With pro v1.5.7 I focused once more on improving existing features and overall backend usability. The authentication method for the Maps Marker API has also changed completely and the old authentication method with public key only is not supported anymore! So if you´re using the API to manage your maps, please upgrade your application before updating the plugin to the latest version! Please see below for more details.
Let me know what you think about this new release by submitting a review!
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Now let´s get to the highlights of pro v1.5.7:
You can now switch dynamically between simplified and advanced editor on backend, without having to reload the page – just click on the editor switch link on marker or layer edit pages:
The updated setting will get saved once finish by publishing or updating a marker or layer map.
Until v1.5.6 you only had to use a public key to execute API actions. Although there are several additional security layers available (like accepting requests from specific IPs only or specifying a referrer needed), this authentication method had its shortcomings: anyone who got to knew this public key (by tapping network traffic or having access to request log files for example) could perform any API action (especially if there were no additional security layers active).
Since v1.5.7 all API requests must now be authenticated using an expiring signature which requires a public and private key as well as an expire value. This is similar to the approach used by Amazon to secure access to their S3 Storage API. Once authenticated, all activated API actions can be executed.
I added examples for PHP, JavaScript and C# in the MapsMarker API docs on how to programmatically create a valid signature.
In addition, an “API URL Generator” and an “API URL Tester” have been added to the tools page, allowing you to manually create a signature:
Anyway this is not really recommended, as the safer approach is to programmatically create a signature which for example expires automatically in 1 minute!
Please note, that the old authentication method with public key only is not supported anymore! Please upgrade your application before updating to v1.5.7!
In addition to the security measures enforced by the API, it’s strongly advisable to implement SSL for the WordPress site (beyond the scope of this API).
For more details please see the updated MapsMarker API docs – if you have created a cool application using the Maps Marker API, please let me know and I will add it to the showcases!
With v1.5.7 I also added the new API action “search”. With that action, you can perform searches for any attributes of marker or layer maps. See the parameter tables in the MapsMarker API docs for an overview.
The search action also allows to perform bounding box searches (“show me all markers within an area”) and date-range-searches (“show me all markers created before 2013-01-01”).
For more details please see the updated MapsMarker API docs.
Marker and layer edit pages on backend have also been optimized with v1.5.7. I tried to remove whitespace where possible for a better user experience, added missing labels to form elements for better selection, added an “Advanced settings” row (where WMS layers were moved to for example) and optimized the display and selection of marker icons, which is now better visually supported:
As requested by users, the list of icons is now also filterable on backend based on the filename, showing the results dynamically:
Within the tools page I added two new actions, allowing you to change the IDs of marker and layer maps:
Please keep in mind that there is one limitation when changing the ID of a layer: if the layer is part of a multi-layer-map, you manually have to re-assign the layer with the new ID to the multi-layer-map, as this does not get updated automatically!
Until v1.5.6 the bulk update feature for marker maps on the tools page had one shortcoming: you could only change all existing marker maps and make no selection.
This has now changed with v1.5.7, allowing you to perform bulk updates for all marker maps for marker maps from selected layers only:
Until v1.5.6, the character ‘ was escaped as \’ when it was used in marker or layer names. This is now fixed (thx Eric for the report!). Please keep in mind, that this fix does not affect already created map with ‘ in the name – so after the update to v1.5.7, please open the affected maps, correct the name and save them again.
Translations updates
Thanks to many motivated contributors, this release comes with the following updated translations:
If you want to contribute to translations (new Hindi translators would be appreciated!), please visit https://translate.mapsmarker.com/projects/lmm for more information. Please note that translators are also compensated for their contribution – for example if a translation is finished less than 50%, the translator gets a free 25 licenses pack worth €199 as a compensation for completing the translation to 100%.
Please understand that I am not being able to promise any release dates for new features. The roadmap for major new features (support for Google Street View with v1.6 and support for filtering of layers on frontend for v1.7) is still valid, I just would want to keep the flexibility to add optimizations and bugfixes with rather unplanned minor releases resulting mostly from users feedback.
Please also see the roadmap for a rough schedule for planned features and please subscribe to this blog (via RSS or Email) or follow @MapsMarker on twitter (= most current updates) if you want to stay up to date with the latest development news.
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support for dynamic switching between simplified and advanced editor (no more reloads needed) |
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more secure authentication method for MapsMarker API (old method with public key only is not supported anymore!) |
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new MapsMarker API search action with support for bounding box searches and more |
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support for filtering of marker icons on backend (based on filename) |
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support for changing marker IDs and layer IDs from the tools page |
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support for bulk updates of marker maps on the tools page for selected layers only |
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store on mapsmarker.com now also accepts Diners Club credit cards |
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optimized marker and layer pages on backend (optimized marker icons display, less whitespace for better workflow, added “Advanced settings” row) |
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checkbox for multi layer maps is now also visible by default on layer edit pages |
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WMS legend link is not added to WMS attribution if legend link is empty |
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optimized input on backend by adding labels to all form elements |
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single quotes in marker map names were escaped (thx Eric!) |
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double quotes in marker map names would break maps if marker was updated/created via import |
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double quotes in marker map names would break maps if marker was updated via API |
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parameter clustering on layer view action in Maps Marker API did not return any results |
| Translation updates In case you want to help with translations, please visit the web-based translation plattform |
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updated Chinese translation thanks to John Shen, http://www.synyan.net and ck |
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updated Czech translation thanks to Viktor Kleiner and Vlad Kuzba, http://kuzbici.eu |
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updated Dutch translation thanks to Patrick Ruers, http://www.stationskwartiersittard.nl |
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updated French translation thanks to Vincèn Pujol, http://www.skivr.com and Rodolphe Quiedeville, http://rodolphe.quiedeville.org, Fx Benard, http://wp-translator.com, cazal cédric, http://www.cedric-cazal.com and Fabian Hurelle, http://hurelle.fr |
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updated German translation |
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updated Romanian translation thanks to Arian, http://administrare-cantine.ro and Daniel Codrea, http://www.inadcod.com |
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updated Slovak translation thanks to Zdenko Podobny |
| Known issues | |
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custom marker cluster colors do not show up on backend layer maps if WordPress <3.7 is used – upgrade is advised! |
The easiest way to update is to use the WordPress update process: login with an user who has admin privileges, navigate to Dashboard / Updates, select plugins to update and press the button “Update Plugins”.
The pro plugin checks every 12 hours if a new version is available. You can also manually trigger the update check by going to Plugins and clicking on the link “Manually check for updates” next to “Maps Marker Pro”:
No additional action on plugin update required.