MySource Matrix Developer

MySource Matrix Developer Newsletter Issue 30
Friday 1st July 2005

covers versions 3.4.3 stable, 3.5.0 beta, 3.7.0 development

News

Release Candidate On Monday

A new release candidate of MySource Matrix will be released on Monday. Version 3.6.0 RC1 will mark the end of the new stable feature set and no new features will be added to the 3.6.x branch from this point onward. This will allow us to move steadily toward a new stable release in either August or September, pending beta testing and bug fixing.

A new stable release, 3.4.4, will also be released on Monday. Both new versions of MySource Matrix will be released as core only downloads on the MySource Matrix web site for evaluation.

Link Tree Problems Fixed

An issue was previously identified with the MySource Matrix link tree and the collating order of the installed PostgreSQL database. If the default collating order of "C" has been changed, the link tree will fail due to sorting inconsistencies. To put it simply, different installs of PostgreSQL (possibly for different languages) will sort characters differently and cause problems with the assumed sorting within MySource Matrix.

A fix has been committed to both 3.5.0 beta and 3.7.0 development that allows MySource Matrix to determine the correct sort order to use. Step 2 of the install now infers from the collating order what the correct treeid order is. In order to do this it adds all link tree characters to a temporary table and then reads them back in sorted order. This sorted order is then cached in [SYSTEM ROOT]/data/private/db/treeid_order.inc.

If moving a MySource 3.5.x installation to a database with a different collating order, or when upgrading a system to a version that uses this caching (beyond 24th June), you will need to run:

php install/step_02.php .

to create this file (errors will appear if it isn't there), followed by

php install/recreate_link_tree.php . to ensure that the link tree is in the correct order. You should not have to run a Step 3 reconfigure if you are not changing anything else.

New Snoopy Test

A new Snoopy test has been added that will check to see if you are using the reference operator ('&') when assigning a newly created object to a variable or when a class method is returning an object. Just to outline:

1) Any function which returns an object MUST have it's function name prepended by an ampersand function &foo() { return new Bar(); }

2) When assigning a new object to a variable, you must also use an ampersand $foo =& new Bar();

The reason for this new test is because first and foremost it's good coding practice, but also for the cases where classes refer to themselves in their constructor. This was causing problems with the HIPO_Backend_Outputter where $this referred to a copy of the object in the constructor and so it was not able to register itself for events. More information can be found at http://au3.php.net/manual/en/language.oop.newref.php.

New Features

WYSIWYG Table Editor Improved

Added to: 3.4.3 stable, 3.5.0 beta, 3.7.0 development

The WYSIWYG table editor now has a number of new (widely requested) ways to edit HTML tables. While some are new pieces of functionality, the changes have been back-ported to the current stable branch to fix a number of bugs in the table editor that are stopping users from editing content.

The new table editing functionality allows for: - the selection of row, cell, and column properties for modification (previously only row and cell were available) - there are options for the entire table such as border (both HTML and css), colour, caption and other functionality that was present in previous versions - each of the selectors now has their own panel that has the facility to edit the colour, size and border of the selected container, as well as the ability to add and delete elements - the table editor is now easier to use as it implements guideline borders for tables which would otherwise seem invisible

Access History Design Area Improved

Added to: 3.7.0 development

The new access history design area has a couple of new features. Firstly, you are now able to print the value of a query string variable in the access history list. This is useful, for example, when listing previously accessed search pages. You are able to print the value of a search field, allowing the user to differentiate between the searches they have performed.

The design area also allows the customisation of an exclude list, allowing you to exclude some assets from the access history list even if they would have normally been included.

Rolling Calendar Page

Added to: 3.7.0 development

A new page asset has been added to the calendar package. The rolling calendar page is a calendar page that supports listing formats only (no tabular calendar layouts) and can be configured to show events that occur today, x days before today, and y days after today. It uses a page contents bodycopy, single event format bodycopy and recurring event bodycopy in the style of asset listing (although its code is self-contained).

Restricted Period Calendar Page

Added to: 3.7.0 development

A new page asset has been added to the calendar page. The restricted period calendar page extends the new rolling calendar page but it will only ever show dates within the period you specify in the backend. You specify how many days to show per page and if today is within the period it shows that number of days starting from today. If today is before or after the period specified the frontend shows the first or last x days of the period. Navigation links to show the next or last x days are available as keywords.

Planned Development

Listing Engine Form Redirect

To be added to : 3.7.0
Estimated start date: 4th July 2005
Estimated end date : 8th July 2005

Listing engine assets will have the ability to specify where they would like their listing form submitted. By default, they will submit back to themselves, but for asset listings and their soon to be developed selections, submitting to another assets (such as an ecommerce form) can be beneficial. Essentially, the asset listing can be used to create a selection of assets that can then be submitted to another asset for processing.

Listing Engine Selections

To be added to : 3.7.0
Estimated start date: already in development
Estimated end date : 8th July 2005

New Search Indexing And Weightings

To be added to : 3.7.0
Estimated start date: already in development
Estimated end date : 6th July 2005

Upgrading

3.5.0 Beta

Run step_02.php: yes
Run step_03.php: no
Run compile_locale.php: no

Additional queries: No additional queries are required for upgrades.

Additional comments: If you are having problems with the link tree run "php install/recreate_link_tree.php ."

3.7.0 Development

Run step_02.php: yes
Run step_03.php: yes
Run compile_locale.php: yes

Additional queries: No additional queries are required for upgrades.

Additional comments: If you are having problems with the link tree run "php install/recreate_link_tree.php ."

New Bugs Added To Bug Tracker

Notes:

Bug #725 (Mirco version number and Last updated date not updating upon commit) was submitted by bendy on the 23rd of June but was marked as not being a bug as it could not be reproduced in any current version of MySource Matrix.

Bug #732 (Lexicon missing files) was submitted by Marcus on the 24th of June but was marked as not being a bug after it was found that the problem was in an upgrade patch and that the files are indeed there in the lexicon package.

Bug #740 (Preview doesn't work if web path is changed) was submitted by KateN but will not be fixed. The bug reports an error in the current stable asset map where changing web paths does not update the preview option in the asset map. The preview system has been changed in 3.6 and will not be back-ported to 3.4. A work-around for this bug has been posted on the report and should be used until 3.6.0 stable is released.

New Feature Requests Added To Bug Tracker

Bugs Fixed In The Bug Tracker

View Comments