VirtueMart News

A Roadmap and lot's to do!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:19:42 +0100

In the last time the VirtueMart Team has had their heads together and thought about how VirtueMart will evolve and how it will position itself in the area of Open Source Shopping Carts. The good message is that VirtueMart Development will be enforced!

With VirtueMart 1.1.2, the first "real" maintenance release will come out soon (probably in 2 weeks).

After that we will focus on working for VirtueMart 1.2, which will still support Joomla! 1.0.x (and of course Joomla! 1.5). You can expect a first alpha release in August 2008 and the final release around November 2008.

VirtueMart 1.1.x now is in maintenance mode, which means there will be no exciting new Features in upcoming Versions. VirtueMart 1.1 and VirtueMart 1.2 will be branched from the current SVN trunk - so the trunk can be used to develop VirtueMart 2.0.

This next "big thing" will be a complete rewrite. We plan the rearrange the current Code Structure to make it more flexible and extensible. Joomla! 1.0/Legacy Functions will be dropped and we will make use of the Joomla! 1.5 framework.

VirtueMart 2.0 will be compatible to Joomla! >= 1.5 and PHP 5 only.

We have published the Roadmap, but please: it's still a work in progress. The process of targeting features for VM 1.2 and 2.0 has just begun and I'm sure that not all features will find their way into upcoming VirtueMart Versions.

VirtueMart 1.1.1 Patch Package Released

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:28:13 +0100

We have just released VirtueMart 1.1.1. This is a required update.

Version 1.1.1 contains a required patch for the automatic updater and must be applied before you will be able to update to any later version of VirtueMart. This ensures that future updates will go smoothly.

To update to version 1.1.1, login to your VirtueMart administration area and switch to the "Simple Layout". Next, choose "Check for Updates" from the "Admin" menu, then click the "Check now!" button and follow the instructions there. (Or, you can download the 1.1.1 patch package directly, save it to your local hard drive, and choose to "Upload a Patch Package" from the "Upload a Patch" tab.)

Be sure to switch to "Simple Layout" before beginning the update.

Note that because VirtueMart 1.1.1 only contains a patch to the automatic updater, only the patch package is being provided. There is no full installation version of VirtueMart 1.1.1.

Very soon, we will be releasing version 1.1.2, a maintenance release that will contain many fixes for issues found in version 1.1.0.

(Discussion of the VirtueMart 1.1.1 update.)

How to work with Product Attributes

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:12:25 +0100

It seems that some of the features VirtueMart has, are somehow "hidden" for new and even for power users. I think one of these features is "Parent/Child Products with Attributes". It's possible to have single products, which are a variation of a master product. Say you have the master product "T-Shirt", then you can have different products (with different SKU) for the variations "Size M, Color green" and "Size XL, Color red". Advantage: this gives you the full power of stock control.

Head over to the Flash Screencast: "Product Attributes - Creating Product Variations".

Maintenance Release (VM 1.1.1) coming soon

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:09:13 +0100

After VirtueMart 1.1.0 had been published at the end of April, we were very surprised and happy of how much downloads it had. The current download stats express that there was a huge need of a working eCommerce solution for Joomla! 1.5. This also explains why the versions for Joomla! 1.5 have a higher number of downloads.

This larger user base for VirtueMart 1.1 also quickly found some issues, which are now being addressed by a maintenance release, which is due for the end of next week (around June, 19th). This will also be the first time, when you can update VirtueMart using the built-in version-updater function.

We will keep you updated once VirtueMart 1.1.1 is available.

Nominate VirtueMart for Sourceforge CC Awards!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:48:16 +0100

The 2008 SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards program has started and is awaiting your Nominations!

If you're a happy VirtueMart user, you shoudn't forget to nominate us by clicking the image below and choosing the Nomination Category(ies) (you can click "nominate this project again" to choose another category). If we are picked as a Finalist, we'll tell you about the final voting phase. Thank you all!