2 days late, after being 2 weeks late after nearly 2 months late....but the first beta of JCE 1.5.0 is finally here!
This is a significant release as not only does it include the latest and greatest version of TinyMCE, 3.0.2, but also represents anew direction in the development of JCE, with new methods of data handling, an improved API with better extension options, better language support, but also new methods to extend and enhance plugins; as well as a few new bit and pieces (available soon).
This initial beta release is available to subscribers only, as an attempt to limit any potential problems to a smaller audience, and to offer subscribers the opportunity to test and use the brand new version of JCE!
Please note that although this is beta code, and therefore should be used in production environments with caution, indications are that JCE 1.5.x is stable and shouldn't cause any major problems.
One of the main new features of JCE 1.5.0, as mentioned above, is the use of the new TinyMCE. According to the developers at Moxiecode, this new version differs from the previous 2.x series, with amongst other changes:
- Core is completely rewritten and optimized.
- Smaller download size and less files to load.
- Improved Safari support.
- New and improved API, documented at wiki.moxiecode.com.
- New Office 2007 skin.
- Inline dialogs are now cleaned up and used by default.
- More semantically correct output, more flexible and powerful serialization engine.
JCE 1.5.0 has embraced as many of these changes as possible and built on these new features with a reqritten API of its own, which although may appear to behave in a similar way to previous JCE releases, is vastly improved, with speed increases, more efficient data handling and better methods for creating and extending plugins.
Many of these new changes will be documented in the next few weeks.
Please note that not all plugins are currently available, only the Admin Component and Core Editor, which includes the Image Manager and AdvLink plugins, has been released. Further plugin releases, including all the existing subscriber plugins, will be made available in the next few days and weeks.
Some new features:
General:
- TinyMCE 3.0.x
- New API using Joomla!'s own MVC architecure (at least a start)
- Easy to extend and build on
- JSON data handling throughout
- New extension system allows plugins to be extended, eg: AdvLink and new Multibot plugin
- New unified installer as in Joomla!
- New dom and string manipulation libraries, Mootools used extensively in plugin creation/extension
- New Joomla! langauge handling
Manager plugins, ie: Image Manager
- A new dynamicfolder tree loads sub-folder lists on demand.
- Better file selection in Manager plugins(CTRL and SHIFT supported)
- Warnings for invalid filenames
- New dialogs windows
- Multiple file uploads with queuing and progress bar (Requires Flash 8 but will fallback to IFrame method)
- Integration with Joomla! Filesystem therefore adding FTP support
- A new Browser plugin adds File Manager type features to some existing plugins like Tables and AdvLink
- CSS sprites used for all icons
AdvLink:
- Uses the new JCE plugin extension system for link selection, therefore new extensions can be installed adding the ability to create links to any component, module etc.
Known issues
JCE 1.5.0 beta 1 appears to be quite stable, but there may be a few hidden problems that I haven't come across yet. There are still a few javascript and css quirks to work out, especially in the 'other' browsers, IE6, Opera and Safari.
Please report issues as you find them. Much of the core javascript has been intentionally left uncompressed so interested users can haev a look around and see how things work.
Thanks for your patience, and I hope you enjoy this new version. Lets hope for a speedy move to a stable 1.5.0!
Ryan