The second beta release of JCE 1.5.0 sees a number of important fixes and a few new features and additions. These include small javascript and css tweaks, some function rewrites, and quite a bit of cleanup here and there.
The priority for this release was made clear when a number of users had difficulty installing and using beta1, either because of timeouts when attempting to install the editor, or because of tables not being created during the Admin Component install. The latter was caused it would seem, by a bad sql files, which contained data that may have been incompatible with many databases. My apologies for this.
Manual Installation
On the matter of installation timeouts, there is no effective way to prevent this in many cases, but a manual install option can be used along with the new 'Install Editor' button in the Admin Component Control Panel. If you don't see the button, there is nothing to worry about. To perform a manual install:
- Copy all the files from the plg_jce_150_beta2.zip to plugins/editors, preserving the folder structure
- Click on the JCE Administration link in the Components menu.
- Click the 'Install Editor' button.
New File Path Methods
An exciting new feature has been added which will allow for the creation of user specific folders, and simplifies the process of user folder restrictions. All Manager plugins (Image Manager, Browser, File Manager etc.) can now have certain variables added to their File Directory Path, in the plugin's parameters. The variable options are $id, $username and $usertype and these correspond to the respective Joomla! variables. Example:
'images/stories/$usertype/$username' would be rendered as 'images/stories/author/joeshcmo', thus giving the Author, joeschmo his own folder (and restricting him to it) in the author directory. These values are global, ie: they apply to all users when set, regardless of their level. Only Super Administrators will have access to the directories below this, which in this case would be 'images/stories'.
The method to create User Restricted directories has also become easier, and follows a similar principle. You need now only select the level below which user will be restricted, or Disabled to turn this feature off, and then specify the folder path to use. This can be anything at all, and can also contain the variables mentioned above. This path is then added to the File Directory Path.
Note: when using variables to create a File Directory Path, they must always be placed after a real value, otherwise a default of 'images/stories' will be used.
Example: $username/files is not allowed but files/$username/images is.
Example: /$username/files is not allowed, neither is ../$username or //$username or other such combinations.
The Super Administrator will use the path directly below the variable value, eg: images/stories in images/stories/$usertype or files in files/$id
TinyMCE Upgrade
TinyMCE has been updated to 3.0.4 and a new Safari plugin has been included in JCE, which improves Safari support.
File Manager and Media Manager
The File Manager 1.5.0 beta and Media Manager 1.5.0 beta plugins have been released for subscribers. Bot have been overhauled to use the new JCE system and bot have had other improvements added.
File Manager -
- Now features the ability to dynamically change the order of the link options using a drag and drop method.
- The date format can also be changed in the File Manager parameters.
- File Links can be added to any element.
Media Manager -
- Borders can be set, and hspace, align, vspace, border and background color are now set as styles.
- The FLV Player has been slightly improved. Background images are now supported.
- DivX support has been added.
Thanks to everyone who posted bugs and solutions in the forum, and please keep testing!
This version is a public beta!