ImageCMS 4.2 release: access rights and other innovations

Hello, dear habrasoobschestvu!

The wave of the New Year and Christmas holidays didn’t take our developers by surprise - we forge the iron while it’s hot! Recall that the end of 2012 was marked for us with the release of a stable version of ImageCMS 4.0 and the subsequent ImageCMS Patch 4.1.
Over the past six weeks, the main focus of our work was on the introduction of additional amenities for our users. We are also continuing to move along another long-chosen trajectory - we are implementing the wishes of the ImageCMS community members. We bring to your attention the results of the work done.

Features:

• In each release, we pay a lot of attention to work automation tools - this is no exception to ImageCMS 4.2. In the import-export tools, besides the previously available CSV format, support for the XLS and XLSx formats has appeared. In addition, we launched the ability to import photos: this is done by indicating the full path to the source file. Also, added more documentation and slightly improved the mechanics. Automate your work, achieve the best results with ImageCMS!
• In the previous release, we announced a change in how user accounts work. We have changed the approach to the actual implementation of the entity and other related moments, such as a user profile, etc. In general, this opened the door to the world of rationalism in the management of user data. This time the changes affected the system of “Differentiation of access rights”; as a result, it has become more flexible in terms of customizing capabilities for each user, standard groups have also been added. All rules are carefully described, so creating a user with the necessary rights settings will no longer take a lot of time. Now you can access any user groups you need: an accountant, a merchandiser, an order manager, a supplier ... Get more control with the “Access Control” system ImageCMS.
• At the request of the working users of the system, we updated the “Social Networks” module. Now the module is fully functional for both the Shop version and Corporate # 76000236 on http://idea.imagecms.net .
• Launched the module “Redirects”. The main purpose is to redirect the end user from one page to another, using the 301st or 302nd redirect code to choose from. We are sure that such functionality will find a lot of positive reviews in modern website building and will be useful for maintaining good relations with search services. The module supports setting both manual redirects and automatic ones. For example, when a product is deleted, it forms an automatic redirect to the parent category. Thus, the user will not receive a 404 page if he gets to the deleted product from the search results or saved bookmarks. For more information, we invite you to visit the module documentation wiki page .
  
• Also, at the request of the community, we have made changes to the logic of page navigation. Our solution was to return the categories tree menu. By choosing the desired category displays a list of pages that belong to it. The tree is available for versions ranging from Corporate - that is, for all versions. We are waiting for your wishes on the further development of this interface. So far, plans to add the ability to enable / disable this navigation bar in the settings and change the design. How? Solve with us at idea.imagecms.net .
  

Of course, not without the help of the community, errors were found in the operation of the system. We also paid enough attention to fixing bugs:

• corrected work with additional fields. There were problems with validation when specifying the rules;
• fixed problems with the display of the calendar in the template;
• Corrected the work of the site map. Removed from the conditions of the presence of the pre-installed module Shop, made it completely autonomous. # 76000241 on http://idea.imagecms.net ;
• corrected the mechanics of gift certificates. There were problems with the conversion in the basket when ordering # 76000238 on http://idea.imagecms.net ;
• fixed a bug when changing mail for a user in the administrator part # 76000237 on http://idea.imagecms.net ;
• The problem that arose when all categories were removed from the Corporate version turned out to be such that it pulls too many unjustified changes in the core. In the assembly, we removed the ability to delete the root category. But this is a temporary patch, we are already working on a more relevant solution;
• in the gallery eliminated the problem of multiple deletion of images;
• corrected the sorting of positions of brands and banners;
• changed the logic of displaying special characters for filters;
• corrected the settings for payment with the help of “Oschadbank of Ukraine” (replaced the outdated ones);
• customized the work of some of the elements of the template, for example, an increase in photos by clicking after changing the option;
• processed other minor tasks related to the adjustment of the work of some parts of the system.

As for the future release, we can note that we have already made a lot of effort in the direction of simple work with templates, about which we will state more detailed information in the following publications and on the ImageCMS website.

PS Recall: ImageCMS Corporate is a free OpenSource system for developing and managing websites, the functionality of which solves 95% of typical problems for corporate websites.
ImageCMS Shop is a system for professional development of online stores with advanced features.