Update highlights
We're happy to bring you the first Beta version of our third major rewritten XenForo 2 only mod: DragonByte Mail!
Before we delve into the changes:
- This is a Beta version, with sweeping database changes. Do not install this on a production forum without a backup that you can revert to in case something goes wrong. But please help us test it!
- This version will not run on XenForo 1. Going forward, the focus of development will be on the XF2 version.
- It is recommended that you disable the modification before updating, if you're upgrading from v4.0.x.
Without further ado, onto the changes!
Per-Mailing List Permissions
The per-mailing list permissions have been updated to take advantage of XF2's new "Content Permissions" system, meaning
you have to re-configure the mailing list permissions after updating.
"Email Stop" Integration
Speaking of integrating with XF2, both the Digest and Mailing List systems now support XF2's "Email Stop" system. This is the system that lets users unsubscribe from site mailings without requiring them to login.
Prior to this update, if the user indicated they wished to unsubscribe from all site mailings, they would still receive digest and mailing list emails unless they also manually unsubscribed from these.
Not only that, but the custom solution we used to support our own login-less unsubscribe feature has been replaced with the "Email Stop" system, so users can easily unsubscribe from all site mailings no matter what email they receive.
If you've ever received complaints from users that they were still subscribed even after they clicked "Unsubscribe from all site mailings", this is the update for you.
"Send Mail" UI / General UI changes
The UI for sending new email to a mailing list has been significantly improved. If your mailing list uses custom HTML (the "Custom Template" option), you're no longer required to enter both a text body and a HTML body for the email. XF2 will automatically generate a text body from your HTML.
For both the "Custom Template" and "Native Template" styles, there's now support for XF2's drafts system. This is the system you see when posting a new thread or a post, then come back to the same page later - you'll see your thread title and post content still there. Email subject, email body and chosen keywords will be saved automatically, so you don't have to manually copy anything back to a text editor if you have to shut off your computer for whatever reason
The UI across the entire product has been updated to follow XF2's standards, and the main list of all mailing lists has been updated to look more like a forum listing, for improved consistency with the rest of XF2.
Complete overhaul of email sending
When sending email to a mailing list, you would previously need to sit through your forum looping over your entire member base in 500 user increments, a time consuming process if you're running a large forum.
As of v4.1, DragonByte Mail now uses an implementation of the same code XF2 uses when you use the built-in "Email users" feature in the AdminCP. It will pre-determine how many users will receive your email based on criteria (such as "user is subscribed to this mailing list", "user has an email address on record" and "user state is valid"), then queue the emails to be delivered to users matching these criteria.
This queue will be processed by XF2's background task runner, so it happens automatically as soon as the email has been queued.
Not only does this negate the need to leave your browser open for a long time watching it loop over users, but it also allows us to give you an estimate of how many users will receive your email. The estimate isn't perfect, since keyword subscriptions aren't considered during this initial filtering of users, but it's a good indication
The same applies to the Digest, and you now also have the full set of user criteria (the same interface you see when searching for users via the AdminCP) to further narrow down who will receive your digest. It too will queue emails in a similar fashion and deliver them automatically.
Other, smaller changes
The controls for changing digest preferences (such as on/off, and frequency) has been moved to the standard "Email options" part of the user preferences page, rather than a stand-alone page.
Last, but by no means least, the SMTP Override options per-mailing list now uses the XF2 standard "Email transport" options you would configure in the email options page, so you're no longer constrained to overriding your mailing list's transport options with either SMTP or nothing.
Complete Change Log
Feature: Reworked the entire modification to be a native XF2 modification, for improved performance and compatibility
Feature: Improved per-mailing list permissions, now using the Content Permissions system in XF2
Feature: Mailing list unsubscriptions are now compatible with the EmailStop system in XenForo
Feature: When sending a new email to a mailing list, drafts are auto-saved so you can resume sending them later
Feature: Emails sent to a mailing list no longer requires you to sit through redirects going through your entire member base
Feature: After queuing an email to be sent to members subscribed to a mailing list, a banner will be displayed showing the number of users who will receive the email
Feature: Digest unsubscriptions are now compatible with the EmailStop system in XenForo
Feature: Digest settings are now accessible under the normal Email settings in the Preferences panel
Feature: Digests now support the full "user criteria" stack to control who will receive the digest
Change: Removed unneeded options from the Mailing List settings
Change: Reworked the "SMTP override" settings to be compatible with XF2's email transport system
Change: The mailing lists UI has been significantly reworked to resemble a forum / node listing
Change: The "send mail" UI has been significantly reworked to resemble a thread posting
Change: When sending mail to "custom template" mailing lists, you no longer have to enter a text body
![[DBTech] DragonByte Mail](/community/data/resource_icons/5/5867.jpg?1592168386){kind=icon}