Source code… Some people have no need while others live off of being able to access the source, make adjustments, and work with the product source directly.

We develop software to extend your business, improve your operations, and ultimately help you succeed.  With each new update we are constantly thinking about how you could further utilize & customize the solution to fit your specific needs.  From our central language file, Smarty template files, CSS files, and more you have been able to customize & tweak our products.

We have a lot of changes taking place here with 1-2-All 5.0, the latest version of KB just released, and SupportTrio 3.0 in development.  As part of these new updates we are also implementing a very significant change… Including full source code with all of our products.  That means there are no more zend or ioncube requirements.  Our commitment to ensure security of our intellectual property does remain – but we have managed to come up with a solution that forms a great balance between licensing and being able to customize the product as much as you would like.  As of today all products are now available with the source included.

We hope you will find this change and our future changes to benefit you and if you should have any feedback at any time please let us know!

While we are still working on 1-2-All 5.0 – we would like to share a couple of the changes and improvements that will be delivered in this next version.  This is our largest product update to date (across our entire product line) so there is a lot of information to cover.  This post is just a preview of some of the exciting new features & changes that will soon be available…

Multi-List Management

Prior to 1-2-All 5.0 every action was typically specific to a list.  With 5.0 we are dramatically switching the process so that all options can affect multiple lists (if you should choose to do so.)  When you log in you will no longer be forced to select a list before starting to import, send, etc..  This sounds like a minor change, however after using the new version you will find a lot of time saved and an increase in general usability from this adjustment.

Subscriber Filtering

1-2-All has had decent subscriber filtering (allows you to segment your list into specific conditional groups) but with 5.0 you will be able to take filtering to an entirely new level.  In addition to filtering based off subscriber data you will be able to filter off nearly any action the subscriber has taken.  Thus you can filter your list down to users who unsubscribed from one list, subscribed to another, read a specific campaign, and clicked on a specific link on a specific day.  Combine that with our advanced and/or grouping options along with being able to apply filters (as always) to any type of campaign and mailing that is being sent out – including auto responders.

Subscriber & List Actions

An existing feature that you may have overlooked in the past are subscriber & list actions.  Currently you can set specific things to happen based on certain actions the subscriber takes.  For instance when a subscriber unsubscribes from one list you may want to automatically remove them from other lists as well.  We are building this existing feature into something much more comprehensive.  Currently actions are based on subscriptions/unsubscriptions.  With 5.0 you will be able to set specific changes/actions based on any action the subscriber takes.  This includes subscribe/unsubscribe, reads/link tracking, forwarding mailings to friends, and more!

Advanced Message Options

Personalizing each mailing you send has always been an important feature.  We are taking this to a new level by offering dynamic variables and conditional content.

Dynamic variables mean that you can take a current personalization tag (such as %TODAY%) and alter it dynamically (such as %TODAY+2%.)

Conditional content will allow you to show certain parts of the message depending on the subscribers details.  Much like sending filters but for content.  You can think of this as if you were able to add if/else statements throughout the content of your mailings.

Reporting

I am quite excited about the new reporting options that will be available in version 5.0.  We have an extensive list of new reports along with individual report options.   These are significant enhancements in the way that you can analyze campaigns, past mailings, list reports, user reports, and more…  This is a major section to discuss so we will be releasing more information about this soon.

In addition to the large number of new internal reports you will also find many options to export data (for external analysis) along with Google Analytics integration.

User Management

New user management options will simplify the way permissions are set along with making it much easier to resell 1-2-All as a hosted solution.  The basic ideas of “accounts” and “users” remain the same but we will be introducing new user group options along with a number of new user/account limits/settings

Integration & Public Options

Subscription forms are getting a make over with new style options along with new “completion” options.  You will now be able to redirect to different URL’s, show a custom message, or let it go to the defaults.  You will also have multiple integration options for each subscription form.  Such as embedding it into your current site, popup, link to it, etc..

Database sync (for bringing in subscribers from external databases) now supports MySQL, MSSQL, and PostgreSQL.  We have added a number of new options for each sync and you can even write custom SQL queries.

The public section of 1-2-All has always been an odd issue for many clients.  While they would like the public section, many users want to restrict it down to a list or user account.  We have solved this dilemma.  There is now a general public section, list specific public section,  and an account/user specific section.  Each type of section can be enabled or disabled and everything is SEO friendly.

Sending Methods

You will find new sending settings.  We are doing away with some of the more complex settings and replacing them with easier to use options.  Functionality will not be lost by doing this.  You will now be able to set a specific number of emails to send per hour without having to specify how many messages to send before doing pauses.

1-2-All currently supports multiple sending methods – such as rotating through multiple SMTP servers when sending.   1-2-All 5.0 will also let you choose which sending methods/SMTP servers are used for each account.  That allows you to have different sending methods for each account/user if needed.

Templates

We are including a large number of free email templates that will be pre-loaded into 1-2-All 5.0.  New options will include highly requested features such as system wide templates, easier options to add purchased templates, and more.

Our new template system along with our new editing and message creation options will allow you to lock parts of the template.  Ensuring that your client does not accidentally disrupt the general design and only changes what is needed to be changed.

Add-Ons

As we extended and updated every other section of the software – we have done the same with the 1-2-All add-ons.

A/B Split has been revamped and will prove to be quite exciting compared to the current version.  The update will allow truly advanced split testing and will be included for free as part of the 1-2-All product.

AutoRemind is more integrated then ever. EmailCheck has new integration areas and will soon have new reports shown when you run it. ActiveRSS will support easier custom templates.  We also have a couple of new add-ons (that have been requested by numerous clients) that will be announced during the beta.

Extendability

While we worked on planning and developing 5.0  we have kept extendability on our minds.  We will be doing this with multiple methods.  Firstly we will be releasing 1-2-All with 99% of the files unencoded. This will allow a great number of changes.

We are re-working how language files can be translated.  The changes will allow you quickly be able to translate a section (such as the public section) without having to sift through the text for the admin section.

With the release of 1-2-All 5.0 beta we will begin to release API documentation as well.

New Support Documentation

As the product advances we are committed to making sure everything is user friendly and easy to use.  There are always times where a little more assistance/help docs are required.  You will find in-line help documentation (that is unbranded) throughout the software.  We will also be releasing quick start guides (both branded and non-branded for the resellers) along with an extensive collection of articles and video walk-throughs.

More to come….

This post is only scratching at the surface of what is to come with 1-2-All 5.0. We will be posting more specifics on each area along with new screen shots in the near future.  There are a lot of new items and changes that we will be discussing in great detail.

Please note that while we are nearing a beta we do not have a set date at this time.  We choose not to specify an exact release date as we would much rather prefer to ensure the product is complete and stable before releasing.  We do however expect the beta to be released sometime in Quarter 1 of this year.  Please subscribe to our blog or newsletter to be kept up to date with this.

Help Desk 3.0 development has begun….

We recently started work on Help Desk 3.0.  Version 3.0 will be a major update to the ActiveCampaign Help Desk Software package.

We will be incorporating hundreds of changes and additions including such things as:

• Rewriting the majority of the backend code
• Improving the speed and responsiveness of the entire application
• Leaving 99% of the source code unencoded
• CSS Based admin/public interfaces
• Escalation system
• SLA Management
• External Login Sources
• Much more….

While we have our development plans – we still want to know what you want to see in Help Desk 3.0.

Let us know what you want changed, what you wish was added, general feedback & comments, etc… Your feedback is greatly appreciated and will be taken into consideration for Help Desk 3.0.

Tell us what you want in the next version of SupportTrio!

There are some exciting changes occurring at ActiveCampaign. We have a number of new updates in the works, KnowledgeBuilder 3.0 is about to be released into beta testing, and we are making some changes in the way you are able to customize all ActiveCampaign products.

The ability to customize ActiveCampaign products is of great concern to us. Customizing sections of the software can be crucial for the product to fit a specific use or direction. Throughout the years we have increased options such as easy branding settings, smarty templates, central language files, a selection of unencoded files, and more. And now….

All future major updates of ActiveCampaign products will be 99% unencoded.

You will be able to modify each and every part of our product. The less than 1% of files that will be encoded only takes care of installing, upgrading, and general licensing. The need for Zend or Ioncube support will remain – but it will not hinder your customization efforts.

We hope this will assist our clients who need custom solutions and are excited to start releasing the major updates of all products with the new 99% unencoded format.

P.S. The first product to be released 99% unencoded will be KnowledgeBuilder 3.0

Update: 1 Reason Not To Install Zend Optimizer

Since this article was published in May of 2008, ActiveCampaign has discontinued use of Zend Optimizer and Ioncube in favor of our own solutions to enhance the speed and security of our applications. Consequently, there is no longer any additional software that you need to install in order to use our products, and you now have full access to the source code of all of our software.

We believe our software can help your business to succeed. We believe this so much that we want  to give you the opportunity to try it out for free for 30 days and make your own decision:

• Click here for a free trial of Email Marketing
• Click here for a free trial of Survey Software
• Click here for a free trial of Help Desk
• Click here for a free trial of Knowledge Management
• Click here for a free trial of Live Chat

Original Instructions for Installing Zend Optimizer on Your Web Server

One of the ways that we increase the overall speed and security of our web-based software is by pre-compiling the PHP code. The tools that we use to do this are called Zend Optimizer and Ioncube. You actually only need one or the other in order to encode PHP scripts, and I’m not aware of any performance benefit that either one enjoys over the other. The only reason that we use both of these products is to provide maximum compatibility with all the different types of web hosts and servers that are out there. That’s why, when you visit the downloads page in our online help desk, you’re always asked which version of the software you’d like to download: Zend or Ioncube.

Most people who don’t produce or use a lot of web-based software have never heard of either of these products and get a little flustered when confronted with the question of which they should download. If you’re using a shared web hosting account or have an in-house server admin running your web server, then you have a simple one-step solution: pick up the phone, call the admin, and ask which one you can use

If you’re running your own server, it’s still very simple. The first thing to do is to find out if your server can already run Ioncube scripts, since if it can there are no additional steps for you. The way to find this out is to:

• download our test script
• unzip and upload it to your web directory
• and then open it up in a web browser

You’ll see something like this:

As you can see, my own local test server is not able to run Ioncube-encoded scripts without additional setup, because I’m using the latest version of PHP, which has broken dynamic loading. That’s no big deal, because I went ahead and installed the free Zend Optimizer with just a couple of clicks, and now I’ll show you how to do the same.

Download Zend Optimizer

If you find this part challenging, you probably shouldn’t be trying to run your own web server! 

What you need to do is to download the Zend Optimizer package onto your web server. You can get it from http://www.zend.com/en/products/guard/downloads, where you’ll need to select the appropriate package for your server. So first select the radio button labeled “Zend Optimizer” (not the one labeled “Zend Guard,”) and then you’ll find that the dropdown box becomes populated with a list of server types that Zend Optimizer is available for. The chances are very good that the type of server you are using is supported by Zend Optimizer. Remember, folks, you’re installing this on your web server, not on your own local computer (unless your web site is served from your local machine), so you want to be doing all this from the server, and to select the option that corresponds to the operating system running on the web server.

Before you are allowed to download, you’ll have to register for an account on zend.com on the next page. Once you’ve downloaded the software, all that is left is to install it on the server. The instructions for doing this will vary depending on the type of server that you use. If it is a Windows IIS server, just double-click on the installer .exe file and follow the instructions that appear on the screen. On any other type of system, including Mac OS X and any Linux or Unix variant, you’ll find that the installation package is compressed, so you first need to extract it.

On Linux or Unix servers

• Open up a terminal window or get yourself out to the command line. You can decompress the package by entering the following at the command line prompt:
  • gunzip -c <package name> | tar xf -
• Then, from inside the installer package directory that is created when the package is unzipped, type:
  • ./install.
• Now you’ll see a nice pretty graphical installation wizard that will walk you through setting up Zend Optimizer on your server.

On servers running Mac OS X

Installation on a server running OS X is a little more complicated that you might like it to be, but is still very doable. The most complicated part is basically just that you have to use the command line, which many OS X users are not very familiar with. However, you can find a very good tutorial for going through this process here [link removed since the article disappeared!).

Now put it to good use!

Once you’ve got Zend Optimizer installed on your server, you should be able to run Zend-encoded PHP scripts right away. So now just grab a copy of the Zend version of whichever ActiveCampaign software product you’ve purchased, and follow the installation instructions in the docs/install.txt file (you can also find the instructions in our knowledge base.)

If you run into any problems with the Zend Optimizer installation or if you get an error message saying that Zend Optimizer is not installed on your server, check the Zend website for troubleshooting tips.

As many of you may be aware – we have talked a lot about opening up some areas to allow for easier customizations along with the ability to retain certain customizations with upgrades. We have some exciting features and options coming in the future. The ability to easily upgrade without losing style and code changes is yet to come – but now you can access the majority of the source code for the public sections of Email Marketing, Help Desk, and Live Chat.

What does this mean? You now have access to the source code of the public pages / functions. You can now directly modify the subscriber add/edit functions, or work on the archive page for Email Marketing. Or you can adjust the ticket submit code in Help Desk. Or change how the Live Chat chat code works to authenticate and authorize a chat. The possibilities for customizations are endless.

To view a specific list of files/folders that have been unencoded click on one of the following links:

• Unencoded files in Email Marketing
• Unencoded files in Help Desk
• Unencoded files in Live Chat

As mentioned above – this is only the start of a number of new changes coming to our entire product line. Just let us know if you have any questions, comments, or feedback along the way!

Today, after a long time without releasing any major updates, we have released a new version of Help Desk , marked as 2.61.16.

With this release we have decided to expand the possibilities for our overseas clients, and have provided you with a set of tools you can use in order to customize Help Desk to suit your language needs better. From now on, our products will rely on strfdate() instead of date() native PHP function, so you will be able to use localized values for your language strings. No more English week/month names in your dates! From now on, whatever is your server’s default locale setting, the system will use it. You can read about changing the default locale on your system here.

Since we had to do that sooner or later, and that meant changing a lot of templates (almost all of them are displaying date/times), we decided to finish timezones too. From now on, all date/times displayed by Help Desk will have time offsets applied before displaying. That way you should be able to keep your Help Desk in a different timezone without any problems whatsoever.

This version also introduced a Default Ticket Priority setting. On Manage Priorities page (Settings => General => Manage Priorities) you can now set a default priority, which will be preselected on your Submit Ticket pages. Also, if email comes in without “high/low priority” flag, the ticket will get default priority, not “Normal”.

And last, but not least, public authenticator! We have provided an unencoded /functions/function_user.php file which has all functions for handling users (login/logout). That way, from now on you can modify that file freely and fetch your users from external (client?) database instead of using Help Desk’s.

We also fixed a couple of small, but annoying bugs.
To see a complete announcement about this release, please visit the following thread in our Support Forum:
http://www.activecampaign.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=3032

We are looking forward to hearing from you about using these new features in the future.

In the last couple days we have released minor updates to 4 of our products. Here is a summary of what we changed just recently.

• Email Marketing 4.51.6
  • Fixed redirection problem for users with only one list
  • Fixed empty Sender header problem
  • Fixed fetch@send bug in autoresponders
  • Fixed full path issue in auto_remind cron file
  • Fixed template JS bug for test email if not mime
  • Now parses links only if option is turned on
  • Now fetches reply-to field properly
  • Added fetch personalized to INSTANT responders too
• Survey Software 1.4.12
  • specific required fields update
  • add item page updates
  • invitation updates
  • css updates
  • php short tags removed
  • library/survey add/update item pages updated
• Knowledge Management 2.60.24
  • Moved trial check to avoid header() problems
  • Public Search page completely rewriten
  • Implemented public users, separately from admins
  • Fixed Settings/User page bugs
  • Public users are no longer members of Global Authentication System
  • pdf.php is from now on unencoded
  • Fixed installer bug for removing existing tables
  • Added support for Demo Mode
  • Fixed a major bug in function.php that occures on public side when article has no links in it
  • fixed include problems
  • Added new language strings
• Help Desk 2.60.4
  • Integrated new Knowledge Management system
  • Fixed expiration date on announcements (to allow indefinite ones)
  • Chart fix for HTTPS via IE issue
  • Fixed subject escaping problem in public viewTicket
  • Added more vars to use in public account_confirm.tpl.txt (username, name, email)
  • New language strings

As alwyas – we are continually seeking feedback on our products and services. Should you have any questions, comments, or concerns let us know at info@activecampaign.com

We just released a new version of our ActiveCampaign Email Marketing software!

It doesn’t have a lot of updates, but the ones we do are VERY important!

Sending engine has been improved and optimized! We have tested it, and it looks like we have a 40% increase in email marketing delivery speed. This is the biggest increase we have had in a long time now. I hope you all feel the difference.

There was a problem in version 4.51 with Bounce Managament which was confusing our system. It used to mark successful email addresses as bounced due to this error. We have fixed it now, so I suggest that you check your Bounces to see if some email was marked as bounced by mistake. That won’t happen anymore.

Importing subscribers had a bug that was occuring only in certain cases. We have fixed it now, and we have also included unencoded PEAR files since we experienced some problems with those classes when the files were encoded.

In our Support Forum you can see the list of all changed files.