For those of you that want a sneak peek at the new release of WP-Members, the new 2.8 version is now available for beta testing. Please note that this is beta software and with that in mind, consider the following:
- Run this on production at your own risk!! I would recommend starting with a test server to make sure it is fully compatible with your current installation.
- There are some significant changes to the admin. If you had customized features, you’ll need to make sure those are compatible (refer to the above bullet point).
- This is Release Candidate 3 – that could change based on bug reports and additional testing.
- The current version of the PayPal Subscription Module is NOT compatible with version 2.8. There will be an update to the module (bringing that module into beta) to follow soon.
With those things in mind, I invite you to try this version out. There are many improvements in this release, mostly focusing around the admin side of the plugin. I try to test for all possible configurations, but I know a lot of you out there bend, twist, and shape this plugin into forms I couldn’t even think of, so your feedback on how this update effects your setup is welcomed.
Here is a list of features and updates in this release:
- Added a dummy index.php file in all plugin directories. This is a security improvement and disallows direct access to a directory (in case your server allows directory browsing).
- Added new constants WPMEM_DIR and WPMEM_PATH. This will allow you to grab the directory of the plugin directly.
- Broke up the admin file wp-members-admin.php into multiple files based on function. These are all now moved into an /admin/ directory.
- Added the password field to the fields array in the registration function so that this can be used in the registration hooks and filters (updates the autologin process).
- Updated the logout process to use wp_clear_auth_cookie. The previous wp_clearcookie was deprecated and was causing header errors in some instances.
- New admin look updates the tabs to the WP format. This also was built to allow extensible tabs so you can hook in and create your own tabs and panels.
- Add field dialog was updated and improved.
- Added an admin process to edit existing fields. (IMPORTANT NOTE: There are known issues with this feature in the beta that are being addressed.)
- Added new option in the plugin options to load one of the predefined stylesheets from a dropdown.
- Block/Unblock post meta box added to the post/page editor – no need to use custom fields anymore (this feature actually updates the custom fields accordingly, so you can use custom fields if you want to).
WP-Members 2.8 Beta Release is available in the plugin repository. Select version 2.8.0 from the list, NOT development version.