FT Roadmap 2011 - Modules Coming Soon

[Mark]

Hi Ben,

I wanted to bring together and summarise a few things regarding possible new Modules releases that I've heard are in the pipeline through the various threads.

(1) Custom Fields
- Confirmed as Premium module
- Possible date/month of first release?

(2) File/Media Manager
- Open Source or Premium module?
- Possible date/month of first release?

(3) Form Mapping
- Open Source or Premium module?
- Possible date/month of first ease?

(4) Mass Edit
- Confirmed as Open Source module
- Possible date/month of first release?

... plus any other Module plans in the pipeline that I've missed?

I know I'm not the only one who gets over excited about these forthcoming Modules ;-)

- Mark

[Ben]

Hey Mark,

haha, thanks for the post. (*I* want to see the Custom Fields next...!)

Ah, timelines.... I'm always a little reluctant to provide concrete dates (because people have a nasty tendency to hold you to them. ). We have our own internal itinerary, but it's very much dependent on the volume of contract work we have going at the time. Plus, our focus can shift, depending on how things go. Nice thing about small companies is that things are pretty fluid.

Pretty much all modules for the near future will be premium (other than upgrades to existing, free modules). We're still a long way off making Form Tools a viable business, so we really need to focus on revenue. Sad, but there you go!

But here's a few details on the modules you mentioned:
Custom Fields. This has been completed for a while now. There's one small thing I need to updated, but the biggest hold up to releasing it is actually the documentation. I know how that sounds, but it's a big job - and I'm a little fearful of the trouble that people can get themselves in with the module. It's very much for developers only!
File/Media Manager. I wrote an Image Manager module for 2.0.x but never polished off or released it. It needs revising and updating for 2.1.x.
Form Mapping. This one's cool, but I haven't done much work on it yet.
Mass Edit. No idea, right now, I'm afraid.

And yes, there are other modules besides those!
1. the Form Builder. We have a working copy locally now, but it need a lot of work. Plus it's going to be tied into a "form market" feature, which I won't go into here.
2. a Calendar field type. A client requested this several months ago, so we developed a custom module for them. But it needs to be expanded and generalized. It's pretty cool: it shows a javascript calendar as a field type, letting users add either arbitrary events, or events sourced from a second "events" form.

After 2.1.3 is released (tomorrow, probably - just testing now), I need to focus on 2.1.4, which includes the all-important validation feature.

Hope the info helps, and sorry for the absence of any concrete dates.

- Ben

[eman37]

I'm interested in the image manager.
I am thinking of using form tools for a project but it would need an image manager.
Basically I am looking for it to attach images to the form that could be viewed on the form as a thumbnail and with the ability to add a caption for each image.
The user would be given the option to upload image and after they did so the option would appear to add another or finish. Then with the image manager have the ability to view sort images perhaps per client per date maybe removing automatically after a certain date.

Thanks
Ed