Napata CMS 1.4.2012 Released

Napata CMS 1.4.2012 is now out. This is the main database-driven script of this project. The main change in this release is that the script now uses PHP's PDO to run all database queries. This is a major improvement since the use of mysql_* functions is not recommended; these functions are deprecated. Additional changes include bugfixes to the rendering engine, addition of a "My Account" link to the ActionLinks bar, a revamped admin area and the inclusion of static pages. Here is the complete changelog:

1. New: SQL Queries rewritten to use PHP PDO.
2. Change: "My Account" link introduced.
3. Fix: Theme fixes.
4. Change: Method showErrorPage() for error pages.
5. Fix: Data validation for user query.
6. New: Parser extension Box tag.(Markup variant)
7. New: Parser function extended. Arrows syntax, forced line break, Alert, Incomplete, Notice tags methods.(Markup variant)
8. Fix: Data validation on special pages' queries.
9. Change: Code cleanup
10. Fix: Security Fixes.
11. Change: SQL syntax improved; to improve site performance.
12. Change: Administration panel improved.
13. Change: Footer template changes shows Admin Email.
14. Change: Renamed the Installer Check file to Check.php
15. New: Check.php checks for register_globals and allow_url_fopen settings too.
16. New: RevisionMessage() added. Shows the latest page link when a revied page of the same name is accessed.
17. New: Theme tweaks to pre-installed themes to show the RevisionsMessage.
18. New: Die Syntax introduced. Syntax format is die{{Your text....}}die. (Markup Variant)
19. New: Edit summary now shown on the "Revisions" and "All Pages" pages.
20. New: Update script revamped. You can upgrade your site by pointing your script to the update.php script.
21. New: Check.php checks for update.php script too.
22. New: Static pages introduced.
23. New: Navigation generated dynamically. Navigation items consist of static pages.
24. New:Action links replace forms on all pre-installed themes.
25. Change: "Hello World" article replaced by a sample article.
26. New: Last modified timestamp shown on "All articles" and "Revisions" pages.
27. Change: Update scripts' queries re-written; queries now use PHP's PDO.

Remember, you can get the script on Google Code as well as Sourceforge.

Migrating to PDO and (may be) Create a Text-File Napata CMS

Moving over to PDO? Yup. This will be one of the main, in fact the main objective for the development of the upcoming release of Napata CMS. Ideally, hanging on the deprecated mysql_* functions is not favourable since the PHP developers discourage the use of the MySQL extension (notice the big red notice above this page. And read this post too.) So there it is. It will take me some time re-writing all the queries but at least I do know every bit of code in the application. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will have released something, plus some release candidates, that fully depend on PDO for querying the database.

What about a Text File Version of the Script?

This is in the pre-alpha stage. Actually, my idea is that of a minimalist version of the script. Actually, I am thinking of it being radically different in it's functionality. It will not have every thing that the main, database-driven script has. It will be a simple, straight-forward script. Dead simple. In fact, I am thinking of it being sort of a Rendering Engine only (no editing interfaces, no relational features between articles, and so on and so on ....). So, well, back to hacking. Wish me some luck in this next effort.