Jethro v2.36.0-RC2

Further polishing of v2.36.0-RC1
Includes a packaging fix to resolve some malformed CSS that was produced by LESSC.

Jethro v2.36.0 RC1

This is a release candidate, not yet ready for widespread production use.

Enhancements

• #1035 - Person status options are now much more flexible (see upgrade note)
• #890 - Configurable sort order for attendance recording
• #1040 - You can now hide the age bracket field in the members area
• #1075 - Ability to edit group membership is now determind by the "Groups" permission level.

Bugfixes

• #1086 - fixed bulk update tool causing inadvertent changes to age bracket. (see upgrade note)

• #1036 - fixed run sheet component sorting

• #1046 - fixed family member edits

• #1050 - fixed errors in log when displaying 'date totals' attendance

• #1052 - improved robustness of report config for custom fields

• #1057 - fixed an issue where sometimes roster assignees couldn't be removed

• #1065 - removed ical feed 6-week limit

• #1072 - fixed error when sms log file does not exist

• #1078 - fixed situation where occasionally roster assignees did not show up

• #1064 - fixed unwanted line break in service summary

• #1056 - improved clarity for the roster summary

• #1048 - fixed errors in roster summary if no roster roles included

• #1088 - fixed premature session timeouts.

• #1085 - PHP8 compatibility

• #1054 - fixed contact list DOCX export

• #1091 - fixed error when deleting a congregation under some circumstances

• #1069 - fixed issue with notes for action attached to empty families

• #1090 - improved layout of run sheet notes

• Technical changes

• 2FA_ settings are hard-codable in conf.php

• Improvements to configuration of the roster reminder script

• Fix to premature session timeouts

• #745 - file permissions in release

• #1099 - PHP8 compatibility

Upgrade Procedure

1. Log out of Jethro
2. Take a backup of your mysql database
3. Apply all applicable upgrade SQL files from the upgrades folder to your mysql database, including upgrades/2024-upgrade-to-2.36.sql
4. Move away your old Jethro files (eg. rename your jethro folder to jethro_old)
5. Unzip the new files into the right place (don't just overwrite the old files)
6. Move your old conf.php and files/ subdirectory (if not empty) back into your jethro folder.
7. Optional: Run php upgrades/2024-upgrade-to-2.35-after.php from the command line. Jethro will run this upgrade automatically when you log in, but you may prefer to do it from the command line in advance.
8. Optional: Run php upgrades/upgradefixes/2024-2.36-check-age-brackets.php from the command line. This script checks for person records affected by Issue #1086. Jethro will run this check when a system administrator logs into the system, but you may prefer to do it from the command line in advance.
9. Log in and test.

Jethro v2.35.1

This minor release does some polishing to v2.35.0
See the 2.35.0 release notes for the major new features.

Enhancements

#1028 - better display of song details in rosters
#1029 - better page titles
#1020 - enhanced layout of service content

Bug Fixes

#1033 - archived system administrators are no longer sent 2FA-related notifications
#1030 - age-bracket groupings in reports are now ordered correctly
#466 - default age bracket is applied on add-family page
#1023 - Mail merge on grouped report fixed
#1021 - Better handling of situation where 2FA_SENDER_ID is not set

Upgrade Procedure

1. Log out of Jethro
2. Take a backup of your mysql database
3. If upgrading from a version older than 2.35.0, apply all applicable upgrade SQL files from the upgrades folder to your mysql database, including upgrades/2024-upgrade-to-2.35.sql
4. Move away your old Jethro files (eg. rename your jethro folder to jethro_old)
5. Unzip the new files into the right place (don't just overwrite the old files)
6. Move your old conf.php and files/ subdirectory (if not empty) back into your jethro folder.
7. Log in and test.

Jethro v2.35.0

New Features

• #925 - Configurable two-factor authentication for enhanced security
• #25 - Song usage report. You can now see how many times songs have been used in services and easily click through to report usage to CCLI.
• #889 - Jethro can now display the cost of sending out an SMS message based on its length and the number of recipients.
• #1011 - When Jethro sends out emails (eg for member rego, or various reminders), you can now apply a system-wide "from" address, to ensure DMARC compliance.
• #788 - Custom reports. You can save custom SQL queries on your server and view the results in Jethro.
• The bottom of a roster now shows a workload analysis - how many times each person has been allocated.

Bug Fixes

• #960 - Group names/membership status were sometimes repeated in report results
• #976 - Problem when pasting values into email address field
• #971 - "attendance days" field was hidden when editing/viewing a group
• #959 - Copy button in roster's "email all" modal was not working
• #955 - "Title" field was sometimes not shown when adding an ad-hoc run sheet item
• #956 - Service component were not visible whilst being dragged on to a run sheet
• #958 - Layout of personnel on printable run sheet was uneven
• #985 - Better handling of situation where user tries to create an HTML doc with the wrong extension
• #994 - yearless values in custom date fields were not working in recently-installed systems
• #1002 - Importer better handles situation where multiple import rows match the same existing person
• #1001 - In system config, age brackets, unticking 'is adult' did not save
• #992 - Cleaned up document download filenames
• #946 - Improved layout of attendance running total
• #1008 - Attendance headcount was not saving if nobody was marked present/absent
• #1009 - Fixed error when you ran document merge on some persons in a report
• #777 - issue with counting of sms characters
• #400 - issue with pasting rich text into sms box
• #1010 - when sms is saved as note, it had status=requires action.
• #937 - non-adult family members were wrongly able to edit other members' details; now they can't.
• #1014 - timestamp of roster assignments was being updated when they weren't changed.
• #1015 - list of reports looked funny on mobile
• #1016 - roster_reminder didn't work if USER_MOBILE was used in SMS config.
• Various page layout improvements in the members area and elsewhere.
• #1022 - error when adding family (in 2.35.0-RC)
• #1026 - errors sending automated emails (in 2.35.0-RC)

Behind-the-scenes improvements

• Version checker now checks for the latest release of Jethro.
• #936 - Improved php8 compatibility
• #947 - better handling of temp files
• #950 - Better warnings about too-large uploads
• #963 - improve mysql 8+ compatibility
• #982 - Fix handling of 'permanently deleted' people in Mailchimp audiences
• #979 - Fix error in log when viewing attendances
• #1006 - Error when sms.log first written
• #1000 - Improved error message if conf.php has wrong permissions

Upgrade Procedure

1. Log out of Jethro
2. Take a backup of your mysql database
3. Apply all applicable upgrade SQL files from the upgrades folder to your mysql database, including upgrades/2024-upgrade-to-2.35.sql
4. Move away your old Jethro files (eg. rename your jethro folder to jethro_old)
5. Unzip the new files into the right place (don't just overwrite the old files)
6. Move your old conf.php and files/ subdirectory (if not empty) back into your jethro folder.
7. Log in and test.

Jethro 2.34.1

This maintenance release resolves various issues in 2.34.0

Bugfixes

• #947 - better cleanup of temp files on server
• #960 - Reports showing group-related columns sometimes showed repeated values
• #976 - problem pasting into email fields
• #971 - 'attendance days' field was hidden when adding/editing a group
• #959 - 'copy' button in 'email-all' popup wasn't working
• #963 - database upgrade errored on some mysql versions due to 'rank' keyword
• #955 - when editing an ad-hoc run sheet item, 'title' field was sometimes not visible
• #956 - service components weren't visible whilst being dragged to a run sheet
• #958 - layout of personnel in columns on run sheet has been improved

Enhancements

• If an uploaded photo is too big, the user is now told what the limit is.

Upgrade Procedure

1. Log out of Jethro
2. Take a backup of your mysql database
3. If upgrading from a version older than 2.34.0, apply all applicable upgrade SQL files from the upgrades folder to your mysql database, including upgrades/2023-upgrade-to-2.34.sql
4. Move away your old Jethro files (eg. rename your jethro folder to jethro_old)
5. Unzip the new files into the right place (don't just overwrite the old files)
6. Move your old conf.php and files/ subdirectory (if not empty) back into your jethro folder.
7. Log in and test.

Jethro 2.34.0

This release resolves a long list of bugs and adds a number of small but useful features.

Enhancements

• #834 - You can now control whether each congregation is a container for persons, attendance, services, all of the above, or none of the above.
• #846 - You can now quickly SMS all assignees in a roster view
• #874 - Planned absences are now displayed when recording, displaying or reporting on attendance
• #907 - You can now set the default status for notes to be something other than 'no action required'
• #920 - When changing the status of a note from 'action required' to something else, it's now compulsory to enter a comment so there is a historical record.
• #704 - When marking attendance, a count of the number of persons marked present is now shown next to the headcount box
• #895 - When you select a roster view, your selection now persists next time you return to that page.
• #898 - If you paste an email address beginning with "mailto:", Jethro quietly strips the prefix.
• #799 - It's now easier to copy the ical URL to paste into your calendar app
• #899 - Explanation about how attendance percentages work has been extended
• #696 - In person notes/comments, URLs are now displayed as links
• #875 - Better access to roster role descriptions via the edit-roster-roles page
• #922 - When hovering over a name on a roster, other instances of that person are highlighted.
• #829 - In the personnel list above a run sheet, roles with nobody assigned are no longer shown
• #918 - When run sheet components (eg songs) are shown in a roster column, you can now click on them to see component details such as comments and CCLI number.
• #523 - When entering BIble readings, you can now enter 2-part split readings such as Matt 22:1-3, 7-8 or Matt 2:28-3:2, 5-6.
• #885 - Contact list DOCX export now avoids splitting families across page breaks
• #888 - SMS log file now includes character count, is now more detailed and in jsonlines format
• #801 - This Sunday is now highlighted in the service schedule
• #880 - Layout in the run sheet editor has been enhanced
• #732 - Styling of service details in rosters has been improved
• #876 - iCal feeds can now be enabled even if the rest of the public area is disabled, thanks to a new setting.
• In the personnel list above a run sheet, role titles are now linked to role descriptions.
• When viewing a roster role description, there is a now link to edit it
• In the top nav, the user's name is now a link to their person record
• Password strength is now checked at login, and the user is prompted to change to a stronger password if necessary.
• Mobile phone numbers can now be copied more easily
• Document merge can now be run against reports and attendance, and can display all available merge keywords before merging.

Bugfixes

• #883 - Congregations are sorted by meeting_time (time code) more consistently
• #4 - The situation where a group used for account restrictions has been archived is now better handled
• #78 - The situation where somebody tries to create several services on the same date for the same congregation is now better handled.
• #882 - fix to the email-report script
• #870 - cope better with mailchimp API's error reports
• #877 - user accounts restricted to a certain congregation could also see persons with blank congregation, now fixed
• #894 - spelling fix
• #901 - Jethro warns more clearly when a file upload is too big to handle
• #831 - planned absences are now factored in when choosing 'other' option in rosters.
• #649 - better handling of long custom field values
• #905 - fix PHP8 strict-mode error when displaying service component
• #903 - fix PHP8 strict-mode error when importing
• #921 - planned absences were sometimes missing on the final row when editing a roster. Now fixed.
• #363 - fixed error deleting group in some circumstances
• #923 - fixed error when deleting the only tag in service component tag manager
• #842 - you can no longer delete a group that is in use as the volunteer group for a roster role
• #927 - fixed error when removing the CCLI number from a service component
• #841 - after running an ad hoc report you couldn't save it, now fixed.
• When sending an SMS, "save as note" option is no longer shown if the SMS_SAVE_TO_NOTE_SUBJECT setting is blank
• #810 - pressing enter when editing a run sheet no longer submits the form
• #341 - prevent errors when saving a run sheet in some circumstances
• #928 - allow more characters in roster role titles that still work in run sheet keywords such as %Bible_reader_#1%
• #834 - prevent the deletion of a congregation with services attached. Instead, provide a way to 'retire' congregations from such duties.
• #931 - reports on home page are now ordered by name.
• #944 - Australia post postcode link has been updated (fixed during RC process)
• #942 - background colour fixed when dragging a run sheet item (fixed during RC process)
• #940 - dirty data was hindering the 2.34.0 upgrade (fixed during RC process)
• #933 - extraneous highlighting on rosters has been fixed (fixed during RC process)

Other

• Support for 'legacy format' document merge templates (from v2.27 or earlier) has been disabled by default. It can be re-enabled by adding to the conf.php file define('MAIL_MERGE_INCLUDE_LEGACY', true);

Upgrade Procedure

1. Log out of Jethro
2. Take a backup of your mysql database
3. Apply all applicable upgrade SQL files from the upgrades folder to your mysql database, including upgrades/2023-upgrade-to-2.34.sql
4. Move away your old Jethro files (eg. rename your jethro folder to jethro_old)
5. Unzip the new files into the right place (don't just overwrite the old files)
6. Move your old conf.php and files/ subdirectory (if not empty) back into your jethro folder.
   1 Compare your old conf.php to a new conf.php.sample.* file and add any new settings to your conf.php
7. Log in and test.

Credits

Thanks to @tim-pearce for document merge contributions, @jefft for contact list format fix, upgrade SQL fix and various other diagnoses and fixes, @s4069b for updated postcode link and contribution to service component details display in rosters.

Jethro v2.34.0-RC1

This release resolves a long list of bugs and adds a number of small but useful features.

Enhancements

• #834 - You can now control whether each congregation is a container for persons, attendance, services, all of the above, or none of the above.
• #846 - You can now quickly SMS all assignees in a roster view
• #874 - Planned absences are now displayed when recording, displaying or reporting on attendance
• #907 - You can now set the default status for notes to be something other than 'no action required'
• #920 - When changing the status of a note from 'action required' to something else, it's now compulsory to enter a comment so there is a historical record.
• #704 - When marking attendance, a count of the number of persons marked present is now shown next to the headcount box
• #895 - When you select a roster view, your selection now persists next time you return to that page.
• #898 - If you paste an email address beginning with "mailto:", Jethro quietly strips the prefix.
• #799 - It's now easier to copy the ical URL to paste into your calendar app
• #899 - Explanation about how attendance percentages work has been extended
• #696 - In person notes/comments, URLs are now displayed as links
• #875 - Better access to roster role descriptions via the edit-roster-roles page
• #922 - When hovering over a name on a roster, other instances of that person are highlighted.
• #829 - In the personnel list above a run sheet, roles with nobody assigned are no longer shown
• #918 - When run sheet components (eg songs) are shown in a roster column, you can now click on them to see component details such as comments and CCLI number.
• #523 - When entering BIble readings, you can now enter 2-part split readings such as Matt 22:1-3, 7-8 or Matt 2:28-3:2, 5-6.
• #885 - Contact list DOCX export now avoids splitting families across page breaks
• #888 - SMS log file now includes character count, is now more detailed and in jsonlines format
• #801 - This Sunday is now highlighted in the service schedule
• #880 - Layout in the run sheet editor has been enhanced
• #732 - Styling of service details in rosters has been improved
• #876 - iCal feeds can now be enabled even if the rest of the public area is disabled, thanks to a new setting.
• In the personnel list above a run sheet, role titles are now linked to role descriptions.
• When viewing a roster role description, there is a now link to edit it
• In the top nav, the user's name is now a link to their person record
• Password strength is now checked at login, and the user is prompted to change to a stronger password if necessary.
• Mobile phone numbers can now be copied more easily
• Document merge can now be run against reports and attendance, and can display all available merge keywords before merging.

Bugfixes

• #883 - Congregations are sorted by meeting_time (time code) more consistently
• #4 - The situation where a group used for account restrictions has been archived is now better handled
• #78 - The situation where somebody tries to create several services on the same date for the same congregation is now better handled.
• #882 - fix to the email-report script
• #870 - cope better with mailchimp API's error reports
• #877 - user accounts restricted to a certain congregation could also see persons with blank congregation, now fixed
• #894 - spelling fix
• #901 - Jethro warns more clearly when a file upload is too big to handle
• #831 - planned absences are now factored in when choosing 'other' option in rosters.
• #649 - better handling of long custom field values
• #905 - fix PHP8 strict-mode error when displaying service component
• #903 - fix PHP8 strict-mode error when importing
• #921 - planned absences were sometimes missing on the final row when editing a roster. Now fixed.
• #363 - fixed error deleting group in some circumstances
• #923 - fixed error when deleting the only tag in service component tag manager
• #842 - you can no longer delete a group that is in use as the volunteer group for a roster role
• #927 - fixed error when removing the CCLI number from a service component
• #841 - after running an ad hoc report you couldn't save it, now fixed.
• When sending an SMS, "save as note" option is no longer shown if the SMS_SAVE_TO_NOTE_SUBJECT setting is blank
• #810 - pressing enter when editing a run sheet no longer submits the form
• #341 - prevent errors when saving a run sheet in some circumstances
• #928 - allow more characters in roster role titles that still work in run sheet keywords such as %Bible_reader_#1%
• #834 - prevent the deletion of a congregation with services attached. Instead, provide a way to 'retire' congregations from such duties.
• #931 - reports on home page are now ordered by name.

Other

• Support for 'legacy format' document merge templates (from v2.27 or earlier) has been disabled by default. It can be re-enabled by adding to the conf.php file define('MAIL_MERGE_INCLUDE_LEGACY', true);

Upgrade Procedure

1. Log out of Jethro
2. Take a backup of your mysql database
3. Apply all applicable upgrade SQL files from the upgrades folder to your mysql database, including upgrades/2016-upgrade-to-2.34.sql
4. Move away your old Jethro files (eg. rename your jethro folder to jethro_old)
5. Unzip the new files into the right place (don't just overwrite the old files)
6. Move your old conf.php and files/ subdirectory (if not empty) back into your jethro folder.
   1 Compare your old conf.php to a new conf.php.sample.* file and add any new settings to your conf.php
7. Log in and test.

Credits

Thanks to @tim-pearce for document merge contributions, @jefft for contact list format fix and various other diagnoses and fixes, @s4069b for contribution to service component details display in rosters.

Jethro v2.33.0

This version adds a bunch of small enhancements, and fixes a bunch of bugs (2 of them severe).

Enhancements

• #502 - you can now include an "add note" column in a report
• #99 - reports now refresh after you edit a person
• #809 - 'notes requing action' column in reports now shows assignee, and includes family notes
• Importer now allows you to direct-paste TSV data as an alternative to uploading CSV file
• #690 - In the importer, you no longer have to include a column for non-mandatory fields
• #849 - In the config of the date_reminder script you can now specify a mobile number to send from (previously, the script couldn't send any SMS messages if the SMS gateway config includes USER_MOBILE keyword)
• date_reminder script can now send the summary to a specific address, instead of persons with a particular status (new setting SUMMARY_RECIPIENT_EMAIL in the script's config)
• #849 - date_reminder script can now send SMS messages even if the SMS gateway config refers to _USER_MOBILE. (New setting SMS_FROM in the script's config)
• Jethro now sets HTTP headers with the current user info, useful for logging (PR #851)
• #838 - printable run sheet now saves as PDF with a helpful filename
• #783 - after creating a single-person family, Jethro redirects to view-person page
• PHP8.2 compatibility improvements (PR #861)
• Attendance stats can now be copied as TSV (like reports)

Bugfixes

• #828 - error during install process blocked installation [severe]
• #845 - editing a user account caused loss of custom field data for that person [severe]
• #823 - colour issue in current-user dropdown
• #267 - border colour fix
• #835 - importer sometimes failed to match existing person
• #850 - date_reminder script: OVERRIDE_RECIPIENT_SMS setting wasn't working
• #855 - performance of task_reminder script improved
• #821 - misleading message during member-account rego process adjusted
• #480 - confusing errors when members area config was incomplete now avoided
• #836 - error after editing family details
• #825 - Person history was sometimes ending up blank. Handle this better. (PR #816)
• #844 - Fix missing heading on attendance-stats page
• #869 - Made ATTENDANCE_LIST_ORDER editable only in the config file
• #504 - MEMBER_REGO_HELP_EMAIL setting now configurable. Defunct MEMBER_REGO_EMAIL_CC setting removed.

Upgrade Procedure

1. Log out of Jethro
2. Take a backup of your mysql database
3. Apply all applicable upgrade SQL files from the upgrades folder to your mysql database, including upgrades/2023-upgrade-to-2.33.sql
4. Move away your old Jethro files (eg. rename your jethro folder to jethro_old)
5. Unzip the new files into the right place (don't just overwrite the old files)
6. Move your old conf.php and files/ subdirectory (if not empty) back into your jethro folder.
7. If you had a custom setting for ATTENDANCE_LIST_ORDER (which is unlikely), look for the relevant line in conf.php.sample and add the setting to your conf.php file.
8. Log in and test.

Credits

Thanks to @vanoudt, @tim-pearce, @jefft for their contributions, and to those who reported and diagnosed bugs.

Jethro v2.32.0

This version resolves many small issues, adds some small enhancements, and improves security.

Fixes for end-user issues

• #759 - some widgets were too wide when editing rosters
• #175 - the bulk-action for sending emails didn't function on iphone due to layout issues
• #764 - archived roster roles are now hidden correctly when definiing a roster view
• #758 - archived groups were not always hidden as they should be
• #646 - better handling of duplicate usernames for user accounts
• #591 - better handling of attempts to create duplicate age brackets with the same name
• #698 - trouble deleting some services on some systems
• #394 - archived family members are now shown greyed out
• #503 - ensure archived family members don't show up in members area
• #774 - cleaned up the layout of the members-area homeage
• #784 - the 'selected-firstnames' keyword did not work in mail merges
• #813 - error creating planned absence in members area in recently-installed system
• #812 - consistent experience for archived persons who log into the members area
• #814 - making it clear that persons without an email address can't register for the members area
• #807 - Older action plans sometimes provoked errors

Fixes for technical-level bugs

• #770 - fix support for the PHP_MAIL flag in the roster-reminder script
• #761 - trouble connecting to some SMTP servers
• #626 - more foreign keys to improve performance and ensure data validity
• #465 - ensure database values are correctly updated when a group category is deleted
• #786 - Error in db quote function under PHP8

Bugs fixed during the QA process for this release

• #822 - back icon on iphone
• #818 - duplicate session cookies
• #817 - wrong colours in context menus

Enhancements

• Changes to search functionality:
  • #240 The system-wide search box now appears at the top of every page (except the home page, where it is in the body).
  • On the home page, the search can be restricted to a particular object type if desired.
  • The menu items "Persons > Search", "Families > Search" and "Groups > Search" have been removed, since the system-wide search box can be used instead.
  • The "Persons > List all", "Families > List all" and "Groups > List all" pages now have a search box at the top of the page, to search within the results on the page.
• Security: Enhanced protection against XSRF attacks
  • Whenever a user account is created or edited, the operator must now enter their own password.
  • #815 Jethro's session cookie now has the SameSite parameter set, so the session cookie will not be included in POST requests originating from other sites.
• #734 - groups which have attendance-recording turned on now link to record attendance page
• #785 - ability to add terms of use for members area
• #53 - the accounts tab in view-person page now gives more detail about the status of member accounts
• #739 - improved layout of the global search results

Upgrade Procedure

1. Log out of Jethro, and aim to do the upgrade when other users are logged out too
2. Take a backup of your mysql database
3. Apply all applicable upgrade SQL files from the upgrades folder to your mysql database, including upgrades/2022-upgrade-to-2.32.sql
4. Move away your old Jethro files (eg. rename your jethro folder to jethro_old)
5. Unzip the new files into the right place (don't just overwrite the old files)
6. Move your old conf.php and files/ subdirectory (if not empty) back into your jethro folder.
7. Log in and test.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to @jefft and @tim-pearce for contributions.

Jethro v2.31.2

This release adds some bugfixes and minor improvements to the previous version.

Changes:

• #744 - Borders now shown correctly on printed rosters
• #467 - Archived members now included in congregation member count
• #663 - Explanation now given for inability to delete a congregation that's used in an account restriction
• #496 - Bulk updates now correctly update family status based on member statuses
• #667 - Multi-word names can now start with lowercase letter
• #688 - Resolved errors editing an ad-hoc report under MariaDB 10
• #701 - Reports can now correctly show people who are not in any congregation
• #748 - Exporting check-ins now applies the date range correctly
• #750 - Copy-as-TSV now has clean results and can provide table output too
• Service components that have never been used are now grouped together at the top/bottom of the list

Upgrade Procedure

1. Log out of Jethro
2. Take a backup of your mysql database
3. If upgrading from a version older than 2.31.0: Apply all applicable upgrade SQL files from the upgrades folder to your mysql database, including upgrades/2021-upgrade-to-2.31.sql
4. Move away your old Jethro files (eg. rename your jethro folder to jethro_old)
5. Unzip the new files into the right place (don't just overwrite the old files)
6. Move your old conf.php and files/ subdirectory (if not empty) back into your jethro folder.
7. Log in and test.

Credits

Thanks to @jefft for the check-ins bugfix.