Not so long ago we showed you the new progressive web app functionality coming in XF 2.2 and since then we've added a couple of related bits which we are including as of XenForo 2.2 Beta 2.
PWA setup helper
There are a number of requirements you need to meet before a PWA becomes installable by most browsers. Some of these requirements are server config related, others are options, some are language based and some are style based.
While they're not particularly strenuous, we thought it would be worth highlighting all of these requirements in one place to make the process of setting up your PWA even easier.
To check if your forum meets the requirements to be installable as a progressive web app you now just need to head over to Admin >...
Have you seen...?
This forum spotlights some of XenForo's interesting features. Spotlights on features in upcoming releases will be posted here.
XenForo Resource Manager (XFRM) 2.2 sees a range of new features and improvements. Some of these are a result of new integrations with XenForo 2.2 itself, while others are exclusive new features to XFRM itself.
Resource teams
Software projects are often collaborative efforts, and even when they are not, there may be ancillary staff on hand to handle customer support and sales.
This fact is recognised in XFRM 2.2 with the advent of Resource teams.
After enabling the option through the admin control panel, resource owners will be able to delegate tasks to members of the team they define.
Team members may perform any action on a resource as though they were the owner, although deletion of the resource is reserved solely for the...
When reading a quoted a message, one often wants to go and read the original message in order to get the context of the posts around it.
XenForo enhances this functionality by detecting whether or not the quoted message is on the same page as the one you are viewing, and animating a move from the quote to the original message, so you get an idea of how many messages are inbetween the two and other visual cues.
You can see it in action here:
http://xenforo.com/community/posts/1107/
Click the little up arrow on that post, after 'Kier Said' to see the effect.
This week, we're delighted to introduce a new feature in XenForo 2.3 that enhances the way you can share content on your forum. Plus, we'll show you how easy it is to share any content from your forum to other platforms using our new content embedding feature.
Rich previews for content
If you're already familiar with URL unfurling, content embedding works similarly. In XenForo 2.2, when you post a link to content on your forum, we perform an HTTP request, download a portion of the content, and extract metadata such as the page title, description, and a logo. If you need a refresher on URL unfurling, you can find our original announcement from XenForo 2.1 here...
Here at XenForo, we like to keep our development environments up-to-date and as useful as possible, and from time to time we include some of our findings in our online documentation.
Recently, we've published an easy setup guide for a Windows-based development environment and now we've added both a guide for building a very flexible macOS-based system and instructions for setting-up a similar multi-PHP deployment in Linux.
Multiple, simultaneous PHP versions
The macOS and Linux installation guides bring the ability to simultaneously run multiple versions of PHP with Xdebug without having to switch the active version.
This can be invaluable for developers who want to build new code with PHP 8, but also want to maintain add-ons...
It's finally here! Today we are pleased to mark the next major milestone towards a stable release of XenForo 2.3 and this time we need your help!
As per the announcement XenForo 2.3 Beta 1 is now available to all licensed self-hosted customers. We'd very much appreciate your thoughts, your feedback, and your uncanny ability to break things in ways we can't even imagine. But, as ever, please do not even contemplate installing it on your live forum at this point. There will be bugs; some of which we know about and are yet to be fixed, and others which are yet to be discovered. No support is provided for Beta releases aside from saying "we told you so" and advising you to restore from a backup! 😉
Please for goodness sake, take a backup...
Understandably, many of you are chomping at the bit to start utilising our new forum and thread types. But in a lot of cases if you don't want or need to convert entire forums to a specific type (which would convert the threads within to the associated type) your existing threads will remain as standard discussions.
There are a few use cases to be considered and we have addressed these in XF 2.2 Beta 2.
Converting a single thread to a specific type
Moderators who have the "Manage any thread" permission will now be able to access the "Change thread type" option in the "More options" menu when viewing a thread.
If a specific type requires additional configuration then that is displayed after clicking "Continue..." and a confirmation...
XenForo has always allowed members to switch the visibility of their online status, allowing them to browse without announcing their presence to other visitors. However, there are times when a person who normally browses in visible mode might want to quickly switch to invisible mode for a short time.
Normally, this would involve a trip to the Privacy Settings editor, but it's now possible to switch the system on and off instantly with a single click in your visitor menu.
First thing's first, don't panic, don't rush to your customer area, there is no Beta 3 release today! We are likely to be moving the remaining HYS posts to Thursday/Friday, coinciding with those features rolling out to this very forum so we get some extended testing and feedback before they appear in a subsequent Beta.
Next order of business, before we get into what's coming in Beta 3, is a big thank you to Shawn, AKA @digitalpoint. We're big fans of Shawn's work and he's genuinely a stand up guy, always very willing to help out. Shawn was kindly willing to give us his Security & Passkeys add-on and this gave us the leg up we needed to introduce this feature at rather short notice. It has morphed slightly, and does not entirely replace...
Since the initial release of XenForo 2.3, there has been a new system working away behind the scenes. One that some developers might have spotted but one that we hadn't actually talked about yet, because it wasn't relevant. Until now!
Let's talk about this somewhat underlying system first.
Content activity log
This is a generic system, based on content types, which we strongly recommend you consider using for your own add-ons. Essentially what this does is keep a log of content and tracks various metrics including view counts, reaction count, reaction score and content vote counts/scores. A deeper dive into the technical bits involved in its implementation is beyond the scope of this post, but developers might want to check...
Today is the day we sadly have to report that this is the final 'Have you seen...?' thread for XenForo 2.3. While there are still changes planned, these will almost exclusively be changes to existing features, bug fixes and miscellaneous improvements that aren't significant enough for their own thread. But this only brings with it the implication of very good news to come as we start wrapping up the beta process for XenForo 2.3 and rocket towards a stable release as soon as possible.
There's still a lot of work ahead but at the very least we will still be aiming for (almost) weekly Beta/Release candidate releases from this point forwards. Of course our very next release will be Beta 5 and that's what we're here to talk about today. The...
Brand new in XenForo 2.3.0 Beta 2 is support for a few long overdue enhancements related to our payment and purchasable system. Let's look at each of these below!
Stripe Checkout
Stripe Checkout is Stripe's native and hosted checkout page which not only brings with it some powerful customisability, it also makes accepting new payment methods completely trivial and available in an instant. Allow user upgrades and other purchasables to be purchased with options for "Buy Now Pay Later" (e.g. Klarna, ClearPay), popular region-specific bank redirects (such as iDEAL and Sofort), and popular online wallets (such as Alipay and Revolut). You can even accept payments through PayPal! Through Stripe! 😲
You can enable and configure as many payment...
