Release Notes - 29th May 2008

After the last major update to the service at the beginning of May we've got a few more new features to round off the month. As always if you've got any questions about these changes then don't hesitate to contact us.

Store Enhancements

Store Querying

We've upgraded the Query area of the site to allow you to create queries on store Items, store Orders, and store Order Lines. As with all the query tools you can export the results of your query to a CSV or PDF, and you can save your query setup to use again at a later date.

Advanced Store Search

In the last release we added a new feature to enable you to store extra database fields for any store item or any store order. At the time we said we'd be adding more features to enable you to use those database fields on the store - and the first of these is now available! The "store search" component now allows you to include searching of store item notes - so for example you could allow people to search for a Bible of a specific translation, or a CD with a specific performing artist.

We've also added the ability to specify a price range you wish to search within and the ability to search just the current category if required.

To enable these features, all you have to do is switch on the relevant option in the 'store Search' component of your layout.

Fulfilment Service

Fulfilment services is a new feature which allows larger e-commerce users to indicate how an order for a specific item is usually fulfilled. Fulfilment could be by sending an order off to specific supplier by fax, it could be a series of items which are held at a remote warehouse, or it could be that some items are supplied by an automated 3rd party fulfilment service.

All you have to do to create a new fulfilment service is go into the settings area, select the e-commerce area and choose the fulfilment services option. There are two types of fulfilment service, manual (the sort where you need to effectively produce a 'pick-list' to meet your order requirements which you can send off to your supplier) or a 3rd party automated service (more of these to come shortly).

Once you've got the fulfilment services set up, you can assign individual items or whole product categories to a specific service. If you're using a "manual" type service a new option fulfilment items will appear in your store order area so you can export pick-lists for each supplier.

PDF format printable orders

The printable store order now creates a PDF file - which means you can customise the layout to make it personal to your organisation. Simply go to the Settings area and select letterheads from the general category to set up your template.

Item List Component layout editor

Up until now the item list component has displayed the contents of a store category in just one format - the standard row format.

As from today we're excited to announce a new "mini-layout" editor which allows you to customise how the item
information is listed and which elements of information you show. It works very much like the main layout editor (although some options have been simplified) allowing you to share identical layouts between numerous instances of the same component. Once the layout is complete you can select how many items you'll be showing and how they fill the page.

We're hoping to add the new "mini-layout" to other components (such as the article list component) in the near future.

Site Settings Interface

The site settings area has received a much needed facelift to make the interface much more consistent and easier to navigate. As with the other areas of the site it now uses a "two-pane" approach with categories on the left, settings on the right.

As we've rationalised settings into categories there's a couple of important items to note:

"Site Administrators" and "Store Managers" (from the store area) can now be found under the new permissions category.
Payment processing options are now located within the e-commerce area.
store email templates are now included along with the other email templates in the emails area.

Other enhancements/fixes

A prompt to 'Save' changes is now displayed when moving between tabs on an Organisation record.
When changes to an organisation record are saved then the organisation page you are currently on is now retained.
The draft count is now updated immediately when a draft email is saved.
Appropriate login text is now displayed when a user selects the leave or join a group link.
Payment Group email confirmation name field now saves changes correctly.
Payment group discounts can now be added again in Internet Explorer.
Item list components can now be added to the document editor.
'Files list' store component renamed to contents list.

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