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interactivetools.com newsletter - November 2003
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INTERACTIVETOOLS.COM
An HTML version of this newsletter is available at:
http://www.interactivetools.com/news/
Issue #20 - November 2003
http://www.interactivetools.com/
info@interactivetools.com
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In this issue:
1) New Product - Listings Manager Now Available
2) Article Manager Server-Side Parsing
3) Career Opportunities
4) Free Software Updates Available
5) News from the Forum
6) Google Toolbar 2.0
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1. NEW PRODUCT - LISTINGS MANAGER NOW AVAILABLE
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We just released Listings Manager - a generic program for managing listings. We've found that our customers were using Realty Manager and Auto Manager for listing Businesses, Jobs, Boats, Books, Collectibles, and pretty much anything they could think of. However, it was confusing to suggest a program called "Realty Manager" for listing Antiques, so we decided to release Listings Manager as a program to cover all possibilities.
Listings Manager allows users to select their industry during installation, which sets the program's default fields and templates. Currently the industries that you can choose from are: Realty, Auto, and Generic. This means that the program can easily be set up as Realty Manager or Auto Manager by making one choice during installation. The Generic option makes it easy to customize the program for specialized purposes by providing a minimal set of fields and a set of simplified templates. And no matter which industry you choose, you always have the ability to further customize the listings fields, in the setup options of the software, to suit your requirements.
Users of Realty Manager and Auto Manager can update to Listings Manager by downloading the new version from our updates page:
http://www.interactivetools.com/upgrade/
Check out the Free Software Updates section of this newsletter to see what changes have been made to the program.
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2. ARTICLE MANAGER SERVER-SIDE PARSING
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Article Manager has been updated to support server-side scripting in all of its publicly displayed pages. While it has always been possible to include server-side scripts (ASP, PHP, SSIs, etc) in published static pages, it wasn't possible to include this same code on pages being dynamically generated by programs such as search.cgi and view.cgi. The new feature enables the parsing of these scripts in dynamically generated pages.
In the past, this limitation caused a few problems for people who were depending upon server-side scripts as part of their design. It's now possible to incorporate third-party scripts (for example: banner ads, poll/vote scripts, PHP includes) into the templates.
Updates are free, so if you're interested in using this feature you can download your update here:
http://www.interactivetools.com/upgrade/
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3. CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
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interactivetools.com is hiring! We're looking for exceptional people to fill important roles within our company. We're currently hiring for these two positions:
- Software Marketing Manager
- Web Application Programmer
If you're interested in working with us (keep in mind that we're based in Vancouver, Canada) please visit our Jobs page:
http://www.interactivetools.com/jobs/
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4. FREE SOFTWARE UPDATES AVAILABLE
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ARTICLE MANAGER
Version 1.33 - Released: October 9, 2003
- New setup option to provide basic authentication when using Server Side Parsing with password protected "publish/" directories
- Added a config.ini flag (bcc_to set the email separator for notification. This is to resolve incompatibilities between some mail programs and certain delimiters (semicolon sometimes rejected)
Version 1.32 - Released: September 23, 2003
New Features:
- added rendering of SSI and server side script (PHP, ASP, etc.) in pages generated dynamically by search.cgi and view.cgi
- search.cgi can now search multiple categories (i.e. cat=1,3,4)
- new $publishdir_virtualpath$ placeholder, deprecating $virtual_*$ placeholders
- new $publishdir_filepath$ placeholder
Templates:
- added the "Maple PHP" template set (default publish templates using PHP includes)
Fixes:
- re-enabled $url_publish$ in several templates (disabled in 1.30)
Version 1.31 - Released: July 10, 2003
- Fixed an issue where image height and width were lost when moving an article from a category with a custom upload directory to another category
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LISTINGS MANAGER
Version 2.50 - Released: October 17, 2003
Program Changes:
- incorporates both Realty Manager and Auto Manager into Listings Manager
- main executable name changed to admin.cgi
- added ability to install using .pl script file extension
Interface Changes:
- new "display only" interface templatecell for homepage/listings add/edit pages
- sort order for homepage and listings fields
- printable reference of homepage and listings placeholders
- added autoformatting to text box fields
- added Save/Cancel buttons to top of many interface pages
User Changes:
- superusers and administrators can no longer accidentally lock themselves out of the program by deleting, demoting, or disabling their own accounts
- superuser and administrator accounts can't be set to expire
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SEARCH ENGINE (RECOMMENDED UPDATE)
Version 1.10 - Released: June 27, 2003
UI Changes:
- program interface templates now stored in separate files in templates/interface/ and can be customized
- footerbar message can be customized
Enhancements:
- improved handling of UTF encoding and double-byte HTML entities
- numeric HTML &entities (e.g. …) are displayed correctly in search results
- added support for network filepaths (e.g. //machine/dir/)
Filelocking:
- improved file system error checking when rewriting database files
- improved filelock handling
- filelock timeouts can be configured via config.ini
Updates can be downloaded from our website here:
http://www.interactivetools.com/upgrade/
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5. NEWS FROM THE FORUM
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Article Manager - linking Author Name to Email
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Want to know how to setup Article Manager so that the author's name links to their email address? Donna shows us how!
http://www.interactivetools.com/iforum/P17023/
Article Manager - link to syndicated articles without opening a new window
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Donna illustrates how to get syndicated articles opening in the same browser window.
http://www.interactivetools.com/iforum/P18525/
Article Manager - how to change to a 12 hour AM/PM time format
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Read this post if you want to find out how to change your articles' 24 hour time format to something else.
http://www.interactivetools.com/iforum/P18402/
Listings Manager - display the top 3 listings from different categories on any page
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Donna explains how to customize Listings Manager to list forklifts, as well as outputting featured listings from various categories on the same page.
http://www.interactivetools.com/iforum/P15501/
Warm Guinness - the proper way to enjoy a good stout
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Not only is our staff extremely knowledgeable about our products, but we're also full of great information about... beer?
http://www.interactivetools.com/iforum/P16496/
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6. GOOGLE TOOLBAR 2.0
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Lately I've been trying out the new Google Toolbar v2.0 and I've found it to be very useful. In fact, the pop-up blocker alone has made my surfing that much better. I recommend that you give it a try. The newest toolbar includes these features:
- Pop-up blocker: Turn off distracting pop-up ads from web pages you visit and let through only those pop-ups you want to see
- AutoFill: Complete web forms quickly and easily with information that's saved securely on your own computer
- BlogThis: Link to your favorite web pages from your own online web journal
You can download the new Google Toolbar from here:
http://toolbar.google.com/
Hope you like it! :)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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The interactivetools.com newsletter is written by Luke Holzken (luke@interactivetools.com) and Chris Waddell (chris@interactivetools.com).
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ABOUT OUR COMPANY
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interactivetools.com creates world-class web software. Web developers use our software to provide their non-technical clients with an easy-to-use system for managing their websites.
You can visit our website at:
http://www.interactivetools.com/
or demo our products at:
http://demo1.interactivetools.com/
Call us at 1-800-752-0455 if you have any questions not addressed on our site.
>> This publication may be freely redistributed if copied in its ENTIRETY <<
(c) Copyright 2003 interactivetools.com, Inc.
Luke Holzken
Product Development
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