MySource Matrix Developer

MySource Matrix Developer Newsletter Issue 10
Friday 11th February 2005

covers versions 3.2.2 stable, 3.4.0 RC1, 3.5.0 development

News

MySource Matrix Release Candidate

MySource Matrix versions 3.4.0 RC1 and 3.2.2 have been released and are available for download on the MySource Matrix web site. If all goes well, the next release will be version 3.4.0 stable on the 7th March.

New Features

Global Web Folders

Added to: 3.4.0 RC1, 3.5.0 development

Design linking changes introduced to both beta and development versions have meant that designs are now NOTICE linked to assets rather than TYPE_3 linked. This has meant that designs need to be placed inside a site to ensure all design files have a URL. It was recommend that users create a new site for designs and place all site designs in there.

To make this process easier, there is a now a Design Folder asset that can be used to store site designs. The Design Folder sets a default URL when created, so any designs linked under it will be web accessible by default. URLs for the Design Folder can also be modified as required, like a normal site asset.

In addition, two other web folders have been added. There is a User Folder in which to store users and user groups, and a Media Folder in which to store files and images. Like the Design Folder, all assets linked under these two folders will be web accessible by default.

Sending Internal Messages

Added to: 3.5.0 development

To read internal messages, users navigate to their inbox asset. They can view their inbox, delete messages to their trash, and then purge trashed messages. Now they can also send internal messages to other users from their inbox. They can also view their sent messages.

Listing Engine

Added to: 3.5.0 development

A fairly major change has been made to the Asset Listing and Search Page assets to allow them to share functionality. Recently, the Asset Listing has had several new features added that would be nice to also have in the Search Page. The Search Page has now been modified to share functionality with the Asset Listing through a new Listing Engine asset. This asset is abstract and so is never actually created in a MySource Matrix system.

What this means is that the Search Page now works more like an Asset Listing. Search results of different types can have different formats, different positions in the results can have different formats, assets can be added to the result list, search results can be listed in columns, as well as other previously Asset Listing specific functionality.

The major change to consider is that the Result Element bodycopy that was used to define the format of each search result is now stored in the Type Formats folder as the Default Format bodycopy.

Attribute Sorting In Lists

Added to: 3.5.0 development

All listing assets (Asset Listing, What's New, Search Page etc) now have the ability to sort their lists by the value of an asset attribute. A sorting attribute can be set for each type of asset being listed so comparisons can be made between different asset types.

Note that attribute sorting is significantly slower than the other sorting options and should only be used when required and with caching enabled.

Users Get Web Paths

Added to: 3.4.0 RC1, 3.5.0 development

When created, User assets now have a default web path set so the asset is web accessible. This allows the details of the user account to be edited in the simple editing interface without the use of the Account Manager. This means that user metadata etc can be edited using layouts like other assets.

Raw HTML Keyword Replacements

Added to: 3.5.0 development

The WYSIWYG editor has a plugin allowing you to select from a list of available keywords and have the keyword inserted for you. When editing with Raw HTML content types, this feature is now available as well. When keywords are available, a drop down list is presented to help you add keywords to your content.

Planned Development

Asset Map Re-development

To be added to : 3.5.0 development
Estimated start date: already in development
Estimated end date : 17th Feb 2005

The Asset Map is currently being re-developed to make it easier to use on large systems. When complete, it will contain two different navigation views that can be used - the tree view and a flat view. Like Windows Explorer, both views can be used simultaneously.

It will also contain two separate asset trees, displayed as tabs, that can be used to keep two views of a system available at once. The trees can be undocked, allowing you to have both trees visible at once. Drag and drop moving/linking/cloning will be support between both trees as well.

This is just the first stage in a complete re-development of the Asset Map, with more features to be added over the coming months.

Triggers

To be added to : 3.5.0 development
Estimated start date: already in development
Estimated end date : 15th Feb 2005

A triggering system is currently in development that will allow users to create a series of business rules that the system executes when certain actions are performed. For example, you can configure a trigger in the system so that when Image assets are created under your site, they are automatically resized to 3 size variations, and added to the Media Folder.

Multiple Asset Listing Views

To be added to : 3.5.0 development
Estimated start date: 14th Feb 2005
Estimated end date : 18th Feb 2005

Currently, the Asset Listing allows you to list assets in a single format format. If you want the same assets listed in a different format, you need to create another asset listing with the same settings and change the bodycopies.

This new feature will allow a single asset listing page to have multiple views of the list. For example, you could use it to create an image gallery where you start by viewing 10 thumbnails per page, but clicking of a thumbnail switches to one image large image per page with the clicked image selected. You would create one view for the 10 per page listing, and one for the 1 per page listing. You would then link them using new keywords allowing you to switch views.

Domain Crossing Sessions

To be added to : 3.5.0 development
Estimated start date: 14th Feb 2005
Estimated end date : 18th Feb 2005

By default, sessions are only valid for a single domain. Some MySource Matrix systems have several sites with different domains, but users must log into each domain to be authenticated because their session cookie does not follow them across domains even if they are all in a single MySource Matrix system.

For example, consider a MySource Matrix system that has a site with URL www.example.com and a site with URL www.anotherexample.com. If these sites shared a restricted page, a user could go to www.example.com/restricted and log in to view the contents. If they then went to www.anotherexample.com/restricted, they would have to log in again because even though the two sites are in the same MySource Matrix system, the browser will not pass sessions across domains.

This new functionality will allow all domains hosted inside a single MySource Matrix system to share a session so the user does not have to log in multiple times.

Group Ip Restrictions

To be added to : 3.5.0 development
Estimated start date: 21st Feb 2005
Estimated end date : 23rd Feb 2005

As mentioned in a previous newsletter, a new feature is currently planned that will allow you to restrict group membership based on an IP range, or other show_if style condition. You will be able to use the public user asset with this new feature to gain greater control over permissions. For example, you could grant all site visitors access to a specific part of your site if they come from a defined IP address or range.

New Bugs Added To Bug Tracker

New Feature Requests Added To Bug Tracker

Bugs Fixed In The Bug Tracker

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