IPS News

We are releasing patches for IP.Board 3.3.x and IP.Board 3.4.x to address two issues recently reported to us. It has been brought to our attention that certain PHP configurations allow for a potential SQL injection vulnerability. Although this exploit requires some knowledge of your configuration and for certain files to be web-readable, we felt it important to release an update. Additionally, it has been brought to our attention that it may be possible to send attachments via the email classes which would ordinarily be removed. To apply the patch Simply download the attached zip for your IP.Board version and upload the files to your forum server. You do not need to run any scripts or the upgrade system. IP.Board 3.3.x IP.Board 3.4.x If you are an IPS Community in the Cloud client running IP.Board 3.3 or above, no further action is necessary as we have already automatically patched your account. If you are using a version older than IP.Board 3.3, you should contact support to upgrade. If you install or upgrade to IP.Board 3.4.7 after the date and time of this post, no further action is necessary as we have already updated the main download zips. We extend our thanks to Andrew Erb for notifying us of the email issue privately and promptly. Attached Files 3_3_x_patch_nov_14.zip (36.87KB) downloads: 0 3_4_x_patch_nov_14.zip (37.79KB) downloads: 0 View the full article View the full article

IPS is investigating a possible security exploit reported to us a few hours ago. We are developing a fix for this issue now and anticipate its release tomorrow. Until the fix is released, clients are advised to delete the following file from their community: interface/ipsconnect/ipsconnect.phpThis will disable the IPS Connect service which is our system to allow for multiple sites to share one login. Most clients will not need this service but if you do use it then we still suggest you temporarily disable until a fix is released tomorrow. IPS Community in the Cloud clients: we have already disabled this feature for you so you are not impacted by this exploit. View the full article View the full article

We are happy to release the second beta of IPS Community Suite 4.0! IPS welcomes any clients who enjoy testing beta software to participate and post bugs in our bug tracker. These beta releases help us to provide a more stable final release and the more people who participate in testing the better it is for all. This release makes available: Forums Blog Gallery Downloads Calendar This release does not contain Commerce (formerly IP.Nexus), Pages (formerly IP.content), or Chat. These three apps will be released soon as a separate download. The upgrade system is now available and you can upgrade from IP.Board 3.4.7 to test this system However: do not upgrade your live community! IPS does not provide technical support or services for beta releases. You can append "-TESTINSTALL" on to the end of your license key to allow to a separate install for test purposes. Downloading You can download IPS Community Suite 4.0.0 Beta 2 in the client area. Go to your Purchases section, select your license, and click the download link. IPS Community in the Cloud clients do not yet have access to the beta. That will be coming soon. You will be able to upgrade from Beta 2 to Beta 3 when it is released and to all future betas through final release. If you are not interested in downloading our beta releases you can still check out our IPS Community Suite 4.0 preview site to see the new version in action. Discussion Please post in our special Beta Releases forum on the preview site for anything about Beta 2. Enjoy! We will be upgrading our own site next week. Stay tuned! View the full article View the full article

We are happy to release the first beta of IPS Community Suite 4.0! IPS welcomes any clients who enjoy testing beta software to participate and post bugs in our bug tracker. These beta releases help us to provide a more stable final release and the more people who participate in testing the better it is for all. This release makes available: Forums Blog Gallery Downloads Calendar This release does not contain Commerce (formerly IP.Nexus), Pages (formerly IP.content), or Chat. These three apps will be released soon as a separate download. The upgrade system is now available and you can upgrade from IP.Board 3.4.7 to test this system However: do not upgrade your live community! IPS does not provide technical support or services for beta releases. You can append "-TESTINSTALL" on to the end of your license key to allow to a separate install for test purposes. Downloading You can download IPS Community Suite 4.0.0 Beta 1 in the client area. Go to your Purchases section, select your license, and click the download link. IPS Community in the Cloud clients do not yet have access to the beta. That will be coming soon. You will be able to upgrade from Beta 1 to Beta 2 when it is released and to all future betas. If you are not interested in downloading our beta releases you can still check out our IPS Community Suite 4.0 preview site to see the new version in action. Discussion Please post in our special Beta Releases forum on the preview site for anything about Beta 1. Enjoy! View the full article View the full article

IPS Community Suite 4.0 is nearly here, and we'll be distributing betas very soon. But 4.0 is really just the beginning; with the new tightly integrated, one-version suite of applications, we're already starting to think about all of the features we'd like to add in the future. This brings us nicely to the final 4.0 feature we'd like to talk about: the upgrade system. In 4.0, when a new version is released, you'll see a message like this pop up in the Admin CP: Clicking the "Download" button will allow you download, right from the Admin CP, a zip file with the new version. This zip file will contain just the changed the files from the version you're using (in technical terms, this is called a delta update) to save time and bandwidth when uploading the new version to your server. The system automatically knows what apps you have installed (so you don't have to download a separate zip for each application) and even knows if you've renamed your AdminCP directory and accommodates for that. Here's a video of the process in action: Attached Thumbnails View the full article View the full article

We are releasing IP.Board 3.4.7 today as a maintenance release to fix commonly reported issues and to consolidate security updates since 3.4.6 was released. Issues fixed in this version: Internet Explorer 11 Copy/Paste Issue Facebook Profile Photos Not Loading Incoming Email Piping throws an error Terms of use link on registration broken All security patches since last released are bundled in this version Updates to Facebook Connect integration to support API Version 2.1 Download You can download 3.4.7 in the client area. If you need assistance or have issues please submit a support ticket. View the full article

If you like living on the edge and testing new products we would love your help in testing IPS Community Suite 4.0! We now have pre-release versions available for download if you are an active Community Suite license holder. Pre-Release vs. Beta This is a pre-release which means we are not quite done adding/changing some areas of the Suite. It also means that you cannot upgrade between each pre-release. Once we reach Beta stage you will be able to upgrade from Beta 1 to Beta 2 and so on. Important Information This is a preview of unfinished software. Do not install this on a live server or attempt to upgrade your current community. Please. You cannot upgrade between pre-release builds so you will have do a clean install each time we update this package. This will change when we reach proper beta stage. Only download this preview if you are comfortable testing software with known issues and want to provide bug reports and feedback. We provide no support for these pre-release builds. Please post any bugs you find in the bug tracker and feedback/questions on the preview site. We are getting close to a public beta and the final, supported release of IPS Community Suite 4.0 and appreciate your help getting there! Download Pre-Release Now View the full article View the full article

We are releasing a patch for IP.Board 3.4.x and 3.3.x that resolves multiple potential vulnerabilities. This update resolves several issues that we have been notified about in the share links, poll, uploads and IP.Chat systems. To apply the patch Simply download the attached zip and upload the files to your forum server. You do not need to run any scripts or the upgrade system. IPS Community in the Cloud Clients If you are a CiC client then you have already been patched. We would like to thank the following users for reporting the security issues to us: Share Links, IP.Chat, uploads: Piotr Smaza (https://twitter.com/evil_xorb) Polls: szer1 (http://community.invisionpower.com/user/532691-szer1/) 3_4_x_Sept_14.zip 68.93KB 219 downloads 3_3_x_sept_14.zip 66.62KB 28 downloads View the full article

The IPS Community Suite 4.0 preview site is open and ready for you to start browsing our new software! We have had the site quietly open for a few weeks now getting feedback and addressing issues. We want to make sure everyone is aware so you get a chance to look at what's new. Register and have a look around at what's new. Read our updates forum to check out videos demoing the system. Get involved in feedback and bug testing. Everyone at IPS is very proud of 4.0 and really hope you enjoy it. Public beta releases of 4.0 are not yet available but are just around the corner so take this opportunity to become familiar with IPS 4.0 so your community is ready when it's released. See you on the preview site! Please keep all feedback about 4.0 on the preview site so we can keep things organized. Thanks! View the full article View the full article

We are releasing a patch for IP.Content 2.3.6 to address a potential security vulnerability in the search system. It has been brought to our attention that there is a potential vulnerability within the IP.Content search system and even though the vulnerability was only a proof of concept, we felt it best to issue an update. To apply the patch Simply download the attached zip and upload the files to your forum server. You do not need to run any scripts or the upgrade system. Credit Our thanks to security researcher Jamieson O'Reilly (au.linkedin.com/pub/jamieson-o-reilly/70/b64/13a/, dringen.blogspot.com.au) for his assistance with this issue. ip_content_patch_july_2014.zip 7.1KB 38 downloads View the full article

IPS Community Suite 4.0, the most significant update to IP.Board and the rest of our apps we've ever made, is fast approaching a state where we'll be ready for a public preview and, soon after that, public beta testing! We know most of you are just as excited as we are about this and can't wait to try it out. With 4.0, we've made some significant leaps in terms of modernization, and it's possible that you might need to do some preparation before you're ready to install it. Notably, our minimum PHP and MySQL versions have gone up. It's the first time we've needed you to do this in 6 years, and the versions we need you to have have been around for a long time, we're not requiring the latest versions. In addition, 4.0 is UTF-8 only (if you don't know what that is, it's a way text can be stored in your database which you may or may not be using at the moment) and while the 4.0 upgrade process will convert your database for you if you're not already using it, this is a moderately time-consuming process, so if you convert your database now, it's one less thing to worry about on upgrade day. To make this process as easy as possible, we have created a little script which you can upload to your server to test if you're ready. Download Now View the full article View the full article

I want to briefly show our new cover photo support. Cover photos allow users to upload an image to represent something in the community; we currently support them in profiles and calendar events and may roll out support to other areas later. Here's a video of it in action for a calendar event. It's really simple to use, and of course still works responsively like the rest of our default theme. We hope it adds a new element of customization for content in your community. Developers For developers, supporting cover photos in your own addons is as easy as you'd expect. A helper is available which handles the nitty-gritty for you; you simply add $item->coverPhoto() to your template, override a couple of methods in your controller, and optionally build your own menu to control the user interaction (or you can let the helper output them for you, as in the video above). That's it! As always, screenshots are from pre-release software and are subject to change before release. Attached Thumbnails View the full article View the full article

We've previously shown how responsiveness works in the AdminCP, but I'd like to briefly introduce responsiveness on the front end, and pick a few views to show you as examples (this will be a screenshot-heavy entry!) What is responsiveness? Before we get to that, allow me to recap what responsiveness is. Responsive design is a method by which you design one page in such a way that it adapts for the available screen space on the device the user is using. This means that one theme handles both the full desktop view and the condensed mobile view with some clever CSS, in contrast to 3.x where we had a separate mobile skin. When we took the decision to use responsive design for IPS4, one key aim was to ensure that the mobile view isn't feature reduced. We want all functionality and all areas of the suite to be available regardless of device, and with only a couple of exceptions we're on track to deliver this. Primary navigation In mobile view, the primary navigation collapses and moves to a menu accessible with the icon in the top-right. The breadcrumb becomes a 'Back' control, taking you up a level from the current page: The primary navigation, when opened, looks like this: Moderation Given that the responsive theme supports all functionality, this naturally includes moderation. IPS4 support full moderation capabilities regardless of the device you're using. Here's an example of moderating images in Gallery. Notice the menu to quickly select types of content to moderate, as well as the floating toolbar at the bottom of the screen to choose actions. Settings page Taking the settings area as an example, here's the same screen at the three supported breakpoints - desktop, tablet and mobile. Profile view Here's profile view (which we covered in more detail here) as seen on a phone: Calendar Calendar views on mobile: Gallery Viewing albums & images in a category: Blog The blog homepage: And viewing a blog: Forums Submitting a topic on mobile: Conclusion So that wraps up this round-up of responsive views. Naturally, there's many more views than this in the suite and we can't show screenshots of every single one, but hopefully this entry has given you a taste of a variety of views, and a better idea of how we're approaching mobile users in IPS4. As always, screenshots are from pre-release software and are subject to change before release. Attached Thumbnails View the full article View the full article

Profiles are one of the key sections of a community, as everyone knows. They are what represent your users; where their information is shown and their content is gathered. When users contribute quality content to your community, their profile is where other users go to find it in one place. In short, it's an important area. In IPS4, profiles have had a complete makeover. There's a lot to cover, so I'll start with a numbered screenshot, and address each section individually (please note this is a large image; if you're on mobile, you may wish to wait to view it full-size). 1 - Header images In 3.x, users could customize their profiles by uploading a background image. In practice, this didn't work well when the software was integrated into an existing website design, and the options presented often ended up with a garish profile. In addition, social networks like Facebook and Twitter have adjusted user expectations on how profiles are customized. In IPS4, instead of page backgrounds, users instead get to customize their profile header image. This provides the best of both worlds - ample space to choose something creative, but it's contained and won't mess up a website design. 2 - Reputation The user's current reputation count is shown prominently in the info column, letting other users know if this member is an asset to the community. 3 - Warnings For moderators/staff, the profile now provides quick access to warning tools. By expanding the panel, they can see a brief history of recent warnings: And clicking one of these pops up the warning details: New warnings can also be issued inline, of course. 4 - Followers Followers replace friends in IPS4, and the user's followers are shown in this block. Instead of requiring mutual acknowledgement as with the traditional friends system (an approach that isn't entirely useful in a community of anonymous users), in IPS4 you follow users whom you find interesting in order to be updated when they contribute to the community. Users can of course prevent others from following them, if that is a concern to them. We'll have more details on how followers works in a later entry. 5 - About the user Traditional information about the user is shown in the next block, including custom profile fields. 6 - Recent visitors Recent visitors to this user's profile are shown next. As with 3.x, this can be toggled on and off by the profile owner. In 4.x, this is done by clicking the X in the corner of the block. 7 - Follow/Message member These primary buttons enable others to follow the user (if enabled), and send a new message inline, without leaving the page. 8 - User's content In 3.x, browsing a user's content was handled by the search area of the community (though links were available in the user's profile and hovercard). We felt this wasn't the best place for it, though. After all, a user's content should be available in their profile. That's what this button does. It switches the profile view to 'content browsing' mode, where you can see everything the user has done. It's smooth and buttery, and because it all loads dynamically, it feels like a true part of the profile. Here's a video of it in action (14MB) 9 - Long-form custom profile fields IPS4 supports various kinds of custom profile fields, including rich-text editors for long, styled content. Those custom profile fields will be shown in the main section of the profile where they get the space they need to be effective. About Me is a default field, but you can of course add your own too for your users to fill in. 10 - User's 'Nodes' A node is a fancy developer term for content containers that a user creates themselves, like gallery albums and blogs (as opposed to forum categories, which are created by the admin). In IPS4, a user's 'nodes' are shown right on their profile page, making it easy to find more interesting content from the user. In this screenshot, you can see my profile is showing my albums, my blogs, and other blogs to which I contribute. For developers, supporting your application in this section is easy too. 11 - Status feed The status feed from 3.x is of course still present, and the interaction is all inline without leaving the page. Conclusion That's profiles in 4.0. We hope the new focus on content and streamlined design provides a better experience for your users! As always, screenshots are from pre-release software and are subject to change before release. Attached Thumbnails View the full article View the full article

A while ago I blogged about some of the internationalization and localization changes in 4.0. One of the things I mentioned is a "Visual Language Editor" which allows you to quickly change any of the verbiage used throughout the suite just by clicking on a word of phrase. Not only is the really useful for those who want to translate the IPS Community Suite into another language, it can also be used to easily change words and phrases as you like (for example if you want a link to say "Register" rather than "Sign up") - it can even be used to rename forums, categories, etc. Before I couldn't show you it in action as we weren't quite ready to show the front-end interface but now here's a video of the feature in action: Attached Thumbnails View the full article View the full article