MySource Matrix Developer

MySource Matrix Developer Newsletter Issue 108
Friday 5th January 2006

covers versions 3.8.9 stable, 3.10.4 stable, 3.12.0 RC1, 3.13.0 development

News

New Releases on Monday

Three new versions of MySource Matrix will be released next Monday, 8th January 2007.

Version 3.8.10 of MySource Matrix will be the final regular release of the 3.8.x branch, currently containing 8 bug fixes. Version 3.10.5 is a regular maintenance release for the 3.10.x stable branch, currently providing more than 20 bug fixes as well as a couple of minor feature additions.

Finally, Monday sees the long-awaited milestone of the first stable release on the new 3.12.x branch, contains almost 80 new features compared to 3.10.x versions. The 3.12.0 stable release will provide more than 30 bug fixes compared to 3.12.0 RC1, plus a number of feature additions and changes.

Important Information About RSS Feed

The RSS Feed asset has been the subject of a bug fix (#1983) that changes the functionality of date keywords within that asset. Previously, the date keywords (eg. "%asset_published_date%") would force the return value to follow RFC2822 format (eg. "Fri,  5 Jan 2006 16:12:50 +1100") for RSS 1.0/2.0 feeds, or ISO8601 format ("2006-01-05T05:12:50Z") for ATOM. This broke the keywords for returning the date in ISO8601 and iCal date formats in other parts of the asset.

The behaviour has been changed to be identical to other formats, so the keywords will no longer force RFC2822 format. To get the published date in RFC2822 format (for use in RSS 1.0/2.0 format feeds), for instance, the keyword "%asset_published_date_rfc2822%" should be used instead. For ATOM feeds, use "%asset_published_date_iso8601%" to return the date in ISO8601 format.

New Features

Mark Asset for Automatic Safe-Trashing

Added to: 3.13.0 development

This development allows users who cannot trash an asset due to failing Safe Trash conditions to mark the asset (within the HIPO where the move to trash is attempted) to be trashed as soon as the conditions are met. This is done by setting a new Cron Job that checks on each Cron Manager run that the Safe Trash conditions are met (or Safe Trash has been since turned off).

A new section of the Details screen, only shown if the asset has been marked for safe-trashing, informs users of whether the asset will be deleted on the next run, or which Safe Trash conditions are still to be met.

Two administrative features have also be added: a Safe Trash Report, which lists all assets that are currently marked for safe-trashing; and a Safe Trash Escalation Cron Job. This Cron Job runs on a daily basis at midnight by default, and message administrators of assets who are causing the Safe Trash conditions to be failed - of the asset itself if it is due to status, or of assets linked to the marked asset if it is due to there being TYPE_3 or NOTICE links made to the marked asset.

Whole-of-Custom Form Error Message

Added to: 3.13.0 development

The Custom Form asset now has a customisable error message which displays when any of the fields raises a submission error. The message is customisable from the Contents screen of the Custom Form and is accessible through the %form_errors_message% keyword.

Planned Development

No new generic features are currently scheduled for development.

Upgrading

3.13.0 Development

Additional queries: No additional queries are required for upgrades.

Additional comments: 

Review any RSS Feed assets and adjust any date-related keywords in accordance with the above news item.

3.12.0 Stable

Additional queries: No additional queries are required for upgrades.

Additional comments: 

Review any RSS Feed assets and adjust any date-related keywords in accordance with the above news item.

3.10.5 Stable

Additional queries: No additional queries are required for upgrades.

Additional comments: 

Review any RSS Feed assets and adjust any date-related keywords in accordance with the above news item.

New Bugs Added To Bug Tracker

Notes:

Bug #1915 ("Use default" should be disabled if there isn't a default) was a feature request submitted by Avi Miller on December 6th but was marked as Will Not Fix. The request suggested that the Use Default box on a metadata field should not be displayed if no default value has been entered (ie. the default is a blank). However there is no way of determining whether an empty value entered into the field is meant to be a "default" value, or an empty value that should remain that way if the default changes.

Bug #1918 (Metadata date field always has a default value) was reported by Avi Miller but was marked as not being a bug. This bug related to the inability to use the "Show on Frontend: Only If Filled" option effectively on a Date field. It was found that if all date parts are set to allow null ("--") values, then this option works because it is possible to have a null default value ("---------- --:--:--"); however if null values are not allowed for all date parts, then this is not possible.

Bug #1967 (Nested content asset contents shown on Edit Contents screen) was reported by Chris Horikx but was marked as Can Not Replicate. The system which the bug was reported in had been incorrectly upgraded (a 3.12.x system using the packages directory from 3.10.1) and this could not be replicated in another system.

Bug #1975 (Data Source Graph - Line Colour for specific plot is not working) was reported by Deborah Sherwood but was marked as Will Not Fix. This related to the line colour options in the Stacked Graph section of the asset's backend not having any effect. This was traced to a limitation of the PEAR Image_Graph library that is used by Data Source Graph, which does not support multiple line colours on a single graph. The option for separate line colours has been removed from affected versions.

Bug #1984 (Feature request - turn on/off messaging service) was submitted by tehkella but was marked as not being a bug. The bug report requested a method of suppressing internal messages being sent to user inboxes within Matrix, but still sending emails to users (for heavy users of workflow, for instance). This can already be done in the Messaging Service Configuration screen by adding the appropriate message types to the Log to Database Blacklist, while making sure those types are on the Log to Email Whitelist.

New Feature Requests Added To Bug Tracker

Bugs Fixed In The Bug Tracker

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