JReviews 3 Beta 1 has landed!

December 11, 2017 at 12:10 AM

I am very happy to announce the release of JReviews 3 Beta 1 which has been in the works for quite some time. This version is an important code-rewrite from JReviews 2 to be able to implement new coding design principles. That means less, cleaner and more decoupled code which will also make it easier to roll out some new features and make customizations. The bulk of the work is focused on the PHP side of things and I didn't want to go too much further in terms of the changes made because it would have delayed the release for too long.

All Add-ons also had to be updated to work with this version.

Since this is a Beta version it is not deemed suitable for production sites.

The documentation is a work in progress and this time most important changes compared to the previous version are mainly related to new ways in which the code can be customized.

JReviews 3 Beta 1 is already installed on both Joomla and WordPress demo sites so you can go there now to take a look around.

So what else is new?

The PHP requirement has been bumped to PHP 7, so PHP 5 cannot be used with JReviews 3
A more modern looking default theme using fewer borders, boxes and backgrounds and improved behavior in smaller screens.
New native letter avatars when using JReviews without a community extension or with the UserProfiles Add-on
Facebook posting now works for unmoderated submissions
New core (free) Queue Add-on for improved performance (more info below). The Add-on is not available for installation at this time, but will be soon after all initial bugs in JReviews and Add-ons have been squashed.

JReviews 3 Beta 1 is available for download now from the client area if your upgrades are active. Due to the large number of changes it is not possible to upgrade via remote updates.

Please follow the Upgrading to JReviews 3 instructions from the documentation and post any bugs in the new JReviews 3 Beta 1 bugs board.

What is the Queue Add-on?

The Queue Add-on changes the way certain events execute on your site so they are executed asynchronously and run independently of the main program flow. They are executed in a non-blocking scheme, allowing the main action to continue processing without unnecessary delays. This not only improves the user experience due to faster processing, but it also means that an error in one of the events won’t affect the main program flow. Lets put all of this into a practical example:

When a listing, review or media is submitted there are many actions that take place, other than saving the review in the database. These include:

Sending one or more e-mail notifications
Posting the review on Twitter
Posting the review on Facebook
Posting the review to the JomSocial or EasySocial streams (Joomla)
Triggering native Joomla or WordPress events

These events are all executed in sequence, one after the other, and it can amount to a substantial delay in the completion of the initial request. If just one of these events results in an error, then the review for submission could hang and the rest of the events will not be executed.

The Queue Add-on allows the initial request (the review submission) to be processed quickly, while all dependent actions are queued for processing later, independent of each other and in the background.

If you have any questions or comments about this release, please post below.

December 11, 2017 at 09:47 AM