SiteDirector v4.5 - Upcoming Release

We at QuillDesign are soon to release version 4.5 (current version is 4.4).

This version is almost a major upgrade to our ecommerce software. We have touched almost every file. Just about every file in the /cart/ and /console/ directories have been modified and all of the files in the /components/ directory.

We found some possible security holes and addressed those (mainly in the /components/ files). We modified the shopping cart process, we removed the login page and added it on the Billing Page. We also added a step in the checkout process to allow the customer to select the shipping method from a list. Before you selected it before you checked out and we feel that was not a good idea to have it only there, but to allow the customers to select it while in the checkout process.

We added SSL Analytics textarea in the settings to use SSL Analytics links in the shopping cart.

Added Google sitemap exporter

Rearranged the /console/builder_orders.cfm file; it was grabbing multiple pages from the cart and since we are soon to release a complete CSS version this caused all kinds of havoc in the console. So instead of including cart pages like Customer Billing and Shipping information from the shopping cart we are grabbing them from their own files in the console.

We also added a checkbox to the builder pages for products, departments and content to keep your old filename for your pages. Basically the filenames for your pages are built off of the title of the page. If you changed that title, the filename for that page would also change. This hurts your searching and causes errors with search engines. So we added a checkbox. If it is checked then the filename will change if the title changes. IF you don't check it, it leaves the filename the same.

We added a global handling fee you can charge on all orders.

Added a new attribute to the customer struct (where the customer information is stored while the customer is on your site). "customer.previouslyViewedID" this stores the product id's that the customer has viewed. It keeps track of the last 5 products they have viewed. This will be something you can use to display this list for your customer easily access previously viewed items.

One of the biggest changes was the real time shipping modules, Fedex UPS and USPS. We cleaned these up, trimmed them down and made them more customizable. You can also (programmically) utilize two shippers so if you want to display Fedex and UPS rates you can do this now by customizing the code pretty easily.

If you don't want to offer a specific shipping method, you can remove the code and that method won't show up.

There are also a number of other small bugs, fixes etc..

This is a very major update, it is virtually impossible to list out all of the changes and if you have customized your code, you will have to re-work that back into the system.

Our recommendation is that your pickup a copy of Beyond Compare! It's only $30.00 for a single license. It allows you to load up your old page and your new page and compare whats changed. VERY VERY helpful tool.

If you have just customized your layouts, templates and css then you don't have anything to worry about, we didn't touch those files. Just the working files in the cart, console and component directories.

This is a major upgrade and you will really want to utilize the new code.

We should have it released within a week after all testing is completed.

Let us know if you have any questions!