TOPIC: When?

Till the 10th we have a first alpha. till the 20th we should have a first beta, till the 30th we should have a second beta or RC or stable - depending on how unstable or stable the release gets. I would be happy on all help after the first alpha is there.
So yes - if you want to be a beta tester you are more than welcome to do so
Regards,
Daniel

Send the files when ready, I'll test

we are releasing dev. releases in that category:
compojoom.com/downloads/dev-hotspots

The process looks like this - I add the features + fix bugs. Then I type a command in the console, the files get ziped and send to the server

No need to send files
Just watch the directory for new files in the next days (I'll also drop you a line here)

Cheers,
Daniel

How is the new version going?

The new version is going great!

I wanted to release the last alpha version today, but I somehow created a bug and my firefox is crashing since few hours on me and I still can't figure out why.

Right now we have a fully functioning backend under 2.5 - we use the joomla 2.5 ACL, we support KML, I've improved our joomla MVC support. We don't use any deprecated functions anymore. (maybe we still have 1%...) - it looks great...

Frontend - the Hotspots view is ready and working fine - shows both markers and KML files - and it handles a lot of markers!

The add markers function also supports the joomla ACL now.

Basically after this last alpha version - we need to work on the upgrade scripts so that users can easily move from 2.0 to version 3 (we have quite a lot of db changes). And the frontend will need some tweaks to make it a little more user friendly... (new "loading data" module and some tweaks on the menu module)

The plan is - get some fresh air. Fix the bug, release the alpha tomorrow. Start working on the upgrade scripts and tweaks and have a beta by Tuesday.

Have a nice weekend.
Daniel

it sounds as a good plan.

Waiting impatiently

It took me some more time, but now the latest alpha version is in the dev. section.

Things are looking good, but are not perfect. This is an alpha version and it contains glitches and bugs... It is not to be used on production sites!

With that said things look really good! The new js system in place is really awesome and with little effort one can expand the system with ease. I event plan to write a content plugin for the first beta. (one will be able to include a map in an article by providing catid, or hotspot id, or just crreating a new marker by providing the coordinates...)

We use the joomla ACL in frontend as well. This opens whole new possibilities. For example:
You could create a menu item for non registered users that explains to them that they need to register on the site and purchase the right to post a hotspot. And one could use for example akeeba subs for the subscription system -> the user pays -> akeeba ads the user to specific user group that has the rights to post on the system. (just an idea...)

We need to clean up the backend -> remove options that are not used anymore and make the frontend a little better. There are some annyoing things such as - when you click on a category the menu is not centered on it. When the user closes the menu we should not open it again and again... That are just few of the things that needs to be improved...

Happy to hear any feedback! And again! Don't install on production sites!
Daniel

Just to get you guys a little more excited about the new version. Here is the new dashboard:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=22372694...40923&type=3&theater

Beta1 is in the dev section!
compojoom.com/about/blog/entry/hotspots-3-beta1-released
DON'T INSTALL ON PRODUCTION SITES!!!

And don't forget to report any problems! Or just let us know how awesome it is
Cheers,
Daniel

Pretty cool stuff, unfortunately i don't have a test site anymore to try it.

Just wondering about the status of:

- Marker Clustering
- InfoWindows using StreetView Mode

and the possibility to include Earth Plugin in the map.

Marker Clustering
- Yes, I've implemented the server side boundary method for clustering. The user only sees hotspots in his visible area. And we randomly show the first 100 hotspots on the map. The user has of course the option to go to the second page with clusters -> this way he will see the next 100 hotspots...
I've tested this with 10 000 and 100 000 markers - it worked well, but there is still for room for improvement. Like - doing less ajax requests and pre-caching the data on the client side... This is what I'll be working on for beta2.

- Infowindow - I haven't tested that. As far as I remember google fixed the bug, so i'll also fix everything on our end if it is not already fixed.

- Earth Plugin - I haven't looked into this since the last time we talked, but I'll check it again next week.

With that said I'll be heading to jandbeyond: jandbeyond.org/ on Thursday to exchange knowledge with some joomla geeks (my replies in the next couple of days can be a little slow...)

Cheers,
Daniel

Beta1 has been in the dev section for 2 weeks.

Is it too bad that a full version is not available yet?

No, it is not too bad - I was traveling for the last 2 weeks - jandbeyond etc...

Resuming work on it today...

Cheers,
Daniel

Hey Daniel,

Will the new version be compatible with Joomla 1.5? I noticed that the beta version only specified compatibility with 2.5

anh

Hey Anh,
Joomla 1.5 reached end of life in April 2012:
developer.joomla.org/development-status.html

That is why hotspots 3 is not going to be compatible with it.

Kind regards,
Daniel

Hey Daniel,

That's a shame. I have to admit that I'm not a very technical person so I tried upgrading from 1.5 to 2.5 but never worked. Was really looking forward to the new Hotspot update.

anh

The word 'when' could be the most used word in the forum for the last 3 months, let me add it one more time: When?

I'll release it when you setup a new joomla 2.5 site, install hotpsots 3 RC1 on it and confirm that it works as expected

Cheers,
Daniel

LOL

I was thinking in the other way.

You publish it, i check it, and if everything works as expected, i will install it on joomla 2.5.

How is everything going?