I-Metrics CMS v1.11

This release brings in new plugins, a template/layout mechanism, integration of pkzip compression library, a forms tool, xml import support functions and also a couple of fixes for reported bugs. The release also includes 4 different templates to select from during installation and when installing plugins.

There are now 10 Plugins included with the release. There is an alternative display system, a popup image control system, a text gradient system, a code tags content display system, two plugins for the side navigation sections of templates, a css menu plugin, the demo message plugin, a an admin history system, a comments system and a voting system. Plugins can now be compressed and be installed after decompression.

The integration of the popup image and text gradient plugins demonstrate the flexibility of the framework to integrate jscripts and have their dependent files automatically pulled in during run-time. Moving the original comments code into a separate plugin also shows how any layout module/functionality can become an optional feature, thus expanding the uses of the base framework.

The introduction of a template/layout folder dramatically speeds up template integration for two reasons. Firstly the very few template files are now under the same folder. Second, plugins with layout elements copy template dependent files under the template folder therefore all template related files including the stylesheet end-up in the same place.

This release is available to download here:

http://demos.asymmetrics.com/pub/i-metrics-cms-v111.zip

Bug fixes regarding this release will be posted in this section. Resolved issues will be included with the next release.

• Form Fields database tables are missing from the archive (fixed)
• The code tags plugin incorrectly sets up the Stylesheet (fixed)
• Missing warning strings for comment system - administration files (fixed)
• Incorrect readme file for the code tags (fixed)
• Cast a vote plugin heading layout with stock template fix
• Mixed collections assignment does not point to the right link on the front end with the core code. (fixed)
• Cannot delete mixed collections inside other mixed collections on the admin. (fixed)
• Input boxes with forms do not always maintain their content following submission on the admin. (fixed)
• Incoming Helpdesk attachments do not always produce a valid filename.

Enhancements and changes to be included with the next version

• Modifications to the CSS menu to split the drop-down entries into different columns making this navigation element more compact. 
• Added configuration options to the CSS menu plugin for maximum drop-down entries, column split, max width to handle for a cell and border width.
• Modifications to the plugins manager to include verbose display during plugin installation.
• Testing of SEO-G with extensionless URLs is complete. Extensionless URLs will replace the previously stock extension of .asp
• Added code to make SEO-G recorded SEO URLs independent of website. Recorded links no longer contain full server details but only relative paths.
• Added debug/development tools to monitor and browse timings about database queries available from the administration.
• Added templates manager to upload, structure and create templates for different purposes including popup help, e-mails, text pages.
• Improved the text pages editor to utilize the content templates from the templates manager. Added instanct upload HTML code functionality.
• Streamlined framework to reduce the use of global variables.
• Rewritten the sessions class dropped out completely standard PHP sessions. I-Metrics CMS now operates with its own internal session generator.
• Added compression/decompression support classes for the plugins and update system
• Added switch to control the word-processor interface during content editing.
• Modified administration home page layout using ajax to control multiple sections of plugins and CMS features.
• Added multi-lingual functionality fully dynamic. Languages can be created without the user having to do code modifications. Fixed strings for multi-lingual support need to change, can be changed with the use of the file manager.
• Modified search to accept UTF-8 characters.
• Added helpdesk options per department to retrieve emails from multiple email servers.
• Added jQuery livesearch support for the administration.
• Added drag and drop functionality on the administration end for the content page listings.
• Modifications to the home page of the web-front to list page summaries driven by a page collection.
• Added javascript dump script to assist developers manipulating the DOM.
• Added support for foreign characters with the helpdesk - e-mail messages/attachments.