043 Major Release of JCB v2.6.0

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Amigo edited this page Aug 9, 2019 · 16 revisions

MAJOR RELEASE OF JCB v2.6.0

Removing All Repeatable Fields in Joomla Component Area

00:00:00 (Click on these time links to see video)

I would like to demonstrate how to upgrade to JCB version 2.6.0. It is quite a major upgrade since we have removed all Repeatable Fields in the Joomla Component area. Joomla Component area has quite a lot of Repeatable Fields. On opening the component it may be seen that Repeatable Fields are little models that pop-up with values which had been used quite excessively in this view.00:00:43 The reason why this was done is because it is a very smart Field since it combines these values into one value. The JavaScript on the page grabs these values and converts it into one value, when on submission the form only submits one string, and not several Fields.00:01:13 There are some conventional reasons which makes the Repeatable Fields on a Sub Form level more desirable, due to its ability to validate the data more correctly. 00:01:34 We had to remove these Fields because in Joomla 4 they no longer are supported. I had to decouple a number of these Fields into their own Tables because of the size of the values that is on the page, the page becomes immensely heavy. There had been about 9 new Tables added to JCB, to accommodate this.

Changes Only Effects The Component Area

The real change is only going to effect the Components Area. But because JCB is very Dynamic Component that integrates with various levels of this Data Structures.

Upgrade: Compiler Import/Export Of JCB Packages

The Compiler had to be upgraded , as well as the import and export of JCB packages. We have tested this and for the most part those involved with the testing, have found that this transition is a Major improvement to JCB and will be very easy and without any issues.

Suggestion - Clean your Browser Cache and Browser Memory

If you run into glitches that does not work as expected, it is suggested that you clean your browser's cache as well as memory. It has been found that traces of the old Repeatable Field Structure and JavaScript surrounding that might clash with the new changes in JavaScript within the new update. To clear the browser memory and not just the cache, is quite important. Only after you have upgraded and started to work in different views, it will be seen that everything works as expected.

Dynamic Get Area Some Conflicts

The Dynamic Get Area has been reported to have some conflicts at this stage. The Dynamic Get Area returns values from the Admin Area where, if we target let's say Back end View, and we grab some information.00:03:55 These values are returned from the Admin Area where it goes to this Admin View, and builds this structure. 00:04:04 With this demonstration everything is working as expected. If this area is tested before the upgrade, it should work without any problems. If it does not, it is suggested to clear the browser memory and to try again until it is working as mine.00:04:35 All that has been done was that I cleared my browser memory by going to history and wiped everything from this domain, so that there is no traces of JavaScript. If you do not want to clear all of the history then it specifically targets this domain that you are loading the JCB Component in.

Update in Managing Area

The upgrade should be quite simple. Go to updates in the managing area. See that the upgrade is there and ready. Click on it and click update. Then the upgrade will be done. 00:05:41 If you return to Joomla Component Builder, it should be 'up-to-date' and everything been done without any errors. In the Joomla Components Area, a view similar to this should be seen, with a lot of new shortcuts to these different decoupled areas that had been mentioned.

Edit Component Update

Not much has changed in the Component in regards to where what is located, but how to interact with it has been moved. For example: The Component Updates has a button 'Edit component update for this joomla component',and if it is clicked, it is going to ask if everything is saved before you continue. 00:06:30 If that was done, click 'OK' and it will open the area where the updates can be done. Usually it was in a model that popped up, and it was possible to change it on the same page. Now you may go to another view and it will do the same. This applies to the Admin View, Custom View, Site View, and everything else.

Contributor Moved Down - Do On Page

The contributor has been moved down so it may be done on the page. But for most of the other Repeatable Fields it had been moved to their own Tables.

Moved Component Files And Folders To Joint Table

The Fields and the Folders had been moved to a joint table. If this 'Edit component files folders for this Joomla component' is selected it will be easy to add some files to the Component or Folders, all found within this Structure as it is explained in the note. The same applies to all the other areas.

Moved Admin Views To Its Own Tab

The Admin Views has been moved to its own tab. It may be accessed via the button 'In Settings - edit component admin views for this Joomla component' or via the button 'Linked Admin View-Edit ' 00:07:54 In Editing the Joomla Component area it is possible to see your changes and from here directly edit the Admin View that has been linked. It will be able to edit the Admin View directly out of your Component area. That is a nice new feature which will come in very handy. 00:08:15 The new upgrade targets the majority of the changes in the Joomla Component Area. If it happens that we have missed a field during the upgrade by not converting it to the new Sub Form layout; there is a lot of data checks all around JCB at this stage which; when a view is opened, runs through all those Fields, and make sure that it has been changed and converted. 00:08:54If by any means you did not get around to open the views; go to the Compiler, and click compile. It does that again, it runs through all the Fields and it makes sure that it is in the right format. Therefore the compiling should work as before.<<<

New Feature - Translation Checker

The new features we've added is this 00:09:23 Translation Checker. Which checks how many strings there is within your component. And how many you've translated for this specific version. New language available for the Admin View, the Admin System View, the Site View. Again for the another Language, Admin View, Admin System View, and the Site View. Giving you a little feedback on your progress. Because we realized that this area of JCB is not 00:09:59 may be utilized as much as it can be. We making some awareness. This area is available.

Becomes Active If Language Is Setup

It only comes and becomes active if you've got some Language setup. You need to have some Languages in your Languages area. And you need to have have compiled that component at least once before. 00:10:26 Because the Language string stored in JCB found on the Language Translations is only generated once you've compiled it, at least your Component once. Then it links the Component Language strings to JCB. You can translate them into those Languages that you created. The other problem which you saw regarding to the Back-up folder, because I haven't setup a Backup folder for this JCB install. It'll tell me if I leave the set to yes and I compile. It'll tell me that it couldn't move that Backup file, because the Temporary folder and the Backup 00:11:11 folder is the same place. It's saying it couldn't move the file to the same location. That means this is not an error. It's just a miss configuration. We haven't setup the Back-up folder to be a separate from the Temporary folder. If you need some more help regarding the Translation Manager, please go watch this tutorial. Here we do give you a notice the that you can in the options area of JCB, 00:11:42 you can change the percentage of translation required before a translation is added. Currently it's set to 50%. You can change that to any percentage that you like. That is creating a Component with the new upgraded JCB and compiled that. We can go back to the Demo. We can see that the component was built. And everything is working as expected. 00:12:18

If you run into any issues that you think is related to this upgrade. And you have already cleared your browser memory. Also note that I'm using Firefox 64-bit. Then please 00:12:49 open an issue on GitHub. We'll try to get back to you and see if we can get this resolved. So far my experience is that this upgrade is taken JCB into a very powerful position, where it is having no Repeatable Fields anywhere in the Component. All its Repeatable Fields have been converted, and is only Sub Forms. 00:13:19 We've added some nice shortcuts like you seen to these decoupled areas. You can access them directly without going through the Component View itself. If you wanted to work on, for example, the Component Dashboard, you want to make some changes to the dashboard, or you want to work on the Admin Views, you can click on that buttob underneath the view and work on the Admin Views without going to the Component directly. 00:13:54 Which I think is very nice convenience shortcut that will make our life a little easier.