With more and more businesses, web developers and bloggers relying on Gravity PDF to generate PDFs on their websites* it comes as no surprise you want the software to be easier to use, install and manage. In this release we focused on streamlining the installation and update process for single and multisite websites.
* We’ve had 28,061 downloads since first releasing the software under two years ago (9/9/2012) and it was, and is, still marketed as a developer tool. Just wait until we go mainstream and integrate the software into the WordPress admin area!
About the Update
There’s some great features in this release. These include:
The most notable of all the changes is there is no longer a requirement to reinitialise every update. We’ve also removed automatic template syncing when upgrading (which overwrites the default and example templates in your PDF_EXTENDED_TEMPLATE folder). Instead, if you want to take advantage of changes to the templates you will need to manually reinitialise the plugin.
There were also changes made to the installation process which makes installing even easier! When the plugin is first activated, if we detect your website has direct write access to your server files (and your server is compatible) we will automatically initialise the plugin for you.
If you run a multisite network with multiple websites running Gravity PDF, and install the plugin as a super administrator, we now auto initialise the software across your entire network. And finally, if you change your theme we will automatically sync your template folder for you.
For those without direct write access to the server files, and are instead using (S)FTP or SSH, you shouldn’t notice any difference in how you’ve always installed the software – you will still be prompted to initialise the plugin via the PDF settings page and sync your template folder when your theme changes.
If you upgrade our software there is no longer a reinitialisation step!
Other notable changes in this release including refining the pre- and post- initialisation screen so it is easier for new users to get started with the software, re-enabling HTTPS communication when using our in-built support form (disabled previously due to problems on some web hosts), and updating all admin notice messages.
One important change to note is we’ve restricted initialising the software to websites with 64MB of RAM or greater. This is due to the a large number of support tickets we receive that related to low memory issues.
Finally, we’ve correctly made the plugin translation ready. If anyone would like to translate the plugin, the .po file can be found in the /languages/language.po file. Please send any translations to [email protected].
Changelog
- Feature – No longer need to reinitialise every time the software is updated.
- Feature – Add auto-initialiser on initial installation for sites that have direct write access to their server files
- Feature – Add auto-initialiser on initial installation across entire multisite network for sites who have direct write access to their server files.
- Feature – Add auto-PDF_EXTENDED_TEMPLATE theme syncer for sites that have direct write access to their server files
- Feature – Correctly added language support. The .PO file is located in the /language/ folder if anyone would like to do a translation.
- Housekeeping – Refractor the admin notices code
- Housekeeping – Create responsive PDF settings page
- Housekeeping – Minify CSS and Javascript files
- Housekeeping – Remove FontAwesome fonts from package and use WordPress’ build-in ‘dashicons’
- Housekeeping – Refine action and error messages
- Housekeeping – Update initialisation tab copy for both pre- and post- initialisation
- Housekeeping – Use Gravity Forms get_ip() function instead of custom function
- Housekeeping – The in-built support form uses SSL once again (disabled in the past due to some servers being unable to verify the certificate).
- Bug – When testing write permissions, file_exist() is throwing false positives for some users which would generate a warning when unlink() is called. Hide warning using ‘@’.
