What's New in plexus2?

The table below summarises the key changes that have been made in each new release of plexus2.

Jul 1, 2018
(v2.4.10.9)
Administration
  • Support for Google Analytics has been enhanced to conform with the latest recommendations from Google.
  • The Google Tag Manager is now supported. The new Google Tag Manager ID field under the Site - Properties option supports this.
  • Database isolation is now supported.
  • E-mail messages confirming requests for new login accounts are now generated and distributed as required.
 
Content Types
  • Content connected to fields that accept multiple selections from related content no longer returns multiple identical search results.
 
E-Commerce
  • The $View Cart action now displays content for the Required Item Type and Request Freight Parameters facilities before the cart.
  • All fields required by the Request Freight Parameters facility in the $View Cart action must now have suitable values supplied for them.
  • The messages displayed by the $View Tax Invoice and $Confirm Order actions to invite the customer to request follow-up support as required can now be changed. The new Support Message Template fields in both actions support this.
  • Discount codes can now be applied automatically to customer orders. The new Discount Code field in the $Get Payment Option action supports this.
  • Freight unit equivalents are now considered when calculating discounts.
  • The descriptions displayed for eWAY Direct Debit Request and Ezidebit Direct Debit Request payment methods have beem expanded to include "from Debit/Credit Card".
  • The eWAY Direct Debit and Ezidebit Direct Debit payment options are now classified as "for subscription payments only" and will not be included as options for payment of non-subscription orders. If the cart has been configured to create a subscription, only these payment methods will be available (subject to their being selected in the E-Commerce - Properties option).
  • User-friendly error messages are now displayed when invalid or expired credit card numbers are rejected by the eWAY Direct Debit payment method.
  • The current quarter is now determined correctly in date calculations for subscription orders.
  • E-mail messages generated by $Confirm Order actions now specify the amount payable instead of the total payable.
 
Wizards
  • Action tabs rendered for Bootstrap-enabled sites can no longer be selected out of sequence.
  • The ability to specify alternative configuration files in $Site Manager actions has been restored.
  • Since $Content Add and $Content Update actions now support explicit filtering by field path values when required, to minimise the potential for unintended consequences from implicit filtering mechanisms, their source queries are no longer filtered automatically by query string values.
Mar 6, 2018
(v2.4.7.1)
Administration
  • Administrative users can now generate configuration files for the site using the new Site - Tools - Export Configuration for Site option. The configuration file should be downloaded and saved (renamed) as "web.config" in the folder in which the site is installed. Care should be taken to ensure that any additional site configuration customisations are re-applied as required before overwriting the existing file.
 
Content Types
  • Specifications for criteria fields can now include IsActive fields.
 
E-Commerce
  • Offsets can now be applied to renewal dates for subscriptions. The new Renewal Offset and Renewal Offset Units fields in the Subscription Option, Freight Unit Subscription Option and Subscription content types support this.
  • Subscription customers can now be offered the option of an immediate delivery of their selected items, in addition to that which they would normally receive as part of the subscription. The new Immediate Delivery Option? field in the Subscription Option and Freight Unit Subscription Option content types, and the new Immediate Delivery? field in the Subscription content type supports this. This may be useful in situations where the first scheduled delivery is some time away.
 
Wizards
  • The behaviour of the $View Cart action has been improved. An error message is now displayed when a required {$ItemUnit} support field has not been included in the template. Previously, this condition was ignored silentlly.
  • Thie discount applicable to the active session order can now be displayed by the $View Cart action. The new $Discount support field facilitates this.
  • The new DiscountMessageTemplate field in the $View Cart action specifies the template for the message that reports the discount applicable to the active session order.
  • Upon commencement, the $Subscription Add action now clears the details of any uncommitted orders from the active session in order to prevent any ineligible items from being included as part of a subscription.
  • The output from $Content Display actions can now be filtered by IsActive fields.
  • Menu options without URLs are no longer displayed by $Site Menu actions unless they are anchors for sub-menus.
  • The functionaility of the $Templated File Export action has been restored.
Feb 16, 2018
(v2.4.6.0)
Administration
  • The expected display and processing functionality for hierarchical data with more than 2 levels in the views created by the Site - Applications option has been restored.
 
Content Types
  • The text content of the selected option in Content Selection fields is now included when searching for text matches.
 
Editor
  • Templates for lists of content defined by <div class="ZZZ...LISTZZZ ZZZField-Path-Name1_Value1ZZZ ZZZField-Path-Name2_Value2ZZZ">...</div> tags with multiple filters are now published correctly.
 
E-Commerce
  • eWAY Direct Debit can now be selected as a valid payment method.
  • The CustomerID, User Name and Password for eWAY Direct Debit can now be specified using the E-Commerce - Properties option.
  • The list of options accepted by the Start Date Reference field in the Subscription Option content type has been expanded to include "next half-year".
  • Subscriptions for quantities of particular freight units (e.g. cartons of wine) can now be prepared from the items in the active e-commerce shopping cart. The new Freight Unit Subscription Option content type, in conjunction with the new $Subscription Add and enhanced $Add To Cart actions, support this.
  • The E-Commerce - Freight Charges option has been expanded to include the freight unit subscription options that have been defined for each freight charge set. The new Subscription Options tab supports this.
  • The discount code to be applied to customer orders for subscription renewals can now be specified. The new Discount Code field in the Subscription Option, Subscription and the new Freight Unit Subscription Option content types supports this.
  • The expected functionality of the Properties option when selected from the right-click menu on an item unit listed in the E-Commerce - Items (by Item Type) option has been restored.
 
Wizards
  • The new $Subscription Add action configures the active session to ensure that only those item units that are assigned to price groups with the specified freight charge set can be added to the active e-commerce shopping cart by the $Add To Cart action.
  • The date on which the next period of a specified type begins can now be obtained using the new $DateNext<Period> support field, where <Period> can be Day, Week, Monday, Month, Quarter, HalfYear or Year.
Nov 28, 2017
(v2.4.4.1)
Administration
  • The additional dynamic link libraries that are required to support eWAY are now included when updating the site from the Site - Components option.
  • Content displayed in hierarchical trees is now sorted in accordance with the priorities assigned to each field in that content. Previously, it was sorted alphanumerically by the label.
 
Editor
  • The new CSSQueryString setting in the appSettings section of the web.config file specifies a query string that is to be appended to references to CSS files for this site.
 
E-Commerce
  • The Submit button is now displayed when appropriate when the cart in $View Cart action contains an acceptable mix of items. Previously, it may not have been redisplayed if the cart contained an unacceptable mix of items when first presented.
  • The form displayed to facilitate selection of the required freight option when multiple options are available is now configured correctly when the criteria for the freight destination is based on a content selection field. In addition, this form is no longer displayed, and server errors are not reported, when free freight is offered for all items in the cart.
 
Wizards
  • The CSS class to be applied to the button displayed by the $Button action can now be specified. The new CSS Class field supports this.
Nov 20, 2017
(v2.4.3.1)
E-Commerce
  • SHA256-encrypted payment responses from the MasterCard Internet Gateway Service (MiGS) are now validated correctly.
  • Multiple confirmations with identical details received from e-commerce payment gateways are now filtered as required.
  • Restoring a previous feature that was removed unintentionally, order confirmation e-mail messages are now blind copied to the site administrator.
 
Wizards
  • Diagnostic warning messages are now issued for $View Cart actions with templates that include a $Submit button without an $Update button.
Nov 7, 2017
(v2.4.3.0)
Administration
  • Presentation and processing of hierarchical content in tree views has been improved.
 
Content Types
  • The image width and height attributes are set as required when sharing content with Facebook.
 
E-Commerce
  • eWAY can now be selected as a valid payment method.
  • The API Key and API Password for eWAY can now be specified using the E-Commerce - Properties option.
Oct 16, 2017
(v2.4.2.0)
Administration
  • All components have been upgraded to operate under Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2.
 
E-Commerce
  • Adjustments to stock inventories are now removed automatically when Customer Orders or parts thereof (Customer Order Item Units) are removed.
 
Wizards
  • The new $Content Update Now action updates the specified content with the specified values immediately without the requirement for a form to be submitted.
Sep 28, 2017
(v2.3.14.0)
Administration
  • Bootstrap, CSS, JavaScript, and JQuery resources have been updated and expanded.
 
Content Types
  • Field paths have been re-engineered to separate specifications from processing where required and provide integrated support for transforms, custom formatting, automatic generation and inclusion of hierarchies as required, and resolution of content type and selection fields as required. The new field paths include full query support with reserved support field references to hierarchical data.
  • Content from fields that accept complex HTML formatting and multiple selections from related content is now exported correctly.
 
E-Commerce
  • The Default SKU Inventory Reference, which specifies the default type of content to be tracked by inventories for new price groups, can now be specified using the E-Commerce - Properties option.
  • When an item or item unit is selected from an item view (such as those displayed by the E-Commerce - Items (by ...) options), an integrated form that accepts the details of the item, price group, item unit, stock-keeping unit, and inventory (where applicable), is now displayed. Missing content is created automatically as required.
  • The corresponding stock inventories are now adjusted automatically as required when customer orders are committed.
  • The St. George Internet Payment Gateway can now be selected as a valid payment method.
  • The Merchant ID and Token for the St. George Internet Payment Gateway can now be specified using the E-Commerce - Properties option.
  • The encryption used for processing payments via the MasterCard Internet Gateway Service, which was upgraded from MD5 to SHA-256 in v2.3.1.4, can now be activated on new web sites.
 
Reports
  • Sub-reports that are not related specifically to the main report are now supported, thereby facilitating a main report to act as a binder for a set of sub-reports.
 
Wizards
  • The new $Content Add Now action adds new content with the specified values immediately without the requirement for a form to be submitted.
Aug 15, 2017
(v2.3.12.0)
Content Types
  • When data is imported into a content type, related content is now imported as required into the appropriate content types.
 
E-Commerce
  • The default number of item units in a freight unit, and the default weight (grams) of an item unit, can now be specified for each price group. The new Default Freight Unit Quantity and Default Weight Grams fields support this.
  • The (i) template for the names of the stock-keeping units (SKU) generated, which is accepted by the new SKU Name Template field, (ii) type of content tracked by the inventory, which is accepted by the new SKU Inventory Reference field, (iii) stock level to be set when the inventory for each SKU is first generated, which is accepted by the new SKU Inventory Initial Amount field, and (iv) type of limit to be applied to the level of stock in the inventory for the SKU, which is accepted by the new SKU Inventory Limit Type field, can now be specified for each price group.
 
Wizards
  • Wizard actions have been re-engineered to facilitate processing and storage of the parameters without the requirement for user interface controls.
Jun 23, 2017
(v2.3.11.2)
Administration
  • Server errors are no longer reported when attempting to republish the components for older installations on which the database has just been upgraded.
  • Server errors are no longer reported when attempting to produce diagnostics for price groups that do not have valid item unit content types.
 
E-Commerce
  • Where specified, cooling-off periods are now added to the date of the order to produce the start date of the subscription.
 
Reports
  • Where available, the telephone number, mobile telephone number and e-mail address are now included in the details of the invoicee on receipts, tax invoices and itemised sales reports.
 
Wizards
  • All wizards and actions have been re-engineered to improve performance and facilitate selective restarting of nested sub-wizards as required. The new Restart Automatically? field in the Wizard content type supports this.
  • Server errors are no longer reported when attempting to enter the details of a new $Open Contact Group action.
May 2, 2017
(v2.3.9.3)
Administration
  • The default sender address for e-mail generated by plexus2 has been changed to better reflect the source of the e-mail.
  • The quantity of items to be added to the current sale can now be specified in the definition of a special function key (action button). The new quantity attribute on the "addToCart" action supports this and the default value is 1.
 
POS Client
  • Administrative users can now generate configuration files for the plexus2 POS Client using the new Site - Tools - Export Configuration for plexus2 POS Client option. The configuration file should be downloaded and saved (renamed) as "plexus2 POS Client.exe.config" in the folder in which the plexus2 POS Client is installed.
 
Wizards
  • Actions that depend on the successful completion of $Content Display actions are now executed as required.
  • Invalid actions in wizards are now identified in diagnostics.
Apr 3, 2017
(v2.3.9.0)
Reports
  • Custom values are now accessible in sub-reports.
  • Custom data sources can now be filtered as required for sub-reports.
 
Wizards
  • Distinct results only are now displayed when multi-valued content selections are processed by $Content Display actions even when those selections are not included specifically in the template. This extends the change made in v2.3.4.2.
Mar 30, 2017
(v2.3.8.0)
Administration
  • The Ensure Customer Order Payment Details tool can now be executed on sites for which customer order payments have already been entered.
 
Content Types
  • To minimise the potential for unresolvable cyclic references, references to the content label are removed from the label templates in content types defined prior to this version when the components are republished.
 
E-Commerce
  • The availability of stock-keeping units (SKU) can now be controlled. The new Availability field in the SKU content type specifies the criteria for the inventory that applies to each stock-keeping unit.
  • The new E-Commerce - Stock Inventories option allows you to define criteria for inventories of products and services, specify the stock-keeping units (SKU) to which those inventories apply, and enter adjustments for the stock levels in those inventories.
  • The layout of the E-Commerce - Reports option has been improved. The reports are now grouped in separate tabs by the type of printer for which they are formatted, with each tab outlining the requirements for the target printer.
 
Wizards
  • The template for the message to be displayed by an $Add To Cart action in place of the "Add to Cart" button when the item unit is out of stock can now be specified. The new Not Available Template field supports this.
  • The $Content Display action now supports the use of the $Prices or $PriceRange support fields to display the range of prices (including tax) for an item.
  • Cross-tabulation (crosstab) reports can now be produced by the $Templated Report action.
  • The parameters content type for the obsolete $User-Defined Report action (which was replaced previously by the $Templated Report action) is now removed automatically from the site when no content is detected. Diagnostic errors are reported if content is detected.
 
Upload Assistant
  • Forms from Bootstrap-enabled sites are now displayed correctly.
Mar 8, 2017
(v2.3.7.0)
Events
  • The behaviour of the events calendar has been improved. When the calendar is first displayed, the current date is now highlighted, but not selected. On subsequent displays, all dates are deselected in preparation for the next selection. Event details that include date and times are now processed identically to those which include only dates.
 
Wizards
  • It is now possible to specify whether META tags for Facebook should be automatically added to the page when single news items are displayed by a $Content Display action. The new Enable Facebook Meta Tags? field supports this. Previously, the META tags were always added to the page in this scenario.
  • Wizards that are run within pop-up windows now close those windows automatically after all of the actions have completed.
  • $Templated Report actions now signal their completion to the parent wizard following the successful preparation of the report.
  • Displaying of forms in pop-up windows is now supported by $Content Update actions.
  • Automatic sizing has now been disabled for Bootstrap-enabled forms displayed in pop-up windows by $Content Display, $Content Update and $Content Select actions.
Feb 21, 2017
(v2.3.6.0)
Administration
  • The XUserID and Submit fields are now excluded from the e-mail messages generated in response to the submission of simple enquiry forms by the public/processEnquiry.aspx facility, and the layout of these messages has been improved.
  • To support tracking of the interactions from simple enquiry forms, a default "(Site Administrator)" contact is now created automatically when the e-mail address specified for the site does not correspond to that of an existing contact.
  • E-mail messages generated when debugging simple enquiry forms are now sent to Pre-emptive Strike's testing e-mail account.
  • The new AuthSMTP Authorised? field under the Site - Properties option specifies whether the site e-mail address has been authorised for sending on behalf of by the external AuthSMTP service. If the specified e-mail address has not been authorised, e-mail messages sent on behalf of the site are sent using support@plexus2.com.au, with the ReplyTo address set as required.
 
E-Commerce
  • Order numbers are now also included when searching for content in customer orders.
  • Period Itemised Sales reports are now presented in ascending order by order number.
 
Wizards
  • The new Order By Field Path Name field in the $Open Criteria and $Content Criteria Update actions specifies the name of the field path by which the matching content items are to be sorted.
  • The new Maximum Content Items field in the $Open Criteria and $Content Criteria Update actions specifies the maximum number of matching content items to be included.
  • The new Enforce Login? field in the $Content Security action specifies whether the user must be logged in. If the user is not logged in, they will be redirected to the Not Authorised URL immediately and no further checks will be made.
  • The current value from a named identifier can now be referenced using the = prefix in the field path specification. For example, {=Identifier.Membership} references the current value for the "Membership" identifier in the "Identifier" content type. (Note that "Membership" is a named content item, and not a field.) The "Identifier" content type must contain Name and Last Value fields.
  • Bootstrap support is now available for wizards in which the Use Tabs? field is set to Yes.
  • Bootstrap support is now available for wizard actions that require site login facilities.
Jan 14, 2017
(v2.3.5.0)
E-Commerce
  • The State specified in the address is now passed to Ezidebit Direct.
  • The second and subsequent payment requests are now processed correctly when batches of payment requests are submitted for subscriptions.
  • The Ezidebit Public Key field under the Site - Properties option now supports the use of the ? prefix to specify that any payment requests submitted to Ezidebit Direct should be processed as test payments.
Jan 11, 2017
(v2.3.4.2)
Administration
  • Detailed messages are now displayed when errors are encountered during publishing of content types.
  • Additional diagnostics are now provided, including checking of the version number of plexus2 that has been installed on the live site.
  • Enquiries submitted via simple HTML forms can now be processed using public/processEnquiry.aspx.
  • The new Confirm Enquiry URL field under the Site - Properties option specifies the URL to which the user is returned after a simple HTML form enquiry has been submitted.
 
E-Commerce
  • Cooling-off periods can now be specified for subscriptions and subscription options. The new Cooling-Off Period (days) fields in the Subscription and Subscription Option content types support this. Where specified, no invoices will be issued for the corresponding subscription before the specified number of days has elapsed after the initial subscription purchase.
  • Where required for shopping carts that include multiple subscriptions, separate requests for each subscription are now submitted to the selected payment processing facilities.
 
Wizards
  • Distinct results only are now displayed when multi-valued content selections are processed by $Content Display actions.
  • E-mail address fields that require confirmation entries now function as expected within wizards. Previously, control errors were reported.
Nov 24, 2016
(v2.3.1.4)
Content Types
  • The values of currency fields are now included where appropriate in search results.
 
E-Commerce
  • Ezidebit and Ezidebit Direct Debit can now be selected as valid payment methods.
  • The Invoice Terms (days), which specifies the number of days within which invoices are to be paid and was preset previously to 14, Ezidebit Subdomain, which specifies the name of the subdomain allocated to the site by Ezidebit and is required to accept payments via that method, and Ezidebit Public Key, which is required to accept direct debit requests via Ezidebit Direct Debit, can now be specified using the E-Commerce - Properties option.
  • Where specified, the Invoice Terms (days) and Ezidebit Subdomain are now reported in the Site Summary.
  • Payments notified from Ezidebit are recorded as Customer Order Payments. Details of the payments can be accessed by selecting the E-Commerce - Customer Orders option, selecting the required order from the tree in the left window, and clicking the Payments tab in the right window.
  • The encryption used for processing payments via the MasterCard Internet Gateway Service has been upgraded from MD5 to SHA-256.
  • Establishment fees (or upfront payments) can now be specified for subscriptions and subscription options. The new Establishment Fee fields in the Subscription and Subscription Option content types support this. Where specified, the Add to Cart action displays the establishment fee as payable "now" and ensures that, when the subscription option is added to the cart, the establishment fee is listed as the price.
  • Site-specific headers and footers are now included on all order confirmation e-mails.
 
POS Client
  • A splash screen showing the name of the app and the version number is now displayed on startup.
  • Automatic reloading of function key profiles at preset intervals has been disabled. When function key definitions are changed, the new definitions should now be loaded by restarting the app as required.
  • It is no longer possible to add items with invalid or non-existent item units to the cart.
  • The handling of system resources when pop-up windows are used extensively in a session has been improved in an attempt to minimise failures to display such windows correctly.
  • Upon quitting, the app now verifies that any scanned items are either committed or removed from the cart, and that orders that do not include items are deleted.
 
Site Manager
  • When complex hierarchical trees containing multiple field transformations are displayed in a content view, (i) options are no longer duplicated in the New and Find menus, and (ii) the location and selection of adjacent nodes following content changes and deletions has been improved.
Oct 26, 2016
(v2.3.0.11)
Content Types
  • Forms that contain content type and selection fields can now be displayed multiple times without causing server errors.
 
POS Client
  • You are now prompted to either commit or clear any scanned items that remain unprocessed when the app is closed. Thereafter, any orphaned customer orders are deleted automatically.
 
Wizards
  • Pull-down menus generated by $Site Menu actions can now be rendered using Bootstrap.
  • The new Create SKU wizard, which can be invoked on an e-commerce item, combines the selected item with the specified item unit to create a stock-keeping unit (SKU).
Oct 8, 2016
(v2.3.0.7)
Administration
  • Administrative users can now generate configuration files for the plexus2 Upload Assistant using the new Site - Tools - Export Configuration for plexus2 Upload Assistant option. The configuration file should be downloaded and saved (renamed) as "plexus2 Upload Assistant.exe.config" in the folder in which the plexus2 Upload Assistant is installed.
 
Content Types
  • It is now possible to upload attachments via the Document Manager in formatted content fields. Previously, this facility was not available when used outside of the plexus2 Administration Console.
 
Contacts
  • Multiple addresses for different locations (e.g. residential, business, ...) or purposes (e.g. delivery, billing, ...) can now be entered for each contact. The addresses can be entered and maintained using the new Addresses tab under the Contacts - List option. The new Contact Address content type supports this, with the Name field identifying the location or purpose.
  • The new Subscriptions tab under the Contacts - List option allows you to enter and maintain the details of the subscriptions purchased by each contact.
 
E-Commerce
  • The new Name field in the Customer Order content type allow you to specify a title for the order, which will be displayed conspicuously on any tax invoices issued.
  • The new Delivery Address and Billing Address fields in the Customer Order content type allow you to specify the delivery and billing addresses (as selected from the new Contact Address content) respectively for the order.
  • The new Description field in the Customer Order Item Unit content type allows you to enter a detailed description of an item + item unit (SKU) pairing that has been included in a customer order. Where provided, this description will be used in place of the default description generated in accordance with the properties of the corresponding price group.
  • Multiple payment notifications received from the MasterCard Internet Gateway Service for the same customer order are now ignored, and the amount tendered is now updated on customer order when those notifications are received.
  • To facilitate unique identification and tracking of products and services, it is now possible to create "stock-keeping units" (SKUs) by pairing items with item units. SKUs can be entered and maintained using the new E-Commerce - Stock-Keeping Units (SKU) option. The new SKU content type supports this.
  • Subscription options for SKUs can be entered and maintained using the new Subscription Options tab under the new E-Commerce - Stock Keeping Units (SKU) option. The new Subscription Option content type supports this.
  • The new E-Commerce - Subscriptions option allows you to enter and maintain the details of subscriptions (recurring sales) that have been purchased. The new Subscription content type stores the profile of each subscription, which is accessible from the Profile tab.  The new Subscription Item content type stores the details of the SKU items that are included in each subscription, which are accessible from the Items tab. The new Subscription Invoice content type stores the details of customer orders that have been placed and for which invoices have been issued for each subscription - these details are accessible from the Invoices tab.
 
Wizards
  • The new Set Active Content? field in the $Commit Order Now action allows you to specify whether the active contact and IP address should be saved with the committed customer order.
  • The new Commit Order wizard, which can be invoked from Customer Order content, assigns the appropriate prices to the items in an uncommitted customer order and changes its status to committed. This allows you to finalise the processing of orders that have been completed by the customer but have not been committed for some reason.
  • The new Subscriptions Only? field in the $Add To Cart action allows you to specify that only SKUs with subscription options should be presented for inclusion in the active shopping cart.
  • The new Report Title field in the $Templated Report action allows you to specify the title for the generated report. Where specified, this title is also used as the default name of any PDF file that may be exported from that report.
  • The new Custom Values field in the $Templated Report action allows you to specify the names and values for any custom fields that are to be replaced in the report. The settings for each custom field should be entered on a new line in the format <name> = <value>.
 
Upload Assistant
  • The new {Name} support field can now be used to reference the name (without the extension) of the uploaded image file when defining the template for the new content.
Aug 31, 2016
(v2.2.16.0)
Administration
  • Additional diagnostics are now provided, including validity checking of content types assigned to price groups (item unit sets), and field paths referenced in folder names for attachment fields.
  • The default expiry time for a logged-in data entry session has been increased to 4 hours.
  • Blank values are now ignored when matching imported data.
  • The new Test Run? option facilitates testing of an import process without committing the imported information to the database and details how the imported data will be processed.
 
Content Types
  • The values selected from a responsive (Bootstrap-enabled) date and time field are now saved correctly.
 
Editor
  • To ensure that large lists of options can be accommodated when changing the properties of a menu option, the window that displays the Menu Option Properties form has been increased in size and the options for the Setting field are now loaded on demand.
  • The default maximum file sizes that can be uploaded via the Image, Flash and Document Managers have been increased as follows: (i) images to 2MB, (ii) Flash animations to 4MB, and (iii) PDF documents to 16MB.
 
E-Commerce
  • The Period Sales Totals by Payment Method, Period Sales Summary by Payment Method and Daily Reconciliation reports now include charges and credits to accounts.
  • The content type from which variations of an e-commerce item are to be selected can now be specified. The new Variation Content Type field in the Item Unit Set (Price Group) content facilitates this.
 
Events
  • Responsive calendars are now supported and enabled automatically on Bootstrap-enabled sites.
  • The new Event Expiry Period (Days) field in the Calendar content type allows you to specify the number of days after events have expired at which they are no longer included in that calendar.
 
Wizards
  • The Template fields in the $Add To Cart and $View Cart actions now support the use of the $Variation support field to accept entry of the variation (e.g. colour, size ...) of the item that is to be included in an e-commerce shopping cart. A single set of variations is assumed to apply to all units in which the item is sold. The ability to specify that particular variations are available only for certain item units is not supported.
  • The name(s) of the CSS class(es) to be assigned to the button and any additional input fields used by the $Add To Cart action can now be specified. The new Button CSS Class and Field CSS Class properties facilitate this. Previously, these properties were set to cartAddBtn and cartAddFld respectively and these values continue to be used as the defaults.
Jul 18, 2016
(v2.2.15.2)
E-Commerce
  • Payments notified from the MasterCard Internet Gateway Service are now recorded as Customer Order Payments. Details of the payments can be accessed by selecting the E-Commerce - Customer Orders option, selecting the required order from the tree in the left window, and clicking the Payments tab in the right window.
  • Comments can now be recorded against Customer Order Payments.
  • The labels for Customer Orders have been expanded to include the order number and the amount payable.
  • Amounts payable for orders with discounted totals are now reported correctly in the associated e-mail messages and payment gateways.
 
POS Client
  • The total amount applied to a sale by default when amounts are not supplied for specific payment methods is now corrected as required to allow for the configured number of implied decimal places in a payment.
Jul 17, 2016
(v2.2.15.1)
E-Commerce
  • When a customer order is deleted, the list of items included in that order and all payments received for it are now also removed.
  • ALL reports that accept period start and finish dates as parameters now source data between 12:00:00am on the Start Date and 11:59:59pm on the Finish Date to ensure that the specified dates are processed inclusively.
 
POS Client
  • Payouts are now recorded in accordance with the conventions used for receipts.
  • A warning is now displayed when a scanned item is determined to have a price of $0.00.
  • By using the Pay Account button instead of the Commit button, surplus funds from a transaction can now be applied to the customer's account.
  • To conserve space and reduce verbosity, the "Unspecified POS " prefix is now removed from the names of items added to the cart.
Jun 20, 2016
(v2.2.14.1)
Content Types
  • Date fields can now be initialised with the date of the previous or next specified day of the week. For example, "-Sunday" initialises the field with the date of the most recent Sunday that has passed, and "+Wednesday" initialises the field with the date for next Wednesday.
 
E-Commerce
  • The new Daily Sales Totals by Item Type report, formatted for A4, reports total sales by item type for each day of the week.
  • The new Stock Take Template report, formatted for A4, lists the name, brand, bar code and normal price for all e-commerce items by item type and provides a box for recording the current stock counts for those items.
  • The Period Sales Summary by Payment Method report now displays the amounts received as required.
 
POS Client
  • Different configuration profiles can now be applied to the POS Client depending on the day and time at which it is operating. The new E-Commerce - POS Client Configuration option, which is supported by the new POS Client Profile and Period POS Client Profile content types, facilitates this.
  • If a payment method is selected without entering a payment, that payment method is assigned as the default payment method for the entire amount payable when the sale is committed. Previously, the default payment method assigned was always Cash.
  • The size of the font used for the labels on the special function keys has been reduced.
  • Labels that are too wide for a special function key are now wrapped to the next line within the available vertical space.
 
Wizards
  • Relations (<, =, >, etc) can now be prefixed to the Filter Field Path 1 Value, Filter Field Path 2 Value and Filter Field Path 3 Value parameters for $Content Display actions.
  • Wizards invoked from the tree view no longer attempt to rerun when the page is resubmitted.
May 26, 2016
(v2.2.13.0)
Content Types
  • The new Unique Value? property specifies whether the values supplied for a field must be different to those specified for any other content of the same type.
  • The mailto: URI prefix is now removed automatically from any content pasted into an e-mail address field.
 
Editor
  • The ability to delete pages from the site has been restored.
 
POS Client
  • It is now possible to assign a single consultant to all transactions. The new DefaultConsultant setting specifies the name of this consultant and must correspond to one of the contacts classified as Consultants.
  • The new AcceptFractionalQuantities setting specifies whether fractional quantities of items should be accepted.
  • Fractional quantities between 0.0 and 1.0 are now accepted. Previously, such quantities would be reset to 1.0.
  • If a corresponding item cannot be found for a specified bar code, a message to that effect is now displayed and the entry is cleared upon confirmation.
  • The number of decimal places implied when a payment is entered can now be specified. The new ImpliedPaymentDecimalPlaces setting controls this. If ImpliedPaymentDecimalPlaces is set to 2, and a payment of 1234 is entered, this will be treated as $12.34. Previously, this setting was always 0, signifying that decimal places were to be entered explicitly after a decimal point.
  • The number of decimal places used to display a unit price can now be specified. The new UnitPriceDecimalPlaces setting controls this. Previously, this setting was always 4.
  • The outstanding amount can now be displayed at the bottom of the payment method options in place of the amount tendered. The new ShowPaymentRemainder setting controls this.
  • Up to 18 special function buttons can now be defined. The properties that may be specified include the label for the button and the action to be performed when it is pressed.
  • The size of the entries in the list of scanned items has been increased.
  • Options can no longer be deleted from the payment method selector. Pressing the Delete key now clears the amount entered against the selected payment method.
Apr 5, 2016
(v2.2.11.0)
Administration
  • Diagnostics are now listed on the Help pages for each component.
  • Information messages are now excluded from the diagnostics listed in the Site Summary.
 
E-Commerce
  • It is now possible to specify that items of particular types should be treated as freight items when included in a shopping cart. The new Contains Freight Items? field in the Item Type facilitates this.
Mar 16, 2016
(v2.2.9.1)
Editor
  • Menus published for use with Bootstrap are now displayed correctly.
  • The new <DIV CLASS="XXXItemAllXXX">...</DIV> directive can be used to specify that, unless ALL field paths referenced within the bounded content have valid values, then none of that content is displayed.
 
POS Client
  • The printer selection form is now displayed automatically when the Receipt button is pressed.
 
News
  • The template for the page description for news items of each type can now be specified. The new Page Description Template field in the News Item Type content supports this.
 
Wizards
  • $Content Display actions with no filtering parameters set no longer display inactive content.
  • The new $Ensure Item Unit Set action checks whether an item unit set has been assigned to the active item. If this is not the case, a new item unit set with a single item unit (with Name set to "Single" and Code set to "1") is created and assigned to the item.
Mar 8, 2016
(v2.2.8.2)
Content Types
  • For e-mail addresses that are required to be confirmed by dual entry, both entries are now also checked when the focus is removed from the input boxes to ensure that entries made via browser autocomplete facilities are checked properly.
  • Server errors are no longer reported when attempts are made to export content containing content selection fields for which the corresponding content type does not exist. Diagnostic errors are now also generated for this condition.
 
E-Commerce
  • Lay-By and Discount can now be selected as valid payment methods.
  • The amount payable at the time that the order was placed (or sale was made) is now recorded in the new Amount Payable field in the Customer Order. The amount that was actually paid by the customer (before return of any change applicable) at that time is recorded in the Amount Tendered field.
  • All payments for orders/sales are now itemised separately in dedicated Customer Order Payment entries.
  • The consultant that accepts a new payment from a customer is now recorded in the new Consultant field in the Customer Order Payment.
 
POS Client
  • Multiple payment methods and amounts are now accepted.
  • The group from which the customer is to be selected can now be specified. By default, subject to availability in each group, customers are selected from (i) the "Customers" security group, (ii) the "Customers - Point-of-Sale" contact group, and (iii) the "Customers - ALL" contact group.
 
Wizards
  • The new $Content Security action verifies that the logged-in contact is a member of the specified Security Group and/or has access to content of the specified type (Content Type). If either of these criteria are not met, a message constructed using the specified Error Message Template is displayed and/or the browser is redirected to the specified Not Authorised URL.
  • It is now possible to specify whether the control pane should be displayed in a scheduler. The new Enable Control Pane? field in the $Content Type Scheduler action supports this.
  • Multiple semicolon-separated e-mail addresses may now be specified as parameters for $Send E-mail actions. For example, setting Bcc E-mail to "admin@abc.com;accounts@abc.com" would result in blind copies of the generated e-mail being sent to both of those e-mail addresses.
Feb 1, 2016
(v2.2.6.4)
Content Types

  • Until activated, content selection fields now display only the selected entries in their dropdown list boxes. New options for selection are loaded on demand in batches of 25. Option filtering based on user-supplied content now operates correctly and does not include repeated entries in the list of options.

 
Editor

  • Pages that contain inclusions for jQuery and Bootstrap are modified automatically to load current support for jQuery 2.x and Bootstrap 3.x from the new dedicated resources library when published.

 
E-Commerce

  • Period Sales Totals by Item Type and Period Sales Totals by Item reports can now also be generated for printing on A4 page printers and include total quantities of the items sold.

  • The new Prepare Avery J8156 Bar Code Label wizard, which can be invoked from Item Type and Item Unit Set content, prepares a sheet of bar code labels for the constituent Items that can be printed on an A4 page and is suitable for production of Avery J8156 label stickers.

  • The ability to enter Customer Order Payments after more than 150,000 transactions have been processed has been restored.

 
POS Client

  • Receipt and report generation no longer has any dependence on access to the Internet for templates and images.

 
Site Manager

  • Bootstrap themes, form templates, report templates, style sheets, JavaScripts and support images are now loaded from a dedicated resources library that is permanently available to the software. These resources are no longer required to be installed separately nor downloaded from the Internet, which eliminates the error messages that were reported when such access was not available.

  • A new Diagnostics section has been been added to the Site Summary page. This section lists errors, warnings and other useful information that may impact the functionality of the site.

Dec 14, 2015
(v2.2.5.0)
Wizards
  • It is now possible to specify the relation to be applied for the criteria used to select the content in a $Content Rotator action. Where required, the relation for each of up to three (3) field paths can now be prefixed to the value specification. For example, to specify StartDate should be on or after a particular date, set FilterFieldPath1Name to StartDate and FilterFieldPath1Value to >={MyDateFieldValue}. The default relation is to match the value ignoring whitespace differences.
Nov 6, 2015
(v2.2.2.0)
Editor
  • When repeating layout for multiple items of content (for example, using <DIV CLASS="XXXRepeatXXX"></DIV>), it is now possible to skip a specified number of instances at the beginning. The new <DIV CLASS="XXXRepeatFrom#XXX"></DIV> directive, where # is the number of instances to be skipped, supports this.
 
E-Commerce
  • The available reports have now been grouped by format (receipt or A4 page) and report type.
  • The new Period Sales Totals by Item report, formatted for A4, reports total sales by item grouped by item type for specified period. It includes the name of item, quantity sold, total excluding tax, total tax and total including tax.
Sep 2, 2015
(v2.2.0.0)
Administration
  • Many of the plexus2 Administration Console pages are now mobile-friendly and will adapt their presentations to suit the device on which they are being viewed.
 
Contacts
  • It is now possible to include only those contacts with distinct, valid e-mail addresses when specifying the properties for a contact group. The new Exclude Duplicated Contacts field in the Contact Group support this.
 
Wizards
  • It is now possible to include only those contacts with distinct, valid e-mail addresses when opening a contact group using the $Open Contact Group action. The new Exclude Duplicated Contacts? parameter field supports this.
  • Contact groups targeted by message broadcasts are now filtered automatically to include only those contacts with distinct, valid e-mail addresses, regardless of the active setting of the Exclude Duplicated Contacts? option.
Jul 15, 2015
(v2.1.13.0)
Wizards
  • It is now possible to filter up to three (3) of the content types returned by a $Site Search action by additional criteria. The new Filter Criteria 1, Filter Criteria 2 and Filter Criteria 3 fields support this. The additional criteria is hidden from the site user.
  • It is now possible to filter the content displayed by a $Content Display action by the values of all fields in the content type simultaneously. This facilitates searches of all content by a single value, such as a search string entered by a site user. The appropriate Field Path Name should be set to * for this purpose. Setting the corresponding Field Path Value to {#txtSrch}, in accordance with the new facility implemented in v2.1.11.0, displays all content for which one of the fields matches the search string entered by the site user into a Search Box component on a referring page.
  • The Google Map displayed by a $Content Google Map action can now be centred at a specified latitude and longitude. The new Centre Latitude and Centre Longitude fields support this. The new Show Centre Marker? field controls whether a marker is displayed at the centre of the map. Previously, the map was always centred at the location derived from the active content.
  • It is now possible to display additional markers on a Google Map. The new Marker Criteria field in the $Content Google Map action specifies the criteria for selecting the content for which the additional markers are to be displayed. The new Marker Title Template field specifies the template for the titles to be attached to the additional markers, and the new Marker Linked URL Template field specifies the template for the URLs to which the additional markers are to be linked.
Jun 2, 2015
(v2.1.11.3)
Wizards
  • It is now possible to specify the type of sale (e.g. order, booking, registration, ...) that is being processed in an e-commerce wizard. The new Sale Type field in the $View Tax Invoice action supports this.
  • It is now possible to control whether content can be removed from a scheduler. The new Enable Content Deletion? field in the $Content Type Scheduler action supports this.
  • The IP address from which content was submitted can now be obtained using the new $IP support field.
  • Session key values (in dark blue) are now included with the action parameter values (in dark green) when wizard tracing is active.
May 12, 2015
(v2.1.11.0)
Content Types
  • Existing content is now removed as required when new content is imported into linked content types.
 
Wizards
  • The new $Content Selection Display action displays the selections from a content selection field using a specified template. The Field Path Name field specifies the name of a field path (relative to the active content type) for the content selection field for which the selections are to be displayed. The Template field specifies the template (using field paths specified relative to the content type from which the selections have been made) to be used for displaying the selections.
  • The $View Tax Invoice action now terminates with an error message when a valid recipient e-mail address has not been supplied.
  • Server errors are no longer reported when a $View Cart action is run with items that do not have valid item unit sets assigned.
  • Values from submitted form fields can now be referenced using the # prefix in the field path specification. For example, {#txtSrch} references the value submitted from the Search Box component.
  • The next incremented value from a named identifier can now be referenced using the + prefix in the field path specification. For example, {+Identifier.Membership} increments and references the next value for the "Membership" identifier in the "Identifier" content type. (Note that "Membership" is a named content item, and not a field.) The "Identifier" content type must contain Name and Last Value fields.
Apr 19, 2015
(v2.1.10.0)
Content Types
  • Content can now be imported from a third-party JSON web service.
 
E-Commerce
  • It is now possible to specify whether partial (fractional) quantities of freight units should be accepted in an order. The new Accept Partial Freight Unit? field in the Freight Charge Set content supports this.
 
POS Client
  • The screen layout has been improved.
  • The name of the site is now displayed.
  • The last transaction (customer order) number is now available on the Receipt button when the software is restarted.
  • Customer account payments can now be accepted.
 
Wizards
  • The new Availability Criteria field in the $Content Type Scheduler action allows you to define the criteria that is used to determine whether content is included in the scheduler. Previously, all content for the active range of dates was included.
  • The new Processing URL Template field in the $Content Type Scheduler action accepts the template for the URL at which content selected in the scheduler is processed. Previously, such content could be processed only by a form that accepted changes.
Feb 21, 2015
(v2.1.9.1)
E-Commerce
  • The new Items (by Barcode) option groups the items by the first 2 letters of the barcode/code to facilitate bulk selection and printing of barcode labels for groups of items.
  • The new Itemised Receipt with Customer Details report prepares an itemised receipt for a specified order that includes date of sale, order number, customer's name and address, payment method and quantities, descriptions, units and prices of items.
Feb 15, 2015
(v2.1.8.12)
E-Commerce
  • Where applicable, item unit sets that are created automatically in the process of adding item units to items are now assigned the tax code for Goods and Services Tax (GST) by default. Previously, no tax code was assigned.
  • The Freight Unit Quantity for item units that are added to items now defaults to 1.
 
News
  • The template for the source of the primary image for news items of each type can now be specified. The new Primary Image Template field in the News Item Type content supports this.
 
Wizards
  • The template for the source of the primary image for the default page that displays the content posted by the $Social Network action can now be specified. The new Primary Image Template field supports this.
Feb 1, 2015
(v2.1.8.7)
Wizards
  • The template for the title of the default page that displays the content posted by the $Social Network action can now be specified. The new Page Title Template field supports this.
  • The template for the description of the default page that displays the content posted by the $Social Network action can now be specified. The new Page Description Template field supports this.
  • The new Add News Item to Social Network wizard allows you to add the selected news item to various social networks, including Facebook.
Jan 19, 2015
(v2.1.8.1)
Wizards
  • The subject for the e-mail sent by the $Send News Item E-mail to Contacts Group wizard now defaults to the name of the news item being sent.
Jan 14, 2015
(v2.1.8.0)
Content Types
  • Instance identifier fields are now processed correctly in attachment destination folder templates.
 
Contacts
  • The following contact groups are now created and maintained automatically from the lists of contacts for the corresponding components: (i) Site Administrators, (ii) Site Editors, (iii) Message Subscribers, (iv) Customers - ALL, (v) Customers - Account, (vi) Customers - Credit Card, (vii) Customers - Direct Deposit, Cash and EFTPOS, (viii) Customers - PayPal, (ix) News Item Contacts, and (x) Event Contacts.
  • The following security groups are now created automatically for the corresponding components: (i) Consultants.
 
News
  • The template for the URL that displays/publishes news items of each type can now be specified. The new URL Template field in the News Item Type content supports this.
 
Wizards
  • The new $Send SMS action sends an SMS text message to the specified contact. A summary of the content sent is logged as an interaction with the recipient.
  • Site access credentials can now be passed to a $Site Login action via an encrypted query string. If the supplied credentials are not valid, the default form will request the user name and password.
  • The new Send News Item E-mail to Contacts Group wizard, which can be invoked from News Item and Contact Group content, prepares an e-mail using the appropriate URL template for the selected news item and sends it to the specified contact group. A summary is logged as an interaction with each recipient.
Dec 9, 2014
(v2.1.7.25)
Content Types
  • Options for content selection fields are now loaded on demand. Previously, all options were loaded automatically, which caused problems when very large numbers of options were available.
 
Editor
  • To facilitate independent presentation of content that is being edited, the CSS style sheets from the site are no longer connected to the editor. A dedicated CSS style sheet is now loaded from /_editor/content.css on the site.
  • Multiple style sheets are now attached as required for previewing pages. Previously, only the last style sheet specified was attached.
  • The default size of the editing window has been increased from 780 x 550 pixels to 1024 x 640 pixels.
 
E-Commerce
  • The default setting for an item unit set's Item Description Template is now {Item.Name} ({ItemUnit.Name}). Previously, it was {Item.Name} - {Item.Description}; however, this did not produce sufficiently unique entries in shopping carts and tax invoices when multiple, different item units were ordered from the same item, and causes problems when HTML-formatted item descriptions are submitted to payment gateways. It is still possible to specify different templates for each item unit set.
 
Site Manager
  • It is now possible to specify whether content in linked tabs should be deleted automatically when content in a primary tab is deleted. The new deleteWithPrimary option controls this.
Oct 23, 2014
(v2.1.6.5)
Contacts
  • Copies of e-mail attachments are now saved with the details of the corresponding interaction.
 
E-Commerce
  • The options available for processing freight have been expanded significantly. It is now possible to specify freight charges for various freight unit quantities and criteria based on the contact.
 
News
  • The structure for News Item content has been changed for all new sites. To maintain consistency with other content type definitions, the Headline field has been renamed Name. The previous Contact, Telephone and E-mail fields have been replaced by a single Contact field that accepts a selection from the list of contacts.
  • The structure for News Item Type content has been changed for all new sites. To maintain consistency with other content type definitions, and minimise problems when hierarchies are built, the previous News Item Type field has been renamed Name.
 
Wizards
  • $Content Display actions now support the Back button, which returns the user to the URL that referred them to the current page, ignoring any intermediate changes effected through the use of Previous and Next buttons.
  • The new $Send URL Content Email to Contacts Group action sends the content from the specified URL to the selected contact group.
  • The $Send URL Content Email action now substitutes values from the active context as required. A summary of the content sent is logged as an interaction with the recipient.
  • The $View Cart action now supports the use of the $PriceExTax and $PriceIncTax support fields to display the price of an item excluding or including tax as required.
  • It is no longer necessary to set the value of the Condition field in wizard actions.
Jul 24, 2014
(v2.1.4.4)
Wizards
  • It is now possible to specify whether the Cancel button should be available on forms displayed by the $Content Add, $Content Update and $Content Select actions. The new Enable Cancel Button? field facilitates this.