ProcessWire weekly #10

Brief summary of latest updates in ProcessWire's dev branch

Latest updates in the dev branch of ProcessWire include ..

• small optimizations for in-memory selectors and .htaccess (where requests for invalid URLs are now by default sent directly to 404 page),
• various improvements related to command-line use, including a fix for user role checking
• introduction of some template-level settings previously only available in advanced mode to 'Advanced' tab and
• a new system that alerts superusers of outdated .htacces or index.php files.

One relatively small but useful update is the addition of a list of run-time settings at the end of /wire/config.php. These can't be overwritten in /site/config.php, but it's good to have documentation about what these options are and how they work in one place.

There's also one new config variable, $config->cli, which returns true if ProcessWire recognizes being used from command-line.

ProcessWire tutorials section, content by Joss Sanglier and Ryan Cramer

Here's the start of a new Tutorials section we're building at ProcessWire: http://t.co/LH8kuBJt0R

— ProcessWire (@processwire) July 18, 2014

This is probably the one news item you really don't want to miss this week: Joss and Ryan have been working on a brand new tutorials section at processwire.com. If you're looking for a place to start learning ProcessWire and prefer to learn by example, this is your best bet.

I haven't yet had the chance to follow these new tutorials, but knowing just how awesome Joss is as a storyteller and writer and how well Ryan knows the things he talks about (well, he did build ProcessWire, after all..) they should be interesting to follow, to say the least.

There's already content for both beginner and intermediate level users, so be sure to head there (but only after this post, of course).

Schedule Cloud Backups for ProcessWire

Just a few weeks after Nelson Mendes' Amazon S3 / Cloudfront module was published, we've got another module that utilises Amazon S3 for file storage – this time with a slightly different angle: Schedule Cloud Backups by David Robertson introduces the ability to schedule automatic backups of a site to S3 cloud storage.

The concept is simple, really: set up a cron task to load a page every day and the module takes care of creating an SQL dump file, packaging your site's assets and delivering those behind the scenes to Amazon S3. According to David's comments in the support forum thread for the module, support for other storage engines might be added later.

For those looking to easily secure their sites from disasters small and large, this is a great tool to know. Even if you already have your server-level backups worked out, restoring entire server can take some time. Reinstalling a site from SQL dump and assets package is fast and easy.

Congratulations to David for his first (public) ProcessWire module – great work!

Highlights from the forum: how-to for creating PDF files and module updates

Creating PDF files from ProcessWire with custom template code is quite simple, as this tutorial by Can explains. The tutorial and provided sample code walk you through all the steps you'll need to take in order to build your own, custom-made template for spitting out PDF files.

For those who prefer a module solution over custom template code, Wanze has just posted a new dev release of his refactored Pages2Pdf module. This version adds support for MPDF via separate WirePDF module, makes it possible to create PDFs from any page and introduces various minor improvements.

In other news this week, PassiveCron is nearing it's first public beta; the plan is to start beta testing next week. In the meantime, Marvin from Conclurer, the company behind upcoming PassiveCron and already existing minimize.pw service, has posted new screenshots of PassiveCron's dashboard and reports views.

If you ask me, the service is starting to look really cool!

Read the CMS Critic ProcessWire vs. WordPress article yet?

This was already mentioned in previous ProcessWire weekly, but considering the attention it still gets in various places, it probably won't hurt to mention it again: CMS Critic has recently posted an article comparing WordPress and ProcessWire, sparking a bit of discussion.

The post is worth reading – and so are the comments it has received. If you've got an opinion on the article or the points raised in the comments and would like to share your opinion, why don't you take the time to add your voice to the discussion?

Keep in mind, though, that there are at least as many opinions as there are developers. If you are like me and believe that ProcessWire is the most awesome system out there, never hesitate to say it out loud, but a little bit of friendliness rarely hurts.. no-one wants to turn a sensible discussion into an all-out flame war after all.

Featured site of the week is.. CMS Critic!

In many ways this is long overdue; CMS Critic is one of the most impressive, and probably influential, ProcessWire sites I've come across – and the development story published by Ryan back in 2013 is one of the most comprehensive summaries of a ProcessWire site project.

The layout and look derive from Foundation's blog profile and, according to Ryan, evolved into their current form as a collaboration between him and Mike Johnston, the Editor-in-Chief and founder of CMS Critic. Design of the site is simple, friendly and contains very few distracting elements, thus giving content the focus it deserves.

For both Ryan and Mike: congratulations for a job well done!

Stay tuned for our next issue

That's it for ProcessWire weekly #10 – hope you've enjoyed reading our little weekly summary. We'll be back with more news next week. In the meantime, if you enjoy using ProcessWire and haven't done so yet, don't forget to nominate it for Critics Choice CMS Awards.

ProcessWire weekly #11 will be out Saturday, 26th of July. Until then, happy hacking with ProcessWire!