The Official Blog for LifterLMS Contributors

This version is an unstable pre-release! We strongly advise against installing this in a production environment.

New Features

• The block editor is now enabled by default for certificates.
  • Existing certificates are marked as “legacy” and will continue to use the classic editor until migrated.
  • To migrate a certificate, click the “Migrate Certificate” button. This will force the certificate’s content into blocks.
• A number of new settings are available to certificates when using the block editor:
  • Set the certificate’s display (and print) size using common paper sizes such as US Letter, US Legal, A3, A4, and more.
  • Set the certificate’s display orientation: portrait of landscape.
  • Set the certificate’s inner margins.
  • Set the certificate’s background color.
• A new block, the Certificate Title Block, has been made available to certificates.
  • The block works like a WordPress core Heading Block with added options for selecting from a few display fonts (provided by Google Web Fonts).
  • The block controls the title of awarded certificates.
• • Added the ability to sync awarded certificates with the template used to generate them. #1078
• The post_name of earned certificate posts will be generated with a randomized 3+ character string in favor of relying on sequential numbers.
• Added the ability for administrators and LMS managers to edit earned certificates/achievements from the students reporting screen, as well as award new certificates/achievements to students.
• Certificate and email template merge code buttons now include [llms-user] information shortcodes.
• Added certificate sequential ID functionality merge code. Read more.

Updates and Enhancements

• Added pagination to achievement and certificate reporting pages.
• Certificates no longer use the header.php and footer.php files from the site’s theme, instead custom templates (templates/certificates/header.php and templates/certificates/footer.php) are used instead. These templates are minimal and exclude theme wrappers which reduces the visual conflicts encountered from theme wrappers, backgrounds, and more, especially when printing certificates. #463
• The achivements and certificates dashboard endpoints are now paginated. #669
• Added new default images for use with achievements and certificates.
  • The site-wide default images can be customized on the admin panel under Settings -> Engagements.
  • The old default images can be used by filtering llms_use_legacy_engagement_images. #1081
• The URL of earned user certificates has been changed from “my_certificate” to “certificate”. Requests to the old url are automatically redirected to the new url, including instances where the URL slug has been translated.
• The URL of certificate temaplate previews has been changed from “certificate” to “certificate-template”.
• The certificate merge code, {first_name}, now outputs an empty string in favor of falling back to the user’s nickname when there is no first name for the user. #1640
• Updates LifterLMS REST to v1.0.0-beta.22.

Bug Fixes

• Delayed engagements are automatically unscheduled when the related post is deleted.
• Prior to sending a delayed engagement the recipient’s enrollment in the related post is verified resulting the engagement not being triggered if the recipient’s enrollment has been terminated. #290
• A disabled student dashboard endpoint will no longer display the endpoint’s summary on the main dashboard page. #535
• Post search filter boxes on various post tables will now longer display a link to the selected post.
• Basic notification code is no longer loaded on the admin panel.

Deprecations

• Class LLMS_Achievement_User is deprecated with no direct replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement::is_enabled() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement::get_blogname() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement::format_string() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement::get_title() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement::get_content() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement::get_content_html() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement::create() is deprecated with no replacement.
• Method LLMS_Achievments::trigger_engagement() is deprecated in favor of LLMS_Engagement_Handler::handle_achievement().
• Class LLMS_Certificate is deprecated with no direct replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate::is_enabled() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate::get_blogname() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate::format_string() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate::get_title() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate::get_content() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate::get_content_html() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate::get_title() is deprecated with no replacement.
• Method LLMS_Certificates::trigger_engagement() is deprecated in favor of LLMS_Engagement_Handler::handle_certificate().
• Method LLMS_Engagements::init() is deprecated with no replacement.
• Method LLMS_Engagements::handle_achievement is deprecated in favor of LLMS_Engagement_Handler::handle_achievement.
• Method LLMS_Engagements::handle_certificate is deprecated in favor of LLMS_Engagement_Handler::handle_certificate.
• Method LLMS_Engagements::handle_email is deprecated in favor of LLMS_Engagement_Handler::handle_email.
• Method LLMS_Database_Query::set_found_results() is deprecated.
• Class LLMS_Achievement_User is deprecated with no direct replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement_User::has_user_earned() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement_User::init() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement_User::trigger() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Achievement_User::get_content_html() is deprecated with no replacement.
• Class LLMS_Certificate_User is deprecated with no direct replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate_User::init() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate_User::trigger() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate_User::get_content_html() is deprecated with no replacement.
  • Method LLMS_Certificate_User::set_shortcode_user() is deprecated with no replacement.
• Engagement debug logging is removed. Use llms_log() directly instead.
• Filter llms_db_query_get_default_args is deprecated in favor of llms_{$this->id}_query_get_default_args.
• Filter llms_certificate_has_user_earned is deprecated in favor of llms_earned_certificate_dupcheck.
• Unused public class property LLMS_Achievements::$content is deprecated with no replacement.
• Method LLMS_Engagements::handle_certificate is deprecated in favor of LLMS_Engagement_Handler::handle_certificate. #290
• Method LLMS_Engagements::handle_achievement is deprecated in favor of LLMS_Engagement_Handler::handle_achievement. #290
• The constant LLMS_ENGAGEMENT_DEBUG is deprecated with no replacement.
• Engagement debugging via LLMS_Engagements::log is deprecated. Use llms_log() instead.
• Method LLMS_Engagements::handle_email is deprecated in favor of LLMS_Engagement_Handler::handle_email.
• Filter lifterlms_register_post_type_llms_my_certificate is deprecated in favor of lifterlms_register_post_type_my_certificate.
• Deprecated the misspelled protected method LLMS_Database_Query::preprare_query() and replaced with LLMS_Database_Query::prepare_query().
  • Class method LLMS_Events_Query::preprare_query replaced with LLMS_Events_Query::prepare_query().
  • Class method LLMS_Query_Quiz_Attempt::preprare_query replaced with LLMS_Query_Quiz_Attempt::prepare_query().
  • Class method LLMS_Query_User_Postmeta::preprare_query replaced with LLMS_Query_User_Postmeta::prepare_query().
  • Class method LLMS_Student_Query::preprare_query replaced with LLMS_Student_Query::prepare_query().
  • Class method LLMS_Notifications_Query::preprare_query replaced with LLMS_Notifications_Query::prepare_query().
  • Class method LLMS_Notifications_Query::preprare_query replaced with LLMS_Notifications_Query::prepare_query(). #859

Developer Notes

• Added LLMS_Awards_Query, used for querying data about awarded certificates and achievements.
  • The method signature LLMS_Student::get_achievements() and LLMS_Student::get_certificates() now use this class under tho hood.
  • The previous method signature, which passed data into a direct SQL query, is now deprecated.
• Achievement and certificate data storage locations have been modified, primarily to reduce reliance on the wp_postmeta table which will result in a site-wide performance improvement, especially on large sites.
  • Meta properties _llms_achievement_content and _llms_certificate_content have been removed in favor of WP_Post::$post_content.
  • Meta properties _llms_achievement_title and _llms_certificate_title have been removed in favor of WP_Post::$post_title.
  • Meta properties _llms_achievement_template and _llms_certificate_template have been removed in favor of WP_Post::$post_parent.
  • Meta properties _llms_achievement_image and _llms_certificate_image have been moved the meta property _thumbnail_id in order to utilize the WordPress core’s featured image functionality and internal APIs.
• Reliance on lifterlms_user_postmeta for achievement and certificate data will be removed in a future release.
  • User postmeta properties _achievement_earned and _certificate_earned will continue to be recorded but are no longer being used internally.
  • The updated_date is now accessible via WP_Post::$post_date.
  • The user_id is now accessible via WP_Post::$post_author.
• Added new Javascript UI components library, modeled after @wordpress/components. Read more.
• Added a new SVG icon library, modeled after @wordpress/icons. Read more.
• The merge code button seen on certificate and email template editors is now an SVG image instead of a PNG.
• Added utility function for escaping and quoting strings. #1027
• Added new utility function for stripping prefixes from strings.

Updated Templates

• templates/achievements/loop.php
• templates/achievements/template.php
• templates/admin/reporting/tabs/students/information.php
• templates/certificates/actions.php
• templates/certificates/content-legacy.php
• templates/certificates/content.php
• templates/certificates/dynamic-styles.php
• templates/certificates/footer.php
• templates/certificates/header.php
• templates/certificates/loop.php
• templates/certificates/preview.php
• templates/certificates/template.php
• templates/content-certificate.php
• templates/single-certificate.php

New Features

• Added an option to prevent users (by role) from copying site content and saving local copies of images.
• Added new site setting to disallow concurrent user sessions for specified user roles.

Updates and Enhancements

• Updates LifterLMS REST to v1.0.0-beta.21.

Developer Notes

• Database migration functions can now be namespaced, eliminating the need to prefix update function names with a version number.