XF 2.2 Assorted improvements

We're fast approaching the time where we're able to unleash XenForo 2.2 on this very forum but, before we do, we wanted to tell you about a few slightly more miscellaneous features that we've been keeping under our hat.

Advanced options switch​

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have already spotted some hints about this in some of our earlier screenshots.

XenForo has an ever-increasing number of options and then by the time you put add-on options in the mix, the options pages may start to feel somewhat daunting and unwieldy at times, especially for new admins to the platform. After all, there are nearly 200 options in XenForo alone.

We (and add-on developers) are now able to mark options or entire option groups as "advanced".

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What this intends to do is simply hide some of the options we deem to be more "advanced" so as to simplify the option lists while also making it very easy to unhide if the need presents itself.

To do this you can toggle "Advanced mode" for your admin account. The easiest way to do this is from within the option list itself when options are hidden. Clicking "Show them" will reveal the advanced options and enable "Advanced mode" permanently for your admin account.

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An alternative and perhaps slightly more pre-emptive way to enable Advanced mode is from the "cogs" menu in the admin control panel header. You just need to toggle the checkbox in the menu footer:

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Other places you can toggle it are from the list of option groups and while editing an administrator account.

 

[Mendalla]

Lots to digest there and I like some of it already. Not sure there's a "wow" moment in that list (my "wow" for 2.2 is thread types, I think), but definitely some things I'll use.

I've had some of my prefixes misused (understandably as well, since they are supposed to be short) so this is a real gamechanger for me since I use prefixes basically as sub-categories and they are required. Pretty awesome.

I haven't used prefixes much as of yet. Mostly in administrative forums. Though I think potential for people to misunderstand or misuse them is part of my reluctance so maybe this will get me thinking more about how to use them, esp. as we start introducing things like article and question threads.

 

[Chris D]

MG and RM next, right?

We do have stuff to announce for XFES, XFRM and XFMG though there are certain elements of these that are still in development.

With this in mind, it's very possible you will see XenForo 2.2 running here first, while we keep the same feature-set of the 2.1 versions of the add-ons running.

And then we can continue to finish those pieces while we simultaneously prepare for the first beta.

 

[Fulgura]

It's awesome

Anyway, and in order not to take too long to translate XenForo, would it be possible to obtain the XML with everything they have been adding until now?

Thanks!

 

[Hoffi]

Can‘t wait to see it here in action!

 

[Paul B]

The code will be made available to all customers at the same time when the public beta version is released.

 

[BassMan]

I hope XF 2.2 never comes out. I really like to read those HYS

Nice additions. Again!

 

[Chris D]

Anyway, and in order not to take too long to translate XenForo, would it be possible to obtain the XML with everything they have been adding until now?

There will be a public beta which will be the first opportunity for everyone to prepare translations, styles and add-ons.

 

[Radhi]

amazing

 

[Fulgura]

Ok, thanks

I suppose some hundred of new phrases has been added

 

[Frode789]

We do have stuff to announce for XFES, XFRM and XFMG though there are certain elements of these that are still in development.

With this in mind, it's very possible you will see XenForo 2.2 running here first, while we keep the same feature-set of the 2.1 versions of the add-ons running.

And then we can continue to finish those pieces while we simultaneously prepare for the first beta.

Thanks for the update Chris. Sounds reasonable =)

Hopefully the wait will be worthwhile

 

[sbj]

Marking the alert as read, how does it work on a mobile phone? Can we get a screenshot/video of that? The corner on bottom right is good enough for mouse clicks but on smartphones it might not be big enough I am afraid.

 

[Lawrence]

I really like the automatic saving of a draft after no typing for three seconds, that's big for me. Improved alerts behaviour too, as keeping certain ones unread so you can address the alert(s) at a later time will really be helpful for just about everyone (excluding cat owners, I am sure).

Prefix descriptions: bang on!

 

[beerForo]

Configurable job run trigger

The job system is a crucial cog in the XenForo machine to ensure that certain tasks can be run on a regular or as-scheduled basis, or split into multiple smaller chunks to be completed over a period of time.

Traditionally the jobs require some form of activity on your site to kick these processes off asynchronously in the background. Little do your anonymous guests know how crucial their activity is to the normal running or your site!

But what if there are situations where you don't always have activity on your site? It might be a private site that is in development, you might get very few visitors at certain times of the day, or you might simply want to take direct control of the process and execute it yourself.

Either way, this new option in XF 2.2 aims to help:

View attachment 228516
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By default we will continue to trigger jobs based on site activity, but if needed you can switch to a server-based trigger. This involves periodically executing a new CLI command xf:run-jobs.

Note: You will be responsible for putting in place some sort of config for crontab, cron.d, system.d or other task running process to ensure the command is run as expected.

SWEET! This should fix an issue I had with an add-on that needed to run at an exact time w/o being triggered by activity. Thanks for this!

So server based will use our server's timezone correct?

 

[Chris D]

SWEET! This should fix an issue I had with an add-on that needed to run at an exact time w/o being triggered by activity. Thanks for this!

So server based will use our server's timezone correct?

Cron times are still in UTC but that's somewhat irrelevant here.

You need to set the server trigger to once every minute so the timezone isn't really a factor.

 

[beerForo]

Yeah I have one that needs to run once a day at an exact time, will just figure the math out so yeah irrelevant. This is great thx.

 

[Mr. Jinx]

Thinking about all those new phrases that needs to be translated

 

[Chris D]

Marking the alert as read, how does it work on a mobile phone? Can we get a screenshot/video of that? The corner on bottom right is good enough for mouse clicks but on smartphones it might not be big enough I am afraid.

It is padded so it's not a bad touch target.

 

[Frode789]

When do you plan on releasing 2.2 on xenforo.com? Within the week?

 

[beerForo]

Re: Alerts, I'll probably change the "read circle" to a checkmark, since the circle used to always represent UNread in legacy forums.

 

[Biarritz64]

Nothing is better than listening Prince's music on my headphone while watching HYS here on xenforo