vBulletin 3.7.0 Beta 4 Released

[vB.Org System]

vBulletin 3.7.0 Beta 4

THIS IS BETA SOFTWARE.
IT IS UNSUPPORTED.

If you are not fully at home with backing-up and restoring your forum, dealing with bugs and regular upgrades, DO NOT INSTALL THIS BETA VERSION

The time has come to release another round of bug fixes, and to get the last bits of new functionality out to customers.

Customers running prior versions of vBulletin 3.7.0 Beta should upgrade immediately to ensure that any known problems are eliminated.

Picture Comments
New to this version are picture comments - a system enabling visitors to leave comments on pictures in member albums. This final touch adds the key social networking functionality to the system.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/01/17.jpg

New Member Album Types
In previous versions of 3.7, members' albums of pictures could be specified as private or public only, and any pictures that were intended to be used for backgrounds of customized profile pages had to be located in public albums. This has now been changed, and a new special type has been introduced - profile albums. These albums are not directly browsable, unlike public albums, but their contents are available for use in profile page customization.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/01/6.png

It's also now possible to pick background images from a profile-type album without having to memorize picture IDs etc.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/01/7.png

Social Groups Administration
It is now possible to do extended searches on user-created social groups from the Admin Control Panel, and mass-delete groups should one wish to do so.


Significance of a Beta Release
This is beta software. If you are not fully at home with backing-up and restoring your forum, dealing with bugs and regular upgrades, do not install this beta version.

Customers should bear in mind that this is a public beta, not a certified 'stable' release so the following caveats apply:
Beta software is unsupported and you install beta versions at your own risk.
Some minor bugs remain unresolved at this time, so beta software should not be on production sites.
You should always back up your database fully before attempting to install beta software.
If you choose to install this version, you should be aware that we plan to release new beta versions in rapid succession as bugs are fixed and holes are plugged. Do not install this beta version if you are not willing or able to keep up-to-date with new releases.
The ImpEx import system does not support the 3.7 code yet, and will not support it until the release of 3.7.0 (stable).

More... (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=257148&goto=newpost)

[cheat-master30]

What a perfect time to decide to renew my Owned License. Because finally, new features that may be just plain awesome!

Of course, I wonder first if that social group error I was being annoyed about for about two weeks is fixed by now, because I still cannot find the code in a template to increase it to only show if there were TWO or more notifications instead of one.

Never the less, I plan to install this latest release tonight.

[Hasann]

No special Update :x

[BuRaCh]

yes iam No special Update..

[Forumdayim.Net]

I'm still waiting the gold version of vb 3.7.x series :)

[King Justice]

vB is looking pretty sweet...but, it's odd that this forum system is evolving into a social networking system, iMO.

[Shazz]

Screen shots looks to nice :)

[chatzworld]

loooks very good cant with to RC and then will start running it :)

[nexialys]

ARGH, come on, not an update yet, i'm not ready...

ok, do what you like, after all, i'll have less time to take care of the baby... YOUR FAULT!

[ragtek]

ARGH, come on, not an update yet, i'm not ready...

ok, do what you like, after all, i'll have less time to take care of the baby... YOUR FAULT!

lol
you have other children, let them take care on the baby ;)

[SEOvB]

vB is looking pretty sweet...but, it's odd that this forum system is evolving into a social networking system, iMO.

Not really, to stay up with the times and technology you have to evolve products to meet new needs and thats exactly what vBulletin is finally doing. Glad to see them listening to what the masses are asking for :)

[nexialys]

i would prefer to see the SN stuff seperate like the blog is... i do not need expensive profiles on most of my forums... same for bookmarking... a complete useless thing in 95% of my clients which are using the forum for local or private support...

[Forum Lover]

Nice moving. hope to get the gold version soon.

[Shazz]

i would prefer to see the SN stuff seperate like the blog is... i do not need expensive profiles on most of my forums... same for bookmarking... a complete useless thing in 95% of my clients which are using the forum for local or private support...

I like expensive profiles, some people like a big package :)

[cheat-master30]

vB is looking pretty sweet...but, it's odd that this forum system is evolving into a social networking system, iMO.

In the same way as Invision Power Board and other software are trying to evolve into social networking systems. Seriously, just about everyone is trying the social networking thing recently...

i would prefer to see the SN stuff seperate like the blog is... i do not need expensive profiles on most of my forums... same for bookmarking... a complete useless thing in 95% of my clients which are using the forum for local or private support...

That's the point though, it's more about for Jelsoft:

1. More features in package + low price +all in one without purchasing separate + mods = more customers. I mean, think how many are probably only buying webspace because of the features included? I bet it's similar for forum software sales.

[Big Boss]

It's good to see that the development is getting closer each day. I'm hardly waiting for the 3.7 release and can't wait to upgrade my forums. Keep it coming, Jelsoft! :)

[Playa82]

*INSTALLED*

Works great

[Freesteyelz]

ARGH, come on, not an update yet, i'm not ready...



I'm curious to know if there are any template changes. I know I have the option to revert the templates but I want them to be compliant. With 160+ template tweaks, and most of them major, I hope not all need to be changed.

Ahh...Then again, I went in with Beta so no complaints here. Just curiosity. Beta 4, here I come. :)


*Edited: Added word "hope". :)

[aj8690]

There are only a few template changes from beta 3, and they are pretty minor. I handled them to be compliant in a few minutes.

[Freesteyelz]

I hope my updates will be minor too. :)

[TPOCJames]

Friendly warning: MEMBERINFO CSS has changed. ;)

[Freesteyelz]

Thanks, TPOCJames. :)

I expected anything MEMBERINFO to be changed so I'm prepared. It is the few areas of vB I didn't tweak much in anticipation that it's still in production. More likely I won't commit much to MEMBERINFO until 3.7 goes Gold. :)

I am now backing up my forum directory...Everything else has been backed up. :)

[Zachariah]

fun fun fun :D

[Marco van Herwaarden]

i would prefer to see the SN stuff seperate like the blog is... i do not need expensive profiles on most of my forums... same for bookmarking... a complete useless thing in 95% of my clients which are using the forum for local or private support...
As i see it, 3.7 is providing the basic building blocks for true SN in the standard package. I would not be surprised if there will be many modifications building upon these blocks, and maybe even (this is just a personal hunch) official addon products. I think it is a great move to provide the buildingblocks in the standard package.

[Freesteyelz]

Interesting insight, Marco. :)

[Marco van Herwaarden]

My response is just based on personal observations and interpretations.

[Freesteyelz]

It's rather speculative at this point but it makes for good conversation...Which people have been doing already. Though, if that is (and again, mere speculation) the direction of vB my guess is that these addons/products will start being released before vB 4.0...And more likely within this year.

[Dream]

They will need more manpower to make new add-ons.

Kier said they would move to 4.0 development after 3.7, which would be the last major 3.x version. I'm very impressed by what they accomplished, but I can still think of some features vB 3.x needed. Overall the 3.x branch wasn't developed to its full potential, and vB.com suggestion's forum has thousands of good suggestions.

I don't know Jelsoft sales figures, but if they can only hire 5 developers maybe it's not too much. (yet hopefully)

Looking back, I expected vBulletin would have more stuff by now. More stuff for the end user, from an admin standpoint I think vBulletin is perfect. (edit: also from a coding and coder standpoint)

Also looking back when 3.5 was released, I thought there was going to be many more quality mods by now than it has. Maybe it's me and I'm expecting too much, I know better by now.

So Marco, don't expect too much.

[vBVision]

I hope that some bugs are also fixed, particularly a bug connected with regimage table.

[mihai11]

I don't need any more features. I need to GOLD version ready yesterday.

[MrPHD]

Installed and running. Thanks

[rapidphim]

wow... just another upgrade...

[QsKGlobal.com]

Gonna upgrade now. Looking pretty sweet, can't wait for it to go gold.

[Old Man River]

installing beta 4 now :) 3 worked good

[safakuygur]

Installed Thanks

[lasto]

is it safe to install this over 3.6 or do i need to do all custom hacks once again.

[soniceffect]

Depends on the hack itself. In your case if its the custom one I'm thinking off, I would guess it will be ok .... Only one way to find out ;)

[lasto]

oi soniceffect thats not the way to anwser `only one way to find out` i could ruin my board in the process :)

anyway good to see u still about m8 :)

[Jase2]

I had to do most of my hacks again.

It won't ruin your board, I can promise you that. :)

Just revert templates, then code away!!!

Regards Jason :)

[christicehurst]

I was wondering about the hacks I have installed too. Is it safe to upgrade and then dealing with possible upgrades from hacks. The waiting period from the Gold release to the hack releases could be a while.

[SemperFideles]

I was wondering about the hacks I have installed too. Is it safe to upgrade and then dealing with possible upgrades from hacks. The waiting period from the Gold release to the hack releases could be a while.

I have about 20 hacks and installed the Beta 4 on a test site using a copy of the dB. I only ran into one or two hacks that didn't work in Beta 4.

One thing I did do was to simplify my styles and make them more "standard". That will eventually make the upgrade process smooth as they're all basically adaptations now of the default style.