ProcessWire Weekly #262

In the processwire.com blog this week: several new module updates

In this week's blog post Ryan talks about several updates to modules he has developed, including Pro modules Repeater Matrix and FormBuilder, but also the non-commercial and freely available GoogleClientAPI module. The Repeater Matrix update is already available, while FormBuilder and Google Client API updates are currently in the process of being fine-tuned.

Here's a brief summary of what's new for each module mentioned above:

• Upcoming version of the FormBuilder Pro module will include a save-to-GoogleSheets action.
  Using this feature you'll be able to save each new submission – or a copy of them – to a remote document stored in Google Sheets. A version of the FormBuilder module with this action included should be available soon.
• The Google Client API module is about to get a major upgrade, which should be available by next week.
  This upgrade adds a proper Google Sheets integration, which is required by the new save to Google Sheets action in FormBuilder. The future plans for this module include extended support for Google Calendar, and a brandnew API for Google Drive.
• Repeater Matrix v5, which is already available for those who've bought this Pro module, includes several updates.
  This release adds support for changing the type of an existing item, importing items from other Repeater Matrix fields, and choosing visible matrix types based on the template of the page being edited. There's also detection for potential matrix item and field name collisions, and a total of five new API methods.

Be sure to check out the full post at the processwire.com blog for more details and a bunch of screenshots for the modules mentioned here. Next week we'll probably have more module updates to talk about, and hopefully a new core version as well. Thanks!

New module: TwilioChannels by Ben Byford

TwilioChannels is a brand new third party module that integrates with Twilio, the cloud communication platform. Originally developed by Ben for a client project and then converted into a publicly available API integration module, TwilioChannels adds the ability to programmatically send SMS messages from a ProcessWire website.

Since Twilio is a commercial service you'll first have to set up an account with them – but after that, the actual sending of a message process is as easy as it gets:

$twilio = $modules->get("TwilioChannels");
$twilio->sendSMS($toNumber, $message);

... and that's all there is to it.

As you can see, the syntax for the module is really simple. You can easily use it to send SMS notifications whenever a new page, comment, or form entry is posted – or perhaps set up an SMS alert when something goes wrong behind the scenes – just to mention a few ideas.

All in all this module has plenty of uses, and we're thrilled to have it around. Big thanks to Ben for sharing his work with us!

Highlights from the support forum

The ProcessWire support forum has, once again, been buzzing with interesting discussions and topics of all sorts. As such, here's a short list of some of our recent favorites you might be interested in as well, in no particular order:

• First of all, SnipWire is an upcoming third party module, providing an integration between ProcessWire and the SnipCart shopping cart system. Though still a work in progress, this is already looking very interesting, and should be of interest particularly for serious e-commerce enthusiasts.
• Another e-commerce related update comes from Kongondo, and is of course related to the Padloper module. This popular module is currently in the process of being rebuilt, and this latest update contains plenty of details on how things are going to work in terms of product features and the Admin side GUI.
• Moritz L'Hoest recently released the second part of his tutorial for integrating Twig with ProcessWire. The first part was really interesting, and the second part is great as well – for an instance there are plenty of useful code snippets and ideas for managing them in here, as well as ideas for extending Twig itself.
• As you may have heard, a built-in support for the webp image format for ProcessWire is currently on the works. Horst has just recently posted some additional details, including a description on how the webp support will likely work once it's in the core. Brilliant stuff!
• If you've ever had to deal with the task of mass-managing content items, you should find the upcoming RockGrid feature called RockGridActions really interesting – check out the video demonstration and prepare to be impressed!

... and finally, an update that's not about ProcessWire, but should still be of interest to ProcessWire developers out there: Microsoft has open sourced a tool called Accessibility Insights, a free tool to help developers easily find and fix common accessibility issues. There's no question that this is kind of a big deal, particularly since accessibility has been a bit of a hot topic on the web for past few years.

If you're interested in ProcessWire news, discussions, and updates, there's always something going on at the support forum. Since we're only able to include a tiny selection of all that in our weekly updates, head down to the forum for more.

Site of the week: AOK Creative

Our latest site of the week belongs to a London, UK based events management company called AOK Creative. AOK Creative aim to create unforgettable experiences, and the goal for the website project was to create a standalone site accurately reflecting their values, and allowing site visitors to immediately understand the essence of their business.

Designed and developed by the London based web design agency Internet Dreams Studio, the AOK Creative website not only looks amazing, but also works flawlessly in all sorts of devices and screen sizes. This modularly built website contains a variety of content types, ranging from news and case studies to really nice personnel cards and a stylishly implemented custom contact form.

The front-end of the AOK Creative website is based on the Bootstrap front-end framework. There are no signs of familiar third party modules on the site, and as such much of the work here was likely custom-built – which is not such a bad idea, obviously, since the end result works really well and feels plenty fast as well.

Big thanks to the folks at Internet Dreams Studio for sharing this project with us, and our congratulations to AOK Creative for their new, ProcessWire powered website. Fantastic job from everyone involved in this project!

Stay tuned for our next issue

That's it for the 262nd issue of ProcessWire Weekly. We'll be back with more news, updates, and content Saturday, 25th 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!