X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes (UPDATE: the next version will be 4.6.0, but not 4.5.6)
 

Dear X-Cart mod developers,

We would like to inform you that the several changes will be introduced to the module system:

1) Redesigned "Modules" page which will use AJAX to enable/disable modules.

2) This leads to module enable/disable event changes - former "module_enable" event is now called "module.enable" and NOT called immediately (it is now postponed till next page open)

3) To do something exactly at a time module is enabled/disabled, you should now add listener for "module.ajax.toggle" event, which will be called with 2 arguments: (string) $module_name, ($bool) $active

Doing func_header_location() will not work during this event, you should instead return redirect url in your function, e.g. return "modules.php" to reload the page after AJAX request.

Moreover, if module sets "$top_message" during this event it will be displayed after AJAX request is completed. Current limitations: only "information" message type is supported.

4) It is now possible to prevent store crash if store admin tries to enable incompatible module which makes every store page showing Fatal Error constantly.

5) Pay attention to the fact that this protection will not work if module is enabled directly in database, so you should make installer insert module entry in disabled (N) status.

6) Module tags which can be used for filtering modules to be displayed.
There is a new field in "xcart_modules", called "tags".
You can specify allowed tags for your module delimited by comma here.

List of allowed tags:
checkout,
marketing,
misc,
orders,
products,
security,
shipping,
stats,
taxes,
tools,
userexp (User Experience),

7) It is now possible for module to specify css for admin back-end.
Just add the follosing code to module's config.php
$css_files['Module_Name'][] = array('admin' => true);
and place "admin.css" to your module skin dir.

8 ) Due to optimisation, any changes to xcart_products withou calling "func_build_quick_flags" + "func_build_quick_prices" after it, will lead to database incosistency.

Any code which makes direct changes in xcart_products_categories and/or updates avail in xcart_categories must be revised.

9) For the function "func_search_products" we changed the "from_tbls" format

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Re: X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes
 

> 1) Redesigned "Modules" page which will use AJAX to enable/disable modules.

Short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZ_Iyo79vs

Please note that the video was made before the "Modules" section was finalized.

Re: X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes
 

Please call this new release 4.6.x, please please please..... These are major changes and if you call it 4.5.6 it will cause major problems for everyone, again. 4.5.5 should have been 4.6.0.....
It is good you are posting here about the upcoming changes but these are still just fragments of code which is hard to code for without actually seeing the whole picture.... since there is no pre-release for developers to get familiar with the changes....

Re: X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes
 

@ Alex

As I see it you have 2 options - 4.5.6 or 4.6.x

Option 4.5.6: If you release it as the next fix in the same branch everyone now on 4.5.x will jump to it with or without the knowledge that this will break their 3rd party mods - we've seen it happen and we know it will happen. The 3rd party vendors will not be ready for this for sure - how we can be ready and modify our code if don;t have the upcoming distribution to prepare? And do you think a developer with 100 mods can look at all of them for a day or 2? Not happening. So it doesn't matter if the XC users do the upgrade themselfs or hire someone else to do it - their live cart will drop all 3rd party mods. nd what do you get? 100's of angry XC users blaming you, blaming developers, and then developers blaming you... and I can also see it XC staff saying - sorry - contact the vendor of the mod as we cannot help you there.... If you release it as 4.5.6 all the blame and liability will fall on QT and you will get many unpleasant posts in here. Trust me.

Option 4.6.x: Release 4.5.6 that fixes bugs in 4.5.x only. No new features, no new modules, ONLY bugs fixes. This will allow any 4.5.x cart to be safely upgraded to 4.5.6 and fix possible bugs in their older versions.
Release 4.6.x with the new fetaures, new ways of loading modules, etc., new modules... whatever you want to include in there. And release it as beta. This will give time to 3rd party developers to adjust to the new release, new XC users or existing to test the new version and decide if they want it or not... And this will only benefi QT - while doing this and modifying modules for this new release the 3rd party vendor and user will report to you bugs so you can fix them before you release this version as final. Take the liability off of your hands. Anyone who wants to start new store based on this beta release or upgrade existing store to it is doing this at thier own risk.

Think about it. If you release 4.5.6 like you want to now it will call for another disaster and angry customers. Is that what you want?
If you release bug fixing ONLY 4.5.6 and beta 4.6.x with the new features you can only win.

Do a survey here and see what your customers think about this? If I am wrong I will gladly admit it

Re: X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes
 

Steve, we had a meeting and decided to start new branch - 4.6.x

Re: X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes (UPDATE: the next version will be 4.6.0, but not 4.5.6)
 

Also, the new version will contain Resposnive template out of box:
http://www.x-cart.com/extensions/modules/responsive-template.html

We had a great cooperation with Mike White (aka totaltec) with this project and we used his fantastic skin as base for a new built-in skin - Ideal Responsive

Re: X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes (UPDATE: the next version will be 4.6.0, but not 4.5.6)
 

I believe that adaptive design is the new trend in web and more and more users start surfing from mobile devices and it's very important to provide your customers with the best experience depending on their devices.

That's why Ideal Responsive will be available out of box in the next X-Cart version

Re: X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes
 

Great decision. I hope for less headache with upgrades :)

Anything else new in this branch (except what you have already mentioned above)

Re: X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes (UPDATE: the next version will be 4.6.0, but not 4.5.6)
 

I just want to say a HUGE thank you so much for changing this to 4.6.0!! We are one of the ones that has over 100 modules we've built ourselves plus about 100 more modules we sell for others and this change would have been a nightmare if it were named 4.5.6.

Carrie

Re: X-Cart 4.5.6 upcoming changes (UPDATE: the next version will be 4.6.0, but not 4.5.6)
 

I appreciate you are sharing with Community your near future plans. A wise decision after weeks of silence.

I appreciate more if you take a look to bugtracker and ideas to improve those small issues for 4.6 release. I would like to see AJAX as well in Feature Comparison module. It is so ancient to see how this module works when choosing items for comparison. I spent hours to research what is good and bad in your products. Please do not waste these efforts.