Squiz Labs Blog - The latest news from the R&D division of Squiz®

Squiz Matrix Newsletter #425

This week we have three new features to report, including an exciting overhaul of the Custom Form asset to provide form content in an accessible format. Continue reading below for more information on all this week's developments.

Accessible Custom Form

Due for release in versions 4.14.2 (May 6th 2013)

Squiz Matrix's Custom Form asset allows you to create and manage a form to collect data and other information from your users, for example, a Contact Us form or a custom survey.

Previously, this asset used table tags to structure the questions and answers of the form. This, however, could potentially cause accessibility issues on the form.

This feature addresses these issues by introducing a new option on the Custom Form asset to output form content as WCAG 2.0 accessible HTML content rather than the standard tabular format.

The new Accessible Format option can be configured on the Form Contents screen of the Custom Form's Form Contents asset. By default, this option will be enabled on all newly created Custom Form assets. Any existing forms on a system will retain their original format, with this option disabled.

This new option will present accessible HTML for the form and its questions in a semantic format, as well as the following additional accessibility features:

• Improved default and Mollom CAPTCHA formats to meet accessibility standards.
• Required questions are now marked in the label tag of the question.
• Form question and CAPTCHA errors will now be displayed next to the corresponding fields. General form errors will continue to be displayed, by default, at the bottom of the form.
• Tickbox Question: table format improved.
• Date/Time Question: option to turn off JavaScript input assistance.
• Password Question: configurable titles for Password and Confirm Password fields.
• Semantic summary used for the default Thank You page rather than tabular summary.

These accessibility features have also been extended to the eCommerce Form Page asset.

Custom Form: Validation Rule Conditions

Due for release in versions 4.14.2 (May 6th 2013)

For each question on a Custom Form page, validation rules can be configured to outline the requirements of a question. These can be Simple validation rules, such as, if an answer to the question is required, or Complex rules, such as, file type restrictions on a File Upload question.

This feature allows you to add Conditions to the validation rules you have configured on your form questions. These conditions give you the ability of only enabling a validation rule if a certain condition is met.

For example, a restaurant booking form requires patrons to select a banquet option from the Set Menu question if a booking is made for groups of 8 or more people (specified in the No. of Guests question). This can be done using this new condition feature by configuring a validation rule on the Set Menu question to require a response if the response of the No. of Guests question is greater than seven (8 or more). 

New Script to Morph Asset Types

Due for release in versions 4.16.0 (May 6th 2013) 

A new script has been added to Squiz Matrix to morph an asset from from one asset type to another. This is especially useful when dealing with file and user asset types, for example, morphing a User asset into a Backend User asset.

The morph_assets.php script is found in the system's Scripts directory and takes the following parameters:

• the root directory of your Squiz Matrix system.
• the root ID to morph the child assets of.
• the asset type code that you want to morph assets from.
• the asset type code that you want to morph assets to.
• --simulate: runs the script in simulation mode.

Usage of this script is as follows:

$ php scripts/morph_assets.php <SYSTEM_ROOT> 100 user backend_user --simulate
 
Simulate Morphing assets...
Simulate Morph Asset #202
Finished simulating morphing assets. 1 of 1 user assets can be morphed to backend_user assets.

$ php scripts/morph_assets.php <SYSTEM_ROOT> 100 user backend_user

There are 1 user assets to morph, are you sure you want to continue? Type 'yes' to continue: yes
Morphing assets...
Morph Asset #202
Finished morphing assets. 1 of 1 user assets were morphed to backend_user assets. 

This feature was kindly contributed by Nic Hubbard (http://www.zedsaid.com).

Squiz Matrix Newsletter #424

Have you tried out the new version control tool on the Squiz Matrix User Manual Library yet? The tool has been up for about a month so far and we've been able to gather some pretty interesting statistics on the browsing behaviour of those utilising this new feature. 

For more information on the new version control tool, view the release blog post.

Right off the bat, we have to say that we've been pretty pleased with the initial interest in the tool. Users from all over the world have been giving it a run. Of course, Australia has seen the largest amount of usage, but we also have hits from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Poland, the USA and Russia, amongst others.

But what exactly are people using the version control tool for? That's where things get interesting!

First off, our stats tell us that the tool is being used for a variety of different versions of Squiz Matrix. While our 4.14.0 release is currently the most popular, it is followed close behind by versions 4.8.0 and 4.8.7 - it's a tight race! Bringing up the rear is version 4.10.0 ...hmm, why no love for the 4.10.x branch?

We are also able to view the content that is being viewed when this tool is enabled. This race, however, is a little less close; the Keyword Replacements manual is by far the most popular. This is actually pretty great as the tool really comes in handy here, especially when used on the Keyword Modifiers page, which also happens to be the most viewed.

These stats aren't so surprising for us, though, as the Keyword Replacements manual is the most visited by our users overall (we agree, it's quite useful!).

Documentation from the Web Services, Easy Edit Suite, Concepts and Designs manuals also feature as some of the top pages where the tracking tool has been utilised.

If you want to give the version control tool a spin yourself, we recommend checking out the JavaScript API documentation; the tool is extremely useful for this asset that has seen quite a bit of change over the past year. 

So, there you go! A few fascinating little facts that we have compiled from the first month of use of our version control tool on the Squiz Matrix User Manual Library. Not entirely unexpected, but still good to know.

As mentioned before, we are very happy with how many users have begun using the tool this first month, but we still want more of you to give it a shot. We really think that this is an extremely useful tool and we want everyone to be able to take advantage of it. If you haven't yet given it a try, head over to the Manuals site and check it out - you won't be sorry!

If you have already used the tool and want to send us some feedback on how we can improve it, drop us a line using the Suggestion Box on the site or pop onto the Squiz Forums and let us know. 

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This week we have two new features to report, including the new PayPal Payflo Pro payment gateway for the Squiz Matrix e-commerce system. Continue reading below for more information on all this week's developments.

E-Commerce: PayPal Payflo Pro Payment Gateway

Due for release in versions 4.14.2 (May 6th 2013)

Squiz Matrix's E-Commerce package contains a number of payment gateway options for your e-commerce setup, including the SecurePay eSec, Datacash, SagePay, DPS and uTransact payment gateways.

This feature introduces a new payment gateway for PayPal's Payflo Pro payment solution.

   

The Payflo Pro payment gateway differs from Matrix's existing PayPal payment gateway as, while the existing payment options redirect you to PayPal during the payment process, Payflow Pro is fully integrated into your site. This gives you complete control over the look, feel and functionality of the payment process.

Currently, the PayPal Payflo Pro payment gateway will support credit and debit card payment processing only. The settings of the payment gateway allow you to configure the accepted card types, as well as the currency to use for the transfer.

New Trigger Event: Tagging Update

Due for release in versions 4.14.2 (May 6th 2013) 

Trigger events within Squiz Matrix define the actions that a trigger is listening for before it is fired. So, for example, you can configure your triggers to fire when an asset is created in the system or when the status of an asset is changed. Once an event fires a trigger, the configured conditions are checked and, if approved, the specified actions on the trigger will be performed.

This feature introduces a new trigger event that will fire a trigger when a tagging change is made to an asset, for example, when a tag is added, deleted or updated. The Asset Cloned trigger event can be selected when configuring the Details screen of a trigger.

Squiz Matrix Newsletter #423

You may have noticed something different on the Squiz Matrix User Manual Library in the past couple of days. We've been hard at work to create new content on the site for all your Matrix needs. This includes information previously found on the Squiz Matrix site, including the Matrix VM download and installation guides.

So, what's new? Well, under the list of manuals on the User Manual Library, you will now find a new row of the following information pages:

• Requirements: from browser support to server packages, this page lists all the requirements needed for installing Squiz Matrix. See the requirements.
• Evaluate Squiz Matrix: our virtual machine download allows you to trial Squiz Matrix yourself, testing out its features and discovering what it really has to offer. This page also provides installation guides for both the VM, as well as manual installation information. Try out Matrix.
• Releases: information on all of our Matrix and EES releases right back to 2010, including patch notes so you can identify the features and enhancements for each new release. View the release schedule.
• The Easy Edit Suite: download our user-friendly EES editing interface, making editing a breeze for users of all skill levels. Download the Easy Edit Suite.

We're hoping that now that all this important information has relocated, the User Manual Library can be viewed as your central hub for all things Matrix!

You can let us know what you think of these changes via the suggestion form on the site or by posting on the Squiz Matrix forums. We'd also of course love to hear of any other documentation suggestions you may have.

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At the beginning of the week, Labs announced two new releases of Squiz Matrix, versions 4.12.5 and 4.14.1. Both of these releases contain some great new functionality and enhancements and are currently available via the public CVS repository (http://public-cvs.squiz.net/).

Our v4.14.1 of Matrix is also available for download on the User Manual Library as a virtual machine image.

Check out the Release blog post for more information on these releases, including patch notes and download links.

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This week we have one new feature to report, a new script to remove the permissions of assets under a specified root node. Continue reading below for more information on all this week's developments. 

New Remove Permissions Script

Due for release in versions 4.14.2 (May 6th 2013) 

Squiz Matrix's system_apply_permissions.php script is commonly used to apply permissions to a set of specified assets and their children, for example, granting Admin permissions. Previously, however, there was no script available to remove permissions in the same efficient manner.

This feature introduces the new remove_permissions.php script, allowing you to remove the permissions of assets under a specified root node. This script takes the following parameters:

• --system=<SYSTEM_ROOT>: the root directory of your Squiz Matrix system.
• --rootnode=<ROOTNODES> : the asset IDs of the root nodes to be processed.
• --includeuser=<INCLUDE_USERIDS> : an optional parameter allowing you to only remove permissions for a set of specified users.
• --excludeuser=<EXCLUDE_USERIDS> : an optional parameter allowing you to specify a set of users to not remove permissions for.
• --type=<PERMISSION_TYPE>  an optional parameter allowing you to specify the permission types to remove (1 for Read, 2 for Write, 3 for Admin).

An example usage of this script is outlined below. This example will remove any Write permissions on assets #100, #130, #205 and all their children; permissions will not be removed for user #65.

$ php remove_permissions.php --system=. --rootnode=100,130,205 --excludeuser=65 --type=2

PHP_CodeSniffer 1.4.5 and 1.5.0RC2 released

PHP_CodeSniffer versions 1.4.5 and 1.5.0RC2 have just been uploaded to PEAR and are now available to install. Version 1.4.5 is primarily a bug fix release, although there are a few new sniffs and sniff settings that some developers may find useful. In addition to these changes, 1.5.0RC2 contains big changes to the way rulesets are processed to make them more predictable and to add a couple of new features.

From version 1.5.0RC2 onwards, ruleset processing has much better support for relative paths and detection of directories of sniffs. This may mean that sniffs that were not previously being included in a standard are now included correctly. Please check your standards to see if any new sniffs are being included. The best way to do this is to use the -e command line argument. For example, phpcs --standard=mystandard.xml -e , which will print a list of sniffs that will be run over your code.

Version 1.5.0RC2 also includes the ability to exclude whole directories of sniffs inside a ruleset and the ability to pass multiple standards to PHP_CodeSniffer on the command line. For example, phpcs --standard=PEAR,Squiz,mystandard.xml /path/to/code , which will run 3 standards against your code.

Special thanks to the 4 developers who directly contributed code to these releases. Your help is always very much appreciated.

You can view the full 1.4.5 changelog on the PHP_CodeSniffer 1.4.5 download page and the full 1.5.0RC2 changelog on the PHP_CodeSniffer 1.5.0RC2 download page.

Stay up to date on all PHP_CodeSniffer changes, including new features and releases, by subscribing to the RSS feed or following me on Twitter.

Squiz Matrix Versions 4.12.5, 4.14.1 and EES 1.4.1 Released

Squiz Labs is back from the Easter long weekend with a few more tasty treats for you all, our April releases of Squiz Matrix! Versions 4.12.5 and 4.14.1 of Squiz Matrix each contain a variety of new functionality, performance enhancements and bug fixes.

Version 4.12.5 of Squiz Matrix is the latest release of our 4.12.x branch, released late last year. This release contains three new enhancements and fifteen bug fixes.

Squiz Matrix 4.14.1 is the latest release of our 4.14.x branch, launched last month. This release contains ten new features and enhancements, as well as fifteen bug fixed. Features introduced in this release include a new SOAP function to retrieve the available keywords for a Paint Layout asset and a new option to configure a custom verification email subject header on the Bulkmail Subscribe Page.

• View the release notes for v4.12.5
• View the release notes for v4.14.1

These releases are currently available via the public CVS repository (http://public-cvs.squiz.net/). You can checkout these versions by running the checkout script as follows:

./checkout.sh mysource_4-12-5

./checkout.sh mysource_4-14-1

For more information on checking out from CVS, refer to the Squiz Matrix Manual Installation Guide.

The latest Matrix Automatic Upgrade scripts are also currently available for download on the Squiz Matrix site.

Version 4.14.1 of Matrix is also available for download on the Squiz Matrix site as a virtual machine image. For more information on installing a VM image, refer to the Virtual Machine Setup Guide.

Please be sure to follow the relevant user guides when updating or installing your systems. 

Edit+ for Squiz Matrix and Easy Edit Suite v1.4.1 Released

Also available today are the latest releases of Edit+ for Squiz Matrix and the Easy Edit Suite. 

• View the release notes for Edit+ for Squiz Matrix and EES v1.4.1

This release is currently available for Easy Edit Suite users on the Squiz Matrix site. 

These releases are compatible with Squiz Matrix v4.10.4 or 4.12.0 and above only. 

Users on compatible versions of Squiz Matrix will need to merely replace the EES folder on their existing installation. Those on earlier versions should consult the EES Upgrade and Compatibility Guide for upgrade information. New users can refer to the EES Installation Guide for install and configuration steps for the Easy Edit Suite.

Edit+ for Squiz Matrix is available to customers with an appropriate service level agreement. Please contact Squiz for additional information.  

If you have any questions about these releases, or you would like to request a feature or report a bug, please post in the Squiz Matrix Support Forum.