Hi guys,

I finally decided what to include in this new version 16.0 Physalis and got a green light from our primary tester Luc to release it. Still, it is a bit of a gamble because as you will see, some things simply cannot be tested 100% unless they are really released and subjected to “real load”. In particular some features, which hopefully will make your life easier, will also make my life harder and especially for the server and page on my side. Let’s hope it will work as expected, this is one of the more complicated updates 😀 Fingers crossed 😀 Make sure you take the time to read this entire page.

New

• auto block installation – in the control panel block setup you will now see a button “Install new blocks”. This will take you to a page which will show you all blocks available and show which ones you have installed and which ones not. You can then click on any currently not installed block and it will be automatically downloaded from my server and installed to your template, no FTP, no unzipping.
• auto block updates – just like in the previous case, block updates are now automatic directly from the control panel block setup – no FTP, no unzipping, just click “update” and you are done
• auto plugin updates – plugins are now updated automatically from the control panel (however installation is still manual because the procedure of installing a plugin is not always the same and it can therefore not be done automatically)
• normals – in the Main setup you can now specify long-term temperature and precipitation normals – ideally data from some nearby professional station with a data series for at least 30 years. This is then used to compare your data with real long-term averages (so far the template used all data from your db, which however in some cases could be just a very few yrs, if not just a yr, i.e. more or less statistically irrelevant)
• auto language file update – all language files are now updated automatically just by clicking “update languages” in the control panel
• bulk database editing – new page in control panel lets you perform bulk operations on data (delete data, modify data in bulk for particular sensors)
• extra sensor table editing – same as the data editing page already available, but now for extra sensors as well
• monthly report – some new values and comparisons added based on the normals introduced in setup
• yearly report – some new values and comparisons added based on the normals introduced in setup
• keyboard shortcuts – it is now possible to activate keyboard shortcuts. These when activated will override default browser behavior and let you quickly access certain admin pages. These shortcuts are now described in the wiki. For example, pressing ALT+C anywhere on your site will get you to the control panel. ALT+D will open desktop homepage setup page etc.
• password generator – setup page now includes password generator if you people want to generate strong random password for their template
• new “beach” design theme
• modifiers – in the main setup you can now specify whether you want to modify the raw data in some way – for example you can add a certain correction to the temperature, multiply the wind by a certain value etc. Note! Please use this with caution and only if you know exactly what you are doing. Otherwise you might introduce some major errors/bias to your data.
• when you now add a new plugin to your menu, the menu should update automatically from my page to make sure the new plugin is displayed correctly

Bug fixes/tweaks

• mobile header – fixed flag issue
• api settings – fix for sun shine column
• api – fixed UV decimals
• sun pages – fixed tooltip
• help dialog – added missing menu icon
• highcharts scripts – now fully https compatible
• CSS tweaks on the mobile homepage – now scales better on small screens
• prevent user from not specifying language (if it happens, set English automatically rather than “nothing”)
• interval summary – fixed CSS
• climate pages – CSS fixes
• other minor bug fixes

Deprecated

• asteroids page – please note, this page is no longer part of the template and will be removed during the update. You will, however, need to remove it manually from your menu.

Update process

As I promised, the update process will be semi-automatic, just like last time. This means you will have to download the update file manually, upload it via FTP, but the actual update will then be performed automatically by a single script. Make sure you follow the instructions below closely.

1. as always, you will need a download token for the update. o get one, send me an email, ideally with something like “Download token” in the subject, and include your page URL, forum nick (essential, if there is any problem I want it to be discussed on the forum, saves work to you and me). I will try to issue tokens within 24 hours maximum. I might send a few at the beginning and then wait just to make sure that if there is some major problem it affects as few people as possible.
2. extract the package and inside you will find a folder update_16
3. use an FTP client to transfer update_16 into your update folder in the template
4. go to your website and login as admin
5. now you will do the actual update by opening the following page (making sure the update_16 folder is in the update folder):….templateRoot/update/update_16/updateTemplate.php
6. this script will first check several things (make sure it is placed in correct location, make sure you are using version 15 and check you are logged in as admin). It will then automatically create a v15Backup folder in your backup folder and backup all the necessary files which will be changed.
7. If the backup and checking process goes ok it will update and add all the new files from version 16 automatically and inform you about any potential problems during the update and what to do next.
8. Please make sure you read the entire page, at the end of the update page will be summary information about any potential files that were not updated (in which case you will need to transfer them via FTP as usual) and what to do next.

Last thing I want to add is that as I mentioned at the beginning, all these auto updates and installations cannot really be tested 100% until they are subjected to real load. In case any of this does not work for you, it is of course still possible to install/update everything manually just like you were used to up until now (using ZIP files and FTP). Potential reasons for this not working are two – one is server communication problem (in case your or my provider blocks the communication – hopefully this does not happen too often), or if your server does not support ZIP extraction or has a very small limits for maximum execution time and PHP memory (usually a problem with free webhosting providers).

I will be making some further changes on my end in near future (once things settle down and Im sure it works for most). These changes might help those who find this does not work for them. And as I mentioned previously, these changes I will be making will require you using v16, otherwise many admin functions will become unavailable (so it is very important to use this latest version, which will prepare your page for these changes).

Enjoy