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Release Announcements

WP-Members 2.8.2 final release

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Feature Updates

  • Added WP user fields user_nicename, display_name, and nickname to the $fields array, defaults to $username for backward compatibility.
  • Updated field manager process to allow user_nicename, display_name, and nickname to be added via the fields manager as WP native fields
  • Added wpmem_register_data filter for $fields to allow filtering of all fields prior to new user insertion, including above new fields (added updates to registration function to make better use of the filter).
  • Added wpmem_pre_validate_form for $fields to allow filtering fields prior to default form field validation.
  • Begin implementation of moving bulk user management features into Users > All Users. Users > All Users screen can now activate and export users, and will show additional fields as selected in the fields manager. 
  • Added wpmem_admin_profile_heading, wpmem_admin_profile_field, and wpmem_admin_profile_update filters. These filters are all part of the user profile section.

Fixes, Patches, & Code Improvements

  • Fixed the conversion of update-profile to members-area shortcode. The bug renders all page shortcodes as members-area.
  • Fixed the activate user process for user defined passwords, a bug from 2.8.0/2.8.1.
  • Fixed a bug that can cause the sidebar login widget to not post to the correct url when a static front page is used.
  • Fixed user profile update (updates with custom checkbox don’t stay checked), an issue from 2.8.0.
  • Patch correcting the front-side registration form nonce. This patch should improve reliability while still using nonces for security.
  • Patch for the dropdown field for users running < PHP 5.3.
  • Made front-side nonce optional, defaults to off.
  • Moved utility functions out of core.php to utility file utilities.php.
  • Moved the location of the wpmem_email_notify hook so the filter comes after shortcodes are parsed.
  • Updated the registration function to rely on the values contain in $fields, allowing for the array values to be filtered.
  • Updated the registration form to accommodate registration function updates.
  • Improved auto excerpt function screens for unclosed common html tags and provides a closing tag if none exists.
  • Improved export process to wrap fields with double quotes – fixes issues if field contains a comma.

WP-Members 2.8.1 shortcode patch

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I am always nervous about releasing updates to the plugin because in the back of my mind I am wondering what element slipped through the cracks.  The 2.8.1 release was no exception.

WP-Members 2.8.1 made it out the door with a small error related to the new “user-profile” shortcode.

The problem was with the logic in line 208 of wp-members-core.php:

$page = ( 'user-profile' ) ? 'members-area' : $page;

This would actually always return true, which would mean that all shortcodes using the “page” parameter would be members-area pages.  So register and login pages, while still being able to provide their core function, wouldn’t be working quite the way they should since they would have both the login and registration forms in the logged out state and wouldn’t have the correct links in the logged in state.

The fix (which has been implemented in the download already) is to change line 208 of wp-members-core.php to:

$page = ( $page == 'user-profile' ) ? 'members-area' : $page;

WP-Members 2.8.1 Release

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The WP-Members 2.8.1 release is an important security update for the plugin. It is highly recommended that you upgrade as previous versions of the plugin have a possible exploit that may be vulnerable. As soon as I became aware of this, I put all other items on the project list on hold.

While 2.8.1 is primarily a security fix, there are some additional features, as well as a few improvements as well.  These are items that were already in the works when the security issue was made apparent.

Here is a list of what is included in the 2.8.1 release:

Security Updates

  • The most important fix in this update (and the reason why you should update) is that this closes a potential cross site scripting exploit.
  • Updated nonces in the updated admin panels from 2.8.0.
  • Added nonces to the front-side form submission.
  • Security evaluation and updates to other areas.

Feature Updates

  • Added dropdown selector option for the User Profile (members-area) page and Register page location (There is still the option to enter the URL yourself, and for backward compatibility, if you have a custom URL entered in the setting, it will default to that).
  • Updated the dropdown field custom field type to accommodate commas in the field values (such as “1,000”).  The dropdown example shows how to enclose this with double quotes.

Other Updates

  • Updated the TOS shortcode to be case insensitive for the shortcode parameter (TOS/tos).  Either will work.  The User Guide had previously indicated the incorrect case in the instructions, so I updated this to be case insensitive to allow for backward compatibility.
  • The members-area parameter will be prepared to be deprecated and replaced with user-profile.  More on this below.
  • Separated backend User Profile functions from the wp-members-core.php file to users.php.
  • Applied post 2.8.0 patches

Members Area nomenclature change

In previous versions, the front side page that was used to handle user functions such as reset a forgotten password, update registration info, change your password, and (in the PayPal addon) renew a subscription, was called with the shortcode [[wp-members page=”members-area”]].

It has been called that since the beginning of this plugin.  Unfortunately, it has been a confusing issue because it has turned out that this is not intuitive.   For users that do not necessarily read the plugin documentation and installation instructions (or do not read them thoroughly), the term Members Area gets interpreted as “area of my site that is restricted content” and not “area of my site for members to update their info”.

So beginning in 2.8.1, this is being changed to User Profile.  The shortcode will be [[wp-members page=”user-profile”]] but the old shortcode will still work.  As you can see in 2.8.0, the name was already changed in the options panel.  If you continue to use the old shortcode, that is ok.  Future releases will support it (for now).  However, all references to the Members Area will be changed to User Profile in the plugin documentation and instructions as the use of the term is deprecated.

WP-Members MailChimp Integration Add-on Released

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The MailChimp Integration Add-on Module has been released in beta.  The package can be downloaded from the add-ons page.

It is important to note that this module is only compatible with the new WP-Members 2.8.0 version.  2.8 is presently a beta release, but the current release candidate is pretty close to the final production release.  The reason for this is that the module has some settings tied into the plugin’s options and 2.8 introduces a new admin panel, so it could not be integrated with 2.7.7 and earlier.

If you cannot upgrade WP-Members, you can still integrate using the various hooks in the plugin.

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