MySource Matrix Developer

MySource Matrix Developer Newsletter Issue 15
Friday 18th March 2005

covers versions 3.4.0 stable, 3.5.0 development

News

Design Customisations Will Now Purge

Avi has reported that it seems as though Design Customisation assets can now be trashed and purged from the trash. Previously, this caused a lot of problems and never worked. Avi speculates that the design linking changes made to 3.4.0 may have stopped the previous errors, but nobody really has any idea why this is suddenly working.

It is not yet positively confirmed that this bug has been fixed, so can people please report any successes/failures for trashing and purging design customisations to myself or Avi.

Outbound RSS Feeds

With the additional of the new global print var to allow the content type of a page to be set, you can now create valid outbound RSS2 feeds using the Asset Listing or other Listing Engine style asset. It is recommended that the What's New asset be used so that the outbound feed is date limited. To create an RSS feed, follow the steps below.

First, create a design using the following parse file:

<MySource_PRINT id_name="__global__" var="content_type" content_type="text/xml" />
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
    <channel>
        <title>
            <MySource_PRINT id_name="__global__" var="asset_name" />
        </title>
        <link>
            <MySource_PRINT id_name="__global__" var="site_link" full_url="true" />
        </link>
        <description>MySource Matrix RSS Feed</description>
        <language>en-au</language>
        <generator>MySource Matrix v3.4.0</generator>    
        <MySource_area id_name="body" design_area="body" />
    </channel>
</rss>

Now create an Asset Listing with a Page Contents Bodycopy with both Raw HTML presentation and content type. Just drop the keyword in there with nothing else.

In the Default format bodycopy (or customised by asset type), set presentation and content type to Raw HTML and the following code:

<item>
<title>issue_15</title>  <link>http://delta.squiz.net/matrix/developer/newsletters/2005/mar/issue_15</link>
<description>
<![CDATA
[Name: issue_15<br />
URL: <a href="http://delta.squiz.net/matrix/developer/newsletters/2005/mar/issue_15">http://delta.squiz.net/matrix/developer/newsletters/2005/mar/issue_15</a><br />Submitted by: Root User ]]>
</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jan 2006 13:36:04 +1100</pubDate> </item>

New Features

New Design Global Print Var

Added to: 3.5.0 development

A new global print var, content_type, has been added to designs to allow you to set the content-type of the output to something like application/rss+xml (for example). Using this print var, you can create valid RSS feeds using the Asset Listing (or other Listing Engine style asset). The print var can be used as follows:

<MySource_PRINT id="__global__" var="content_type" content_type="text/xml" />

It needs to be placed at the top of the parse file to work properly as the content type must be set before any HTML output is sent to the browser.

MySource Matrix Tools

Added to: 3.5.0 development

MySource Matrix now has a new Tools section in the administration interface. Tools are assets that are installed in the system, but you cannot create them. Essentially, they are like helper scripts to provide system wide functionality. The new Tools screen can be accessed using the old Where Am I icon in the top right corner of the administration interface by any backend user.

Search Re-indexing is now performed using this new tool interface. To reindex assets, go to the Tools screen and select the Re-Indexing Tool.

Global Search And Replace Tool

Added to: 3.5.0 development

The Search package has a new global search and replace tools to allow you to locate and replace text in assets. Text can be found and replaced in metadata fields, attributes, and page contents. The search can also be limited to a specific root node, certain types of assets, and assets of specific statuses.

The global search and replace tool also allows you to preview the changes before making replacements, allowing you to have more control over a process that may change a large number of assets.

New Text File Asset

Added to: 3.5.0 development

A new type of File asset has been added to MySource Matrix - Text File. This is just like a regular File (and will accept any file extension) but allows you to use an edit screen and text area to edit its contents through the administration interface (similar to editing parse files for designs).

Trigger To Set Future Status

Added to: 3.5.0 development

A new trigger action has been added that can set a future status for an asset when an event is fired. You could use this trigger action to develop a rule where an asset goes live 2 weeks after being created.

Cron Job Running Time

Added to: 3.5.0 development

Cron jobs, such as setting a future status or a future lineage, now provide an easier interface for setting the run time. Instead of just selecting a date and time in the future, you can now select a period of time, such as 3 months. This makes it easier to set cron jobs based on business rules and is most useful when using the new future status trigger action.

Planned Development

Search Logging

To be added to : 3.5.0
Estimated start date: already in development
Estimated end date : 23rd Mar 2005

Oracle Support

To be added to : 3.5.0
Estimated start date: already in development
Estimated end date : 24th Mar 2005

Backend Translation

To be added to : 3.5.0
Estimated start date: already in development
Estimated end date : 31st Mar 2005

Upgrading

3.5.0 Development

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

Additional queries: No additional queries are required for upgrades.

Additional comments: No additional upgrade steps are required.

New Bugs Added To Bug Tracker

Notes:

Bug #535 (alternate colours of table rows for search results) was submitted as a feature request but was a duplicate of bug #307 (Asset listing should have a keyword for even/odd rows).

New Feature Requests Added To Bug Tracker

Bugs Fixed In The Bug Tracker

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