ProcessWire Weekly #260

Latest core updates: ProcessWire 3.0.131

In the latest post at the processwire.com blog we're taking a closer look at ProcessWire 3.0.131, the latest core version now available via the dev branch. This release contains a bunch of interesting new features:

• Support for partial downloads (HTTP_RANGE) for WireHttp
  • Thanks to newly added HTTP_RANGE support, the sendFile() method of the WireHttp core class allows pausing and resuming downloads, and streaming assets, such as audio and video files. While originally added for iOS support, this feature has a lot of potential for download oriented or media rich sites.
    More about WireHttp partial downloads support »
• UI upgrades for the comments manager, "featured" comments, and a new FieldtypeComments::count() method
  • Our built-in comments support has received a number of upgrades, such as UI improvements to the comments manager tool, a new "featured" status for individual comments, and also a brand new count() method to accompany the pre-existing find() method.
    More about the comments manager and FieldtypeComments updates »
• New config setting sessionForceIP
  • This setting allows you to override the $_SERVER[‘REMOTE_ADDR’] value, or whatever else ProcessWire might see as the IP of the client visiting the site. This feature is particularly useful in case you're using a load balancer for your site, or for some other reason need full control over client IP resolution.
    More about the new sessionForceIP config setting »

In the latest blog post there's also a quick update on some upcoming Pro module updates. Last week we mentioned that the FormBuilder module was getting a built-in Stripe integration, and currently Ryan is looking into adding a Google Sheets integration as well. Repeater Matrix is also being worked on, and hopefully we'll be able to tell more about that in the next few weeks.

Be sure to check out the blog post from Ryan for more details on the core updates mentioned here, and feel free to post a comment there if you have any questions or comments on the topics covered. Thanks!

New module: Page Field Info

When you've got a Page field with a number of possible selections and you'd like to give the content editor a bit of context regarding the choices available, what do you do? You can definitely use the description and notes fields for that, but while that works, it's not very elegant, and it can get kind of messy if you've got a lot of choices to explain.

That's exactly where Page Field Info, the latest contender in the steady stream of third party modules from Robin Sallis, steps in. What this handy little module does is that it allows you to add additional information to Page select inputfields in the form of a tooltip or info text at the bottom of the field:

You can configure the module on a field-by-field basis, display either the tooltip or the info text (or both), define the text or textarea field that contains the displayed info text, and – as an advanced use case – even hook into the getPageInfo() method to modify it on the fly.

Big thanks to Robin for sharing another useful module with us – as always, your work is very much appreciated!

New module: Assets Backup

Assets Backup is a brand new module from Michael Jaros. This module is still a work in progress, but what it does is essentially duplicating the features of the DatabaseBackup module from Ryan and reapplying them to the context of site assets, i.e. the /site/assets/files/ directory.

This module provides an Admin GUI for ...

• backing up the /site/assets/files/ directory,
• downloading backup files as a ZIP archive,
• uploading a new ZIP archive, and
• restoring the assets from an earlier backup.

As mentioned above this module is still a work in progress, and the stated stability of the module is currently "alpha" – which basically means that while it should work as expected, it's definitely not recommended to install or use it in production quite yet.

Thanks to Michael for sharing his work with us – really looking forward to seeing a more polished version of this module!

Site of the week: family centre Furtwangen

For this weeks issue we had some really great sites to choose from, and our pick for the week is the newly released website of family centre in Furtwangen. The family centre is an association of three Catholic day-care centres: the kindergartens Maria Goretti and St. Martin, and the children's house St. Elisabeth. This website was built by designconcepts GmbH, and it's one of the most vibrant sites we've featured in a while: loads of color, pictures everywhere, and a layout that defies the current norm.

In fact one of the most notable features of this brightly-colored site is the layout: entering the site you start with a left aligned menu bar, which behaves as a drawer-style menu, with all the content represented as draw-out panels. Combine that with the accordion elements used in those panels and you've got a pretty interesting layout concept – which, thanks to some AJAX magic, also loads really swiftly.

The structure and the color-separated areas make it easy for visitors to enter the site. The color palette used for this is derived from the logo and gives the site a playful and friendly appearance. In the background, large-format pictures give a first impression and create an authentic atmosphere.
– Andreas Scheffczyk of designconcepts GmbH

Behind the scenes there are a number of third party modules powering this site, such as Cookie Management Banner, Markup Sitemap XML, ProCache, and Repeater Matrix. For developer convenience there's the Tracy Debugger module installed, and finally the ProcessWire Upgrade module makes keeping core and modules up to date a trivial task.

Big thanks to Andreas and the folks at designconcepts for sharing this project with us, and our congratulations to the family centre Furtwangen for their new website!

Stay tuned for our next issue

That's it for the 260th issue of ProcessWire Weekly. We'll be back with more news, updates, and content Saturday, 11th of May. 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!