YACS 5.10 has been released: video on-demand, forums, Content Assistant, skin derivation and more
Build a home media server with YACS. All you need to add on the main house computer is a web server, a MySQL database, and YACS. Then create a collection to list available files through a nice web interface. Use VLC or Winamp to start on-demand audio or video sessions.
Please note that streaming support has been added to files attached to regular articles as well.
Also, YACS supports structured forums, and the Content Assistant has been greatly improved to ease your task.
Web designers will appreciate the new capability of YACS to derive a reference skin to a new one. Then change the cascaded style sheet or add some images to achieve the skin you are dreaming of.
Security has also been reinforced, with anti-spammers and anti-robots protections, and the recording of IP address on login.
Please note that streaming support has been added to files attached to regular articles as well.
Also, YACS supports structured forums, and the Content Assistant has been greatly improved to ease your task.
Web designers will appreciate the new capability of YACS to derive a reference skin to a new one. Then change the cascaded style sheet or add some images to achieve the skin you are dreaming of.
Security has also been reinforced, with anti-spammers and anti-robots protections, and the recording of IP address on login.
134 files have been modified or created ince the previous release.
It is highly recommended to ask YACS to smoothly upgrade your server. For further information check How to achieve incremental upgrades of a YACS server?.
Here is a list of new or updated features coming with this release:
The script used to browse collections (collections/browse.php) links to a 'streaming script' for some file extensions, including .mpeg and mp3. Actually, the streaming script (collections/stream.php) generates a dynamic playlist, that is used by VLC or by Winamp to fetch the file on-demand.
When a directory contains some .mp3 files, you can pick one for immediate play. Or you can trigger collections/play_audio.php, which will create a playlist that include all audio files in the directory.
Collections support more file extensions than ever. We have added .asf, .asx, .divx, .jpeg, .mid, .midi, .mov, .mpe, .ra, .ram, .wma and .wmv to extensions that exist previously.
Collections have been heavily updated to adapt to non-ASCII chars in file names.
The home page (index.php) now lists collections in a dedicated gadget box, if activated in the control panel for skins (skins/configure.php).
The Content Assistant helps to create the very first collection of shared files at your site. See control/populate.php.
YACS accept new file extensions on upload, similar to what has been selected for collections (files/files.php).
A new streaming script (files/stream.php) has been added to enable video-on-demand on individual files as well. On-demand access is offered automatically for some audio and video files on the download page for a file (files/view.php).
A new layout sections/layout_sections_as_yabb.php has been added to format the several discussion boards of a forum. It can be selected while editing a section (sections/edit.php). This layout is invoked on section rendering (sections/view.php).
An additional 'family' field has been added to sections, for the purpose of classifying discussion boards of a complex forum. See sections/edit.php and sections/sections.php.
The Content Assistant also helps to create a structured forum involving several discussion boards.
The Content Assistant (control/populate.php) allows for free placement of new sections in the hierarchy of sections. The creation of an electronic book, involving several sections, has been extended.
The selector (go.php) may now be invoked directly from any place, using the new YACS code
The search engine (search.php) now allows to page in results restricted to one single section.
The search RSS script now returns 30 results at once, instead on 10 previously. See services/search.php.
A new table has been added to the database to store the several versions of an article. See versions/versions.php. Article content is now automatically saved on update (articles/edit.php). In a next YACS version these versions will allow for article restoration, in order to achieve a fully Wiki-like mode of operation.
The about page (about.php) has been extended to reflect most meta attributes listed in page headers. Generally speaking, text is better adapted to professional servers. Lastly, a help panel has been added for associates to change meta attributes.
The support of tabbed skins has been reinforced in pages related to sub-components: actions, articles, comments, files, images, links, tables
YACS helps to create a skin by derivating a reference one (skins/derive.php).
Also, the index page for skins do not list obsoleted skins anymore (skins/index.php).
Gadget boxes are now based on definition lists, like other boxes generated by YACS (skins/skin_skeleton.php). Cascaded style sheets of reference skins have been updated accordingly.
The form used to post a mail message related to an article has been streamlined. See articles/mail.php.
To better protect from spammers we have reviewed all scripts featuring mail addresses. Poster address is stripped in pages submitted by e-mail (agents/messages.php). Webmaster address displayed on the about page (about.php) has been scrambled for robots. Recipient addresses have been removed from the slashdot feed (feeds/slashdot.php).
YACS attempts to stop robots on public forms by asking to retype a string generated randomly. This applies to user registration (users/edit.php) and to the query form (query.php).
The restoration script (control/backup.php) may be configured to remove files and images related to the content of the previous content of the database.
YACs better support international chars in names of uploaded files (files/edit.php). Minor UTF8 encoding have been solved in shared/global.php and shared/utf8.php.
The index page for scripts now gives some figures related to the nightly-build version. Look by yourself.
Every HTML tags are now removed from the dynamic Flash object at home page (feeds/flash/slashdot.pp).
YACS records the last network address of surfers logging in. See users/login.php.
User session is now closed on deletion of his own profile (users/delete.php).
Other minor bugs have been fixed at various places. See function related to tables in skins/skin_skeleton.php for example.
It is highly recommended to ask YACS to smoothly upgrade your server. For further information check How to achieve incremental upgrades of a YACS server?.
Here is a list of new or updated features coming with this release:
The script used to browse collections (collections/browse.php) links to a 'streaming script' for some file extensions, including .mpeg and mp3. Actually, the streaming script (collections/stream.php) generates a dynamic playlist, that is used by VLC or by Winamp to fetch the file on-demand. When a directory contains some .mp3 files, you can pick one for immediate play. Or you can trigger collections/play_audio.php, which will create a playlist that include all audio files in the directory. Collections support more file extensions than ever. We have added .asf, .asx, .divx, .jpeg, .mid, .midi, .mov, .mpe, .ra, .ram, .wma and .wmv to extensions that exist previously. Collections have been heavily updated to adapt to non-ASCII chars in file names. The home page (index.php) now lists collections in a dedicated gadget box, if activated in the control panel for skins (skins/configure.php). The Content Assistant helps to create the very first collection of shared files at your site. See control/populate.php. YACS accept new file extensions on upload, similar to what has been selected for collections (files/files.php). A new streaming script (files/stream.php) has been added to enable video-on-demand on individual files as well. On-demand access is offered automatically for some audio and video files on the download page for a file (files/view.php). A new layout sections/layout_sections_as_yabb.php has been added to format the several discussion boards of a forum. It can be selected while editing a section (sections/edit.php). This layout is invoked on section rendering (sections/view.php). An additional 'family' field has been added to sections, for the purpose of classifying discussion boards of a complex forum. See sections/edit.php and sections/sections.php. The Content Assistant also helps to create a structured forum involving several discussion boards. The Content Assistant (control/populate.php) allows for free placement of new sections in the hierarchy of sections. The creation of an electronic book, involving several sections, has been extended. The selector (go.php) may now be invoked directly from any place, using the new YACS code go=nickname, label implemented in codes/codes.php. See the help page on links for more information on this feature. The search engine (search.php) now allows to page in results restricted to one single section. The search RSS script now returns 30 results at once, instead on 10 previously. See services/search.php. A new table has been added to the database to store the several versions of an article. See versions/versions.php. Article content is now automatically saved on update (articles/edit.php). In a next YACS version these versions will allow for article restoration, in order to achieve a fully Wiki-like mode of operation. The about page (about.php) has been extended to reflect most meta attributes listed in page headers. Generally speaking, text is better adapted to professional servers. Lastly, a help panel has been added for associates to change meta attributes. The support of tabbed skins has been reinforced in pages related to sub-components: actions, articles, comments, files, images, links, tables YACS helps to create a skin by derivating a reference one (skins/derive.php). Also, the index page for skins do not list obsoleted skins anymore (skins/index.php). Gadget boxes are now based on definition lists, like other boxes generated by YACS (skins/skin_skeleton.php). Cascaded style sheets of reference skins have been updated accordingly. The form used to post a mail message related to an article has been streamlined. See articles/mail.php. To better protect from spammers we have reviewed all scripts featuring mail addresses. Poster address is stripped in pages submitted by e-mail (agents/messages.php). Webmaster address displayed on the about page (about.php) has been scrambled for robots. Recipient addresses have been removed from the slashdot feed (feeds/slashdot.php). YACS attempts to stop robots on public forms by asking to retype a string generated randomly. This applies to user registration (users/edit.php) and to the query form (query.php). The restoration script (control/backup.php) may be configured to remove files and images related to the content of the previous content of the database. YACs better support international chars in names of uploaded files (files/edit.php). Minor UTF8 encoding have been solved in shared/global.php and shared/utf8.php. The index page for scripts now gives some figures related to the nightly-build version. Look by yourself. Every HTML tags are now removed from the dynamic Flash object at home page (feeds/flash/slashdot.pp). YACS records the last network address of surfers logging in. See users/login.php. User session is now closed on deletion of his own profile (users/delete.php). Other minor bugs have been fixed at various places. See function related to tables in skins/skin_skeleton.php for example.Rate this page
Posted by Bernard on Oct. 18 2005, (popular)
