ProcessWire Weekly #116

Latest core updates: ProcessWire 3.0.28 and 2.8.28

For the past week, as we can see from the commit log at GitHub, the focus has been on taking care of user-reported issues and making smaller tweaks in order to prepare for the release of the upcoming stable 2.8 and 3.0 versions of ProcessWire.

According to Ryan, smaller updates like these are likely to go on for the next couple of weeks. We're hoping to wrap up and deliver the next stable release – or double release, considering that both 2.8 and 3.0 are likely to come out at the same time – pretty soon, but first they need to be stable and solid.

That being said, now would be a perfect time to give our devns branch or, alternatively, the pw28 repository a try. Especially if you're just starting a new project, it would make sense to pick one of these development versions for that and if you spot anything that doesn't behave as expected, please let us know via GitHub issues. Thanks!

While there were no feature additions this week, in his latest blog post Ryan walks us through his plans for the next few weeks and has also included a handy little tutorial for adding your own utility methods to existing ProcessWire objects, so don't forget to check the post out at the processwire.com blog!

New module by Horst: Metadata EXIF adds support to reading EXIF metadata

The very first module we're introducing in this issue is Metadata Exif. This module was built and released by our resident photography and image manipulation expert Horst Nogajski and, in a nutshell, adds a new getExif() method to image fields for reading Exif metadata from image files:

// get full Exif metadata as an array:
$array = $image->getExif();

// get only specific keys as an array:
$options = array('Whitebalance', 'Flash', 'ISOSpeedRatings', 'UserComment');
$array = $image->getExif($options);

// get only specific keys as an object:
$options = array('toObject' => true, 'keys' => 'whitebalance', 'flash');
$object = $image->getExif($options);

For those not yet familiar with the concept of Exif, it is simply a standard for bundling metadata with images. Exif metadata holds various values, such as the color space of the image, exposure (or shutter) time, when and where an image was taken, which camera model was used, whether flash was used or not, and so on.

In order to improve usefulness of certain keys this module has support for returning formatted values, but you can also request all keys in their unformatted form. Overall the API of the Exif Metadata module is very simple and feels straightforward, yet still provides plenty of flexibility for those who need it.

For more options and examples don't forget to check out the support forum thread dedicated to the Exif Metadata module. Big thanks to Horst for his relentless work towards making ProcessWire a strong candidate for the best content management platform for photography enthusiasts!

Switch User Account adds the ability for admin users to log in as another user

Switch User Account is a newmodule built and released by Peter Burlingham, whom you might also know as the number one administrator behind our support forum. What this module does is that it adds a new page into the admin section, which predefined users can use to log in as other users.

That's the TL;DR version of what this module does, anyway – actually there are quite a few settings for defining who can use the features provided by this module and whom they can login as, and so on.

The most important use case for a module like this is the ability to almost literally see things from another users' point of view, which can be extremely useful for debugging issues, etc. That being said, this module should only be used when (and if) necessary.

Big thanks to Pete for sharing this module with us. Any module that has the potential of making the lives of hard-working admins easier is always welcome!

Introducing Dynamic Selects, a new and awesome commercial Inputfield module!

The third and final module for this week's issue is something quite special indeed. The module in question, Dynamic Selects, is a brand new commercial Inputfield by one of our most active contributors, Francis Otieno, known on our forums as Kongondo.

In a nutshell this module adds support for multiple related inputfields able to pull data from various data sources and work like an interactive filtering tool: the second input is filled based on the value selected for the first input, the third based on the value of the second input, and so on.

Check out the screencast below if you'd like to see this module in action:

Requests for a similar solution have been made multiple times on our forums, but there have been no clean, out-of-the-box solutions available – until now. Kongondo's module does a wonderful job and makes creating interrelated inputfields a breeze.

For more details about the Dynamic Selects module and it's features, pricing, licensing, etc. check out the Dynamic Selects support forum thread. Thanks!

Site of the week: Bruno e Luca

when it comes to design, every now and then it's good to just let go and break the rules – and our latest site of the week does exactly that by being unique in both design and functionality. This week we're happy to introduce the site of Bruno e Luca, Italian beauty salon with their distinctive web presence powered by ProcessWire!

There's certainly no shortage of effects, carousels, and transitions on this site. On most sites that would probably feel awkward and unusable, but in this case all those features have been implemented in a way that makes them fit seamlessly together. The result is a site that feels quite quirky, yet at the same time fascinating and fun to use.

Built by Nikita Krassiouk the site of Bruno e Luca is proudly powered by ProcessWire 2.7.2 and makes use of a whole bunch of familiar JavaScript plugins and libraries – jQuery Social Stream Plugin, Flickity and Isotope, just to name a few.

Congratulations to Nikita Krassiouk and Bruno e Luca for this wonderful site. We're delighted to have it in our sites directory and feature it here as our site of the week!

Stay tuned for our next issue

That's it for the 116th issue of ProcessWire Weekly. We'll be back with more news, updates, and content Saturday, 6th of August. As always, ProcessWire newsletter subscribers will get our updates a few days later.

Thanks for staying with us, once again. Hope you've had a great and productive week, and don't forget to check out the ProcessWire forums for more interesting topics. Until next week, happy hacking with ProcessWire!