XenForo 1.0.0 Beta 4 Released

Today, we are proud to present the fourth public beta release of XenForo 1.0.0. Our work to complete functionality and resolve bugs is ongoing, but we have reached a point where it is prudent to package-up what we have done so far and allow customers to benefit from its changes.

All licensed customers may now download the new version from the customer area.

Installation and upgrade instructions follow this message.

This is Beta Software

Please remember that this is beta software. It contains known bugs and incomplete functionality. We do not recommend running beta software in a production environment, and support is limited at this time to questions here on the community forums.

If you choose to run beta software, it is your responsibility to ensure that you make a backup of your data.

Notable Changes

While there are too many changes to list individually and the majority of those are bug fixes, there are some major changes and useful improvements we would like to highlight.

Template Hooks

Some template hooks have been added. To use these, you must interact with the template_hook code event. Template hooks can be used to prepend or append content to the wrapped block, replace the wrapped block, or manipulate elements within the wrapped block. Within areas wrapped in <xen:hook> tags, you may see some additional HTML comments that you can use to help make particular changes.​

​

Adding template hooks is an ongoing task.​

Removal of Home Tab/Link

If you do not enter a home URL in the options, the "Home" tab and link in the bread crumb will no longer appear.​

Multiple Navigation Tab Positions for Developers

Developers utilizing the navigation_tabs event can now choose the position where their new tab will appear.​

​

Additionally, if a user does not enter a home URL, the first tab inserted into the "home" position will assume that duty.​

Avatar Tweaks

Avatars will now maintain their original file format when being resized. For example, if a PNG is uploaded as an avatar, when the small and medium size versions are created, they will be PNGs as well. Previously, all small and medium versions were converted to JPG for smaller file sizes.​

​

Additionally, JPG quality has been increased for all newly uploaded avatars.​

Insert All Attached Images

There have been various requests for controls to allow all attached images to be inserted into a post with a single click. Beta 4 now adds buttons to insert all images as thumbnails or as full-sized images.​

​

Additional Style Properties

The work on style properties is nearing completion, and we anticipate that in the next beta release will see all the CSS that we intend to be controlled by style properties being so.​

​

For beta 4 there are several new properties, allowing finer control over overlays, forms, member list items, tabs and various other interface items.​

Helper Spans

Several templates now include what we have called helper spans. These are simply empty spans with a class of 'helper' that are placed at strategic positions within templates to allow styling effects to be added.​

​

We are making use of one of these helper spans for the snow graphics that we have temporarily added to our navigation bar here on XenForo.com.​

​

​

If you can think of other templates that could reasonably use helper spans that will be generally useful, please let us know.​

Mobile Browser Changes

If you browse XenForo forums with an iPhone or other touch-based browser, thread previews will no longer be displayed when you click on thread titles, as this was unbelievably annoying.​

Library Updates

jQuery has been updated to 1.4.4 and TinyMCE has been updated to 3.3.9.2. The next release should see Zend Framework updated to 1.11.1, pending testing.​

Upgrade Package Download

​

When downloading XenForo, you now have the option to download an "upgrade package". This simply removes a few files or directories that should not be uploaded when you are doing an upgrade. As an example, the data and internal_data directories are not included in the upgrade package as when doing an upgrade, the contents are not important. Additionally, the default .htaccess file is not included in the upgrade package, ensuring that any changes you make to it are maintained across upgrades.​

​

If you download the upgrade package to do a fresh install, you will simply have to create the data and internal_data directories manually.​

 

[XenForo]

Installation Instructions

If you are installing XenForo for the first time, please ensure that you do not download the upgrade package from the customer area.

To install XenForo, you will need to extract the zip and upload all the files from the contained upload directory onto your web server. You may upload into your web root, or any folder within the web root. This shall be referred to as your XenForo Directory.

Having uploaded the necessary files, you should direct your web browser to the URL that corresponds to your XenForo Directory and add '/install' to the address (eg: http://www.example.com/xenforo/install). This will trigger the installation process, which will guide you through the necessary steps to get a working XenForo installation running on your server.

Please note that the installation routine will direct you to ensure that the data and internal_data directories within your XenForo Directory are writeable by the webserver (ie: chmod 0777).

 

[XenForo]

Upgrade Instructions

If you are planning on upgrading, please ensure that you download the upgrade package from the customer area.

To upgrade an existing XenForo installation, you will need to extract the zip and upload all files within the upload directory to your existing XenForo Directory, overwriting all files.

Note that you should ensure that the data and internal_data directories remain writable by the webserver (ie: chmod 0777). In most cases, they should remain writable and you should not need to take action.

Once the files are uploaded, your XenForo installation will automatically be closed until the upgrade is complete. To begin the upgrade, go to the URL that corresponds to <your XenForo Directory>/install (eg: http://www.example.com/xenforo/install). You will be instructed to login as an administrator and guided through the steps. Once the upgrade is complete, your XenForo will automatically be reopened.

 

[Mike]

We've discovered an issue with the outdated templates section of the admin control panel. This isn't actually a new issue; it appears to have been in the previous releases. This issue prevents some templates that have legitimately changed from showing up in this list. Unfortunately, this does make it harder to determine what customizations need to be reapplied.

While a lot of template changes have been made in beta 4, only a portion have important changes. A non-exhaustive list of these templates follows. If you have customizations in any of these templates, it is recommend that you revert and recustomize them.

• attached_files
• attached_files.css
• attachment_editor
• attachment_editor.css
• attachment_editor_attachment
• breadcrumb
• captcha_recaptcha
• chooser_overlay.css
• editor_ui.css
• find_new_threads
• footer
• forum_view
• member_list
• member_list.css
• message_deleted_placeholder
• message_user_info
• navigation
• node_forum_level_2
• page_container_js_body
• poll_block
• profile_post_deleted
• quick_reply
• search_form
• style_chooser
• thread_list
• thread_view
• xenforo.css
• xenforo_member_list_item.css
• xenforo_tabs.css

When the next release is made, all outdated templates will be listed correctly.