osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Alpha 5

[michael_s]

We are proud to announce the fifth and final alpha release of osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 codenamed "Vanillekipferl". The focus with this release has changed from implementing additional core features to, instead, concentrate on the core framework and to add new features to future releases. This allows v3.0 to be finalized and released much sooner with a stable framework and allows for a much faster release cycle to introduce new features.

This release is a stable production-ready release and will be the first supported release in the v3.x series. This release is still marked as an Alpha release due to framework changes that are still planned. We therefore recommend the installation of this release to those that are performing it themselves, and for hosting and service providers to wait until the final release of v3.0 before making it available to their customers.

The community add-ons site is now accepting uploads for this release and discussion channels are open in the community support forums.

The osCommerce Online Merchant v2.2 to v3.0 migration tool will be made available by the end of March for existing installations to use, and is only recommended to those that will be updating their installations leading up to the final v3.0 release.

New Features

Some of the new features in osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Alpha 5 include:

• New object-oriented framework (alpha 1)
• New installation routine (alpha 1)
• register_globals and magic_quotes_gpc compatibility (alpha 1)
• New template structure implementation (alpha 1)
• Search-engine optimizations (alpha 1)
• Service modules (alpha 1)
• Checkout procedure cleanup (alpha 2)
• New language definitions implementation (alpha 2)
• Updated payment modules with post-transaction actions (alpha 3)
• Catalog front-end, administration tool, and installation routine combined (alpha 3)
• XHTML/CSS based default template layout for the catalog side (alpha 3)
• Multiple product images implementation (alpha 3)
• New action modules (alpha 3)
• Administration Tool access levels (alpha 4)
• Administrator Log (alpha 4)
• Administration Tool batch action capabilities (alpha 4)
• HTML Editor for product descriptions (alpha 4)
• Full zone entries for most countries (alpha 4; Anders Pamdal)
• Language injection feature for similar languages (alpha 4)
• GeoIP Modules for the Administration Tool Who's Online section (alpha 4)
• Product Attributes and Product Variants implementation (alpha 5)
• Dynamic Table Listings (Administration Tool) (alpha 5)
• Live Search (Administration Tool) (alpha 5)
• Administration Tool sections now self-contained Applications (alpha 5)
• Error Logging; both PHP and MySQL errors and warnings now logged (alpha 5)
  (forced runtime usage of PHP E_ALL and MySQL STRICT_ALL_TABLES)
• Stabilized Framework (alpha 5)
• Usage of JSON for RPC calls (alpha 5)
• Inclusion of jQuery v1.3.2 and jQuery UI v1.7 (alpha 5)

osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Roadmap

The roadmap leading up to the final v3.0 release is defined as:

osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Beta 1

• HTML E-Mails
• Purchase Without Account
• Frozen Framework
• Updated Frontend/GUI
• Upgrade from v2.2 and v3.0 Alpha 5

osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0

• Finalize Updated Frontend/GUI
• Documentation
• Certified Modules
• Upgrade from v2.2 and v3.0 Beta 1

osCommerce Online Merchant v3.1

• Backup/Import/Export Features

osCommerce Online Merchant v3.2

• Gift Vouchers and Coupons

Social Coding on Github

osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Alpha 5 is the first release using Git to attract an even greater wave of developers to help with the development of add-ons and core framework improvements. Git is a distributed version control system which allows developers to clone and create branches on their own local development machines. The Git development repository is hosted at:

http://github.com/osCommerce/oscommerce/

Developers, feel free to fork the git master branch now and keep up to date with the changes leading up to the final v3.0 release. Be ready to show the world your creativity in making osCommerce Online Merchant an even better e-commerce solution!

If you are new to Git, please review the guides available at Github to help get you started:

http://github.com/guides/home

Server Requirements

osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Alpha 5 requires the following dependencies:

• PHP v5.2+ (with MySQLi extension)
• MySQL v4.1.13+ or v5.0.7+

Download

Information on downloading osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Alpha 5 can be found here:

http://www.oscommerce.com/solutions/downloads

We wish you the best of fun with this release and look forward to your feedback!

Release Errata

osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Alpha 5 was released on the 14th March 2009. Since its release the download package has been updated to fix the following problems:

• Show server requirements during the installation routine
• Add a javascript check during the installation routine which is required for the installation routine and Administration Tool
• Fix the Administration Tool language import logic (http://svn.oscommerce.com/jira/browse/OSC-832)

More...