WebAsyst update log: latest updates

Version 306

Version 305

• Shipping rates calculation for USA added to USPS module; fixed weight re-calculation bug.
• Several authorization options implemented for order information and order status viewing pages; improved CAPTCHA.
• Optimized database queries for simple and advanced product search pages.
• More setup options added for Google Base export module: Brand, Manufacturer Part Number (MPN), International Standard Book Number (ISBN), shipping_weight.
• Minor bug fixes.

Version 304

Version 303

Version 302

Version 301

Version 300

• Integration with Facebook
• Performance: web server load reduced by approx. 10%; number of requests to the database for storefront pages reduced by approx. 50%
• Improved existing features and fixed bugs:
  • Implemented several new requirements of Google Base
  • Added multi-language support for META tags and the TITLE tag of the main storefront page and for the blog/news section
  • Added new settings option to upload company logo for order print forms
  • Removed duplicate product and category pages with enabled SEO-friendly URLs of the form http://domain.com/product/123/ and http://domain.com/product/product-name/
  • Fixed non-functioning obsolete URLs of product pages with enabled SEO-friendly URLs
  • Fixed display of the category tree with disabled SEO-friendly URLs
  • Fixed several errors in order-editing functions available to administrator
  • Improved template of the email notification of new orders sent to customers and to administrator
  • Fixed non-working downloading of digital products in Internet Explorer
  • Fixed incorrect number of ordered items and incorrectly calculated order amount in currencies different from U. S. dollars passed to the PayPal payment page when the PayPal Website Payments
  • Standard module is used
  • Added customer email address validation during checkout
  • Fixed unnecessary tax rate recalculation when the main currency is changed by administrator
  • Improved export/import of the CSV product file

Version 299

Version 298

Version 297

Version 296

Version 295

Version 294

Version 293

Version 292

1. in timezone support module,
2. WebAsyst Installer: Shop-Script FREE/PRO/PREMIUM to WebAsyst Shop-Script data migration (upgrade) routine

Version 291

Version 290

1. New field types added: Country and Checkbox. In "Add/Edit contact" form values can be selected now only from a preloaded country list (ISO).
2. Smart search allows not to set conditions for system fields (contact type, adding date and method, and etc.) not only for administrator, but of a user with limited access rights as well.
3. A bug in "Team" section has been fixed, which did not allow to create login for a previously invited user.

Version 289

Version 288

1. Sign up forms with photo returned error every time subscriber tried to send this form without adding photo.
2. After disabling “Middle name” field it could not be re-enabled.
3. We have eliminated a highlighting of keywords in Search results in those fields where search was not really performed.
4. All PHP-known file coding options were added to import function.
5. When customizing visible columns you can now add “Login name”.
6. Change password function is now available for all users from their personal settings panel which opens by clicking on user name in the right top corner of screen.
7. Full name display format is now customizable: “First Middle Last” or “Last First Middle”
8. Export from contact lists added.
9. Multiple minor bugs and defects were also fixed.

Version 287

Version 286

Version 285

Version 284

Version 283

1. We have found that during the latest update of "WebAsyst Photos" application some links and widgets of "Files" application were updated incorrectly.
   This update fixes incorrectly updated links and widgets.
2. Minor bugs in WebAsyst Photos on Internet Explorer 7 were fixed (bulk photo uploader, few minor adjustments).

Version 282

Version 281

1. Visually enhanced payment and shipping modules by allowing to add their respective logos which makes checkout process visually more accurate for your clients. Each payment and shipping method now has a Logo field where its URL can be posted. You can use free icons for shipping and payment type which we posted earlier in our blog:
   http://blog.webasyst.net/payment-type-icons/
   http://blog.webasyst.net/shipping-type-icons/
2. Added "Shipping summary" form which includes order details and customers location according to Google Maps service. Very useful for local courier deliveries.
3. Modified Tag cloud code. It works faster now and search of the tag terms is performed only in actual tags assigned instead of product name and description as before.
4. Minor improvements:
   — Shrink large product image option in the Settings → Products. It allows to automatically downsize original images to the size set here, instead of keeping them as is.
   — RSS feed of the product reviews now includes the product name and its page link.
   — Fixed site maps URL issues when original one ending with “?app=SC” resulted in errors with some submission services.
   — Predefined order statuses (Cancelled, Pending etc.) now can be translated using standard language tools of the administrative back end.
   — Fixed a number of minor errors reported by users since the last update.

1. Added more error processing code for rare server configurations, resulting in greater stability and less "blank page situations" with unclear causes.
2. Minor interface improvements.

Version 280

1. Inbox folder. Now you can use WebAsyst Mail to receive messages. In the Inbox folder you can add mail boxes of two types: internal – based on your WebAsyst account domain name (e.g. alex@youraccount.webasyst.net), and external – linked to an email address residing at a remote mail server. It allows you to gather in your single WebAsyst account all messages which you receive in your boxes that may reside on different mail systems; e.g. @aol.com, @gmail.com, @yourcompany.com. It allows you to access all your correspondence from the same place. At the same time you may continue using proprietary web clients of these mail systems, as well as desktop mail programs like Thunderbird or Microsoft Outlook.
   NOTE: To see Inbox folder in an existing WebAsyst account, you must specify proper user access rights to your Inbox folder. To do so, navigate to user access rights page and enable “Can access Inbox” option in the Mail service section.
2. Compose and send message functions have been fully redesigned. Previous version had been designed primarily for bulk message sending and consisted of several steps. Our new compose message form features a convenient recipients selector, enhanced message editor, and fast one-click Send button. Sending function has been significantly improved, and now works stably and quickly both for immediate and scheduled sending, no matter how many recipients you have added to your message.
   NOTE: Recipient addresses, specified in “To” and “Copy” fields will be visible for all recipients of your message. If you want recipients to see only their own addresses, you must use “Lists” option. Create contact list in WebAsyst Contacts and then send your message to this list from WebAsyst Mail.
3. Drafts, Pending, Sent and Templates. These are new private folders which appear in your navigation panel. These folders are available only for the current user. Every new message, which has not yet been sent, appears in “Drafts”. Once sent, this messages moves to “Sent” folder, and etc. From these private folders you can move messages to any shared folder in “Available folders” section.

In addition to the major changes described above, we have significantly redesigned, enhanced and accelerated Mail interface, using AJAX. On the compose and view message pages we have removed all unnecessary elements and devoted as much space as possible to the message content. We have added new functions to reply and forward messages. Template selector now shows a thumbnails gallery to make choosing a template easier.

Version 279

1. Support for time zones (storefront time zone is configured in your store back-end settings screen, server time zone — in WebAsyst Installer settings).
2. New screen “Tools — Sitemaps” which allows creating XML Sitemaps for your storefront. Sitemaps file is an XML file that lists URLs of your website and allows search engines to crawl your site more intelligently.
   After you install this software update, you should manually activate “Sitemaps” screen. To do this, go to WebAsyst Users application and grant your WebAsyst user access rights to the new “Sitemaps” screen (you may allow other users to access Sitemaps as well).
3. New screen “Tools — Print forms” which allows configuring various order forms that you can print directly from your order info page. Some of the forms are available for customer in “My account” tab in storefront.
   After you install this software update, you should manually activate “Print forms” screen. To do this, go to WebAsyst Users application and grant your WebAsyst user access rights to the new “Print forms” screen (you may allow other users to access print forms configuration screen as well).
   Currently there is only one order form — invoice. We are working on adding new order forms such as shipping labels for UPS, FedEx and other supported shipping carriers. We appreciate your feedback regarding order forms; please tell us which print forms would you like to have in your online store (email us or post in our forum). We are open to your suggestions.
4. SEO, improved page layouts, JavaScript optimization.
5. WYSIWYG-editor: new features, ability to add custom JavaScript code, widgets and iframes directly to your texts.
6. 5 new skin templates: Lucid, Aqua, Sale, Tableware, Flowers.
7. Bulk image upload in “Design — Image Uploader” screen.
8. A lot of tiny features and improvements:
   — product search in back-end,
   — settings option for enabling/disabling product code (SKU) display in storefront,
   — the ability to define text direction for a certain language (left-to-right, right-to-left),
   — improved product import from CSV files,
   — order’s “Print version” now includes all customer data including custom registration form fields (e.g. phone number),
   — product duplicating feature,
   — now your customers have the ability to enter how many items to add into shopping cart when ordering something in your storefront (to enable this feature, go to built-in design editor’s “Product info” tab, double-click “Add to cart” element and enable corresponding settings option),
   — in the back-end “Settings” — “Catalog” tab there is a new option that allows you to define the quality of product thumbnail images which are created automatically when you upload product images.


9. Improved stability and security, slightly increased performance, code optimization.


10. Many bug fixes and insignificant improvements:
    — bug fixes in product image uploading,
    — homepage category sorting issue,
    — proper display of special offer products on storefront homepage (products with long names will now be displayed properly; this feature requires your action to be enabled: go to “Design editor”, double-click you special offers block that is displayed not as expected and enter a right value for height of the product image+name block in pixels),
    — update of some payment modules according to the latest integration documentation changes (Paypal Payflow Link, HSBC, Paymentech),
    — and more.
11. PHP software users: in WebAsyst Installer settings you may now configure whether to display “Powered by WebAsyst” or not.

Version 278

1. Location and format of user preferences storage has been changed. Before we used WBSUSER table and stored all these data in U_SETTINGS fieldsin XML format. Now we have created a separate table USER_SETTINGS where we keep user preferences in a simple format: parameter – value.
2. FTP folder function has been restored in the Files service.
3. In Localization section of your WebAsyst Installer we have added interface strings for the new version of Files application. For the entire installation we have added German interface strings.

NOTE: If you maintain your own translation in language with GEM identifier, please make a backup copy of your localization files before this upgrade. All strings for GEM language will be replaced after this upgrade.

Version 277

Version 276

1. Works several times faster
   

   The latest version of Files utilizes a new WebAsyst kernel. With this new kernel all data (folders tree, file lists, files themselves) are transferred from the server's side much faster than in the old version of Files. On the client's side, almost all user actions in the main screen of the service are implemented using javascript and AJAX without page reloading.

2. New user interface
   

   In the new user interface we repositioned all control elements and important information in the most suitable and prominent places. Menus which contain access to actions with files and folders are now residing “close” to the objects to which these actions are related. Menus themselves became “live”; i.e., they immediately display a result on user's click, or a prompt to enter additional information if necessary.

3. Quick links to files or folders
   

   Only one click is now required to get a link to any file or entire folder. Address (URL) of this link is immediately available on the screen and is ready for emailing or publishing in blog. Previously created links are as easy to remove if access to these files must be revoked.

Version 275

Version 274

1. Using an iframes technique and HTML and javascript code optimization, we enabled the system to work faster – main menu is not reloaded when switching between services or navigating inside a service.
2. You can now choose one of four positions for the main menu: Top, Left, Bottom, and Right (before you had only Left and Bottom). For every position user can select a convenient menu view: Icons and Names, Icons only, or Names only. This flexible tuning allows you to set a layout which is most suitable for your current screen resolution. Selected view will be remembered on a local computer in cookies. To manage these personal settings, simply click your name in the top line of your WebAsyst window.
3. We changed the bright background colors in the service heading and toolbar. These elements are now in a light, white-gray palette that allows users to concentrate on the main service content. Color customizing is now possible only for top panel.
4. “Control Panel” screen has been re-named “Account”, and is now accessible from the top line, next to the current user name. Using “Account” screen you can now customize color scheme for entire account and select account name and logo appearance options.

Version 273

1. Design themes got better — we fixed many visual design defects. During WebAsyst scripts update your design changes will not be affected, and your storefront look & feel will remain unchanged. Only original design theme files will be rewritten (located in published/SC/html/scripts/repo_themes/). This means if you want to update to the latest design theme version, you will have to reset to default all your design modifications.
2. Fixed few bugs in the product picture upload and rearrangement form.

Version 272

1. New view added to the issue list – « group issues by projects». This allows you to display issues linked with different projects in the same list. The feature is useful for those who work on several projects at a time and wish to see all their issues.
2. Now you can add issues not linked to any project.
3. Added “Add Comment” feature. All comments are linked to issues and accessible in the issue’s history.
4. Add, edit, and forward issue functions have been enhanced and work much faster – they do not require reloading of the issue list anymore.
5. «Issues» tab has been added to the WebAsyst Projects service. This makes it easy to switch to issues related to a project without leaving Projects service.
6. Project manager can now manage assignments directly from the Add Issue form. It is convenient when you want to assign a new employee not previously assigned to this project – it is not necessary to switch to a separate form to set assignments.
7. View «Table» has been eliminated. Now there is one view for the issue list, but with some customization options. Table view is incompatible with our further interface enhancements.
8. Some interface elements have been changed:
   • Removed buttons «Add Issue» and «Customize Workflow», which were located on the panels with task description in the issue list. Now there is one big button «Add Issue» at the top of the issue list. To customize workflow use «Workflow…» button in the toolbar
   • Eliminated paging of the issue list. Instead we show only first 30 issues that satisfy a selected filter, and then «Show more…» button if all issues do not appear
   • Removed capability to hide/show issues for tasks and displaying of «empty» tasks which do not have linked issues

Version 271

1. New templates that were previously available only in Shop-Script PREMIUM — Glamour, Sci, Computer Store — were now added to WebAsyst Shop-Script. Now WebAsyst Shop-Script offers 13 built-in design templates.
2. Export orders to a CSV file (Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc).
3. Notify customers upon order actions. When order status is changed, administrator can easily send notification to customer on this action with the ability to add optional comment. This is especially useful when shipping products and sending tracking number to customer.
4. Dedicated order tracking page in storefront allowing customer to see order status and processing history at anytime. Previously it was available only for registered customers in My Account section. Now every customer has this opportunity. To enable this feature in your WebAsyst Shop-Script, go to design editor, select your design theme, and double-click storefront main navigation component (which represents links to Home, My account, Feedback and other screens) — enable Order status option and resave your template.
5. RSS feed for storefront news, certain product reviews and all product reviews.
6. The ability to move several products to another category at a time.
7. Editable product page title tag.
8. PayPal Website Payments Standard — added test/live mode toggle.
9. New credit card processing module — Chronopay Gateway.
10. User-friendly URLs for information pages.
11. New Add to cart counter allows viewing which products are mostly added to the shopping cart by storefront visitors.
12. The ability to arrange (sort) product images.
13. More customization options for storefront homepage unfolded category list.

1. Source code optimization — reduced number of SQL-queries in storefront operation.
2. Added new CURL proxy connection settings in WebAsyst Installer — this is required for using some of payment and shipping modules on godaddy.com hosting provider.
3. More stable installation procedure — added support for various server configurations.
4. Few backend interface new features.
5. Fixed minor bugs in advanced product search in storefront.
6. WorldPay module bug fixed.

Version 269

Version 268