Release Notes:1.2.2

Xibo 1.2.2 - Codename "Biela"
This is the second bug fix release in the 1.2 series of Xibo server and clients.

Our thanks go to everyone who has helped out with testing and developing some of the new features in this release. Thanks also to everyone who sent bug reports, patches, translations or ideas. Special thanks to everyone who has supported us financially too by making a donation to the project.

You can download this release from https://launchpad.net/xibo/1.2/1.2.2

Requirements
You are strongly advised to use 1.2.2 .net client, or 1.2.2a1 Python client with 1.2.2 server.

You may however optionally use 1.2.0 client with 1.2.2 server, however media inventory will not work in that configuration. We recommend not using 1.2.1 client as there is a bug with video end detection.

Xibo requires PHP 5.2.9 or higher. A full list of module requirements is presented at the point of installation - we'll even tell you which modules you're missing!

Xibo now requires the PHP SOAP module to be installed and enabled.

If your installation of PHP has SOAP WSDL caching turned on, you may need to delete the WSDL cache before the media inventory feature will function. On Linux servers, you need to delete files called wsdl* from /tmp. On Windows servers, delete files called wsdl* from your PHP installations temporary files directory.

Notes on the Automated Backups
We currently provide an automated backup as part of the upgrade routine. It's there as an absolute last resort fall back and restoring data from it is not trivial. Please ensure you take a full database backup using mysqldump or another appropriate tool before you undertake any upgrade. We may not be able to support you if an upgrade fails and you do not have a backup of the database before you started.

Upgrading from 1.0 (Halley)
There are significant database schema changes between the 1.0 series of Xibo and the 1.2 series. The upgrader will take a 1.0 series database and convert it to a schema suitable for the 1.2 series to date. Note that this is a one-way conversion. Please ensure you have a full backup of your 1.0 series database before upgrading. DO NOT RELY ON THE AUTOMATED BACKUP ROUTINE! Instructions for cloning a Xibo database are available here Release Notes:Clone Database if you would prefer to copy your database and upgrade that instead.


 * Backup your database
 * Optionally clone your existing Xibo database and grant permissions (see Release Notes:Clone Database for details)
 * Continue with instructions from 1.1.x below.

Upgrading from 1.1.x (Encke)

 * Backup settings.php from your installation
 * The upgrader will offer to take a backup your database, but manually taking a backup would be a good idea.
 * Replace your existing installation with the new version from the tar.gz or zip file
 * Replace your settings.php file
 * Browse to http://your.server/path as normal
 * You will be prompted that an upgrade is required.
 * Enter your xibo_admin password, and follow the upgrade wizard.
 * The upgrade should run, and finally ask you to log in as you would normally.

Upgrading from 1.2.x (Biela)

 * Backup settings.php from your installation
 * The upgrader will offer to take a backup your database, but manually taking a backup would be a good idea.
 * Replace your existing installation with the new version from the tar.gz or zip file
 * Replace your settings.php file
 * Browse to http://your.server/path as normal
 * You will be prompted that an upgrade is required.
 * Enter your xibo_admin password, and follow the upgrade wizard.
 * The upgrade should run, and finally ask you to log in as you would normally.

Help
Please ask for help/advice in the Answers section of Launchpad: https://answers.launchpad.net/xibo

Please report any bugs in the Bugs section of Launchpad: https://bugs.launchpad.net/xibo (if you're not sure that what you have found is a bug, please ask in the Answers section first!)

Please report any enhancement requests in the Blueprints section of Launchpad: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/xibo

Client Media Inventory
A new field is now shown on the Display Management page. It shows you the status of the files on each client with respect to the layouts scheduled to run on that display.

So for example, you schedule a new layout. The status indicator will turn red. Next time the client connects, it will see the new content and begin downloading the files required to run the layout. At that point, the status indicator will turn amber to show you that a download is in progress. Once all files are successfully downloaded, the status indicator will turn green.

A new button "Media Inventory" is also present. Clicking it will show you the status of each file in the clients working cache set at the time the client last connected in to the server. That's particularly useful if you're downloading large files over a slow connection and want to check how far through the download the client is.

Further information is available in the manual.

Bugs Fixed
A full list of issues resolved in this release can be found here.

Known Issues and Limitations
Xibo is a young project. There are plenty of new features in the pipeline, but to provide a stable platform for users wanting Xibo now, the 1.2 series of releases are now feature-frozen (no new features will be implemented). All new development work will go in to the 1.3 series - which will be unstable.

Once we are happy with 1.3, we will release Xibo 1.4 which will be the next stable release series and the direct upgrade path for 1.2. Any future releases of Xibo 1.2 will be bug fix releases only.

Therefore there are the following known issues and limitations with Xibo 1.2.0:
 * The backgrounds of Text and RSS media items are not transparent if the background of a layout is a GIF image. Please use JPEG images as a work around. (applies only to .net client)
 * Overlapping regions are handled badly. The existing server/client were never developed to support overlapping regions, but they do work in some circumstances which is why we have decided to leave this functionality intact, but with the caveat that they may not work as you expect.  (applies only to .net client)
 * Backgrounds of FlashMedia items are not transparent. This is a limitation of the Adobe Flash C# control. (applies only to .net client)
 * RSS Tickers using "single" mode render incorrectly. (applies only to Python client)

Please also check the bug tracker for new issues: