The new VirtueMart version 1.5 has plenty of new features and behaviours. We did not intend to add new features, but it was necessary to reorganize some old features and in the process some new ones were created. Here is the link for the download
http://dev.virtuemart.net/redmine/attachments/download/159/virtuemart1.5-beta1a.zip
and the payment plugin installer http://dev.virtuemart.net/redmine/attachments/download/160/com_vmpayment-Beta-1.zip
Key features:
- in general *we use now the default joomla MVC pattern*.
- the shop is now vendor based and multivendor capable. This means multivendor is not supported but the interfaces already working with it.
- there is a new plugin system working within Joomla which makes plugin writing for VirtueMart similar to plugin writing for Joomla.
- a new Template system working within Joomla. This means you can use the joomla overrides. Ooverrides are possible for categories and products.
- the joomla language file system is used, this makes the use of multilanguages components/plugins much easier
- a new cart, which is now an true object and holds the user information in a session.
- a completly new calculation system, with a calculation class doing all the work. It is based on a rule system. At the moment works tax and discount. We may add later commission, margin, profit, duties, and so on and have the possibility todo all the calculation in virtuemart itself.
- multidiscounts added, the new calculator makes it possible to use different discounts per date and shoppergroup.
- price generation based on costprice (with currency exchange). This is directly shown in the product edit view. You can override the used rules for every single product or set a fixed price.
- there are now three configurable paths for the pictures of the shop and products. This makes it possible, that you can use your product pictures in joomla articles.
- new permission object. We did a step to enhance the security, using a permission object.
- new user object. A vm user is now always using the joomla tables and extra vm tables. It is much easier then before to use.
- new user accountmanagment system.
- new Imagehandler. The imagehandler creates needed thumbnails on the fly and updates the category or product. So when adding a product, you dont need to think about the thumbnails, just upload the full sized picture.
- countries, states and currency are configurable. You can easily just unpublish a country for exampel.
- in general increased the possibility to publish/unpublish (states, country, ...)
- SEF and SSL working with Joomla. This means we use the router.php and all views chooseable in the joomla administration can be set on using ssl. For a secure shop, you just need to set the login, the user and cart view on SSL.
- enhanced database layout.
- better performance, lower ram usage. We dont load a whole joomla again. The memory useage is reduced up to 30%.
Already known "bugs" or partly implemented features.
- manufacturer page not working. The manufacturer page is maybe just an autogenerated category only showing products of the manufacturer.
- vendor page is not working. The vendorpage is not really needed for single vendor stores.
- SEF not working. The sef is using the router.php. We just did not adjust it, but it is quite easy todo. It needs some playing around and people have a different taste. So from 3thrd developer view it is working, for the user not ;-)
- review not working. We tend to enable this feature with a pluginsystem, because there are plenty of different ideas to use such feature.
- coupons not working, it is the same like for the reviews
- quantity based discounts not working. We want to add that indeed, but there are also a lot of different scenarios. Maybe we just add the possibility for plugins to extend the calculator.
- the admin view "featured products" not working correctly. It maybe converted in a kind of "check calculated prices of products" view and then we add the featured column to the normal backend product list view. The view is almost working, just the discounts are not adjusted to the new calculator.
- some configuration settings not working/not used. There are a lot of configuration settings, which are just obsolete now and handled by joomla and there are some we must find out if people need it actually. Some config settings are only partly implemented. But the important stuff should work.
- order view has some glitches. Oscar is working on that parts. There are some minors left.
- only a few payment plugins are ported yet. We just ported now cash on delivery.
- shipment plugins not implemented, but shippers. This means that the shippers work, but not the special plugins for shipment. We already invented the pluginsystem for the payment plugins, so it will be quite easy to add it.
- migration tool not finished. We wrote already some tools for it. But it is not done yet. But we know it is very important that vm1.1. shops can be updated to vm1.5. We will start with the migration tool, when the first RC is released.
When you install virtuemart beta 1.5, then you must understand that there are a lot new behaviours.
- For setting virtuemart as homepage, just edit your homepage item in joomla and choose the virtuemart view in the joomla view chooser. The same for the cart and the user acountmaintance.
- You must install the paymentplugins first into joomla and create then paymentmethods in the virtuemart backend. There are now 2 plugins installed into joomla with the plugin installer component.
- When uninstalling virtuemart, the tables wont be removed. Use in the update/migration view in the backend the command "delete all vm tables" then you will redirected to the install view of joomla. For serious users it is more annoying, when the tables get deleted then deleting the tables manually and this procedure will fit better to j1.6. This procedure allows also to update with a simpel uninstall and reinstall.
We will open a new forum next days for submitting bugs and discussing the beta.
I hope you have fun with it. The team really worked hard to achieve it.
Max Milbers
great news, I was waiting for that! :)
i'm already playing with it.
It is lighter indeed and it feels more solid than 1.1 because of the better integration with joomla
Thank you for the great job!
Wonderful news. Many thanks to all the team who made this possible, very much appreciated. Please keep up the hard work.
Hi
Really Great News...
I wonder how the language files 'd be converted?
I'm translating into some language (about 80% yet)
Regards
Quote- the shop is now vendor based and multivendor capable. This means multivendor is not supported but the interfaces already working with it.
Great news :D 8)
Quote from: magj on November 13, 2010, 09:03:43 AM
Hi
Really Great News...
I wonder how the language files 'd be converted?
I'm translating into some language (about 80% yet)
Regards
You must take the new language files. Of course we started with the old language files, but we had to add a lot of language keys. Changed here and there the keysystem. So I advise you, forget the old language files and just translate only the new ones.
Will this be better for integration into joomla 1.6 ?
There will be a migration tool from vm1.1 to vm1.5 ?
Great job guys, thanks for your efforts making this great tool for us all to use freely :)
David
Great news, great job.
Afaik, except that the #__plugins is in j1.6 #__extensions, it should work already. Also the language files are already compatible with j1.6.
Great Job! and well done!
excellent I was waiting for this moment !
will test tonight on local server ! can't wait !
This is what I have been waiting for a long time. Finally 1.5 is out. Great news.
I started playing with it.
Great work guys.
Ganesh
Looks very good. Thank you all for the good work.
When will be the stable version ready?
Although I should be working to complete my VM1.1.5 website, I couldn't resist to install VM1.5.0 beta, which by the way still thinks it's 1.5.0 alpha ;)
One of the first 'bugs' I noticed is that the VM Image folders are not created during installation.
...now waiting for the 1.1.5/6 to 1.5 migration tools ;D
Hi
Where can i report bugs/problems with the 1.5? I am testing it and found a lot of bugs/mis-configurations
See here:
https://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=78322.msg259793;boardseen#new (https://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=78322.msg259793;boardseen#new)
Will 1.5 work with Artisteer templates? Currently there some quite annoying issues with VM 1.1.5 coexisting with Artisteer themes for Internet Explorer. (FireFox and Chrome have no problems...!)
Unfortunately most of my customers still use IE... Bugger!
Quote from: jjk on November 14, 2010, 08:12:55 AM
One of the first 'bugs' I noticed is that the VM Image folders are not created during installation.
ah thanks yes. This happened because we tried to install the paymentplugins with the virtuemart installer. I just removed that and the images work now. The file is already updated.
We provide a payment all in one installer, I updated the download links
Quote from: Yxos on November 14, 2010, 20:08:58 PM
Will 1.5 work with Artisteer templates?
I dont know for that special case, but one of our testers tested it with the joomlart template and it works well.
You dont need any very special templates anylonger, you can just take a joomla one and complete it with the virtuemart stuff.
It is obviously not a release candidate yet, from the list above with missing implementations and bugs it may still take a while until it can be used on a live site. :)
Well, it is a big step forward to make VM MVC. Important functions are still the same. Those important things like payment and shipping remain unchanged and have the same lack of functionality as in VM 1.1.5. It is still not possible to publish or unpublish payment methods or shipping methods by selecting or deselecting countries. We can add country specific calculation rules, but we cannot select to show or hide payment or shipping methods by selecting or deselecting countries. Lets say I just want allowing customers from the country of the shop origin to pay with cod. There is no way to do so. Shopper Groups are not the way to do it. I hope the final release will have those things, which are important for shop owners.
Quote from: franzpeter on November 15, 2010, 10:38:09 AM
Important functions are still the same. Those important things like payment and shipping remain unchanged and have the same lack of functionality as in VM 1.1.5.
The code is 90% new. It is absolutly NOT the same. When you think it is the same then you did not get the point with the payment plugins and payment methods and yes you can both publish it.
Quote from: franzpeter on November 15, 2010, 10:38:09 AM
It is still not possible to publish or unpublish payment methods or shipping methods by selecting or deselecting countries.
It is new for me that this is a requested feature. I can say that it wouldnt take long to add it working that way. The secret is the cart object stored in the session.
@Milbo,
maybe the code is new, but the functionality is the same. I just take a look beyond the VM horizon. Those possibilties with publishing or unpublishing payment or shipping methods for countries as a more global function are implemented in a lot of shop systems. You can do that in OpenCart, Prestashop, Magento, CS Cart, Tienda a.s.o.. In Magento for example the shop owner can define conditions to publish or unpublish things like payment, shipping, rebate or something else with dropdowns in the backend. So you can say for example customers from country xyz are allowed to pay with cod but don't get rebate and the shop only shows DHL shipping for them or something else.
But it would be sufficient to be able to define or exclude countries for specific payment or shipping methods. Maybe the payment provider, who develops a plugin can include something in the source code, but what if I want to have something else? It should be the decision of the shop owner and not the decision of the developer of a plugin or module. I don't think that, like done in other shopping carts, implementing geo zones is necessary. It would be sufficient to implement something like a switch in the backend to control the visibility of some functions in the frontend. I am not a programmer but as far as I can see, VM has the necessary information if the customer enters the delivery address, to decide to show or to hide something during the checkout.
The shopper group is, from my point of view, not the right way to control shipping or payment functions.
okey, thanks franz, I understand what you mean.
I try to explain the difference. In vm1.1 was it very hard to add such functionalities. In VM1.5 I could add payment methods using shoppergroups within some hours (not a day) and adding countries is quite the same.
We are happy that we created a new car and with a new engine, of course the turboloader, stereo and powered windows will follow.
Milbo,
I think the shoppergroups is the wrong place to implement something like that. The shoppergroup, as it is now, is a decision of the shop owner. After customer registration, I can decide for the future to which group the customer belongs in future. What about first time customers? Lets say a first time customer comes from Germany. So he may use all payment methods but I would like to offer flat rate shipping. Another one comes from the UK. I would like to offer all payment methods except cod and on invoice and shipping method should be UPS live rate.
With shopper group in the existing way, that is not possible in advance, because it needs a customer registration and than a decision of the shop owner about the customer group.
Best way would be, if VM would have the possibility to apply predefined shipping and payment methods in a country specific way in the checkout process.
No problem to add both of it,... the data is already in the cart and handled for the calculation rules, ...
Just installed on fresh J1.6 install (no sample data), seems to be having language issues - everything is xx_xx_xx_xx e.g. VM_PRODUCT_LIST_NAME
Also, is CSV product upload not built-in now?
FWIW, I think a migration tool is a bad idea - so many people have done so many different things to 1.1.x, it would just cause massive headaches for all concerned!
Quote from: nedge2k on November 17, 2010, 12:02:57 PM
FWIW, I think a migration tool is a bad idea - so many people have done so many different things to 1.1.x, it would just cause massive headaches for all concerned!
if its to start a new site from scrach on j1.6 and vm1.5 then you sure don't need the tool. Such tool should be there though anyway, no mater if some will use it or not I think.
Quote from: nedge2k on November 17, 2010, 12:02:57 PM
Just installed on fresh J1.6 install (no sample data), seems to be having language issues - everything is xx_xx_xx_xx e.g. VM_PRODUCT_LIST_NAME
Please look here: https://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=78363.0
Quote from: nedge2k on November 17, 2010, 12:02:57 PM
Also, is CSV product upload not built-in now?
There was only a link set, csvi is not part of vm1.1
Quote from: nedge2k on November 17, 2010, 12:02:57 PM
FWIW, I think a migration tool is a bad idea - so many people have done so many different things to 1.1.x, it would just cause massive headaches for all concerned!
a migration tool tries to port the old data structure into a new one.
First: The rule is that people who customize are not the problem of the producer, normally you lose your warranty, when you start to customize your product.
Second: The changes people did are mostly based on files and not the database structure. This stuff must completly rewritten anyway or is just obsolete.
Third: Most shops are very happy, when at least the products, categories, orders, and shoppers are ported.
Is there such a difference inside the database between VM 1.1.5 and VM 1.5? Did take a look inside the database tables, the most obvious thing in productor category tables are: addition of metatags, detailspage (maybe for templating) and the different standard entry for published, which is now 1 instead of Y and in the categories something for pagination. The manufacturer table has now the possibility for images.
So nedge2k: I do not understand why it should not be possible to migrate the database VM before 1.5 did not use metatags, so there is nothing to migrate in that case, the fields remain empty. Replacing Y with 1 and N with 0 cannot be such a big problem.
So it should be possible to update the database from existing VM 1.1.5 with the new fields and convert a few things. The biggest changes are not in the database but in the component files.
Virtuemart has a lot of users now. I think without a migration a lot of users will migrate to something else, what may have such a migration tool like Tienda or Redshop.
well a migration tool should be defenitely here before the official release
we can't leave behind our users..
I think for now other joomla component for shopping are not so cool as virtuemart.
The most important is:
- Virtuemart is free
- Virtuemart (and new 1.5) have multi-vendors tables (older) and capabilities
- Virtuemart is very known and there are a lot of extensions, themes.. and also if 1.1. haven't joomla MCV the graphics with themese was supreme. I dont see any demo of redshop, tienda, etc... like a Vm Junction, or Yageendo flypage template.
A question.. When is probable the release of RC, or stable?
Did the beta support joomla 1.6?
I tested it in joomla 1.5 in easyphp is worked but i can't access on the shop.
Perhaps i need to test in a clean database (there was vm 1.1 tables).
next beta is not scheduled yet, meaning that there is not an official date for its release but the dev team is working on it.
the current beta is not supporting j1.6
the next beta proabily will, btw the stable vm1.5 will support it for sure.
about your testing environment, shop can be accessed by creating a menu link and choosing VirtueMart as the menu type
a clean database is mandatory as there is no conversino tool atm (even if db tables that needs to be converted are very very very VERY few!)
if you are a PHP developer, don't waste your time, give us an hand :)
Sorry but i didn't. Im learning about some of php but im not a developer.
I try to myself learn using Module template adding some code and simple things.
The only one i made is Vm Total Orders... i simple counter of "C" confirmed or "S" Shipped.. ;D you know what i said.
where can we see progress of 1.5 because on dev.virtuemart.net is nothing showing last few days
thanks
We had big problems with our servers and committing was not possible and now is xmas time
Please add an order possibility for additional images. And most important... Loose the MD5 Hash when uploading images.
Very anxious for this version...
Blans
Quote from: blans on December 23, 2010, 14:12:33 PM
Please add an order possibility for additional images. And most important... Loose the MD5 Hash when uploading images.
From what I've seen so far I think the "insert additional image" page now is located under the menu 'Product - Product Files'. There you can select one of the products and click on "New" to add additional images or files. However, it doesn't seem to work yet (I get an error message when I try this).
Concerning the MD5 hash suffix - they are eliminated already! You can see this if you upload your own images for a product. What you see in the beta appears to be just a few old imported sample image files including their ugly MD5 file name.
A feature that would have really been useful for the upgrade would be a multi-tiered navigation system for the catalog (similar to Magento's "layered navigation) - i.e. Shop By Price Range).
.. well if there is something to ask is to include as much possibilities for digital download stores as possible. there is too much to ask ...
we love virtuemart
peace
Downloadable goods and a complete new media/files/images handler is on the list for the RC, begin of april.
exciting ! ::)