Running late…

Like all things in software development, things never go as planned. The next release of Connections was supposed to occur today because a critical fix for WordPress 3.3 is needed for Connections to be compatible, but I still have a decent list of things I’d really like to finish up for this release. The good news is , since WordPress isn’t ready yet either, this  gives me more time finish my todo list.

Now, the really good news;  I need beta testers. Even though the version is a small bump in the version number, the changes are very significant. So if you know how to backup tables in your WordPress install and you wish to beta test, let me know in the comments and I’ll get you hooked up. Oh, this is important, there are no critical bugs that I’m aware of. The most annoying bug is that pagination in the admin may not always work as expected.

For the curious here’s just a small list of changes:

• FEATURE: Search.
• FEATURE: Added a Dashboard page in the admin.
• FEATURE: Added a Today’s Birthdays admin dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: Added a Upcoming Birthdays admin dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: Added a Today’s Anniversaries admin dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: Added a Upcoming Anniversaries admin dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: Added a Recently Added dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: Added a Recently Modified admin dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: Added a Connections News admin dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: Added a Template Update News admin dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: Added a Pro Module New admin dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: Added a System Info / Configuration admin dashboard widget.
• FEATURE: New role capabilities that allow add and edit moderation.
• FEATURE: Added more actions/filters to hook into.
• FEATURE: Added hooks to allow templates o be configured via the shortcode so the template’s funcions.php file does not need edited.
• FEATURE: Collapsible and sortable addresses and ect., when adding or editing an address and ect.
• FEATURE: Added ICQ as a messenger type.
• FEATURE: Added Google+ to the social networks.
• BUG: The view_public capability was being removed when role capabilities were being reset.
• BUG: Fix many/most/all warnings and such reported when WP_DEBUG is TRUE.
• BUG: Remove the connections_view_entry_list role as it is no longer needed.
• BUG: Use gmmktime() instead of mktime() when working with the birthday and anniversary so dates are output showing the current date.
• BUG: Fixed a bug with applying the cn_list_before filter causing the template CSS to output twice.
• BUG: Fixed an issue with getAddressBlock() showing only the last input address.
• BUG: Removed the Screen Options tab from the Connections Manage page unless an action was being performed on an entry such as edit/copy.
• BUG: Fixed some minor bugs in the upgrade function.
• BUG: Fixed malformed vCard when Department was entered without and organization name.
• OTHER: Remove the meta Connections version from the head as it failed HTML5 validation. Added to the connections div as an HTML5 data attribute.
• OTHER: Disabled JavaScript compression on the Add/Edit Entry page. When enabled the RTE wouldn’t load to JS errors.
• OTHER: Update Roles and Capabilities page to use the metabox visual styles.
• OTHER: Updated the help page. Fixing typos and adding more info.
• OTHER: Update the settings page to match the WordPress setting page styles for better integration.
• OTHER: Update the categories page style to match the WordPress categories page styles for better integration.
• OTHER: Update the role page style to use the post metabox style for better integration.
• OTHER: All processes are now handled by a pocess method rather than hooking into the current page for better role capability support.
• OTHER: Remove the Donate link from the meta links on the Plugins page.
• OTHER: Added a entry meta table for future support for custom entry details.
• OTHER: Tweaked the header of the Manage / Copy / Edit screen.
• OTHER: Added a cache folder during activation for TimThumb.
• OTHER: Removed ‘Select’ from the address type select to force user selection.
• OTHER: Set the ‘Member’ template as a ‘family’ template type.
• OTHER: Set the ‘Single Entry Card’ template as a ‘individual’ template type.
• OTHER: Greatly improved support for using the shortcode multiple times on the same page.
• OTHER: Improved the pagination support on the Manage page. The limit is now user adjustable.
• OTHER: Completely revamped the db structure. Using the original table columns for addresses, ect., for an object to keep db queries to a minimum.
• OTHER: Added support for WP 3.3.
• OTHER: Use wp_editor when user is running WP 3.3+.
• OTHER: Moved the filters to be part of the entry retrieve query. Made possible by the new db structure.
• OTHER: Moved the order by option to be part of the entry retrieve query. Made possible by the new db structure.
• OTHER: Upgrade the class.php.upload class to .31
• OTHER: Added debug logging and display for image uploads.
• OTHER: Reworked just about every method in the cnOutput() class to remove all inline styles.
• OTHER: All styles have been moved to an external CSS file.
• OTHER: Completely restructured the Connections shortcode logic.
• OTHER: The output of the IM networks now conform to the hCard spec.
• OTHER: Added the missing contact first and last name template tag.
• OTHER: Enable shortcode use in the bio and notes fields.