ExpressionEngine 2.9.1 Released
ExpressionEngine 2.9.1 and Discussion Forum 3.1.17 are now available for download. ExpressionEngine 2.9.1 is a security and stability release recommended for all users. In addition to improving security, it includes over 40 bug fixes. Some of the more noteworthy bug fixes or improvements to functionality or security are:
- Made
{cp_edit_entry_url}available to Admin Notification of New Entry. - Improved Control Panel custom theme organization: view files can now be stored in a
viewssubfolder.
ExpressionEngine 2.9.0 Released
ExpressionEngine 2.9.0 has been released and includes new features and bug fixes. Discussion Forum 3.1.16 and Multiple Site Manager 2.1.7 are also available as maintenance releases. Here’s a look at what’s new.
New Conditionals Parser
The main story for 2.9.0 is the new conditionals parser. With this new parser, we’ve been able to boost performance, ensure conditionals behave more consistently when written in different ways, and added more power. Here’s a quick summary:
- Conditionals
New Conditionals Parser in 2.9
In 2.9 we rewrote the conditional parser. It is more performant, more consistent, and has new operators.
Performance
{if segment_3 == 'books'}
{exp:channel:entries channel="book_reviews" limit="5"}
{title}
{/exp:channel:entries}
{if:elseif segment_3 == 'games'}
{exp:channel:entries channel="game_reviews" limit="5"}
{title}
{/exp:channel:entries}
{if:else}
{exp:channel:entries channel="misc_reviews" limit="5"}
{title}
{/exp:channel:entries}
{/if}
{if segment_3 == 'books'}
{exp:channel:entries channel="book_reviews" limit="5"}
{title}
{/exp:channel:entries}
{if:elseif segment_3 == 'games'}
{exp:channel:entries channel="game_reviews" limit="5"}
{title}
{/exp:channel:entries}
{if:else}
{exp:channel:entries channel="misc_reviews" limit="5"}
{title}
{/exp:channel:entries}
{/if}
Starting with 2.9 conditionals evaluate when ready. When a conditional
statement’s variables are known the statement will be evaluated as either
TRUE or FALSE. In the above example, when segment_3 is “games” we will
remove the other two channel entries tags from the template. Instead of
processing 3 channel entries tags and then deciding which one to show, we now
determine which tag to process.
Consistency
The distinction between “simple” and “advanced” conditionals is gone. Write
your conditionals anyway you want. Put the variable first ({if my_snippet ==
"awesome"}) or put it last ({if "awesome" == my_snippet}). Use as many
if:elseif statements as you desire. Use boolean operators. They are now all
evaluated when ready.
New Operators
We have added mathematical operators to our conditionals. In addition to the
modulus operator (%) you can now add (+), subtract (-), multiply (*),
divide (/), and compute exponents (^) on your numbers. We’ve also added a
string concatenation operator (.):
{if segment_1."/".segment_2 == "site/index"}
We didn’t stop there. We’ve also added three special comparison operators,
inspired by CSS attribute selectors: begins with (^=), ends with ($=), and
contains (*=). Using a snippet of “Conditionals in ExpressionEngine 2.9
Rock!” named my_snippet these all evaluate to true:
{if my_snippet ^= "Conditionals"}
{if my_snippet $= "Rock!"}
{if my_snippet *= "ExpressionEngine 2.9"}
We also added a regular expression operator (~) so now you can do this:
{if segment_3 ~ "/^P\d+/"}
I'm paginated!
{/if}
And for good measure we added a boolean not operator (!) so this works:
{if ! (segment_3 ~ "/^P\d+/")}
No pagination here.
{/if}
Or if you prefer:
{if ! (the_droids *= looking_for)}
And if you want to ponder a philosophical point:
{if 2B || ! 2B}
These are some of the major new features of the new conditional parser in ExpressionEngine 2.9. We can’t wait to see what you do with it.
Improved License Management
For many years we have heard from agencies about the difficulties they have in keeping track of client licenses for ExpressionEngine. Good record keeping is a necessity, and can be as simple as a spreadsheet with the client’s name and license numbers for ExpressionEngine and any third-party add-ons used for their build. On our end we’ve provided a few things to assist, such as a “Notes” field in the Manage Purchases page with each license that can be used for the client’s name or other identifying information.
Even with these things in place, it’s easy after a few years of ExpressionEngine work to have accumulated so many licenses that some fall through the cracks. Many factors are at play: sheer volume, using a base install and forgetting to update the license, transferring some licenses to clients while maintaining others, etc. A far too common result of these many branching pathways and points for potential license confusion are conversations like this one:
End user: Hi EllisLab, we’d like to upgrade to the latest version, but we don’t know how to access the software on your site.
EllisLab: No problem, what is your license number in Admin > General Configuration? We can help you locate your account.
End user: It’s blank / It says <insert license number that is for a third-party add-on> / <insert valid license number that is not owned by the end user>
EllisLab: No problem, do you know who built your site for you?
End user: Yes but we haven’t been able to contact them / no, nobody still working here remembers who set it up.
At that point we try to help the client track down the developer, sometimes with success, sometimes not. Ultimately the developer simply neglected to key in the license number, forgot to purchase a license before taking the site live, or meant to transfer the license to their client but didn’t. To give a sense of scale to the problem, in just the last year clients have collectively experienced almost three years of waiting (25,394 hours) while sorting out their license ownership with all parties involved.
To try to address these challenges more directly, starting in ExpressionEngine 2.9, the Software License number has been moved to its own section of the control panel, and we’ve added a field to help clients (and EllisLab) know who to contact if they have questions about their license.
Note that this contact email address doesn’t have to be associated with your EllisLab.com account, as this is more for your client’s benefit down the road. In the example above, we’re taking advantage of plus addressing in the email address to use one account but still readily identify the client. If the information on this page is for some reason blank (due to using a base install, or removed from config), the control panel will prompt you to fill in that information to properly register your software. This registration information gets sent to EllisLab1 and when you are logged in, is displayed for you next to the license and your existing notes.
You will be able to see where the license is in use, as well as the last time the ping occurred. Using this information, you can monitor your clients’ sites by taking a quick glance at your Manage Purchases page and ensure none of your clients have a site that’s been down for months. E.g.: if you see a client site that hasn’t sent a ping in six months, it could be a sign that they need you for some services.
EllisLab has always taken a soft approach to license registration so we treaded very lightly here. You will never be locked out of your software nor will the behavior and output of your site be impacted by this in any way. But now agencies, freelancers, and clients are assured to have reliable information keyed in prior to launching their site, and readily on hand for managing their ExpressionEngine licenses down the road.
-
We also include the server IP, domain name, ExpressionEngine version, and PHP version. Having that version information allows us to make more informed development decisions, and rather than have a separate ping, we are piggybacking this one for performance. Further, this ping only occurs in the control panel on select pages and with a two week cache, so it will never interrupt the use of your site, your content authors, or your site visitors. ↩
ExpressionEngine 2.8.0 Released
We’ve just released ExpressionEngine 2.8.0 which has new features and fixes–some of which we profiled earlier this week–but here are some of the high points…
Memory-Based Caching in ExpressionEngine 2.8
ExpressionEngine has always stored cached data on the disk. This is fine for most sites, but for the sites that get heavy traffic, caching to the filesystem can become a bottleneck. The solution is to store cached data in a memory-based cache store for faster retrieval. In ExpressionEngine 2.8, we’ve brought over caching drivers from CodeIgniter, allowing cached data to be stored in the filesystem or in a memory-based store such as Memcached or Redis.
ExpressionEngine 2.7.3 Released
ExpressionEngine 2.7.3 is now available for download. It is a stability release recommended for all users that includes a few additions and over 40 bug fixes.
Reminder: Support for ExpressionEngine 1 Ends December 7th
In a little under two months, ExpressionEngine 1 will be retired, which means it will no longer receive updates of any kind and will no longer be eligible for EllisLab Support. To ensure that expert help from EllisLab continues to be available for all your client sites, we encourage you to upgrade your remaining ExpressionEngine 1 sites as soon as possible.
ExpressionEngine 2.7.2 Released
ExpressionEngine 2.7.2 is now available for download. It is a security and stability release recommended for all users. In addition to improving security, it includes over 20 bug fixes.
Putting the “Secure” in Secure Mode Forms
The Secure Mode setting in ExpressionEngine serves a very important function and is often misunderstood. Secure Mode ensures that all forms processed by ExpressionEngine came from the visitor who was given the form and not some other source that may be trying to do very bad things. If the call is not coming from the visitor it was generated for, ExpressionEngine will reject it.
At its most basic level, this feature helps prevent spam bots from bombing your site with automated data as they try to add unwelcome viagra ads to your innocent comments section. However, the really important duty of Secure Mode is stopping cross-site request forgery attacks which include not only common spammers but also malicious external attacks.