DeskPRO Blog

We’re trying to make it a weekly thing, this blog. Each week is so packed full of stuff sometimes I forgot that people read my posts. And sometimes the stuff I do is just too utterly boring to the non-programmers in the crowd (which is what, 98%?).

I’d love to go on and on about how we updated our internal build numbers from simple incremental digits like 11 to a nice long and seemingly complicated number like 3010003 (which, by the way, is the build number for 3.1.0 Gold). I know how you’d just love to hear more build numbers and why the change so important, but I thought a short post about the new admin/tech interface would be a tad more interesting.

So here we are: 

Not bad, eh? We think it’s a vast improvement over the old look. One of my colleagues said, “Finally we’re out of 2004!”

Most of the layout and widgets are the same, but that old bulky blue table header was re-done (rounded corners, how Web 2.0!), and the header and footer were spiced up.

In the admin interface (the screenshot on the right), you’ll notice a small facelift on the old droll ’you should investigate’ list’. You also might have noticed the new Notices table. From time to time we will add a message after an upgrade to explain something important. For example, when you upgrade to 3.1 from 3.0.x you’ll see that notice about gateways and permissions, and one about enabling secure user passwords.

Anyway, that’s that. Just wanted to upload a screenshot for those of you who aren’t running 3.1 yet.

’til next week!

– Christopher Nadeau 

The next public release of DeskPRO 3.1 is very very close (it will be RC1, by the way). But before you get your grubby little hands on it, I want to talk about yet another new feature we managed to implement.

DeskPRO 3.0 had the ability to fetch user login details from a source other then DeskPRO. You could use a vBulletin or phpBB forum, LDAP etcetera. This was a very popular feature because it allowed administrators to set up a helpdesk that complimented the systems they already had in place. But this wasn’t enough in some situations.

The most requested enhancement to this feature has been the ability to have multiple sources. For example, get login details from two vBulletin forums, or a vBulletin forum and an LDAP directory or any other combination of sources. But mostly people just wanted to enable the DeskPRO system (so they can take advantage of auto-registrations and such) as well as accept logins to systems that were already operational. Since changing an authentication source meant disabling DeskPRO’s, it wasn’t exactly a holy grail.

There is basically one giant problem with accepting credentials from multiple sources: “collisions”. That is when a user exists in two sources. For example, John Doe has signed up on your forums as well as in your website.

So we put our brilliant minds to the problem, and came up with a solution.

In DeskPRO 3.1 a user can have any number of accounts linked to it. We have one “local” user record, which contains details like a user ID, their preferences and so on. Each local user record is linked with any number of “remote” user records. A remote user record would be one from vBulletin, phpBB, your website or whatever other source you have set up. Once an account is linked this way, the user can log in using any credentials from any source to access the single helpdesk account.

From the user end, it’s as easy as its always been. The first time they enter their username and password, DeskPRO talks to each source you have configured to see if there is a match. If there is, the helpdesk record is created in the background and the user can use the system as normal. If they log in using a different set of credentials but the emails match, they are asked to verify they want to link the accounts.

A ton of changes were needed for this feature (mostly technical stuff, how users were handled by DeskPRO), but we did it! We listened to your demands and have provided.

Here are the user sources shipping with DeskPRO 3.1:

• Custom - Allows you to insert details about a custom database
• Custom (MsSQL) - Same as above, but works with a MsSQL database instead of MySQL
• DeskPRO - Of course, you can have DeskPRO manage all the users.
• eZ Publish
• LDAP
• osCommerce
• phpBB
• SugarCRM
• vBulletin

And as time passes, we’ll add even more.

That’s all I really wanted to say today. We’ve been working very hard on 3.1, I have no doubt you’ll be amazed at some of the changes!

Until next time,

– Christopher Nadeau