsOnEdit": "True",
@@ -236,6 +237,10 @@ When creating a form with Umbraco Forms, adding captions to the groups for field
 
 If you want to ensure form creators always have to provide a caption, you can set the value of this setting to `true`.
 
+### UseViewEngineFormThemeResolver
+
+Forms introduced an alternative `IFormThemeResolver` in 16.1 that uses the View Engine (`ICompositeViewEngine`) to resolve theme views, instead of relying on physical files to exist (and doing I/O lookups via the Partial Views file system abstraction). To take advantage of this new resolver, you can set the value of this setting to `true`.
+
 ### Form default settings configuration
 
 The following configured values are applied to all forms as they are created. They can then be amended on a per-form basis via the Umbraco backoffice.
@@ -428,29 +433,28 @@ Forms will by default track relations between forms and the content pages they a
 
 If you would like to disable this feature, you can set the value of this setting to `true`.
 
-## TrackRenderedFormsStorageMethod
+### TrackRenderedFormsStorageMethod
 
 Forms tracks the forms rendered on a page in order that the associated scripts can be placed in a different location within the HTML. Usually this is used to [render the scripts](../rendering-scripts.md) at the bottom of the page.
 
 By default, `HttpContext.Items` is used as the storage mechanism for this tracking.
 
 You can optionally revert to the legacy behavior of using `TempData` by changing this setting from the default of `HttpContextItems` to `TempData`.
 
-## EnableMultiPageFormSettings
+### EnableMultiPageFormSettings
 
 This setting determines whether [multi-page form settings](../../editor/creating-a-form/form-settings.md#multi-page-forms) are available to editors.
 
 By default the value is `true`. To disable the feature, set the value to `false`.
 
-## EnableAdvancedValidationRules
+### EnableAdvancedValidationRules
 
 This setting determines whether [advanced form validation rules](../../editor/creating-a-form/form-advanced.md) are available to editors.
 
 By default, the value is `false`.  This is partly because the feature is only considered for "power users", comfortable with crafting rules using the required JSON syntax. And partly as validating the rules on the client requires an additional front-end dependency.
 
 To make the feature available to editors and include the dependency when using `@Html.RenderUmbracoFormDependencies(Url)`, set the value to `true`.
 
-
 ## Security configuration
 
 ### DisallowedFileUploadExtensions

16/umbraco-forms/release-notes.md

@@ -16,6 +16,39 @@ If you are upgrading to a new major version, you can find information about the
 
 This section contains the release notes for Umbraco Forms 16 including all changes for this version.
 
+### [16.1.0](https://github.com/umbraco/Umbraco.Forms.Issues/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aclosed+label%3Arelease%2F16.1.0) (August 28th 2025)
+
+#### Add support for subscription licensing using product key
+
+In addition to the existing one-off license using the `umbracoForms.lic` file, support for configuring a subscription license using a product key is added. As [announced](https://github.com/umbraco/Announcements/issues/25), Forms 17 will only be available through a subscription-based license. To make the transition to this upcoming major easier, you can already purchase a new subscription (avoiding the one-off purchase) or convert your recently purchased one-off license into a subscription.
+
+The 14-day trail license isn't generated anymore on install, but you can still fully test Forms on localhost. Configuring the license from the backoffice is also removed due to the direct integration with the legacy license infrastructure and to align the license management to the Licenses dashboard in the Settings section.
+
+Read more about [the licensing model](./installation/the-licensing-model.md).
+
+#### Only show reCAPTCHA v2 or v3 fields when settings are configured
+
+Forms provides reCAPTCHA v2 and v3 fields out-of-the-box, but both were always shown to editors in the backoffice. These fields are now only shown when their respective settings are configured. This avoids editors adding a reCAPTCHA field that doesn't work due to missing configuration and/or mixing up the v2 and v3 versions.
+
+If the settings aren't configured in `appsettings.json` or environment variables (and thus available through `IConfiguration`), the required field needs to be manually added. This can be the case when manually configuring the `Recaptcha2Settings` or `Recaptcha3Settings` object in code:
+
+```csharp
+builder.Services.Configure<Recaptcha3Settings>(options =>
+{
+    options.SiteKey = "...";
+    options.PrivateKey = "...";
+});
+
+// Ensure the field is added and available
+builder.FormsFields().Add<Recaptcha3>();
+```
+
+#### Allow using ViewEngine to resolve theme views
+
+The default theme views are resolved using the [Partial Views file system](../umbraco-cms/extending/filesystemproviders/README.md#other-ifilesystems) (an abstraction over the `/Views/Partials` directory). This requires I/O lookups to determine whether specific theme views exist and manually specifying all files when using a [Razor Class Library](./developer/themes.md#shipping-themes-in-a-razor-class-library).
+
+By enabling the [`UseViewEngineFormThemeResolver` setting](./developer/configuration/README.md#useviewengineformthemeresolver), theme vies are resolved using the `ICompositeViewEngine`, which will include compiled views (including those shipped in RCLs).
+
 ### [16.0.0](https://github.com/umbraco/Umbraco.Forms.Issues/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aclosed+label%3Arelease%2F16.0.0) (June 12th 2025)
 
 * Compatibility with Umbraco 16.0.0