phpFoX Konsort Version 1.6 Beta 4 Released!

Posted July 18, 2007
Version 1.6 Beta 4 has now been released.

Important Notice: Before you attempt to install or upgrade to v1.6 Beta 4, please note that this version is not supported nor is it stable to run on a large scale live environment.
Use this version only for testing or for future production purposes.

We also ask the community that if you have the time to test the beta version(s) please do so and report any issues you find to our issue tracker found here:
http://tracker.phpfox.com/index.php

================================================
:: Whats new with v1.6 Beta 4?
================================================

- Video module has been added. This new module introduces the following features:

  • - Support for users to upload videos direct from their computer or from sites like YouTube, MySpace, Google etc…
  • - Video conversion is done by FFMPEG, which will convert videos into the .flv format which will allow users to view videos in a Flash video player.
  • - Video conversion routine also creates a thumbnail image on the fly.
  • - Option to either allow videos direct on your site or have them approved before they show up in the main video section.
  • - Option to download streaming videos direct onto your server. (Note: YouTube support only for this feature at the moment)
  • - Option to edit the “Allowed” file extensions.
  • - Option to edit the color layout of the video player.
  • - Option to watermark the video player with your sites logo.
  • - Option to modify the time the software takes a snapshot of a video which in return creates the thumbnail for the video.
  • - “Latest Videos” AJAX box added into the sites index page.
  • - “AJAX BOX” displayed in the main index page of the video module which displays the Featured, Most Viewed, Most Discussed and Top Favorite videos.
  • - AJAX option to feature videos
  • - AJAX option to save videos to a users “Favorite” list.
  • - AJAX option to share videos with other users on the site.
  • - AJAX option to report videos to the site staff.
  • - Option for the staff to view all reported videos.
  • - Tag cloud feature connects with the Tag module
  • - AJAX comments. When a user submits a comment or would like to view comments on for example the 2nd or 3rd page they won’t have to refresh the entire page and load
  • the Flash video player once again.
  • - AJAX rating feature for videos.
  • - “Related” videos box is displayed when viewing a video.
  • - “Users Video” box is displayed when viewing a video or viewing a users profile.
  • - Video block added to users personal profile.
  • - Search bar found on all areas of the video module to give users an easy time to search for their favorite videos.
  • - Option for staff to edit video categories.

- “Language Manager” added into the admin cp. This new feature introduces a new language routine which now stores all language related data in the database, giving users
the ease to edit any phrase, drop down option or site content direct from the admin cp without having to either grant a file “write” permission or opening the PHP source code.
Full support added now for other languages that require different character sets or need the site to be displayed from right to left. There is also an option to download a language
package in case it needs to be backed up. Option to upload a new language package is also available for those that desire a multilingual site. During the construction of the language
routine we have gone over and fixed numerous grammatical/typo errors, which in total we covered over 2720 phrases. We will be rechecking the English language package once more to make
sure every fault is fixed. Since the release for the first beta we have had help from the community to create other language packages suck as Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian etc…
This Beta version will be the final Beta version released and we will be jumping on the RC (Release Candidate) version next, which will not have any more changes to the English
language package. This will allow all the translators the opportunity to finish. If you are interested in translating phpFoX Konsort please feel free to contact our Sales
team and they can setup a special deal for you.
Sales Content: http://support.phpfox.com/index.php?…artmentid =10
For those running the Konsort beta versions and have already translated their sites, need not worry as this version comes with an import tool that will import all translations
done to the 1.6 beta versions. It will also list all the new phrases that have been created for the Beta 4 release. With the implementation of this feature it will allow you to upgrade
your sites in the future without having to worry about a new version re-writing all the work done. With each upgrade if any new phrases are added you will simply be notified about the new
phrases being added. For those running multilingual sites can use the “Missing Phrases” tool, which will guide you on what phrases have been updated.

- The “User Group” manager, found in the admin cp has been rebuilt to give a more organized layout.

- AJAX Drag and Drop feature added to the “Top Friends” routine. This feature will in short allow your members to add friends to their “Top Friends” list by simply dragging their
profile image to a specified box.

- Admin cp is being re-organized and with this version you will be able to see the changes that are starting to take place. First thing that you might notice is we have gone back
to frames which is what we had in earlier versions. Reason for this is more options/menus will be added in the future and this will make it easier to navigate.
With the re-organization of settings and features from within the admin cp, we will also be adding numerous settings that can be modified direct from the admin cp.

- Rate and Battle links removed from the main menu links to make way for other features soon to be released. These links are now situated in the main Gallery module.

- Tag Cloud module rebuilt and also displays tags from the Video module.

- Option to add more then one “Featured Member” on the main index page has been added.

- All content areas now have a “Edit” link to make it easier for admins to find where they can edit site content.

================================================
:: Whats new with v1.6 Beta 1, 2 & 3?
================================================

- One of the “Most Wanted” feature is the email importer which will do the task of importing your contacts from one of the popular email gateways:

1. Yahoo
2. Gmail
3. Hotmail
4. AOL
5. Lycos
6. Rediff
7. Mail.com
8. Indiatimes
9. Outlook
10. Express
11. Thunderbird
12. ICQ
13. Katamail
14. Email.it

The following gateways have been fully tested and is included in the beta 2 release: Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, Lycos, Rediffmail and ICQmail.

- Point system can be fully turned off from the admin control panel.

- Mysql “Repair Table” added to admin control panel

- HTML issue(s) fixed where if adding HTML with long URL’s it would add a break which in return would destroy the functionality.

- Bad word filter fixed in various areas where it was left out in previous releases

- “New Blogs” added a HTML
which in return would cause issues with certain languages.

- Mailer routine updated to help solves various issues with the “Mass Email” routine.

- The invite service would try to call for a users image which was not needed so this function as removed.

- Full forum link added to all email links being sent out to a member.

- Error 404 page added.

- Fixed issues with the internal mail service where reports came in that certain users could not open their messages. These fixes however will not fix any old messages only
new messages being sent out.

- Fixed top users routine where the image was missing.

- Option added where admins can change the URL of the admin panel. This can be changed in the file: /include/settings/common.sett.php
The current “test” default URL will be “adminpanel” which is what we had in v1.1. So the new admin panel will be located at: http://www.yoursite.com/adminpanel/

- Language package system added. Currently we have installed both English and German. Please note that the German language package that was added is only
for testing purposes and is not to be deemed as the official German language pack. We used Babel (http://babelfish.altavista.com/) to create the German language pack
and we used it mainly to differentiate from the English language pack.

- Site Content in the admin panel has the option to modify templates from any language package that is available.

- Option added in admin cp to turn on/off the option of members to change the language they are viewing the site in.

- Full option added to where you can turn off the “point system”.

- Mysql queries improved and dropped total query count by half compared to v1.5.x.

- Feature Added: Issue #97 - Privacy Setting: Gives bad impression

- Added back the public and private events.

- Added new feature to where users upload songs and it will list a drop down of the album that the user currently has.

- CSS templates details are now cached to improve SQL and Server load.

- Sub-Menu in the my account area added to the core template to improve bringing down the total memory being used by the system

- Added new feature. Lightbox javascript package added to the gallery, profiles and users personal gallery. To learn more about Lightbox feel free to check:
http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/

- Bulletin system has now changed to how it used to function. Currently everyone will be able to view all bulletins listed in the “My Account” area and if for example User1 tries to view
a bulletin created by User2 and these 2 users are not friends then it will give a warning to User1 that they are not friends and if User1 wants to view the bulletin they will have to first
request to be friends. This “warning” page will have a link to User2’s profile and a link to request to be friends as well.

- Mysql backup routine added to the admin control panel. Feature uses the “exec” command so this must be allowed on a server for it to work. It will backup your entire database and then create
a tar.gz archive from which you can download from a secure FTP connection. We are looking into have a direct download feature via a browser but a database can get rather large and it is safer
downloading a file via a secure FTP or SSH connection.

- Ajax signup form added back which was like v1.1. This feature has only been tested thus far on Firefox 2 and Opera 9. Currently we have seen issues with Opera 9 so more testing will be needed
for this feature. Should be ready by the final Beta 2 release.

- Added a new feature. The ever so popular Tag Clouds. These will be located on the main index page for both a user that is logged in and not logged in. It will also be located on the Blog section.
Currently it only pulls out the Blog content but we plan on having it for all sections in the near future. Currently it works by pulling out all of your sites blogs and then picking up the most
popular/user words and caching the information. There is a feature on how often you would like this done. Having it live is not a good idea as the routine is rather strenuous on the server if you
have a very large blog database.

- Footer template removed and instead added direct into main core template.

- Core template for a users profile has been removed and there is only 1 core template file.

- Browser Compatibility removed from the bottom of each page. Making space for more useful links that is being added in the near future.

- RSS Feeds link page added to list RSS feeds for blogs, events and main forums. The link is located at the bottom of the site.

- New feature added to where the site admin can change the URL of a module such as blog for example. This feature was mainly added for the admin panel. Currently the admin panel location
would be “www.yoursite.com/admin/” but has been changed to “www.yoursite.com/adminpanel/” as there is a conflict with 1 hosting control panel and this should resolve that issue. Though
this feature also allows you to change the URL location of the following modules “blog, gallery and browse”. More testing needs to be done but once confirmed that this feature is fully working
we will bring it into all modules. So how it works now is if you would like to change the URL location of say your “Browse” section which would look now something like this
“www.yoursite.com/browse/”, you could change it to for example “search” and it would end up like “www.yoursite.com/search/”. This will also be handy for those that have multilingual sites.

- HTTP authentication added in the admin panel for extra added security. This feature can be turned on/off and it uses the normal username/password to login.

- Admins can now verify an account if the user has not verified their account via their email. This feature can be found in “Admin panel >> Browse Member’s”

- Character support added in common config file for the multilingual system.

- When someone would for example upload a very large image on a profile it would stretch the middle content of the site but leave the top and bottom part of the site normal and would give an
odd look to the page. This issue has been resolved to where it would equally stretch the page to give it a more normal look.

- Support added for text class functions. This feature can be found in the file “/include/functions/Text.functions.php.sample”. In short all parts where content is being added by your members
is parsed by a Text class which is located at “/include/classes/Text.class.php”. We have seen a lot have been modifying that file to create their own rules on how to handle certain parts
of text being added by their members. So this new feature simply creates a “plugin” environment which connects to a function file which will not be updated in the future so you will not lose
any modifications made to that file.

- TinyMCE which is powering our WYSIWYG editor has been upgraded to their latest version 2.1.0. They did not have support for the Safari browser on Macs but have had some progress with this
version. Before we can confirm this we will be doing some testing on our side.

- php121 which is now our official instant messenger package has been upgraded to version 3.0 which is their latest supporters version and has a new “Buddy” feature to make the mini IM world
even more enjoyable for your members.

- New feature added to where Top friends now shows non-top friends as well.

- New friends database and routine created to speed up site majorly. Will require importing of all friends into the new table which will be part of the upgrade package. This one change has
been a major improvement in the sites SQL and Server load.

- Database prefix feature has been added. So for example the main user table is called “user” it can now be called for example “phpfox_user”. This will make it much easier for those that only
have 1 database and need to share it with for example vBulletin and they also use the same name of their user table.

- In the admin panel under the “Server Stats” we have added “Server Uptime” which will show how long your server has been online and “Server Load” to check how your server load is
and to make sure it is not out of control. These 2 were mainly added for debugging purposes but can be useful information non theless.

- Improvements added to the “Top Friends” module where it will list all your top friends when viewing the actual friends section on a profile or if you edit your friends from the
“My Account” area. It will list your top friends on top and then have the normal list with all your other friends. This feature is intended to make it easier for users to point out
who they have on their top friends list and if need be it they can delete a specific user with ease. The old way would be that if a user wanted to remove one of their top friends they would have to browse all their friends and this can be a task if that specific user has over 10,000 friends. By adding this functionality we brought a limit on how many top friends a user can have. By default this setting will be “6″ but this can be changed to any number you desire if needed.

- Added language select box which can be found to the top right of a site when a user is not logged in. This will give an opportunity for those that have multilingual-lingual sites and want to allow non-members the chance to change the language they want to view the site in. Once the guest does signup the language will be kept and it won’t revert back to English which was an issue with the Beta 1 release.

- Added new flash mp3 player to play all songs provided by the new music module.

- Created new comment system with a new database structure as the old one caused to much over head.

- All comment box(s) have the option to use the Ajax feature.

- Updated Flash chat plugin as the main chat software with the updated integration package.

- FoxSEO plug-in added into the core package.

- Language pack now controls global character set for templates.

- Query cache check added in the admin panel to guide clients if they have this feature installed or not.

- Update routine now connects to the config file to get the SQL data instead of setting it as a session. This is done to help any issues for those that have large sites and if a session
would terminate it would not lose their connection settings.

- The gallery Ajax Lightbox feature has now been added in the Admin CP so the staff can turn it on/off.

- In the Admin CP under the “SIGNUP” section a staff can set an option if new users that signup can have it optional to upload a profile image. In the past a site would either have it
where users must upload a profile image or no image at all.

- Tag cloud module changed to where users must submit the tags via a new input field added to the blog submission form. This field is called “Tags”. Currently the Tag cloud module only works
with the Blog module, but is being improved for the next release to have it work with other modules as well such as Gallery, Forums etc…

- Removed un-needed call to the old plug-in index file which now includes the main plug-in class directly withing the init file.

- Custom field routine improved where the staff can also add “textareas” and not just “drop downs”. Both the textarea and drop down option have the capability of being added to the signup
page. The “textarea” feature can also be added to a users profile and they can be placed either on the left or right side of a profile template.

- Error 404 and 403 routine updated. In the past if a user would get a Error 404 or 403 they would get a simple page where it would say “Page not found”. The error templates
can be found in the folder “/design/templates/default/public/error/”. However in order to use this feature you will have to update your “.htaccess” file and replace or add the following:

##
ErrorDocument 403 /index.php?do=/public/error/403/
ErrorDocument 404 /index.php?do=/public/error/404/
##

For pages where the package cannot find a valid user profile this new template can be found at “/design/templates/default/public/notfound.html”. For more details on HTTP status
codes check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_status_codes

- The MySQL database classes have been moved into the folder “/include/classes/database/mysql/”. Future support for other database structures (PostgreSQL, XML etc…) under development.

- The “Clear Cache” feature added into the Admin CP to give staff the ability to clear all cached files being generated by the product.

- New feature added called “Page Management”. This can be found in the Admin CP. This feature will give the ability to you and your staff to add new pages/sections to your site. Each page
can have its own site title, url tag and meta keyword(s). Plus each page can be added to your sites menu(s) which is split up into 3 sections. These sections are “Main, Header and Footer”.
You also have the option to use a WYSIWYG editor.

- New feature added called “Menu Management”. This can be found in the Admin CP. This feature will give the ability to you and your staff to add new menu(s) to your site.
Sites menu(s) are split up into 3 sections. These sections are “Main, Header and Footer”.

- Frields Email Import routine rebuilt to where there isn’t a JavaScript pop up to import emails, it is now fully built into the core template. “Pending Invites” also added, where your members
can keep track of all the friends they have invited and list only those that did not signup for your site.

- Ajax search added into the group module. This feature is used if a user were to attempt to invite other members to join their group. In the past they would have to search
for their friends via a drop down list or know each users email to invite them. This can be rather strenuous and time consuming if a user has numerous friends within the site.
So this feature will give them a 3rd option to search for any user within the site. If any users are found, the user can then directly invite them.
The entire search and invite feature is using Ajax and the Ajax feature must be turned “ON” in order to use this feature.

- New settings added in the Admin CP under the “Signup” section allowing staff to change the min-max length(s) for the username/password fields found on the signup page.

- On a users profile the “My Details” block will now not show any empty details.

- On a users profile it will not show the “Gallery” block, if the user does not have any images uploaded.

- In past versions Konsort had a feature called “Comment Alerts” which would send out a message within the internal messaging system telling them they received a new comment on their
profile, blog or gallery image. This feature has been improved and brought back. Users can manage their alerts here “My Account -> Messages -> Comment Alerts”. If a user has a new comment
it will show a alert under the “Message Center” block found in the “My Account” area.

- In the Admin CP a new section called “SIGNUP” has been added. This is to organize settings and keep all signup related options within that section.

- Forum topics will now be listed by the time they where updated. So if a thread that would be for example on “Page 3″ and it got a new reply it would then be listed on the top of “Page 1″.

- The blog module had an input field called “Music” in the past. This has been changed to “Listing to”.

================================================
:: Fixed Issues with Beta 4
================================================

Below you will find issues that have been reported by clients and beta testers. Each report was made here: http://tracker.phpfox.com/index.php
To search an issue this can be done here: http://tracker.phpfox.com/index.php?cmd=search

- Issue #251 - beta 1.6.3 Clicking on subscribe result in error
- Issue #252 - beta 1.6.3 blank recent visitor
- Issue #253 - beta 1.6.3 changing styles does not update in firefox
- Issue #254 - beta 1.6.3 hot tag is blank
- Issue #257 - (Random) - Polls - Title/Question not showing
- Issue #258 - Private profile error Beta 3
- Issue #260 - Rate me
- Issue #262 - Points System
- Issue #266 - Email Verification on Signup
- Issue #267 - Tag Clouds
- Issue #270 - RSS Feeds
- Issue #271 - Hot Tags
- Issue #274 - Error Notice on sign up
- Issue #275 - MUSIC section display “home” when turn off
- Issue #277 - Blog: Listing to:
- Issue #279 - Text area info is not retained in signup
- Issue #280 - Drop-down is not retained during sign-up
- Issue #285 - No Music Flash Player 1.6Beta 3
- Issue #292 - Bulletin board template misspelled word
- Issue #293 - Recent Visitor Icon (1.6 Beta 3)
- Issue #300 - ShoutBox
- Issue #317 - membership not working
- Issue #319 - Themes does not save - 1.6 Beta 3
- Issue #219 - bugs in Classifieds section & in Message center (HMO-168998)

================================================
:: Fixed Issues with Beta 1, 2 & 3
================================================

Below you will find issues that have been reported by clients and beta testers. Each report was made here: http://tracker.phpfox.com/index.php
To search an issue this can be done here: http://tracker.phpfox.com/index.php?cmd=search

- Issue #155 - Deleting blog results in error
- Issue #174 - Email verify link does not work
- Issue #186 - email importer
- Issue #209 - State Signup Problem
- Issue #223 - Verification email content error
- Issue #228 - after quoted image address wrong in forum
- Issue #181 - Click to activate control in music section
- Issue #208 - Problem running upgrade to 1.6 beta2
- Issue #215 - html comments
- Issue #216 - getting error in visiting adminpanel
- Issue #220 - comments
- Issue #221 - Members delete error
- Issue #222 - Banners not displaying on frontend side
- Issue #227 - no-public group or hidden group cant invite member
- Issue #232 - Crush poems message undefined
- Issue #233 - Sending Crush Error
- Issue #234 - Smileys are not working in Beta 1.6.2
- Issue #239 - Invite list Importer limited to two imports
- Issue #240 - gallery pic resize issue
- Issue #241 - Delete photo error message (Beta 1.6.2)
- Issue #242 - No profile form button w/specific content
- Issue #189 - browse members in admin panel
- Issue #162 - Cant get past the Admin Panel Enter Username/Password
- Issue #187 - browse/search not working
- Issue #200 - embedding in comments
- Issue #185 - Error on thise page …
- Issue #184 - Errors on profiles
- Issue #188 - featured members
- Issue #192 - Group Invite
- Issue #178 - Java Script error when posting
- Issue #175 - Joining group display error
- Issue #164 - Rate not random

- Issue #110 - Script do not convert all symbols correctly.

- Issue #141 - 1.6 Beta Errors

- Issue #128 - Lost password doesn’t work

- Issue #140 - Navigation error in Gallery

- Issue #133 - No email confirmation

- Issue #136 - Design My Profile Text Error

- Issue #135 - Account Settings Language Error

- Issue #142 - Access Denied

- Issue #137 - Header and Footer 1.6

- Issue #134 - can not delete of save default theme

- Issue #131 - Groups Description Does not line break

- Issue #130 - HTML Dissabled but will still work

- Issue #127 - The language always reverts to English for new users

- Issue #126 - group title display wrong code with non-English in 1.6 beta

- Issue #125 - There is no way to translate the months or dates in 1.6 languaging system

- Issue #124 - The Guestbook and My Pictures “delete confirmation” question doesn’t call back to the language file

- Issue #123 - “Forums >> ” is non-translatable

- Issue #122 - The “Sorry, this is for official members only…” message is non-translatable

- Issue #119 - Welcome Guest, Login or Signup is untranslatable

- Issue #121 - server stats in admin panel

- Issue #120 - email_blank.html

- Issue #117 - (PRIORITY) Bulletin has alot of translation issues…

- Issue #118 - Post Reply button in the forum (New Languagin System issue)

- Issue #116 - There is no “contact panel” thing in the new languagin system

- Issue #115 - (PRIORITY) Messages has alot of translation issues…

- Issue #114 - The submit comment button (Has to do with the new languagin system)

- Issue #113 - The EditForm file in events doesn’t have the new codes (Has to do with the new languagin system)

- Issue #112 - 1.6.1beta set default style error

- Issue #107 - Groups Invites Send short URL

- Issue #102 - Finishing installation

- Issue #105 - Can’t change the style from admin menu

- Issue #101 - Konsort 1.6 Beta 1

- Issue #98 - first space in link text being removed - forums

- Issue #96 - forum post - replacing text in HREF

- Issue #77 - User image thumbnail issues

- Issue #95 - No User Name Popup for Recent visitors

- Issue #87 - New Crush Alerts Email Notifications check box

- Issue #88 - Editing classifieds

- Issue #90 - doubled friends

- Issue #92 - Bad Word Filter

- Issue #83 - CSRF Exploit

- Issue #57 - Site Config: logo.gif does not show throughout

- Issue #65 - Forum Announcement’s & Sticky’s missing

- Issue #64 - Events - Featured Issue

- Issue #71 - User IP missing in admin panel (Browse)

- Issue #75 - bad words filter in blog title not working

- Issue #39 - Site Stats Inaccuracy

- Issue #22 - Post Redirect Error

- Issue #34 - Photo uploading doesn’t resize

- Fixed gallery flaw, when viewing an image it would redirect to the main page which was brought by the optimizing of the gallery table.

================================================
:: Where can I test a live demo?
================================================

Here: http://benchmark.phpfox.com/1_6_Beta4/

================================================
:: Scripts Requirements:
================================================

- Web Server API : Apache, CGI, FastCGI and ISAPI
- Supported Operating System(s) : Solaris, Linux, BSD, Windows IIS and Mac
- PHP Version - Minimum : 4.3.3
- MySQL Version - Minimum : 4.1
- GD complied with your PHP Build : Yes
- SendMail : Yes
- PHP safe mode : OFF
- PHP magic_qoutes_runtime : OFF
- PHP memory_limit : 42

The requirements listed below is only if you would like to use the Music module:
- PHP file_uploads : 1
- PHP post_max_size : 40M
- PHP max_input_time : -1
- PHP upload_max_filesize : 38M

The requirements listed below is only if you would like to use the Video module:
- FFmpeg (http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu)
- FFmpeg-PHP (http://ffmpeg-php.sourceforge.net)
- Mplayer + Mencoder (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html)
- flv2tool (http://inlet-media.de/flvtool2)
- Libogg + Libvorbis (http://www.xiph.org/downloads)
- LAME MP3 Encoder (http://lame.sourceforge.net)
- PHP file_uploads : 1
- PHP post_max_size : 100M
- PHP max_input_time : -1
- PHP upload_max_filesize : 100M

The requirements listed below is only if you would like to use the Email Import plug-in and PayPal.com payment system:
- PHP CURL extension : YES

================================================
:: Where can I download it?
================================================

Go to: http://clients.phpfox.com/index.php?cmd=licenses/index

From the download list look for “phpFoX Konsort :: Version 1.6 Beta 4 (NOT SUPPORTED)”.

================================================
:: Whats next?
================================================

Beta 4 will be the final beta version for v1.6. The stable released ETA is on the 31st of July 2007. Currently all the planned features for v1.6 has been added
and these last 2 weeks will be reserved for debugging all the old and new features of the package. Stress tests and benchmarks will also be done to the new package
and results will be released on our site.

================================================
:: Does the phpfox team support this version?
================================================

No, sorry. Any Beta version is not supported so the only thing you can do is report bugs till the stable release is available.
Please report bugs here: http://tracker.phpfox.com/