MySource Matrix Developer

MySource Matrix Developer Newsletter Issue 40
Friday 9th September 2005

covers versions 3.4.6 stable, 3.6.0 stable, 3.7.0 development

News

3.6.0 Stable Released

A new stable version of MySource Matrix was released on Monday. Version 3.6.0 is available from the web site and is the first stable release to include support for the Oracle database.

3.6.0 requires version 7.4 of PostgreSQL (7.3 was required for earlier versions) and the upgrade procedure from 3.4.x to 3.6.0 has yet to be finalised, so version 3.4.6 was also released on Monday so existing 3.4.x users can benefit from the bug fixes made during the last month.

While the upgrade issues remain, the 3.4.x branch will continue to have stable releases each month for bug fixes.

New Features

Asset Map Tabs Improved

Added to: 3.6.0 stable, 3.7.0 development

The asset maps tabs were previously similar shades of purple, which made it hard to determine the active tab. The tabs are now grey and fit in with the menu bar of the asset map to clearly show the active tab.

This change was made before the release of 3.6.0 and so is part of the download and is on the 3.6.0 tag.

Option To Set Web Path Separator

Added to: 3.7.0 development

When web paths are added to assets, spaces in the name of the asset are replaced by "_" characters. There has been some discussion that using a "-" character would make the URLs easier to read and more search engine friendly. A new config option has been added to the system configuration screen that allows the root user to specify the character they want to use for the web path separator. The default value is still "_".

New Access Key For HIPO Jobs

Added to: 3.7.0 development

A HIPO job will sometimes require the user to press the "next" button to continue with the job. A new access key has been added to the button so the user can select "next" by pressing ALT+N.

Default Preview URL Based On Root URLs

Added to: 3.7.0 development

Previously, the drop-down for all the URLs currently applied to an asset on the asset's preview screen was sorted alphabetically.

During the implementation process (especially on larger systems) it saves a lot of time to apply all the required URLs to the system at the beginning of the project. This often means applying URL's that are not currently pointing to the MySource Matrix system.

The result of this is that the preview screen and the drop-down of URLs loads the first alphabetical URL which often is not pointing to the MySource Matrix system. You then have to select a working URL and click "preview" each time.

Now, the URLs in the drop-down are sorted based on the order of the system root URLs. During implementation, ensure that the first system root URLs are the ones that are currently pointing to the MySource Matrix system and that the URLs that do not currently work are at the bottom.

A-Z Listing Non-Alpha Characters Option

Added to: 3.7.0 development

Previously, the A-Z setting of the asset listing only listed assets that started with the letters A-Z. It would exclude assets that started with numbers or other characters. A new page has been added to the frontend of A-Z lists that will list assets that start with non-alpha characters, such as numbers. The default name of this new page is "[Other]" but this can be changed to whatever text is required on the details screen of the asset listing.

Note that this new frontend screen will only appear if there are assets being listed with names starting with non-alpha characters.

This feature is also available in the Whats New page template.

Friendly Name & Desc For Metadata Fields

Added to: 3.7.0 development

Metadata fields now have a friendly name and description that can be entered by the maintainers of metadata schemas. The friendly name, if entered, will be displayed to editors instead of the internal name of the field. For example, "Page Title" instead of "dc.title".

A description of the field will also be displayed if it has been entered. This description can be used to provide help to content editors and describe what content they should enter into the metadata fields.

Planned Development

Forced Workflow Messages

To be added to : 3.7.0 development
Estimated start date: already in development
Estimated end date : 12th September 2005

Currently, approvers can enter a workflow message when approving or rejecting the workflow for an asset. However, this is optional and there is no way to enforce it. A new option is being added that allows the maintainer of a workflow schema to specify that some workflow step conditions require a workflow message to be entered.

For example, step 1 of the workflow may include an administrator (for escalation) and a group of legal experts. One of the legal experts must approve the content, or the administrator. You will be able to specify that a legal expert must enter a workflow message for this step but that the administrator does not have to.

Upgrading

3.6.0

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

Additional queries: No additional queries are required for upgrades.

Additional comments: No additional upgrade steps are required.

3.7.0 Development

Run step_02.php: no
Run step_03.php: yes
Run compile_locale.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 #761 (Cloned assets slow to show in asset map) was submitted by Richard on the 7th of July but was marked as Can Not Replicate after the bug could not be reproduced in either of the current beta or dev systems.

Bug #790 (Web paths prefixed with "act" cause errors in design) was submitted by Mark White on the 15th of July but was marked as Can Not Replicate after the bug could not be reproduced in a new system or the client's system.

Bug #863 (500 error header not sent when max db connections exceeded) was submitted by Marcus on the 18th of August but was marked as Will Not Fix because the error can be fixed by upgrading PEAR:DB to a newer version.

Bug #900 (Abbreviation (<abbr>) removed by IE6) was submitted by wombat but was marked as Will Not Fix because the problem is with Internet Explorer. Apparently, the new version of IE (version 7, currently in beta) has support for ABBR tags and will fix this problem.

New Feature Requests Added To Bug Tracker

Bugs Fixed In The Bug Tracker

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