Magento

Over on the Magento Partner Blog, we posted a video of today’s Partner Program Webinar. A record attendance of over 200 companies from 25+ countries took part in the event.

If you’ve considered partnering with Magento, the webinar is the place to start.

The Magento feature list located at http://www.magentocommerce.com/features has been updated to reflect the latest and greatest features Magento has to offer. This comprehensive list includes most (if not all) of the items expected for the production 1.0 release later this month.

A printable version is also available, should you wish to share this list with a client, friend, colleague or a fellow Magento enthusiast

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we are pleased to announce the availability for download of Magento Preview version 0.8.16100 (our 10th preview release). The major highlights of the release include Google Checkout Level 2 integration, Paypal UK integration, Google sitemap management, and a new store management interface.

Major Highlights

• Implemented Google Checkout Level 2 integration
• Implemented Paypal UK payment methods integration
• Added Google Sitemap management
• Added new stores management interface, introduced store view grouping
• Added availability to specify database tables prefix while installing Magento
• Added handling fee for fixed and Table Rates shipping methods
• Added configuration value to enable/disable guest checkout
• Current tab is remembered when user clicks on Save And Continue on product edit page
• Added ‘Contact Us’ page

Improvements & Bug fixes:

• Fixed Mage_Directory install utf8 encoding issues
• Fixed bug with non existing attributes for configurable product
• Defalit cookie path is store base path now
• Fixed JavaScript error after creation of new customer account (frontend)
• Fixed JavaScript error on shipping tracking in shipment and invoice (admin)
• Fixed defalit country in one page checkout
• Fixed nonexistent googleanalytics layout block fatal error
• Fixed IE7 validation bug on empty select value
• Created links list block
• System footer links are added from layouts now
• Added ‘ifconfig’ attribute for layout action to check configuration flag
• Added ‘helper’ attribute for layout action params to get value from helper
• All dminhtml block are descendants of Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Abstract, _Template, _Text_List, _Messages now
• Adminhtml controllers _redirect use adminhtml helper getUrl now
• Changed data sharing logic on EAV abstract level
• Added encrypted configuration values (payment and shipping gateways passwords)
• Cleaned defalit values for encrypted config fields
• Fixed https issue (use_in_frontend, use_in_adminhtml)
• Shipping methods now take configuration values from specific store
• Fixed core/helper::removeAccents
• Removed format inconsistencies when loading different levels of config (simplexml/array)
• Shipping models $this->_code is protected now, to allow parent methods’ access
• Fixed receiving cms block parameters
• Coninue Shopping URL moved into cart block
• Added workaround for http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=44053
• Added cancel into payment method abstract class
• Added floating action buttons in admin
• Fixed include paths directory delimiters in Mage.php
• SEO meta tags enhancements to use product description as meta description and product name as meta keyword if left empty
• Added Mage_Shipping_Model_Carrier_Interface interface
• Changed fieldset-based forms in admin to use tables instead of spans
• Added correct language in tag
• Removed accents for SEO urls
• Changed ini_set/ini_get to set_include_path/get_include_path

Known Issues:

• Store management interface might change
• Floating action buttons in admin do not work in IE6
• Google checkout subscribe to newsletter is not implemented
• Store view switcher will not work if ‘#’ symbol is present in the url
• Upgrading using the Magento PEAR Channel, it is highly recommend to use upgrade-all and not to upgrade each package individually

Video: Upgrading via PEAR

How easy is the Magento upgrade process? Check out the video below (please note that the Magento PEAR channel is still in development).

Sample Data

The sample data archive file is available in .zip (41 MB), .tar.gz (40 MB), and .tar.bz2 (37MB) formats to download (the files contain exactly the same content inside and are provided in different formats just for your convenience).

Each archive contains a SQL script that should be applied on a clean database with your database management tool (phpMyAdmin or whatever you use), and ‘media’ folder with sample product images that you should copy to your Magento media folder. You should then run the regular installation process as for a complete package. Please make sure that you have exactly the same version of Magento that the sample data is provided for – 0.8.16100.

Please also backup all your data and keep separately any custom changes on the files you did, because they may not be compatible with the sample data provided.

A Magento QuickBooks Integration (Sync) Group has recently started. If you have QB experience and would like to contribute and take part, please join the group.

Thanks!

As previously announced, our first webinar, Designing for Magento: Learn the Basics, will be held tomorrow (Thursday 1/17) at 9:30 AM PST. Hundreds of people have signed up so far - we hope you can join us (registration is required).

Hope to see you then

Having been selected as a ‘showoff’ startup, we’ll be showcasing Magento next week (January 16th) at Twiistup. This is a great opportunity to meet the Magento Team. Although the event is fully sold out, you can still win two tickets by donating to Kiva.org.

What is Twiistup?

Twiistup connects people from technology, media and entertainment. Held at a nightclub, our quarterly events feature several startups chosen to ‘showoff’ their products & services to influential bloggers, fellow tech-heads, investors, the media and those interested in learning about what’s hot in tech. An alternative to traditional networking events, Twiistup mixes it up with tunes, video, bites, beverages, prizes, swag and the unexpected.

We look forward to seeing you there!

We are happy to announce the availability for download of Magento Preview version 0.7.14800. The major highlights of the release include the mass/batch grid updates (see related blog post), order editing and canceling through the administrative interface, and a new installation process.

* Please note (important): The payment module checkout functionality has been redeveloped for PayPal Website Payment Pro, PayFlowPro and Authorize.net. If you are using previous versions, we strongly recommend upgrading to the latest version.

New Functionality

• Add support for Magento PEAR channel installation and upgrades of Magento Connect extensions. Including a bootstrap installation process
• Limit shipping methods per country
• Client side Credit Card validation per type
• Order edit and cancel
• Add/edit gift messages in admin
• Ajax session expiration handling
• Mass grid updates for customers and products
• Reworked system configuration
• Send product to a friend with support for limited access and number of recipients.
• Polls visibility per store
• Shipping status tracking using API for the various shipping methods (support for full tracking information will be added in future releases)
• URL rewrites GUI

Enhancements and Bugfixes

• Payment module checkout functionality redone for: PayPal Website Payment Pro, PayFlowPro and Authorize.net
• Fixed cache lifetime and set cache by default during install, fixed cache options save
• Added installModuleSystemDefaults for installing default values for fields
• Fixed wrong target url in rewrites
• Fixed bug with moving product to shopping cart from ordered items and with address saving in order creation
• Product attribute saving bug fix
• Minor install fixes
• Fixed email sending problems when an order was saved
• Multi shipping progress bar fixed
• Wishlist ‘click here’ link fixed
• Fixed problems with retrieve store configuration
• Fixed automatic base dir calculation
• Fixed vote timing in poll module
• Fixed paygate config - added use CCV option for authorize.net and payflowpro
• Changed include_path order
• Moved system/filesystem/* fields data to config.xml
• Install improvements, added options for not using apache rewrites

Know Issues

• When doing guest checkout with register option selected, and there happens a payment error, the customer should have to login before retrying, because the customer account is already created
• Configurable products might be out of stock and not available to buy, even if they have available associated products
• There is no payment method information available when using Paypal Express checkout

We are pleased to announce the availability for download of Magento Preview version 0.6.13700. The major highlights of the release include the first implementation of a Magento DataFlow module (import/export tool), UPS and DHL shipping integration support, and catalog rewrite rules (for search engine optimization).

Major Highlights:

• Added DHL shipping method integration
• Added UPS XML shipping integration
• Added admin dashboard preview
• Added batch export/import tool preview
• Added catalog URL rewrites
• Added configurable option to show breadcrumbs on CMS pages

Impovements and Bugfixes:

• Improved collections performance
• Optimized core/email_template_filter
• Fixed backups creating bug
• Fixed CMS noroute, added 404 http status for not found page
• Added handling of ajax session expiration in frontend and in admin
• Added custom layout update xml field to CMS pages
• Fixed minor issues in tablerate export
• Added multiline form field type
• Moved subscription logic to Mage_Newsletter
• Disallowed deleting of default customer groups
• Fixed checking $_SERVER variables when not run from webserver
• Added storing original loaded data in models
• Fixed EAV cache
• Made admin secure loading when set up
• Fixed Vietnamese locale name
• Fixed few wishlist issues (shared wishlist display, wishlist links translation, add all to cart, product URLs in shared wishlist email)
• Fixed admin permissions grid issues
• Mysqli, pdo_mysql failsafe free result before statement fix
• Added possibility to show root category list of products in Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_List
• Fixed admin search, catalog search and newsletter queue bugs in admin
• Fixed loading some translation files
• Moved SKU to catalog/product entity table, fixed finding unique value in static attribute
• Fixed bug with cache tags in core/app
• Fixed utf-8 charset name
• Fixed per store attribute labels
• Fixed mcrypt key length
• Fixed Javascript bug in installation wizard
• Fixed secure URL validation during installation
• Few logical bugfixes for EAV collection and core resource setup
• Fixed search problem with ? in query
• Fixed problem with retrieving regions list in admin
• Changed default template for credit card info block to show only 4 last digits
• Fixed absolute/relative URLs bug

Known Issues:

• System fields values are not translated when exporting data
• Multistore and multiple values support in batch export/import tool is missing, right now we have only per store import/export
• Interactive file upload will be improved in the next releases
• We are awaiting for a community feedback on testing DHL shipping method integration
• There is no xml validation for batch export/import advanced profile
• Admin dashboard doesn’t show zero value entries
• Store filter exports all customers that belong to the website the store is in
• Open text ftp account password in xml

Notes:

• Right after the installation or upgrade go to the Admin -> System -> Cache Management, check the ‘Refresh Catalog Rewrites’ checkbox and click on ‘Save cache settings’ button in order to get new URL rewrites updated
• GUI for managing URL rewrites will be released in future releases