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.zipand the payment plugin installer
http://dev.virtuemart.net/redmine/attachments/download/160/com_vmpayment-Beta-1.zipKey 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
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