3.0.0-alpha24

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Warning

We have updated the file structure of Nova 3 to use a public folder that's intended to be used as the new document root. You will need to update your document root from your server settings to account for this change. Please see the Nova 3 installation guide for a step-by-step guide to making this change.

Note

This release includes the Nova 2 migration scripts. In order to migrate your existing Nova 2 data, your site will need to be running Nova 2.7.13 or higher. Please see the Nova 2 migration guide for a step-by-step guide to migrating from Nova 2 to 3.

🛠️ Form builder v2

Like was mentioned during the last alpha, a couple of months ago we found out that we were going to need to re-build the page and form builders. Not ideal, but it had a lot of benefits for the page builder. The form builder, on the other hand, is a bit simpler (at least from the perspective of the builder.) As a result, not a ton has changed with the form builder in this alpha, but it has been re-written.

Other than a slightly different user interface, you shouldn't notice much different about the form builder.

One downside to this new way of handling the builders though is that we don't have the ability to embed text seamless into a block. To get around this, we've introduced a new content "field" block that will allow you to add whatever freeform text you want to a form.

Key-Value Field

Since we had everything torn apart for the re-build, we decided to add a new field to the builder. The key-value field is a way to accept any kind of text input from users without the need for dedicated fields. As an example, physical characteristics of a character. Rather than having separate fields for every possible characteristic, you can now just have a Physical Characteristics field and users can add as many rows as they want with a label and a value. Hopefully this will make managing large forms a little easier.

3.0.0-alpha23

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Warning

We have updated the file structure of Nova 3 to use a public folder that's intended to be used as the new document root. You will need to update your document root from your server settings to account for this change. Please see the Nova 3 installation guide for a step-by-step guide to making this change.

Note

This release includes the Nova 2 migration scripts. In order to migrate your existing Nova 2 data, your site will need to be running Nova 2.7.13 or higher. Please see the Nova 2 migration guide for a step-by-step guide to migrating from Nova 2 to 3.

🛠️ Page builder v2

A couple of months ago we were informed that the underlying third-party plugin used to create the page builder was going to end development work in favor of something different. This created a critical blocker that would have prevented migrating to Filament v4 this summer. As a result, we chose to re-build the page builder on top of the first-party builder component. While this doesn't provide as slick of a user experience, it does provide for a more stable underlying foundation that has the advantage of also being a core component that won't be going anywhere.

We took this opportunity to standardize how page blocks work. This allowed us to:

1. standardize how block settings are handled
2. standardize how blocks are built
3. provide more granular control for admins to tweak settings how they want
4. bring some new features to existing blocks that didn't have them

Block container settings

Blocks now have a parent container. This container is the foundation of the block layout and allows for adding styling and background components that would extend to the edge of the theme's content area. We've provided more granular controls for container width, padding, and background styles for blocks now.

Like before, you have the ability to select from a series of pre-defined images

Select a custom color for your background

Or even upload your own image to use for the background image.

Block content settings

Block settings

Finally, anything that is specific to the block will be in the block settings tab. This should make things feel a little more organized than the previous iteration of the page builder.

Notes

We have removed the following blocks from the builder:

• Hero offset image - given the new setup, this was incredibly complicated to setup and would have required precisely setting up container and content settings in order to work as intended
• All call to action blocks - given the new setup of hero blocks, you can largely accomplish the same things by using the hero blocks

The Pulsar theme has been slightly updated to better support the new features of the page builder.

🌃 Image gallery blocks

We have added a couple of image gallery page blocks as part of the work for this updated page builder.

Carousel image gallery block

Thumbnail image gallery block

🐛 Known issues

The new page builder has been tuned for the upcoming Tailwind v4 upgrade. As a result, some of the container and content options may not work as expected until that migration is complete. In particular, some shadow, text shadow, border radius, and blur values may not work as intended. These will be fixed as a result of the Tailwind v4 work coming in a future alpha.

3.0.0-alpha22

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Warning

We have updated the file structure of Nova 3 to use a public folder that's intended to be used as the new document root. You will need to update your document root from your server settings to account for this change. Please see the Nova 3 installation guide for a step-by-step guide to making this change.

Note

This release includes the Nova 2 migration scripts. In order to migrate your existing Nova 2 data, your site will need to be running Nova 2.7.13 or higher. Please see the Nova 2 migration guide for a step-by-step guide to migrating from Nova 2 to 3.

Brand-new media upload component

Nova's media upload component has gotten a much needed update. Using FilePond under the hood, this new upload component provides a smoother way to upload images and includes the ability to remove existing images as well.

Added cropping for character and user photos

Nova's avatar upload component got an upgrade: cropping. This is a quick way to crop your avatar photos to a 1:1 aspect ratio to ensure everything works as expected where avatars are concerned. We've also made an update to ensure that generated images won't appear in the upload component as it could cause some confusion.

Other updates

• Added stricter casting for rank items to avoid some potential errors
• Safeguard against null values in the ranks dropdown menu
• Simplified he pronouns dropdown and available options (he/him, she/her, they/them, and custom now)
• Update modal components to accept attributes
• Update labels for character and user photos

A note on a new Spotlight component

There were originally plans for a new Spotlight component in this alpha. We started working on this, but found that the component we were going to use was significantly slower than what's already inside Nova. We weren't happy with that trade-off, so have decided to leave the existing component in there for now.

3.0.0-alpha21

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Warning

We have updated the file structure of Nova 3 to use a public folder that's intended to be used as the new document root. You will need to update your document root from your server settings to account for this change. Please see the Nova 3 installation guide for a step-by-step guide to making this change.

Note

This release includes the Nova 2 migration scripts. In order to migrate your existing Nova 2 data, your site will need to be running Nova 2.7.13 or higher. Please see the Nova 2 migration guide for a step-by-step guide to migrating from Nova 2 to 3.

Added

• Dashboard tour
• Onboarding processes for new users, fresh installs, and Nova 2 migrations
• Character rank migration tool (this will allow system admins to update character ranks after migration more easily than individually editing each charcter)

Updated

• Public manifest card markup now has targetable HTML classes for styling and ordering
• Public manifest grid item markup now has targetable HTML classes for styling and ordering
• Instructions on the final Nova migration step are now clearer that you're setting a system administrator
• Rather than using a generated password, the system administrator password is now set during the migration process
• Ensure that the example ENV file sets the environment to production correctly
• Preview form button on the Form Designer will open in a new page
• Preview page button on the Page Designer will open in a new page
• View live page button on the Page Designer will open in a new page
• The from email address and name are now required in email settings
• Circular progress bars now show the percentage complete (can be disabled with a prop)

Fixed

• Character migration would assign characters to the wrong users
• Errors thrown on the offset image hero page block if a ribbon color wasn't specified
• Errors thrown on the image tiles hero page block if all 5 images weren't added
• Eager loading error during the migration process
• Errors thrown when viewing a theme that did not have all of the repository information filled out
• Errors thrown when trying to edit a theme
• Errors thrown when deleting or duplicating any rank groups, names, or items
• Migrated posts would always show as "needs attention"
• Migrated posts in a state of draft or pending would always have a published date
• Migrated personal logs in a state of draft or pending would always have a published date
• Migration process would not set proper ordering for migrated posts and personal logs
• Error thrown when updating email settings
• No progress indicator on progress bars when at 0%
• Errors when designing an unpublished page
• Errors when designing an unpublished form
• Errors when duplicating a page

3.0.0-alpha20

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Warning

We have updated the file structure of Nova 3 to use a public folder that's intended to be used as the new document root. You will need to update your document root from your server settings to account for this change. Please see the Nova 3 installation guide for a step-by-step guide to making this change.

Note

This release includes the Nova 2 migration scripts. In order to migrate your existing Nova 2 data, your site will need to be running Nova 2.7.13 or higher. Please see the Nova 2 migration guide for a step-by-step guide to migrating from Nova 2 to 3.

Added

• User account and IP address bans
• User moderation screen
• User moderation controls on edit user screen
• Pending approval dashboard for pending announcements and posts (will only appear when there's something pending to be approved)
• Maintenance mode

Updated

• Announcements now include a status rather than a simple published flag
• Announcements can be approved from the list view
• Posts can be approved from the list view
• Character manifest can use department tags for filtering
• Character manifest can use position tags for filtering

Fixed

• Setup center gets dark mode flag set under certain circumstances
• Database verification would show incorrect information under certain circumstances
• Errors thrown when duplicating departments and positions

3.0.0-alpha19

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Warning

We have updated the file structure of Nova 3 to use a public folder that's intended to be used as the new document root. You will need to update your document root from your server settings to account for this change. Please see the Nova 3 installation guide for a step-by-step guide to making this change.

Note

This release includes the Nova 2 migration scripts. In order to migrate your existing Nova 2 data, your site will need to be running Nova 2.7.13 or higher. Please see the Nova 2 migration guide for a step-by-step guide to migrating from Nova 2 to 3.

Added

• Nova 2 migration scripts
• Nova 3 can now be installed into a Postgres database
• Form builder date field
• File permissions panel on the system overview dashboard

Updated

• If the document root has not been properly setup, Nova will show an error to users
• Design page screen will show the name of the page being designed
• Design page screen will show a warning when the page has been saved since it was last published
• Design form screen will show the name of the form being designed
• Design form screen will show a warning when the form has been saved since it was last published
• Announcements are sorted by the most recently published date
• Applications are sorted by the most recently created
• Notifications are now displayed in the bottom right corner
• Notifications have a new design
• Upgraded to Laravel 12
• Moved to framework agnostic media embed solution
• On user-created forms, required fields will have an asterisk next to them

Fixed

• System level setup messages didn't work after switching the document root
• Public character bio page would throw an error if a character didn't have a rank assigned to them
• Public character bio page would display a blank rank metadata section if a character didn't have a rank assigned to them
• Public character bio page would display a blank positions metadata section if a character didn't have a position assigned to them
• Public manifest table cells were mis-aligned when a character is not assigned a rank
• Cannot remove rank from a character
• Character create and edit forms don't show validation error indicators for fields inside other tabs
• User create and edit forms don't show validation error indicators for fields inside other tabs
• Could not create or update department or position without including tags
• Public character manifest did not respect defined order
• Public character manifest grid layout would shrink avatars when the text was too long
• Applications could not be submitted
• Application errors were not reported to the error logs

3.0.0-alpha18

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Warning

We have updated the file structure of Nova 3 to use a public folder that's intended to be used as the new document root. You will need to update your document root from your server settings to account for this change. Please see the Nova 3 installation guide for a step-by-step guide to making this change.

Added

• Handle syncing external content from Anodyne
• Handle syncing Nova changelog from Anodyne
• Activity history on individual records
• Tags on departments
• Tags on positions
• Notifications for application review voting result
• Private message search
• Private message filtering by unread status
• Permissions for form submissions
• Users preferences for content rating warning thresholds
• Brand-new post composition screen
• Brand-new post setup screen
• Main dashboard is now functional with live data
• Writing dashboard has been re-written to be simpler

Changed

• Sync external content and changelog during install and updates
• Better timezone selection and input on the My Account page
• Switched DTOs from Laravel Data to Bag
• A notification will be sent when a discussion participant exits
• Private messages will behave more like emails than conversations
• Switched to date and time helpers rather than a single configurable date format
• Re-wrote environment file writer to better handle different content (with full test coverage)
• Post types cannot disable the title field
• Post types cannot require the rating field
• Better required validation rules for content and summary fields
• Updated post reading experience that more closely mirrors the public site

Removed

• Possessive pronouns for users (subject and object pronouns are still used)

Fixed

• Add-on version checks to Github would always return a 404
• Rank set append and replace scripts would put non-image files into the ranks directory
• Unable to change roles for a user
• Users would be able to view all form submissions, regardless of permissions and ownership
• Roles were not properly ordered on the list page
• Content rating threshold warnings were not respected on the public site
• Characters created by non-admin characters would not have an application created for them (no way for a GM to approve)
• No validation error message when trying to submit an application decision modal without a message
• Error thrown when trying to view a rank name
• Error thrown when trying to view an application without an IP address
• Validation error thrown when creating a menu item
• Failed re-caching when creating or deleting a menu item

3.0.0-alpha17

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Warning

We have updated the file structure of Nova 3 to use a public folder that's intended to be used as the new document root. You will need to update your document root from your server settings to account for this change. Please see the Nova 3 installation guide for a step-by-step guide to making this change.

Added

• Status changes for users and characters is now tracked for historical record-keeping
• Player participation report
• Player activity report
• Game stats page
• Post types utilization report

Fixed

• Exception thrown on the public stories page when there are no stories
• Spacing issues with the dark mode switch in the user dropdown menu

Security

• Updated file structure to prevent access to sensitive files

3.0.0-alpha16

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Added

• Error log viewer

Updated

• Simplified private messaging to work more like an email inbox rather than a chat interface
• Messages sidebar item will only appear if there are 2 or more users
• Announcements sidebar item will only appear if there are 2 or more users

Fixed

• Updating a role will no longer always mark it as a default role
• Exceptions thrown on the characters manifest page block with certain settings
• Published post notification action button URL now links to the read post page
• Nova will report the correct version on the system overview dashboard
• Exception thrown when trying to look for updates to add-ons and themes

3.0.0-alpha15

Important

Due to database schema changes, this release requires a re-install. You will need to clear your database and go through the install process again.

Added

• Writing overview dashboard
• Posting contributions leaderboard / list
• Post locking
• Post activity settings
• Writing dashboard settings

Changed

• Saving a post now records the number of words added and the user responsible for those words
• Saving a post now records a timestamp of when the update happened
• Better dark mode styling for the admin shell and panels
• Updated to title casing for enum cases

Fixed

• Errors thrown as a result of a development URL for checking add-on versions being left in
• Error thrown for an incorrect enum case
• Double quotes being generated in the .env file and causing 500 errors
• Forced password reset flag wasn't being cleared after successfully reseting the password
• Empty states on list pages now respect the "panda" appearance setting
• Dark mode color issues with tables on list pages

Removed

• Icons avatar style