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Invision Community Blog

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What's new in IP.Board 3.1.2? ACP Live Search and Dashboard

One of the most commonly used features in the Admin control panel is the live search feature. This is a great way to quickly locate settings and even Admin CP pages.

In IP.Board 3.1.0, we did have quick search boxes for forums and members on the dashboard but these were not always to hand. Often you need to search for a member or forum and have to navigate through to the correct section.

In IP.Board 3.1.2 we have extended the live search to include matches from forum names, group titles, group settings and members (display name and email address). Simply tapping in a phrase will return all the relevant matches.



In this example, we can see that "admin" has matched a member's email address, a forum name and group settings as well as an Admin CP page and some settings. Simply clicking on the link will take you to the relevant page. In the case of a member, this is the edit page for them; likewise you are taken to the edit page when clicking on a group's name.

By moving these search features into the global search bar, we've created a much cleaner ACP Dashboard.

We've also made the dashboard warnings and new version notifications much more prominent, so you can clearly see when there is an issue requiring your attention.

In addition, in an effort to ensure there are no dashboard warnings on a fresh install, the installer will automatically lock itself (thus not prompting you to delete admin/install/index.php) and new users will be able to (optionally) enter the license key into the installer.

Little usability tweaks such as these really make daily tasks more efficient which makes administrating your IP.Board even more pleasant!
  • 8,171 views
Matt

What's new in IP.Board 3.1.2? (Part 1)

Moved topic redirect links
A common request from our customers over the years is the ability to have those redirect links that are added when moving a topic to automatically 'expire' and be removed. This is one of those features that was on our lists for years but never made it into the feature set due to time constraints and other factors.

Happily, we found time to implement this for IP.Board 3.1.2.



The administrator can specify a number of days before the redirect links expire in the Admin CP settings page.



The daily clean out task now checks for any deletable redirect links and removes them automatically.

Archive Personal Conversations
Another common request we've seen since we introduced the new 'personal conversation' feature was the ability to somehow archive off conversations. Now that these conversations are much like personal topics that can have many replies from many different participants the old system of simply allowing a downloadable text file isn't an option.

In 3.1.2 you'll be able to email yourself a copy of the conversation. This will be sent as a HTML file attached to the email which you can download and store on your computer.

When you're viewing a personal conversation, you'll see a new box: "Archive Conversation"



Clicking this will send the email via 'ajax' meaning the screen doesn't refresh and you don't lose your place on the page.



The email is shown with the attachment



Which is a lo-fi copy of the conversation suitable for printing



Open ID: Email no longer required
We have removed the "email" requirement for OpenID logins, which should allow for many more OpenID services to work (including Google, TypePad and Wordpress).
While this change is in effect immediately for new users, for existing users you will need to edit the login method to enact the change. In the ACP, visit System -> Log In Management. Next to OpenID click the button and choose "Configure Details". Clear "email" from the "Required args to pull", and then add it to the "Optional args to pull" (which should appear as "nickname,dob,email" once you are finished).
Save the configuration and you're all done!
  • 8,563 views
Matt

What's new in IP.Board 3.1.2? SQL Error Logging

It's an unfortunate fact that something may go wrong with your hosting environment at some point. MySQL is sensitive to many things and often this results in an error being thrown. This can be confusing for you and your members and getting support for this can take time as our technicians often have to request FTP details so they can log in and check the error logs written to disk.

A lot of the time, our technicians discover that there isn't an issue with IP.Board but rather something has happened with your MySQL database or server. This can delay you getting your board back up.

With this in mind, IP.Board 3.1.2 separates out "server level" errors such as a crashed table, 'out of memory' issues and more into its own error page which is displayed.



This instantly informs you of the problem and directs you to contact your host or troubleshoot the issue further if you run a dedicated server.

In the Admin CP, we have written a log viewer which lists all the generated SQL error logs. It also keeps a record of the latest error of the day which is displayed above the list of logs.



Of course, these logs can get quite large, so when you view a log, it is "tailed" and only shows the most recent 300 lines.



We hope these features help speed up getting the correct support for when you need it most.
  • 10,469 views
Matt

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Customer Page

In previous blog entries, we've talked about various things the user can do: generate and pay invoices, purchase packages, have custom packages, purchase advertisements, file support requests, etc. IP.Nexus features a centralised customer page from which you can view all the data the user has made.

This is what it looks like:


The buttons you see along the top allow you to send the user an Email, view the customer's history (which shows a chronological log of actions made to the user account, even if items have been deleted, discussed in more detail here) or go to the IP.Board edit member page.

Wherever a member name is mentioned in the Nexus part of the Admin CP, it will link to this customer page. You can also access this customer page from the IP.Board edit member page via a link in the "Actions" dropdown menu.
You can also search for a customer in the Nexus Admin CP.


Details



This box shows the customer's account details. You can edit these by pressing the edit button.



Alternate Contacts



This box shows all alternate contacts on the account and which purchases they are associated with. You can remove an alternate contact or manually add contacts.

For more information on alternate contacts, see this blog entry.


Notes



This box contains miscellaneous notes made by staff members on the account.
Staff members can (where they have permission) add, edit and delete notes.


Purchases



This box contains all purchases the customer has made.
This will include items from the store, custom packages, IP.Downloads files, advertisements and any purchases made through third party applications.

The icon on the left indicates the type of purchase (mouse over will provide a text description). You can see when the item was purchased, and when it expires, and you can edit, cancel or transfer the purchases.
Purchases which have expired are highlighted amber, and purchases which have been cancelled are highlighted red.

If a purchase is associated with another purchase, it will display in a tree format.

For more information on managing purchases, see this blog entry.


Invoices



This box shows all invoices that have been generated on the customer's account.
You can click on the invoice title to be taken to detailed information about the invoice, and can generate a new invoice by clicking the "Add Invoice" button.

For more information on managing and generating invoices, see this blog entry.


Support Requests



This box shows all support requests created under the customer's account.
You can visit the support request by clicking on the title.
The icon on the left uses the same icons as topics on the forums to indicate if you have read the support request and if you have posted a reply to it.

You can log a support request on behalf of the customer by clicking the "Log Support Request" button.

For more information on support requests, see this blog entry.


Referrals



This box lists all members which have been referred by the customer (and only shows if there are any).
It also lists how much commission the member has earned from each, and the total commission earned.

For more information on referrals, see this blog entry.
  • 3,405 views
Mark

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Advertisements

IP.Board 3.1 has a great advertisement system. Administrators can specify code to appear in certain locations around the community to display banner ads.
With IP.Nexus, it seemed logical to expand this to allow members of a community to purchase advertisement space.

In order to do this, when you install IP.Nexus, the advertisement system in IP.Nexus will override the system in IP.Board. Even if you're not planning on selling advertisement space, the system in IP.Nexus allows you to set up multiple advertisements (for rotation), automatic expiry, per-ad permissions and other features.


Setting up your own Advertisements

The Admin CP has a page which lists all advertisements currently running on your community. These could be ones created yourself, or ones purchased by a user.


Here you can add your own advertisements. You can specify either raw HTML code, or an image URL and link URL. The latter is required for click tracking.
You can also specify which groups cannot see the advertisement and if it should expire after a certain number of clicks or impressions.

The table indicates how many clicks and impressions each ad has received. When it has reached its limit, it will expire and become inactive.
You can manually edit the current number of clicks or impressions the advertisement has by editing it.


Advertisement Packages

In order for a user to be able to purchase advertisement space, you will have need to created at least one advertisement package. These define the terms such as where the ad will show, who it should not show to and how many clicks/impressions it will last.


You can manage your packages in the Admin CP.



Purchasing Advertisements

A user can purchase advertisements in their User CP.


They can select a package, provide the URL for the target link, and either upload or provide a URL to an image.
For security reasons, and to allow click tracking, users cannot provide raw HTML.

Once a user has purchased an advertisement, it must be approved by an administrator. An Admin CP dashboard notification appears if there are pending advertisements, and unapproved advertisements will be highlighted on the listing page.

To approve an advertisement, you would just click the cross indicating it is not currently active.

When a user selects his purchase in the client area, a page will display the status (approved, pending approval, expired) and the current clicks/impressions of the advertisement.




How advertisements are displayed

IP.Nexus will display whatever ad is appropriate for each location. If there are no advertisements set up for a location, none will show, and if multiple are set up, one of the appropriate advertisements will be selected at random to show. This is calculated on each page load, however, advertisements are cached based on the appropriate location, so advertisements are not pulled on every page load to save resources.
Each time an advertisement is used, it's impression count is increased. When an advertisement is clicked on, it's click count is increased. IP.Nexus will automatically disable an advertisement after it has reached it's allocated number of impressions or clicks.
  • 6,166 views
Mark

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Customer History

In an application like IP.Nexus, it is important to have verbose logging features. Frequently you may wish to look over a the past actions of a customer to assist them, to check for suspicious activity or just for your own records.
In IP.Nexus, every action taken on a customer account is logged and can be viewed from the customer's information page.

IP.Nexus features a customer page in the Admin CP (which will be discussed more in a future blog entry). From here, you can access their history page. This is what it looks like:

Please note that the interface shown in this screenshot is not finalised and subject to change.

The log can be sorted so that newer actions show first, or older. You can also filter the log by event type, so for example, if you just wanted to see the transactions made for the account, you could uncheck all the boxes apart from transactions. As soon as you check or uncheck a box, the results list is immediately updated to reflect this (no page refresh).


The actions logged are:
Account Changes - if a member changes their name, address, telephone number, EMail address or password (or a member of staff does) the action is logged along with the previous values. If the change was made by a member of staff, which staff member is logged. A purchases is made (i.e. a package is added to the customer's account). The information for a package (such as the custom fields information) is edited. If the change was made by a member of staff, which staff member is logged. A member of staff (and who) cancels, reactivates or deletes a purchase from the customer account. A purchase is transferred to or from the account, the account it was transferred to or from is also logged along with the member of staff performing the transfer. A member of staff (and who) changes the purchase to a different package (this is done when a package is deleted from the Admin CP). A purchase expires. An invoice is generated. Whether the invoice was generated by the member (store purchase), the system (renewal invoice) or a member of staff (and who) is also logged. A member of staff (and who) resends, changes the status of or deletes an invoice. A coupon or account credit is used against an invoice. An invoice expires. The system automatically processes an invoice because the total to pay is zero. The customer makes a transaction. It is also logged if the transaction was automatically approved, held for review, or failed. A member of staff (and who) approves or denies a transaction. A support request is filed. If filed by a support member, it will be noted who, and if the support request was filed because of a received Email, this will also be noted. A staff member (and who) adds, edits or deletes a note on the customer's account. A staff member (and who) sends the customer an Email, and the content of that Email. The member requests a credit payout. A member of staff (and who) dismisses a credit payout request.
  • 3,691 views
Mark

IP.Nexus Dev Update - Incoming Emails [Updated]

Updated 25th June: Due to popular demand, we have added support for POP3 account polling as well as Email Piping


As mentioned in a previous blog entry, IP.Nexus supports Incoming Emails to be parsed as support requests.


Technical Requirements

In order for Incoming Emails to function, you will either need to configure your server to pipe Emails to a script, or a mail account which supports POP3.

Customers using our hosting service who are paying $5 for IP.Content and IP.Nexus will be happy to know their accounts support piping.
We strongly recommend piping over POP3 and customers not using our hosting service should check with their provider if either service is offered.

If piping is not available, most EMail accounts (including GMail) support POP3.
If using POP3 over piping, it is strongly recommended that you use a CRON job to poll the account. Check with your hosting provider if you are able to set up CRON jobs.


How it works

For Email piping:
The user sends an Email to a special Email address which you have configured on your server to be piped to a script in IP.Board. Your server hands the Email to that script. If the Email is a reply, the script will detect this from the subject line and add the content of the Email as a reply. If it is a new request, the script will look for support departments with the Email address the Email was sent to and create a new request in that department.

For POP3 polling:The user sends an Email to a special Email address which you have configured on your server to be piped to a script in IP.Board. IP.Board periodically checks (by default every 30 minutes, but this can be configured) if there are any new messages on your server. If a message is found, it is pulled back to a script in IP.Board. If the Email is a reply, the script will detect this from the subject line and add the content of the Email as a reply. If it is a new request, the script will look for support departments with the Email address the Email was sent to and create a new request in that department.

If the user does not have an account, IP.Nexus will still create the support request and they will receive replies by Email.
If the user then decides to create an account, IP.Nexus will recognise that they already have support requests and assign them to the new account so they can view them in the client area.

Attachments are parsed as per the normal IP.Board attachment settings so you can Email images, zip files, etc. but any file types IP.Board wouldn't normally allow you to upload will be ignored.
They will be displayed in the support request, and treated as normal attachments, just as if they had been uploaded in the client area.


Information for Developers

This is actually a feature of IP.Board 3.1, we just haven't previously announced it since there was no application until now.
You can however, add incoming email support to your own application, and we have written a developer article here which explains how to do it: http://community.invisionpower.com/resources/documentation/index.html/_/hidden-staff-only/incomingemailsphp-r371
  • 7,086 views
Mark

IP.Nexus Dev Update - Alternate Contacts

IP.Nexus allows account holders to create alternate contacts who can submit support requests on your behalf.

On my account I have a package called "Basic Widget". I can create an alternate contact assigned to this package, and we will then both be able to submit support requests related to it, and view requests each other have submitted.

This is the alternate contacts page:


You can add a contact by pressing the button at the bottom, which will allow you to select which packages to assign them to.

And of course can remove contacts by pressing the button in the list:


When the alternate contact logs in and visits their client area, they will see, and can reply to, existing support requests, or create new requests associated with the package assigned to them:


When viewing a support request in the Admin CP, support staff can identify who is the main account holder, and who is the alternate contact:

  • 2,854 views
Mark

IP.Nexus Dev Update - Handling Support Requests

In our previous blog entry, we showed the front end for submitting support requests.
In this entry, we'll show how staff members deal with support requests from the Admin CP.



This is what the support listing in the Admin CP looks like:

Staff members can select which departments and statuses to show using the filters at the bottom. Of course, only the departments they are allowed to access are shown.
Support requests are sorted by the date of the last reply, ignoring any replies made by the same member (so if a member replies to their support request with more information, they remain in the same position in the queue).

If there are any requests you are tracking or are assigned to you, buttons will appear at the top to allow you to view these requests, regardless of your current filter settings.
Support requests you are tracking or are assigned to you are marked in the list with an icon.

You can set the status on multiple requests at a time by selecting the checkbox for each one and using the dropdown menu at the bottom. For example, if you see duplicate tickets or spam.


This is what the request screen looks like:


The box at the top indicates the properties of the request. When you mouse over any of these, they will change to a dropdown menu allowing you to change them. After selecting an option, it will immediately be saved.
The box below this indicates the package associated to the request. If the request is in a department which requires an associated package and there isn't one, or it isn't the correct type, an warning will be shown:


When you change any of the attributes, such as department, the status of this will be updated via AJAX.
If the associated package has custom fields or subpackages, clicking on the package name will reveal this information:

You can change the associated package by clicking the link which will show a list of all the user's packages - the currently associated package will be highlighted:


You can reply to a request using the box at the bottom. At the same time as replying, you can edit any of the attributes.
You can also select a stock action, which will automatically fill in the reply and select the appropriate attribute values for you. You can then customise these or send the reply.

You can add a hidden note to a request by pressing the button at the top, which will display a popup for you to type your note:

The note will be displayed inline in the request:

Notes only show to staff members in the Admin CP - the customer will not see them.

You can control who is notified of replies to the support request using the "Notifications" tab at the bottom.
This is handy if the customer requests another person to be CCd on replies.

  • 3,534 views
Mark

IP.Nexus Dev Update - Support Requests

In our previous blog entry, we discussed the management of the support desk.
In this blog entry, we'll be showing the front-end to creating support requests from the client area.


Members can view all of their support requests in the client area:


Members can submit a support request by clicking the "New Request" button.
The member can select a department, and if the selected department requires an associated package, they will be prompted to select one.
IP.Nexus automatically works out which departments are available to a member based on their active packages and your department settings.

Members can of course upload attachments to support requests.

This is what a support request looks like:

Members can reply to a support request right from the page, or, if enabled, set the status from the dropdown menu.
  • 4,273 views
Mark

iPhone App: Push Notifications

We have a big update coming soon and we wanted to tell you about all the new features you can expect. In a previous blog post we talked about the new Directory feature, which will help people using the app discover your communities. We also talked about some interface improvements, such as the new forum quick list, which gives you fast access to common areas of your forum. We have one last big feature to tell you about in this new version and that's Push Notifications!

Push Notifications

Push notifications have been integrated into the existing notification system, so any event that can generate a notification can also generate a push notification. You can have notifications sent to your phone for subscribed forums and topics, new personal conversations, reported posts, and much more.



You will find a new settings group in your ACP "iPhone App", from here you can enable or disable support for push notifications. You can also restrict which group has access to push notifications, making it possible to use the subscription service to sell this feature to your users.



Once you have enabled notifications for your forum, your users will see a new 'mobile' column in their notification settings:



These same settings can also be updated directly from the iPhone App:



The Quick List feature that we showed in the previous blog post has been expanded to show your unread notifications. When you receive a notification on your phone, the Quick List for the forum that sent it will be automatically opened so that you can see the notifications:



Tapping the notification will take you directly to that area of the forum.

This feature will be available to everyone with a active support license, hosting account, or service addon package. If you would like to find out if your license qualifies, please visit the license key section of your ACP and refresh the license data, look for this message:



iPad Support (beta)

This version also includes preliminary support for the iPad, the application will now properly resize to use the entire screen. We'll be further enhancing this functionality in the future by providing a more customized interface and using the regular skin instead of the mobile skin.



We will be submitting this new version to Apple very soon, so you won't have long to wait for all of these new features. Note that they do require IP.Board 3.1.1 to work. We hope you're excited for this update and we look forward to your comments, suggestions, and feedback!

(Yes, there is an Android app coming in the future still!)



We will post a full announcement when the iPhone app update is approved by Apple and available to download.
  • 5,331 views
Josh

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Support Desk Management

One feature we're really excited about in IP.Nexus is the Support Desk. Many administrators selling products on their site will need to offer support services to members.
In this blog entry, we'll go through some of the settings available allowing you to control the Support Desk.

Please note, the design of some areas shown in the screenshots shown are not finalised and subject to change.


Departments

IP.Nexus supports any number of departments. Each department can be:
Private - members cannot submit support requests directly (for example, an "advanced support" department). Public - any member can submit support requests (for example, a "sales" department). Package associated - members who have purchased selected products can support requests (for example a "general support" department).



Staff

You can control which staff can access which departments. For example, you could have your customer service staff only see the sales and customer service departments, and your technicians only see the support departments.
You can define a member or an entire group's access. If a member is in a group which one access level, and they also have their own access level, their own will override the groups.



Statuses

IP.Nexus allows you to customise the statuses for support requests. A set of standard statuses are in by default, but you can customise, remove or add your own.

There are a number of settings allowing you to control the behaviour of a status, which you can see in this screenshot:



Stock Actions

One thing we really like about the Support Desk in IP.Nexus is something we call Stock Actions.
Many Support Desks feature stock replies or canned responses. We find when we do technical support, than often a stock reply comes with an action. For example, if a support request needs to be escalated to Tier 2 support, we will give a stock reply, change the department to "Tier 2", change the status to "Open", and release control.
Stock Actions in IP.Nexus allow this process to be automated. They can give a reply, and at the same time, set the status, department and assigned staff member on the support request.



Incoming Emails

IP.Nexus not only allows a member to reply through the client area, they can Email a new request or a reply to a request and IP.Nexus will process it.
We will discuss a little more about the requirements for this feature and how it works in a future blog entry.

You may have noticed in the earlier screenshot showing the department settings that each department can have an incoming Email address. For example, you could set IP.Nexus so Emails to "[email protected]" go to your sales department, while EMails to "[email protected]" go to your support department.

IP.Nexus also allows you to define rules to filter incoming Emails. For example, if you are receiving spam from a certain address, you could instruct IP.Nexus to discard that Email.
  • 4,831 views
Mark

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Credits

In several of our previous blog entry about IP.Nexus, we've mentioned "credits".

Credit, is simply money which is stored on the account. When IP.Nexus "pays" a users (commission for a referral purchase, for example) it adds credit to their account.
The administrator can of course award credit manually from the customer page in the Admin CP.



A user which has credit on their account can use it against purchases. On the checkout screen, they will see a link like this:

Clicking that will deduct the user's credit amount from the balance to pay.
If the amount of credit is greater than the balance, IP.Nexus will recognise that payment has been received and display the thank you page (or redirect the user to the download page for IP.Downloads purchases).


In addition to using credit for purchases, if the administrator allows, users can request that their credit be paid to them.


In the client area, users will see an "Account Credit" section from which they can request a payout.



The user will then be alerted on the Admin CP dashboard that there is a pending payout request. They can view all payout requests in the Admin CP.

Clicking the Pay option will allow admins to complete the payout request. For PayPal, this will take the admin straight to PayPal and the request will automatically be removed upon completion.
  • 3,934 views
Mark

IP.Board 3.1.1 - What's New?

With the release of 3.1.1 scheduled for next week, I thought I'd take a moment and outline some of the bigger changes.

We're very pleased with how well IP.Board 3.1.0 has been received and how stable it has been. We've been working hard to iron out some common issues and we've been reading a lot of your feedback. Based on that, we've made the following changes for IP.Board 3.1.1:

Facebook
The new Facebook APIs have been very successful in allowing registered Facebook users to log into your own forums and start contributing right away. The "like" button has also been very popular and great for driving traffic to your board. There's been a lot of feedback on these features so we've improved upon this functionality.

First of all, you can now set your own 'locale' for the Facebook social widgets. We prefer to use Facebook's javascript rather than the iFrame methods directly as the javascript methods are easier to maintain.


You can now also choose how you want to handle importing the user's 'real name'


You can automatically generate a display name based on the user's Facebook real name and suggest this as the display name:


Alternatively, you can enforce the user's real name if you have a trusted community:


This provides a more seamless experience when logging in via Facebook


You can also now choose to disable new accounts from being created via Facebook and Twitter when you disable registrations globally:


This is the error screen shown when trying to create a new account via Facebook or Twitter when new accounts have been disabled:


Merge Center
The merge center has been a great starting point for updating your custom skins but many people found it confusing. We've taken that feedback on board and made the following changes.

First up, we've reworked the feature labelling, improved the work flow and added text box prompts.

The first screen you see after the processing has finished is this one. Note, all the items that do not need your attention are hidden by default which makes it very clear what you need to do to finish the process. The box at the top briefly explains the next step you should take.


We've removed the "Select all checkboxes" from the drop down menu and placed it as a global checkbox which should be very familiar as IP.Board uses this method elsewhere:


We've redesigned the view options box to allow you to filter out what you don't want to see rather than it be 'all or nothing'. This is the default filter:


We've also update the labelling in the drop down box to make it clearer what each option does:


Once you have merged and resolved your templates, you'll see this screen which again prompts you what the next step is:


Finally, when you have saved all your changes, you'll see this screen:


SEO Updates
In Dan's previous blog entry he wrote about correcting our board index "canonical" meta tag, to ensure that search engine spiders correctly recognised "http://www.myforums.com/" as your board index and not "http://www.myforums.com/index". This was an important step, but users could still view and link to that page. More importantly, it also served a "200 OK" HTTP header, meaning search engines would also still index it as a page in its own right - causing potential duplicate content issues. The same problem applied to accessing /index.php and the IPB 2.x style: /index.php?act=idx.

We've now made a change that will automatically redirect you back to just "/" if you (or a search engine) try to access any of those URLs. The search engines should quickly drop any duplicate pages they have in their index and your "real" board index page will begin to carry the weight it should.

We've also gone through IP.Board and all of the applications and standardized the page title format. All page titles now use the format "{Content Title} - {Board Name}", meaning that your most relevant keywords are at the beginning of your title tag, whilst still carrying your board name for easy user recognition in the search results.

These updates are an example of just how much we value your feedback. Please keep it coming!
  • 12,027 views
Matt

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Referrals

IP.Nexus is designed to give administrators the tools to monetize their community. Not only is this about selling products and services (or accepting donations) but promoting your site as well.
Many customers have asked us about a referral system. Until IP.Nexus, there would have been little incentive for members to use such a system. With IP.Nexus, not only can members refer their friends using banners you create, but they can receive commission on products and services that members they refer purchase through IP.Nexus.


You can enable referrals and configure the commission percentage in the Admin CP.


You can also set up the banners that members can use.

If you don't set any up (or in addition to any that you do), a simple text link will be available.
Banners can be uploaded images, or you can supply an image URL.


In the Client Area, members can view all the banners you've set up and the HTML and BBCode to display them.


If somebody then clicks a banner posted on a website by one of your members and registers on your community, IP.Nexus will create a link between the two members.
If that member then proceeds to make any purchases, and you have defined a commission percentage, IP.Nexus will award commission to the referring member in the form of account credit (we will discuss account credit in a future blog entry).

The customer page in IP.Nexus indicates who a members was referred by and any members they have referred. In addition, you can see how much commission a members has earned through referrals:

  • 5,325 views
Mark

IP.Board Community Directory

The new IP.Board Community Directory is a great place to list your community to get more traffic and members on your site.

It's free for all license holders and IPS Hosting customers to submit their community in the directory. As this is brand new it is still growing and we are taking suggestions for new categories and enhancements so please let us know how we can improve it.

The directory has been online for a few weeks in a preview testing form and 206 listing have been made. These 206 listings have received over 4100 clicks: that's nearly an average of 20 clicks per listing! This is a great way to drive traffic to your community.

Be sure to list your community in the directory...

In addition to being listed on the official IPS Community, the community directory will be available in the next version of our iPhone App for IP.Board. This means members can browse the directory, find your community, and register on your community all while on their iPhone!


The directory is powered by IP.Links: one of our great, free Community Projects for IP.Board. The IP.Links software is written by Brandon D here on our community.
  • 5,519 views
Charles

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Donations

Not only can IP.Nexus be used to sell specific items on your community. IP.Nexus can accept open donations targetted to any number of goals.

Please note that the interface shown in the screenshots is not finalised and subject to change.


A donation goal can be open-ended, that is, it has no target. For example, a personal community could accept donations towards the cost of maintaining the site. A donation can also have a specific target amount if you are asking donations towards a specific total.


Donation goals can be managed in the Admin CP.

When creating a goal you specify a name, description and if desired, a target.
You can create as many goals as you like.


Users can then donate towards goals in the User CP.

As you can see, all goals are listed and a progress bar is shown for goals that have specified targets.
To donate, a user simply enters in the amount they wish to donate and they are taken straight to the payment screen.

After payment, the user is shown a thanks page where they will see the progress meter again:

  • 6,881 views
Mark

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Client Area

There are many areas of IP.Nexus which the user needs to be able to manage: past orders, active purchase, support requests, etc.

We decided, rather than trying to shoe-horn these features into the User CP, which was not really designed for such functions, to create a new "Client Area", specific to IP.Nexus.
This is what it looks like:

In this blog entry we'll be talking about the "Purchases" and "Invoices" sections of this Client Area.


Purchases

The "Purchases" section (shown above) will list all active purchases on your account.

Clicking the "View Info" button takes you to an overview page for the purchase:

Here you can update any custom package fields if the field allows you to do so (fields can be set to not be editable after purchase if you desire).

If the item has renewal terms and you are within the time you are allowed to renew the package, you can click "Renew Now" to renew. Doing this will take you straight to the payment screen, and once paid, the expiry date will be updated.

If the package is part of a group which allows upgrading and downgrading, you can click the "Change Package" button to do so:


Depending on your settings, upgrading may be free or they may be charged the difference, and if downgrading, they may be refunded the difference - exactly what will happen, along with the new renewal terms is shown for each selection.
If the user must pay the difference to upgrade, they will be taken to the payment screen and once payment clears, the package will be changed.
If the user is to be refunded the difference when downgrading, it will be applied as credit on their account (we will discuss account credit in a future update).


Invoices

This is what the Invoices screen looks like:


As you can see, invoices are separated into tabs:
Pending invoices are orders which the user has started but not finished or cancelled, or have been generated by the system (for example, when a package is due for renewal) or have been generated by an administrator.
Paid invoices are past orders which the user finished successfully.
Expired invoices are previously pending invoices which have now expired. The user can still pay expired invoices, but the service they relate to (for example if it is a renewal invoice) would have deactivated.
Cancelled invoices have been cancelled by the user or an administrator.

You can click on an invoice to view details:


If the user can pay an invoice, they will see the "Pay Now" button which will take them to the checkout page (which we discussed previously in this blog entry).
If the user has credit on their account, they will also see an "Apply Credit" button which will allow them to use their account credit against the invoice total.



This concludes the Invoices and Purchases area of the Client Area. We will be discussing other areas of the client area in future blog entries.
  • 5,856 views
Mark

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Managing and Generating Invoices

In a previous blog entry we covered the ordering process for both the end user and administrator, but of course administrators can generate invoices manually. In this blog entry we're going to be demonstrating the how administrators can manage and generate invoices for users.

Please note that the interface shown in the screenshots is not finalised subject to change.



Managing Invoices

There are two ways you can view invoices, and we imagine most administrators will either use one or the other depending on the size of community.

Firstly, you can view all invoices in a list with the most recent invoices first. We imagine this will be useful to smaller communities.


You can also view the invoices for a particular customer from the customer page. We imagine this will be more practical for larger communities.

The customer page can be accessed either from a link in the normal "Edit member" Admin CP page or the Customer search page in the IP.Nexus section of the Admin CP.
We'll be discussing all of the features of the customer page in a future blog entry.


This is what the invoice details screen looks like:

As you can see, it lists each item in the invoice and any transactions related to the invoice.

It also shows information on the status, and if the invoice has been paid it will indicate the date that it was paid, and any additional information that may be necessary:






Generating an Invoice

You can of course generate an invoice manually for a customer. You do this from the customer page by clicking the "Add Invoice" button that is there.

You will see a screen like this:



You can add an item by clicking the "Add Item" button. This will bring up a dropdown menu with the different types of item you can add:

You can add a normal package by selecting the package from the packages you have created:

You can create a custom package:

You can add a miscellaneous charge (for example, a shipping cost or discount):

And if you have IP.Downloads integration enabled, you can add a paid IP.Downloads file:

(Note that if you have lots of files you will see a search box to enter a filename rather than a dropdown of all paid files).

You can also add a renewal for any of the user's existing purchases by clicking the "Add Renewal" button:


After adding each item, you'll be taken back to the first screen:

From here you can edit the quantity of any item (the price will be updated automatically by AJAX and taking into account any bulk discounts you have set up) or remove an item.

Once you're done, clicking the "Save" button at the top will generate the invoice. If you selected the invoice to be pending, the user will receive an Email notifying them an invoice has been generated, and if you selected the invoice to be paid, the packages will be added to the user's account straight away.
  • 4,046 views
Mark

IP.Board Communities iPhone App Updates

A week ago we launched the first version of our IP.Board Communities iPhone App and the response has been great so far with thousands of downloads! It's been really exciting for us to see the great feedback and start incorporating it into the newer versions of the app. We have a new version of the app awaiting approval that addresses many of the issues from the first release, we expect that it will be live on the app store within the next 48 hours. In addition to bug fixes, this version includes a few interface tweaks that improve the user experience.

In addition to the version that is awaiting approval, we have an even newer version that we will be submitting to the app store soon. Apple's approval can take up to a week so expect it to be available for download around June 8. Here's a quick preview of what you can expect from this upcoming version:

New Feature: Directory

The directory feature takes the link directory from our site and incorporates it into the app, allowing users of the app to easily discover new communities. We think this will be a great way to drive traffic to your sites, so make sure that you have added your site to the directory!



Clicking the "Add to My Communities" button will take you straight to the add forum page, with the title and url fields pre filled out for you. If you do not already have a username and password, you can leave those fields blank and you will be redirected to the register page the first time you visit the community. This is a great way to drive traffic to your community and for new members to join using their mobile device!

Quick List

This feature will allow you to quickly jump to several sections of a forum, instead of starting at the home page. You can access the quick list menu by tapping the blue arrow on the main forum listing:

After tapping that button, you will see this screen:

We have a lot of future plans for this area, such as including stats from the community.

Settings

The settings area is where you can edit forum details, such as your login and password. In the future there will be a wider variety of settings included for each forum.


Future Versions

All of those features will be included in the next version we submit to the app store, but we have a lot more planned for later versions. We will be adding push support in the near future, so that any notifications that IP.Board generates will have the option of being sent to your phone. We also have numerous enhancements to the interface and user experience planned.

We hope you're excited about these new features, we can't wait for you to try them out! As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions, so let us know what you think!

And, yes, we are still planning an Android platform app.
  • 5,084 views
Josh

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Processing Orders

In our last IP.Nexus Dev Update, we demonstrated the storefront and checkout process for the end user. In this blog entry, we're going to show you some of the Admin features for processing orders.

Please note that the interface shown in the screenshots is not finalised and subject to change.


There are two stages to processing an order:
Approving the transaction
IP.Nexus can automatically process transactions that the payment gateway reports as successful. Some users may wish to set all transactions to be manually approved for extra security, and in some cases, transactions may also need to be manually approved if the payment gateway reports a problem. Shipping the items
If a user has purchased physical items which needs to be shipped, a shipping order will be generated to let you know what items need to be shipped and who to ship them to. If a user makes an order with multiple items using different shipping methods, multiple shipping orders may be generated.
Some orders of course may require both of these steps and some will require neither, depending on your configuration and what the user purchases.

On the Admin CP Dashboard you will see a notification if there are any pending transactions or shipping orders:

This uses the IP.Board Admin CP Dashboard Notification Center which was added in 3.1.


Approving Transactions

You can view all transactions that are awaiting your approval on a page in the Admin CP:


From here you can approve a transaction by "View" link or mark it as paid or failed by clicking the appropriate icon.

The transaction details screen looks like this:

You can see details about the transaction, the invoice it corresponds to and the reason it is pending approval.

After a transaction has been marked complete, the details pane will show a message indicating who did so:



Once a transaction has been approved, the invoice it is associated with will be marked paid and any purchases the user has paid for will be activated.
If the order includes any physical items, a shipping order will be generated at this time.


Shipping Orders

You can view all shipping orders that are awaiting your approval on a page in the Admin CP:


You can view a shipping order by clicking on the link. The details screen looks like this:

As you can see, the shipping address and items to be shipped are listed.

Once you have shipped the items, you can click the button in the top right to mark the order as shipped. This will send a notification to the user that the items have been shipped and archive the shipping order.
  • 3,253 views
Mark

IP.Board 3.1 Update: Mobile Skin Improvements

With the release of IP.Board 3.1 and our new iPhone application, we decided to make some further improvements to our mobile skin to expand on the great start introduced earlier this year. We wanted to give the skin a more modern, touch-friendly feel, and improve usability for those devices to suit.

So here's some of what we've done:



As you'll see straight away, the board header is now significantly smaller. We wanted to make the content the focus of the new design, so we've cut out all of the space-hogging links and replaced them with a clean button-activated menu. Which looks like this:



We've also made important buttons bigger and easier to press when you're on the move, on your phone. Where there's too much to display, such as each post in a topic view, we've hidden the buttons behind touch-activation. This functionality is, of course, all backwards compatible with devices that don't support or block JavaScript.

Another area we were keen to add, to compliment the new iPhone application, is status updates. You can now view status updates by your friends, or all members of your communities, directly from your mobile. We've started small, with just the status updates themselves, but we plan to expand this in future revisions to include status replies and the ability to reply to them.



Some other enhancements:


Touchable rows - Anywhere there is a list, such as the forum list on the board index, or the topic list in forum view, entire rows are now touchable. You can press anywhere on the row to go to that item, rather than having to aim carefully for the link within. View new content - In IP.Board 3.0, this list was set by default to "show me all new content since my last visit", even on your mobile device. This meant that if you closed the iPhone application, when you went back in, this list would be empty. We've changed this to default to "show me all content that I have not read", preserving the list across sessions.
CSS-based styles - As most modern mobile devices use new, CSS3-compliant rendering engines, we've been able to use CSS-based gradients and border-radius settings to lower the number of images the skin loads, saving and your wallet from hefty data-plan fees.
Everything's bigger - This might sound simple, but the biggest change we've made is to make the font size bigger throughout. Hopefully this will mean less squinting when you're trying to use it on your phone!

We'd love to hear what you think about the improvements we've made to the mobile skin. It will be included as standard, for free, in IP.Board 3.1 when it is released. It will install right along with the upgrade and be available for your members to enjoy.

If you find any issues, please report them to the bug tracker.
  • 11,357 views
Guest
Guest

IP.Nexus Dev Update: Storefront

In our previous blog entry, we covered how to create packages in IP.Nexus. This blog entry will cover the storefront and ordering process for the products that you sell.


The Store

The front page of the store looks like this:


The front page allows users to view products items (you can configure which products are featured in the Admin CP) or the most popular (i.e. most sold) products.

Users can navigate the store using the category menu on the left. When you navigate into a category, it opens a tree with subcategories.


The bar on the left shows the products currently in your shopping cart, including any tax and discount costs.


As discussed in a previous blog entry, you can configure products to have custom fields or associations with other products. When adding these products, you will see a screen like this:



Viewing Your Cart

After adding an item, or by clicking the "Edit Cart" link the sidebar, you'll see a page like this:


As you can see, you can edit quantities for products which do not require custom fields by entering a new number in the box (or remove all of that product by clicking the remove link). For products which have custom fields, each item is listed individually, so you can remove the one you want.


Checkout Process

The checkout process is only available to registered members. If a guest clicks "Checkout" on the store, IP.Nexus will remember their cart and direct them to the registration screen. After registration is complete, when the user logs in, IP.Nexus will redirect them to the checkout page.

All steps of the checkout process have a cancel button that the user can use to cancel the purchase.

Clicking checkout from the cart screen, the user will be asked to enter their shipping address:

Of course, if the items the user is purchasing are not physical, or the user has already provided this information in a previous order, this step will be skipped.

Next, the user will be asked to select their shipping method:

The available shipping methods and shipping costs are calculated automatically based on what the user is purchasing. If the user purchases several items which have different available shipping options, more than one dropdown may be available.

In this case, IP.Nexus will automatically work out the minimum number of shipping orders to create based on the selections.
Again, if the items the user is purchasing are not physical, this step will be skipped.

The next page will show the user the total cost with shipping included and allow them to enter any coupon codes they have or apply account credit.

After selecting a payment method, the appropriate fields will automatically be shown:



After submitting, the user will either be taken back to the payment page if payment failed, or be shown a success page.


If you have configured IP.Nexus to hold all payments until you manually approve them, the success page will indicate this:


And of course if the user chooses to pay by a manual method (such as a check) they will be shown information how to pay:

  • 5,726 views
Mark

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