Here we are with the second BETA release of version 3.2 - it is now available for download. You can also try it out on our sandbox site. Please remember this is a BETA release and it should NOT be used on production sites, even though we're getting closer to stable.
With 3.2beta2 we're introducing our new translation maintenance process. It's time to announce something we called "soft string freeze" - we reviewed and checked for formal correctness the strings that are extracted for translation. Now, we are giving ourselves and our community one week, until beta3, to review our user interface and see if we need any improvements and fixes before formal string freeze. Just as a reminder, after formal string freeze, we'll do our best to avoid changing any strings in CiviCRM user interface - this way, we won't be stepping in our translators' ways and breaking ongoing translations. "Soft string freeze" means it's a last moment to take a look at your string bundles, see what has changed since 3.1, see if there is no quirks and annoyances to be fixed - and report any problems (ideally, with patches) to be fixed before formal string freeze.
By the way, since we are at translations, we merged 3.1 and 3.2 translations and thanks to this (and hard work of our translators), we have the first 100% translation - big kudos to Dutch translation team! And here are the most current stats for 3.2: Top translations: civicrm » civicrm-32
Now following with information about 3.2beta2: this release includes several major new features/highlights:
- Usability improvements - Better looking and more intuitive Contact Summary Page. The new "Actions" button provides 1-click access to most contact-related forms. New clean and consistent icons have been implemented to provide helpful visual cues. You can now get a configurable contact summary pop-up from search results by mousing over the contact icon on any row. We'll be blogging with more details on these usability features during the release cycle.
- Support for PHP 5.3 -This release supports PHP 5.3.
- CiviCase Phase 3 - Thanks to the Physicians Health Program folks for pushing CiviCase to the next level! You can check out the phase 3 enhancements here.
- CiviEvent workflow improvements - Streamlining the workflow for events, providing 1-click access to event related screens from the configuration panel, and generating event name badges. For more details check CRM-6230 and CRM-6294.
- Free-tagging, and Tags for Cases and Activities - You can add one or more free-tagging "taxonomies" - called Tagsets - for use with contacts, cases and / or activities. You can also specify which tags can be used for which types of records.
- Standalone version dropped - Please note that we are dropping support for the Standalone version in 3.2. We recommend that current standalone users convert their installations to run under a basic Drupal install during this release cycle.
Step up and help out!
CiviCRM 3.2beta2 release is a great occasion to get involved in CiviCRM community. There are many ways you can help make this release better and bug free.- Log in to the CiviCRM 3.2 public sandbox and try out your favourite features. If you find a problem, please report it on the appropriate forum board. Remember that sandbox data is periodically reset.
- Download the tarball and upgrade a copy of your site to 3.2 - let us know if you encounter any problems. This is an especially valuable contribution since we need to have the upgrade process tested on different sets of data. After you've done this, play around with your favourite features, with your local data. Problems appearing? Use the CiviCRM 3.2 release testing board on the forums to discuss problems and find answers!
- If you're a developer and have PHP skills, we strongly encourage you to develop and attach a code patch AND a unit test along with any bug you report through our issue tracker. Ping us on IRC if you need help figuring out how to do this.
Existing issues
CiviCRM 3.2beta2 is not bug free, it's just the first step on the way to the stable version. We know about some problems and are working hard to fix them before the next release (expect it around Wednesday next week). The list of currently open issues is available here. If you notice any new problems, please report them as mentioned above.
Downloads
You can download the release from SourceForge - select from the civicrm-latest section. The filenames include the 3.2beta2 label: civicrm-3.2.beta2. Make sure you're downloading correct version: for Drupal or Joomla.
New Installations
If you are installing CiviCRM 3.2beta2 from scratch, please use the 3.0 versions of the automated installer instructions (the installation process has not changed):
