release candidate of VirtueMart 2

[Milbo]

The team is proud to announce the release candidate of VirtueMart 2.



Download VM2-RC

Download VM2-RC-Plugins/Modules All in one installer (updated)



The Release Candidate contains a lot new features:

- media handler (multiple images)

- custom fields (replacing the old attributes, producttypes, variants,...)

- true child products in sense of OOP (unpublished parents can be used as linked product pattern)

- mail template system

- new currency formation possibilities

- more modules and plugins

- new admin menu layout

- meta tags

- more filters and searches

- complete anonymous checkout

- revenue report

- new template



What happend with the j1.6 support?

We wanted to support j1.6, but joomla does not make this easy. The version 1.6 is supported by jooomla only 6 months and after 3 months they did a lot of changes, which make virtuemart 2 incompatible again. In some months there will be already j1.7. For more information please read VM2 and j1.6

Most of the work we did was finetuning many details. We added all known currency formats, we improved listings, the meta tags and page titles are better for SEO now, improved ergonomics.

The new custom fields system supports at the moment only what was done with variants before. But the new system should make the computer configurator possible.



What is left to be done for the final release?

Our focus is now on security, speed, ergonomics and on payment/shipment plugins.

We already added some blockers for crosssite scripters, now we will add more of these and pay more attention to prevent sql injections.

We will slim down again the code to improve speed.

We are going to write some payment plugins, for exampel authorize and paypal

and a shipment plugin for downloadables.



Known bugs:

- the media handler has some teething problems.

- Recommend a product to a friend is not working yet.

- custom fields show more opportunities than actually correctly working.

[jjk]

If you are curious what VM2 looks like ...here is my first screenshot 
Note: The Joomla template is not included!

[attachment cleanup by admin]

[guilliam]

well done VM team and great job!

[jjk]

Just for fun - employed a 'lines of code counter' to count VM2RC:

Result for all processed Files:
Number of analyzed files   563
88053   Lines
44467   Code lines
17053   Blank lines (less than 3 characters)
26533   Comment lines
Comments in file 30 %

[dpk]

The download link here is broken: http://virtuemart.net/news/list-all-news/403-virtuemart-2-release-candidate-ready-for-download

[jjk]

You can also find it on: Developer Portal - Files
or use this direct link:
http://dev.virtuemart.net/attachments/download/263/com_virtuemart_2.0-RC.zip
Don't forget to download and install the file "mod_virtuemart_allinone_2.0.2-RC.zip", too.

[djliquid]

What is the safest / best practice for updating from a previous beta (2.0 beta 3 for me)

[dpk]

Thanks. I found it after logging in to the project tracker.

Some files seem to be missing the jscook menu in mod_virtuemart -- caused the site to crash on a fresh J1.5+VM2.0RC1 install.

[cmatte]

Hi to all, seems really cool!!!
Just a question. I am developing a new webshop for a client that uses vm 1.1.8 right now, with many personalized hacks / modifications. Is an "update" procedure going to be released when the final version is out? Will it be able to compare the code giving evidence of previous modifications?

[jenkinhill]

There should be an update script available a couple of months after release of VM2 final, but it will most likely concentrate on database changes and configuration.

As all the code has been rewritten (over 40,000 lines of it) then a compare and merge operation for hacks will be nearly impossible. Add in a delay before 3rd party developers get up to speed with shipping and payment plugins, and you would be better off sticking with 1.1.8 for quite a long time.

[gtech]

Thank you VM TEAM !
Keep it going Will DEMO site be available ?

[rizijones]

Pretty good. Thanks

[Margaret]

i would also like a demo site with virtuemart 2 please

[Milbo]

good idea.

[Kevin]

Thank you VM TEAM !
Keep it going Will DEMO site be available ?

There should be an update script available a couple of months after release of VM2 final, but it will most likely concentrate on database changes and configuration.

As all the code has been rewritten (over 40,000 lines of it) then a compare and merge operation for hacks will be nearly impossible. Add in a delay before 3rd party developers get up to speed with shipping and payment plugins, and you would be better off sticking with 1.1.8 for quite a long time.

I want to get started building a new site.  Would it be imprudent to start building the new site with release candidate of VirtueMart 2 with the hope of updating to the full release once available?  Thanks