Main New Features In The OFBiz Trunk

December 2009

Starting this month it is required to use Java 1.6 or greater to build OFBiz trunk versions.

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• Accounting
  • Converted simple events in FixedAssetMaintEvents.xml to services.

November 2009

• SFA
  • SFA accounts/contacts/leads have been rewritten to use forms and the perform find service instead of the ftl and findparty service in order keep the maintenance costs down.
    These functions now show by default the parties as shown in the party component with the possibility to assign them to certain users.
  • The first page now shows the calendar for events and the possibility to receive and send email.
  • The event function has been added to assign tasks to one self and others and being informed about the status. The will show up on the SFA front page.

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• Framework
  • Setting viewSize and viewIndex in screen context for list forms wasn't functional, it's fixed now.

October 2009

• POS
  New Client Profile screen (from Promo button in promo panel) allows you to search for all clients (all fields empty) or to focus on a client (at least one field filed) and edit his/her profile.
  You may select a client, then his/her card id will be used as a promo code. The idea is to generate promo codes and to use them as card numbers when creating physical cards.
  Also this allows much more possibilities as now the POS is customer aware...

September 2009

• Content.
  • Docbook documents and help screens now showing in the proper visual scheme.
  • Most if not all upload content screens now also allow to select existing content using the content navigator. This will enable the reuse of documents

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• Framework
  • The selenium tests can now be run from the webtools application. An example is provided there.
  • Upgraded the seleniumXml sytem.
  • Added UEL support of variable name modifiers for an object accessed via key in a Map. Added a variable name modifier for BigDecimal.
  • Added a utility method CommonWorkers.hasParentType() which takes entity name (Type Entity), sub-type, parent type, and checks if the passed in sub-type has parent type as its parent somewhere in the hierarchy.
• Ebay
  • Implemented new calls in eBay - GetOrders & GetMyeBaySelling. Now we are able to import single transaction as well as and order that contains multiple transaction to OFBiz. Order having multiple transaction will remain as it is in OFBiz.
  • Provided option to import order & transaction from Single screen.
  • Moved values for ebay configuration from property file to new entity EbayConfig. Provided the GUI support to update configuration values.
  • Also new entity introduced EbayShippingMethod to support custom shipping method from eBay. Also provided GUI support. Included demo data for reference.
  • Code refactoring in eBay and did cleanup in old eBay single transaction search screen. Encouraged use of Generics in Ebay code.
  • More then one Product export to eBay was not working so fixed that issue.
  • Improved error message shown to customer. Also improved the success messsage shown on the User Interface.

August 2009

• Human Resources
  • Added Training management.

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• Hindi Translation
  • Now supports Hindi translation for Accounting, Common, Party components.
• Google Base
  • Improvement in Google Base. Code was broken in trunk so fixed those problem. Now the generated XML string support namespace specific tags.
  • Moved configuration settings from property file to Database using new entity GoogleBaseConfig.
  • Added Sample data for Google Base so anybody can use it in their custom projects.

July 2009

• Chinese Translation
  • A Chinese translation was added to all components.

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• Facility
  • facilityId was not processed correctly in case of quickShipPurchaseOrder. This is fixed now.

June 2009

• MyPortal
  • System notes. It is now possible to notify the logged on user of any events which are important to him such as incoming email or tasks assigned to him.
    The last three messages are shown in the flat-grey scheme in the header. They are also shown in the mypage 'main' portal page. Can easily be extended to other system events.
    Using the firefox "update scanner' plugin at http://updatescanner.mozdev.org/en/index.html a user can be notified of new events even if you is not logged in if this plugin will interrogate the url: https://localhost:8443/myportal/control/showPortlet?portalPortletId=SystemInfoNotes&USERNAME=admin&PASSWORD=ofbiz (adapt to your system) regularly
  • System status. Also on the main portal page is a portlet of items which are 'open'. Examples are tasks which are assigned but not finished or incoming email which has not been dealt with. Also this can be extended to areas interested for the particular logged in user.
  • day/week/month calendar. On the myportal main page is now a calendar where private or public events can be posted within the same portlet. Projectmanager tasks will also appear on this calendar

• Order
  • UPS integration support for sending Shipment Return Label email to customer. This option will be available on order detail screen and as well on return screen when order is in COMPLETED status and return is in ACCEPTED status respectively.
  • Functionality for getting online shipping charges from UPS if an order is in approved status with associated shipment in PICKED status and it has been hold due to an overage in the shipping charges from Weight Package only screen.
  • Credit in case of order returns now can be stored in Financial Account of type STORE_CREDIT. Product Store now can be configured to set default store credit account type, either Financial Account or Billing Account. Now the basic process of storing credit at time of return will first look for a billing account with negative balance, if none found will use billingAccountId or finAccountId if explicitly supplied, else will store credit based on the default ProductStore setting. If a Financial Account at the time of Store Credit doesn't exists a new one is created.
  • PaymentPreference is now being created for cross ship replacement order.
  • Payment Authorization and Capture is now possible for replacement orders. Order payment preferences are created and payment method (credit card) is set for replacement orders. But authorization and capture of the payments was failing since the order grand total is set to zero.
• Facility
  • Introduction to "Weight Package Only" screen for the verified orders from Verify Pick process with support of UPS integration.
  • UPS integration enhancement for supporting shipping quote based on dimensions as well.
  • Recieve PO functionality was broken, there were some major issues with the database changes on receiving PO in different scenarios. This is now fixed.

May 2009

• PartyMgr / myPortal
  • A built in web email client has been completed for the receiving and sending of email. Further it is possible to edit other parties email if the relationship in the partyRelationShip entity is recorded. Emails can be converted into customer requests and assigned to tasks in a project and assigned to a project member all on one screen.
• Accounting
  • Support of Authorize.net 3.1 and use the new Payment Gateway Config features.
  • Integration of new RBS WorldPay Select Junior and support of new Payment Gateway Config features.
  • Added screens to see billing accounts and returns information under Fin. History tab in Party.
• Order
  • After a return for refund, now exchange order can be created against original order.
  • Added new return type "Replace Immediately". This could be used with returns for which items are not expected to be returned and even item(s) cost less then the shipping charges.
  • Added new filters on find order page. This filter is about finding orders ship to a country. This work along with the option "Include Only" and "Do Not Include". With the former option system will display only orders that are ship to the selected country and with latter it will display only order that are not shipped to the selected country.
  • Added Optional input field where user can specify an orderId while creating a purchase order from Requirements.
  • Enable audit for few fields on ReturnItem entity namely returnTypeId, returnReasonId, returnQuantity, receivedQuantity and returnPrice. The history of changes on these fields can be viewed through new tab Return History.
  • Adding the feature to show/hide out of stock products on site. This new implementation is configurable through a new field showOutOfStockProducts (by default equal to Y) on ProductStore.
  • Enabled audit on few fields on OrderItem to archive changes in OrderItem price and quantities as well as on OrderItemShipGroup to archive changes in shipment method for an
    order.This can be viewed through "Order History" link under Actions screelet on Order Detail Page.
  • Added an option to add a new shipping address from Order detail page.
  • Added feature to generate pick sheet PDF for an order from Order Detail Page.
  • Added few more search filters on find order page. They are shipping method, order viewed and PaymentGatewayResponse - gatewayAvsResult, gatewayScoreResult.
  • A zero amount replacement order gets created in held status when a return is accepted by using return type "Wait Replacement Reserved". If the return is not received within 30 days then all these replacement orders are canceled by a scheduled batch process.
  • New return type "Refund Immediately" which trigger refunds on when return is accepted.
  • New functionality added for when existing replacement order (in held status) get cancelled because of return is not recieved in minimum number of days, but if the return is received later on then a new replacement order will be created for the return received.
  • Added new feature to mark order as viewed.

• Catalog
  • Now Shipping Total adjustments can be applied using promotion. User can specify percentage discount on a specific shipping method. This may be used for free shipping if needed.
• Marketing
  • Added two new reports in Marketing component. These reports are related to emails sent, bounced and opened, subscriptions and canceled for given time period.
• Ecommerce
  • When inventory is found or returned for a Discontinued Item then update ProductCategoryMember so that this item is shown in front-end store.
• GoogleCheckout
  • Broken code is fixed in OFBiz trunk to send the cart details to Google Checkout area.
  • Sending cart info using Java API is introduced. Then saving Order is done based on the Order Notification is comming from Google Checkout server.
  • Other things are Introduced new entities to provide the configurable option for user on the GUI.
  • Couple of things are handled from Order Notification api like update order info which includes cancel order, charge order.
  • Introduced the concept to send Flat Rate Ship estimate to google and very soon we should introduced Merchant calculated Option for sending Ship estimate.
  • Provided link on the Ecommerce facing so that end user knows that this feature exists in OFBiz.
• Facility
  • Added missing Enumeration data for InventoryItemDetail Reasons - "Mis-shipped Item Ordered " and "Mis-shipped Item Shipped ".

April 2009

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• User Interface
  • New smoothfeather theme, still some issues to fix but very promising. BTW this style is also used for the main site and documentation

March 2009

• Framework
  • Security : security against XRSF has been enforced.
• User Interface
  • You can now change the language used an stay on the page you where. This is working both in backend and eCommerce. It uses a new feature which allows to stay on a page (view-last) or/and to store a page to come back to it after (save-last-view)
  • Most of harcoded labels have been internationalized
  • More online help accessible (in accounting for instance)
• Debian
  • An effort to package to Debian is currently in progress and well advanced
• Order
  • Now while placing purchase order, orderId can be supplied explicitly. If not supplied then it will be created automatically.
  • Added new field for "cancelBackOrderDate", like others for OrderItem(purchase order). Field is shown in order detail page and on Purchase order PDF if exists;  Also added scheduled service (midnight daily) which searches for purchase orders with Cancel Back Order Date and cancels order if the date is in past.
  • Now possible to add more then one product at a time to purchase order in order detail page with single add form.
  • Now While recording PO, when the unit price of the item is edited the new value automatically gets set as last price on supplier record.
  • After placing purchase order estimatedShipDate and estimatedDeliveryDate can be entered by editing order items in order detail page.
  • Now while waiting for the inventory to arrive, user can lower priority on inventory allocation so that other orders can be fulfilled while waiting for sufficient inventory to fill the large sales order. Priority of order can be set from order detail page explicitly.

February 2009

• Framework
  • Security : a work in progress has already solved all XSS issues
• MyPortal
  • The component is completed now, see http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/My+Portal?decorator=printable
• User Interface
  • Thanks to the Labels Manager (WebTools) the French translation is now complete. It will be checked and updated monthly
  • You can now define a Visual Theme for the eCommerce (see in Product/Store)

January 2009

• Accounting
  • Payrol invoice/payment check. It is now possible to create a payrol invoice/payment and print the related itemized check
• Framework
  • A new labels manager in Webtools greatly improves dealing with labels l10n
  • It's now possible lo login through CAS remotely
  • A tarpitting mechanism to protect pages from data thieves (with login/pwd on hand) has been introduced
  • BigDecimal completly replaced Double where relevant
• User Interface
  • Nearly complete labels l10n cleaning done
  • New "blue-light" theme with drop-down menus
• MyPortal
  • It is improving
• Party
  • Geolocation added with demo data for parties, facilities, container (not much used in OFBiz yet) and fixed assets