[DBTech] DragonByte eCommerce 5.1.2

Update highlights

Pretty juicy update for you this time, aimed at increasing recurring revenue. It has two main features:

License Expiry Reminders: Customers who purchase digital products can get an email reminder when their license is about to expire. They will also receive an alert on the forum when their license is about to expire, and another alert when their license has expired.

Easy License Renewals: If users have any expired licenses, they will see a "Renew Licenses" button on top of their license list. Clicking that button opens an overlay where they can easily renew their expiring or expired licenses.

As with all other emails, these emails integrates with the "Email Stop" system in XF2, so users can opt out without needing to log in. The alerts can be opted out of through the normal alert preferences in XenForo.

Furthermore, the checkout process has been improved by allowing users to change their update duration for products they are purchasing. No more need to delete the product from cart and re-adding it!


Complete Change Log

Feature: Now optionally sends an email to users when their licenses are about to expire
Feature: License expiry reminder alert on-site
Feature: Separate alert when a license has fully expired
Feature: "Renew Licenses" button in the license list (also linked in the email), lists all soon-to-be-expired or already expired licenses
Feature: Ability to change license length for a product on the Checkout screen
Change: Updated the cart item list to be more mobile friendly

Update highlights

Hot on the heels of the XenForo 2.1 exclusive v1.3.0 is this second update, with some minor changes as well as a few fixed bugs.

In the back-end, there have been many API changes, and it is now possible to generate API documentation specifically for your forum by running php cmd.php xf-dev:generate-api-docs DBTech/eCommerce --renderer=xf2Html --target=docs.txt --force to create a docs.txt file with XF2 pretty-printed API docs. The output, when added to a Page node, will be something like this

(API key generation is not live yet here @ DBTech, as the things I'm plotting aren't quite ready yet )

The "Add Product" buttons in the AdminCP were a little bit unwieldy on mobile devices, so they have now been condensed into a single drop-down menu.

In terms of bug fixes, an issue affecting clean installs, and an issue affecting the "Order fields" double-escaping the values when posting its thread, have been resolved.


Complete Change Log

Feature: The API overlay now has a "copy to clipboard" button
Feature: All API endpoints now have docblock comments, so you can generate documentation via the command line
Change: The "Add product" buttons in the AdminCP have been condensed into a single drop-down menu
Change: Changed the icons for the "Add Product" buttons in the front-end
Fix: Fixed an issue where order fields would have their values double-escaped when posting the resulting thread
Fix: FIxed an issue where a clean install of v1.3.0 would fail due to an incorrect default value for one of the options

Update highlights

This update switches development focus over to XenForo 2.1, with this & all future releases requiring XF 2.1

Old "Likes" have been converted to "Reactions", with full support for both Products and Downloads.

The new "Bookmarks" feature in 2.1 can also be used with Products and Downloads. Your customers can now create their own wish list!

XenForo 2.1 also features a new REST API, and this version adds support for it for common actions such as viewing products, but also generating downloads.
In the future, I will be interfacing with ThemeHouse's "Install & Upgrade" add-on to enable you to install upgrades from DBTech without needing to visit our site, and through the API you will be able to implement the same feature for your site (if you're also selling XenForo 2.1 add-ons, that is )

Lastly, various other compatibility changes have been applied.


Complete Change Log

Feature: Reactions support for Products and Downloads
Feature: Bookmarks support for Products and Downloads
Feature: API support
Change: Various compatibility changes for XenForo 2.1

Because of a backwards breaking change in XenForo 2.1, and because I plan to take advantage of new features only available in XenForo 2.1, the next version will require XenForo 2.1.

The update will update the "Likes" integration to support "Reactions", and will introduce support for the new "Bookmarking" feature.

The current version will NOT work with XenForo 2.1. A blocking issue has been identified with XenForo 2.1:

• Certain Cron jobs will not work due to a change in the back-end code that powers XenForo (A.K.A. "The Guzzle Change")

The issue has been fixed in an internal build that will be released A.S.A.P., once I am confident enough there are no other blocking issues.

Because this is a rather large mod with a rather critical feature set, the current XenForo 2.1 version is running @ our site for extended real-world testing prior to release.

Update highlights

This update is actually a major feature update, contrary to what the version number would lead you to believe. I'd already reserved v1.3.0 for the XF 2.1 compatible version, so I didn't have much of a choice

Due to popular demand, users can now cancel orders that are stuck "awaiting payment" via their order list. This was already available to admins, but users can now finally do it themselves.

Users can also now see a list of their licenses for a certain product when viewing that product. Easier than ever to download updates!

I've also made various improvements that should help usability when you use the "License fields" feature (such as for an installation URL). Users will now have an easier time figuring out what to do to be able to download their products.

There's also a new feature that allows you to validate your users' billing address to their IP address. This could come in handy for EU-based businesses where you charge different sales tax / VAT based on the user's country.

Lastly, this update features improved compatibility with PHP 7.3.

This will be the last release compatible with XenForo 2.0. All future releases in the v1.3.x series and beyond will be compatible with XenForo 2.1.0+ only.


Complete Change Log

Feature: Users can now cancel orders awaiting payment
Feature: A license list is now available when viewing the product information page
Feature: The "Missing license information" label is now a link
Feature: Instead of showing a disabled "Download" button, an "Edit license" button is now shown if there's missing license information
Feature: New option to validate the billing address' country against the user's current IP
Change: Eliminate unneeded query if sales are globally disabled
Fix: PHP 7.3 compatibility fix

Update highlights

This release is a quick update to address an issue where visibility checks were not being performed for add-on products being displayed in the sidebar in the product view. This could lead to soft-deleted products, or products you have restricted permissions for, to still appear (albeit not purchasable).

To test whether this fix has resolved any issue you may be experiencing, ensure the dbtech_ecommerce_product_wrapper template is either not customised or that this line:
<xf:foreach loop="$product.Children" value="$childProduct">
now reads:
<xf:foreach loop="$product.Children" value="$childProduct" if="$childProduct.canView()">
And then try viewing the product page as a guest (such as via Incognito mode).

As part of the process of reviewing this issue, I also found minor optimisation possibilities that slightly reduced the amount of queries needed to generate the product view page.


Complete Change Log

Change: Reduced the number of queries needed to load the product view page
Fix: Fixed an issue where visibility checks were not being performed on add-on products before display on the product view page

Update highlights

This release adds two new requested features; distinct pricing labels for products on sale, and automatic shipping method selection for physical products.

Products that are on sale will now display their pricing label in green, with the savings amount. This helps users tell whether they're getting a good deal, if they weren't registered on your forum when you started the sale (and thus didn't receive the information email).

Physical products will now also intelligently select default shipping methods based on the given address. This can occur in one of two ways:

1. User is placing an entirely new order, and this is the first item in their cart OR User is changing their shipping address
   In this case, when the user has chosen their shipping address, the applicable shipping method will be applied to the order item(s).
   
   
2. User is adding a new item to an existing order
   In this case, the shipping method will be applied as soon as the item is saved in their shopping basket, without them needing to edit and save their address like in case #1.

If you have two or more shipping addresses that are applicable to the shipping address county, no shipping method is selected.

Lastly, an issue with changing the shipping address has been addressed. Previously, it was possible for the user to choose a shipping method applicable to country A, then change their country to B, and keep their shipping method selection.

The shipping method is now validated when saving the shipping address instead of only being validated when the user chooses a new shipping method.


Complete Change Log

Feature: Products that are on sale will have a distinct pricing badge
Feature: Physical products with only one applicable shipping method will have it set as default
Fix: If the shipping address changes, also reset selected shipping method for physical product (if it is no longer applicable)

Update highlights

Just a quick update to work around an issue that will occur after upgrading your forum to XF 2.0.12; various emails from this mod would fail to send, and server errors with "Undefined index" messages would be generated.

Also, the "Download demo" link incorrectly attempted to open an overlay, which is a left-over from before the "Simple download" interface was added.


Complete Change Log

Fix: Fixed various emails not sending correctly after upgrading to XF 2.0.12
Fix: Fixed an issue where the "Download demo" link would open in an overlay

Update highlights

After a short and sweet Beta period, it's time to go for Gold!

New in this release is the ability to control the display style for the "Top Products" and "New Products" widgets. The previous versions actually only displayed products as rows, but the default now changes based on your style preference of grid vs rows.
You can also force these widgets to display rows or grid regardless of your style preference, on a per-widget basis.

Based on feedback @ our site, we've changed the way the cart drop-down displays prices. Previously, this drop-down would display the base prices of an item. This was fine if there were no ongoing sales, but it was understandably confusing for potential purchasers to be told the product was on sale, then the cart drop-down showed the full price.
The price in the drop-down will now update with sales, automatic discounts, applicable sales tax, and (for physical products) shipping costs.

Lastly, a couple issues with the Sales system has been resolved.

If you want the full details on the initial v1.2.0 release, you can check it out here: https://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/store/dragonbyte-ecommerce.371/release/1747/


Complete Change Log

Feature: Added display style options for Top Products and New Products widgets (grid vs list vs auto)
Change: The cart popup now displays the calculated order total and calculated item price (including discounts, shipping costs and sales taxes)
Fix: Fixed an issue where the Sale emails would send to banned users and users who had a user state other than "Valid"
Fix: Fixed an issue where a scheduled sale would not activate correctly

Update highlights

This release contains a major new feature as well as other fixes & enhancements.

The biggest news is the inclusion of guest orders. If this feature is enabled, and a user's cart does not contain any digital products, the checkout process will be altered so that registration / login is no longer required.

As mentioned, this feature only works for physical products. A shopping cart will automatically switch back to requiring a forum account regardless of whether guest orders have been enabled.

In other news, background work has started for compatibility with the new API system in XenForo 2.1.
Prior to the release of XF 2.1, and for a period after the stable release of XF 2.1, the API system will be in use here @ DBTech to add support for the "Install & Upgrade" product. After we're confident in the security and stability of the system, full support will be added to the public release (which will then require XF 2.1 to run).

Last on the list of changes; some CSS classes have been added to aid in customising the product information sidebar.

A couple discovered bugs have also been resolved.

If you want the full details on the v1.2.0 release, you can check it out here: https://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/store/dragonbyte-ecommerce.371/release/1747/


Complete Change Log

Feature: Guest orders (physical products only)
Feature: Added a setting for enabling the API system [placeholder for XF 2.1 feature]
Change: Added CSS classes to various elements in the product information sidebar
Fix: The phrase "mod_log.dbtech_ecommerce_product_prefix" was missing from the system
Fix: Fixed a HTML validation issue with the product information sidebar