ProcessWire Weekly #261

Introducing FormBuilder v38

This week at the processwire.com blog Ryan talks about a new version (v38) of the commercial FormBuilder module.

This version has been in the works for a while, and it's indeed a fairly major update over previous versions. This is also the first "ProcessWire 3.x native" version of FormBuilder, which basically means that it has the ProcessWire namespace added, and the recommended version to run it on is ProcessWire 3.0.132 (or newer).

New features in this version include:

• Support for importing fields or form properties into existing forms, effectively merging two forms. The module provides a kind of a diff GUI, with checkboxes to choose what to import, to help you through this process.
• The Stripe payment module is now available as an optional addition for all FormBuilder license owners. Just download and install the latest version of FormBuilder and the Stripe module and you're good to go.
• Output frameworks (Bootstrap, Foundation, Uikit 2 and 3) have all been updated – as well as the basic framework, which now both looks better, and is also easier to customize.
• There are new module config settings for selecting which WireMail module to use for messages sent from FormBuilder, the default sender address, and the autoresponder "from" name and "reply-to" address.
• Support for downloading a form as a JSON file in addition to the pre-existing copy-paste option.
• New "Use UTF-8 BOM in CSV?" option for CSV exports, which should fix problems related to specific Excel versions.

In addition there are various GUI improvements and smaller fixes included in this release. You can find a bunch of screenshots and a full changelog – as well as a list of features still being worked on, such as multi-page forms and new inputfield types – from the latest post at the processwire.com blog.

Next week we might have some news regarding the RepeaterMatrix Pro module, and we should also have a new release of ProcessWire to introduce. Until then, be sure to check out the blog post mentioned above. Thanks!

New module: RockMigrations

RockMigrations is relatively new third party module – in fact so new, that as of this writing it's still in alpha stage. This module was developed by Bernhard Baumrock and aims to solve a familiar issue: migrating sites from development to production with ease.

Here's a very simple migration file for RockMigrations, just for an example:

$upgrade = function(RockMigrations $rm) {
$rm->createField('yournewfield', 'text');
};
$downgrade = function(RockMigrations $rm) {
$rm->deleteField('yournewfield');
};

Typically migrations would be defined in a specific module and then run automatically when said module is upgraded (or downgraded), but you can also run them programmatically, by using RockMigrations methods, such as execute($from, $to), up($version), or down($version).

Since we already have the great Migrations module from Benjamin Milde, one might ask why we need another one, and what sets RockMigrations apart from Migrations. Well, there are two things that set Migrations and RockMigrations apart:

• For Migrations module the migration files are always in a centralized location. With RockMigrations each module may specify migration files of its own.
• Syntax, obviously. Each module has its own way of doing things, and while both are pretty easy, you may find one or the other preferable.

Both approaches have benefits and drawbacks, and I'd highly recommend checking out both Migrations and RockMigrations before making a choice of which one to implement into your process. That being said, a migrations module can be tremendously helpful if you're developing sites in one environment, and then deploying them to another.

Big thanks to Bernhard for his work on this module. RockMigrations is an interesting take on the migration dilemma, and we're happy to have this option available.

Site of the week: Welz AG

Our latest site of the week belongs to a company called Welz AG – a Trogen, Switzerland based business where high-tech, craftsmanship and know-how come together. Welz is a full-service company, providing carpentry and interior design services from design and construction supervision to execution.

The Welz website was developed by Gilbert Nigg, a web designer based in Zürich. It's a beautiful, modern, and responsive site with a some distinctive features, such as a tag-based reference gallery. The front-end of the site is based on the Foundation front-end framework, and all connections to the site are protected, thanks to a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt.

Thanks to Gilbert for sharing this project with us, and our congratulations to Welz for their brilliant new ProcessWire powered website!

Stay tuned for our next issue

That's it for the 261st issue of ProcessWire Weekly. We'll be back with more news, updates, and content Saturday, 18th 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!