What's coming to APG vNext (4.4) - part 3
This is part 3 of the "What's new in version 4.4" series:
- Dynamic Top Navigation Menu (part 1)
- A New Forum Theme: Progressive (part 1)
- Landing Pages / Announcement Improvements (part 2)
- Community Home Page Switch (part 2)
- 3rd Party Membership Integration via Web Service API
- Other Notable Improvements
3rd Party Membership Integration via Web Service API
It's not uncommon to use a few different software / services when you run a website. For example, a newsletter service (like Aweber, Mailchimp, etc) or a separate internal membership system.
It's very important you're able to integrate them together. At least being able to share member data among the apps to avoid manual input.
APG vNext is designed with ASP.NET users in mind, so we have built-in support to hook up to external Membership Providers (e.g.
Active Directory Membership Providers). In addition, the software also provides its own
JSON web service based membership provider that allows you to connect to the forum from your own site / app.
However, sometimes this type of integration isn't possible, if you use a
3rd party service like Mailchimp. Since you don't have access to the code for these 3rd party services, they often provide their own web based API you can call from your site.
In version 4.4, we extend the 3rd party integration capability by letting you
call any 3rd party web API when someone sign up / join or leave a user group.
For example, if you have a Mailchimp service, you can subscribe your members to your newsletter whenever they sign up on the forum. This saves your members trouble because
they don't have to subscribe separately.
( An example of MailChimp Integration)
Or if you have an internal membership database that isn't membership provider ready, you can
create a simple page that takes HTTP Form POST. Whenever someone sign up on the forum, the forum will call your page, passing the data you need for internal use.
The API editor allows you to create
multiple web API requests to be called at once, so you can easily send member data to different locations whenever someone joins.
Since version 4.0, we have
9 different programmable hooks available in the software that let you connect with other apps whenever some forum event happens. This new web API integration feature makes it easier for you because
you don't have to touch the code for simple API integration tasks.
Other Notable Improvements
There are a few minor enhancements you may find interesting:
- Blog Comments "Load More": to prevent potential long loading time when there are hundreds of comments
- Better Email notification formatting enhancement: making email notifications easier to read in your email software
- Post Rating Notification: this new server notification tells member when their posts are rated
- Registration Confirmation Landing Page: you can set up goal tracking with Google Analytics and to provide better member welcome page
- Attachment Buttons: now the buttons show up below editors, too, making them more accessible when you create your post. The buttons now use CSS Sprite to avoid broken img in IE (when there isn't a matched file extension gif).
- ... and several code enhancements & bug fixes
Version 4.4 will be released in a week (week of Aug. 5th). Thank you for your time and have a great weekend!
Samuel
ps. if you haven't signed up for the
free 2013 community guide (SEO & community tips),
you can do so here. You'll receive an email with the most current info a couple times a week, so you won't be overwhelmed.
vNext:
Online Demo | Latest version:
5.5 Consultation / Custom Programming