Say "Hello!" to DolphinPro 7.3 Beta in the new Chat!

Andrew Boon posted 27th of January 2016 in Dolphin.pro News. 29 comments.

DolphinPro 7.3 Beta is available for download. We are about a month ahead of the planned schedule. In the last few months we managed to re-arrange our support and development, so that we can now deliver better technical support and version updates in-line with the development roadmap. Yeah!

What's New in DolphinPro 7.3

DolphinPro 7.3 is the first version that leverages "social coding", powered by GitHub. And first of all we would like to acknowledge contributions that we have received for 7.3...

Contributions:

- Admin panel pages builder: full width column (thanks to https://github.com/Prashank25)

- Sites: settings titles changes (thanks to https://github.com/apachler)

- Keywords search: buttons instead of checkboxes (thanks tohttps://github.com/apachler)

Next, we're continuing the bug-squashing crusade. In 7.3 we've got rid of 62 of them pesky pugs and hope to catch some more during the beta-season.

62 bugs fixed: see full list on GitHub.

Now to the exciting part - enhancements! The most important two are Dolphin Connect and the new Chat (we call it "Chat+"), but there are quite a few more...

Enhancements:

- Chat+ module and integration

- OAuth Server module

- Dolphin Connect (OAuth client) module

- Moxiemanager as separate module (for licensed sites only)

- Timeline: "Repost" feature

- Timeline: settings to disable/enable particular uploaders

- Timeline: notifications for "Like" and "Repost" timeline actions

- Timeline: "Like" and "Repost" actions in Outline

- Timeline: icons instead of text links for actions

- Timeline: display URL thumbnail for "share URL" Timeline action

- Timeline: display all possible uploaders for media modules

- Timeline: comments to the comment notification are linked to the commented object

- Blogs: display views counter

- Payment: reCaptcha for "payment before join"

- Payment: allow to join for free when "payment before join" option is activated

- Privacy: site wide default privacy settings

- Languages enhancements: LTR/RTL support and language_COUNTRY code for each language

- Admin panel pages builder: text block and optional PHP block

- Admin panel builders: alphabetical sorting in builders

- Admin panel navigation menu builder: don't allow to delete system menu items

- Matchmaking fields: better default settings

- HTMLEditor: "attach_editor" alert event

- HTML based "Prompt" popup

- Include "fb:app_id" meta for URLs shared on Facebook

- New background image in EVO and ALT templates (reduced CPU load for viewers)

- Confirmation for profile deletion

- Ability to change language in admin panel

- New look for mobile apps block

- Permanent redirect to the correct URL

- Ability to specify profile ban duration

- Responsive fixes (image gallery, blog snippets)

- getSiteInfo function can fetch meta info and url thumbnail now

- .bx-hide-when-logged-in css class

- open_basedir restriction was removed

Playtime!

This is a BETA release. Not recommended for production sites. We provide upgrade patch for 7.2.1 to 7.3.0.b1, but you'd be better off making a clone site and upgrading for testing purposes only. We will be offering beta-to-release upgrade patch as well, but still we don't recommend updating production sites.

The easiest way to try things out is to play with the online demo. It has Chat+ installed as well, so come and say "Hi!".

Demo: https://demozzz.com/dolphin730b/

Upgrade Patch: https://www.boonex.com/trac/dolphin/wiki/7.2.1-7.3.0.B1

Version download: http://get.boonex.com/Dolphin-v.7.3

More About Chat+

A really good chat is a big challenge. It has to be cross-platform, responsive, scalable and fast! After a long and painful deliberation we decided to take what we believe is the most promising and powerful chat in the world, integrate it with DolphinPro and commit to full support of the package. We've chosen Rocket.Chat.

Rocket.Chat is an open-source MIT-licensed product, build on Meteor platform. It's a relatively new system, but we believe that it has made all the right choices in terms of technology, licensing and features. In other words - it's awesome!

So, DolphinPro now has a new chat, integrated with the site, using WebRTC API, supporting audio/video conferencing, voice messages, file-sharing, help-desk chat and even sporting accompanying native desktop apps and mobile apps. It's truly a future-proof chat with huge potential.

We plan to further improve level of integration of Chat+ in DolphinPro in every new version update. At this stage we have integrated authentication (powered by Dolphin Connect); avatars; usernames; site back-link and profile meta-data. Also the HelpDesk chat window is integrated for non-authenticated visitors (authenticated are supposed to use the chat itself).

Tomorrow we'll put out files and installation instructions for the Chat+, so stay tuned. The new chat requires dedicated server, so we decided to keep the old chat for those still on shared hosting accounts. When 7.3 is fully released, we expect it to be offered with Premium+ and Business+ subscriptions (Advanced+ is on shared hosting, so it can't run Chat+ yet). It also requires secure connection, so SSL is essential.

Anyway, we'll be talking a lot about this new chat in coming weeks. For now, just play with the demo and checkout the screen-shots...