BCOE&M 2.7.0: Release Notes

Version 2.7.0 Released April 12, 2024

Version 2.7.0 is a fairly extensive release that features a number of bug fixes, enhancements, and updates. More details and a complete list of enhancements and fixes is available on the 2.7.0 Milestone on GitHub, but here are the highlights:

Entrants can now specify pouring instructions for any beer style.
Entrants can now search for any club name with a special character in the club dropdown when creating or editing their account (e.g., The Brü Club, etc.).
UI improvements that indicate very explicitly which fields are required when registering/editing an account or when adding/editing an entry. This will ease confusion and emails to organizers from participants that claim they cannot register their account or add an entry, but in fact have missed providing input in one or more required fields.
Judges and stewards can now disclose if they are part of any brewing team. This helps to alert organizers and judge coordinators whether a particular judge or steward has a potential conflict when assigning to them to tables and/or flights.
Admins are now able to set a specific date and time when editing of entries will no longer be allowed. Previously, entries could not be edited by participants after the entry window had closed. Admins have the option to extend the editing window beyond that date and time.
Available to Admins/Organizers on the Admin Dashboard is a reminder and associated list of post-competition tasks they should complete. This reminder will be visible for seven days past the results publication date/time.
By request of the board of the Master Homebrewer Program (MHP), the download of result data that individual members send to the MHP was deprecated in favor of an all-in-one results report generated by Admins/Organizers for all MHP member participants in the competition. This report is emailed by the Admin/Organizer directly to the MHP Secretary. A reminder to download and sent it is featured in the post-competition tasks alert mentioned above.
Admins can now specify entry limits for any style type (e.g., beer, cider, mead, etc.). For example, this is useful for competitions that wish to limit the beer entries, but not set a limit for mead or cider. Or vise-versa. Applies to any style type including custom ones.
Admins can now provide a link to an external site that details past winners. This is helpful for hosted installation owners that keep their own records of past winners or new users who wish to link to past winners published prior to installing BCOE&M.
Top-Level Admins can now access the Administration Dashboard and all Admin functions when the site is in Maintenance Mode (activated via an explicit boolean variable in paths.php). This allows updating of site data without revealing the changes to non-Admins and the public until ready to publish.

This will be the last major release before version 3.0.0 that will feature updates to the non-Admin user interface and user experience.

Version 2.6.2 Released November 7, 2023

Version 2.6.2 is a small release that features a short list bug fixes, enhancements, and updates. Most updates were implemented to facilitate the transfer of hosted installations to a new server and domain and, therefore, are generally transparent to users. More details and a complete list of enhancements and fixes is available on the 2.6.2 Milestone on GitHub, including:

Entrants can now add their Master Homebrewer Program membership number as part of their account profile.
Admins now have the option to use the Master Homebrewer Program's Circuit of America points allocation formula when determining Best Brewer and Best Club awards.
Added Sorting Placards and Sorting Into Tables Placards and Master List reports to assist with organizing sorting day.

Version 2.6.1 Released September 1, 2023

Like all previous releases, version 2.6.1 features a few bug fixes, enhancements, and updates. More details and a complete list of fixes is available on the 2.6.1 Milestone on GitHub, including:

Non-judging sessions, if present, will have their own section on the sidebar of all public-facing pages.
Top-Level Admins can now designate whether an Admin user "who should be able to maintain and administer other aspects of the platform" be allowed to view judging numbers.
Enhanced compatability with MariaDB.
When judges are filling out a electronic scoresheet, the "15 minute warning" modal has been replaced with a less obtrusive warning in the floating progress box. Additionally, if any warnings are present, an icon () will appear next to the score indicator to inform judges that warnings are present.
Admins and head judges are now able to designate any Mini-BOS entries at a table from the Judging Dashboard.
- If there are inconsistencies between judges who did or did not designate Mini-BOS on their scoresheet for a given entry, Head Judges will be alerted.
- An indicator alert will be present at the top of the Admin > Entry Evaluations screen detailing which entries have inconsistent Mini-BOS indications on associated scoresheets.

Version 2.6.0 Released July 14, 2023

Like all previous releases, version 2.6.0 features various updates and bug fixes. More details and a complete list of fixes is available on the 2.6.0 Milestone on GitHub, including:

The addition of the Northwest Cider Cup styles and electronic scoresheet option.
The ability for participants to export their individual results data to provide to circuits, including the Master Homebrewer Program.
Entrants can now specify regional variations for BJCP 2021 style 2A - International Pale Lager.
Participants on mobile devices can view all of their entry information from their My Account page.
The ability for judges and stewards to specify industry affiliations while using the Professional Edition – this helps Admins to determine any conflicts of interest when assigning judges or stewards to tables.
The ability for Admins to add clubs to the default clubs list, customize shipping language, and export results data for circut reporting purposes.
Admins now have the ability to specify custom style numbers and sub-style identifiers. This helps to fix inconsistencies in the code when assigning them.
Removal of all deprecated recipe-related columns from the brewing table. Those columns remain in all archived instances, however.
Updates to BJCP 2021 style 30D: Specialty Spice Beer and BA style Juicy or Hazy Imperial or Double India Pale Ale.

Version 2.5.0 Released December 3, 2022

Like 2.5.0 Beta, this full release of version 2.5.0 features some fairly substantial behind-the-scenes code changes. Primarily, changes are centered around ensuring that the codebase is compatible with MySQL 8 and PHP 8, as well as converting select MySQL commands to utilize PHP's Prepared Statement protocols.

This release also features, as always, various bug fixes and a few small enhancements. More details and a complete list of fixes is available on the 2.5.0 Milestone on GitHub; but here are some features and enhancements to highlight:

Incorporated the Australian Amateur Brewing Championship (AABC) 2022 styles, as well as the 2022 updates to the Brewer's Association (BA) styles.
Removed the recipe-related UI fields from the add- and edit-entry functions. A future release may incorporate upload of PDF or BeerXML recipe documents for individual entries if there is sufficient demand from users.
Added non-judging sessions where potential staff can indicate their availability (Admin Dashboard > Competition Preparation > Non-Judging Sessions).
- Useful for competitions that wish to have sign-ups for sorting, awards preparation, etc.
Added a new Staff Availability report that provides lists of available people by last name or by non-judging session (Admin Dashboard > Reports > Staff Availability).
Added the ability for admins to edit all competition dates in one place (Admin Dashboard > Competition Preparation > All Competition Dates).
Added the ability for Admins to specify a minimum word count for judge comment/feedback fields when using Electronic Scoresheets (Admin Dashboard > Preferences > Competition Organization).
Removed the character limit for judge comment/feedback fields when using Electronic Scoresheets.
Updated PayPal fee calculations to reflect PayPal's 2022 changes.
Enhanced compatibility with Gmail when using PHP's mail() function.
Enhanced the Awards Presentation when using table/medal groupings as the competition's Winner Place Distribution Method. Admins can now choose to display results by table number (default) or entry count (ascending or descending). This only available from the Launch Awards Presentation button on Admin Dashboard.
Added an Admin and Staff Notes report (Admin Dashboard > Reports > Notes > Admin and Staff Notes).
Added an Entry Required Info Scoresheet Labels (Received Entries Only) report option to generate on the fly by table (Admin Dashboard > Reports > Entry Required Info Scoresheet Labels).
- This report was also cleaned up to provide as much detail as possible as entered by the participant, along with a line for Possible Allergens.
Added Mini-BOS Cup Mat report options, including a blank report (Admin Dashboard > Reports > Mini-BOS Cup Mats).
Added Pro-Am/Scale-Up Pullsheet report options (Admin Dashboard > Reports > Pro-Am/Scale-Up Pullsheets). Useful if brewery representative wish to sample more than just the first place entries at the BOS table, for example.
Added Pro-Am/Scale-Up Cup Mat report options, including a blank report (Admin Dashboard > Reports > Pro-Am/Scale-Up Cup Mats).
Added Results Report options to sort by number of entries at a table/medal group, ascending or descending (Admin Dashboard > Reports > Results or All Results).

Version 2.5.0 Beta Released June 24, 2022

2.5.0 Beta features fairly substantial behind-the-scenes code changes, thus necessitating the Beta pre-release designation. Primarily, changes are centered around ensuring that the codebase is compatible with MySQL 8 and PHP 8, as well as converting select MySQL commands to utilize PHP's Prepared Statement protocols. This release also features, as always, various bug fixes and a few small enhancements. More details and a complete list of fixes is available on the 2.5.0 Beta Milestone on GitHub.

This release is not yet stable for production use and should only be downloaded and used by those who very familiar with BCOE&M or those wishing to help find bugs in the software.

Version 2.4.0 Released January 23, 2022

2.4.0 incorporates the recently released BJCP 2021 beer style guidelines. It also features, as always, various bug fixes and a few small enhancements. More details and a complete list of fixes is available on the 2.4.0 Milestone on GitHub.

Version 2.3.2 Released December 8, 2021

2.3.2 is mainly a bug fix update, but with a fairly substantial re-write of javascript coding governing the add/edit entry form's style choice drop-down and associated display inconsistencies. This release also corrects a PayPal payment bug introduced in 2.3.1 that passed blank payment amounts to PayPal (GitHub Issue #1245). This release also allows the application to run using MySQL 8.0+ (GitHub Issue #1244) and brings it into compliance with the BJCP XML report standard (GitHub Issue #1254). More details and a complete list of fixes is available on the 2.3.2 Milestone on GitHub.

Version 2.3.1 Released October 4, 2021

2.3.1 is a small bug fix update to correct setup fatal errors as reported in Issue #1235 on GitHub. Updating from a previous version was not affected, only clean installations using the browser-based setup scripting. The Fallback Installation method was not affected. Otherwise, 2.3.1 is nearly identical to 2.3.0, described below.

Version 2.3.0 Released September 14, 2021

It’s again been a few months between releases, but version 2.3.0 is now available.

The big addition in this release is the inclusion of Electronic Scoresheets, previously only available for hosted installations. Instructions to setup Electronic Scoresheets and a usage primer for judges are available on this website and via Admin Dashboard > Help within the BCOE&M application (providing Electronic Scoresheets are enabled via Admin > Preferences > Site Preferences).

As usual, there also a fair amount of bug fixes, all of which are detailed in the v2.3.0 Release Milestone on GitHub.

Version 2.2.0 Released February 10, 2021

It’s been a few months, but hopefully version 2.2.0 will be worth the wait. As usual, there are many bug fixes in this release. Additionally, there is a fair amount of new functionality, both in front and behind the scenes, much of which are are detailed in the v2.2.0 Release Milestone on GitHub. Highlights include:

An Awards Presentation slide show that administrators can use to present competition results. Developed with both virtual and in-person awards ceremonies in mind, an example presentation can be viewed here.
Auto-save has been implemented for various Administration functions. Site admins can now save certain data points on lists without a page refresh:

Manage Entries – judging number, paid, received, admin notes, staff notes, location/box.
Add/Edit Scores – consensus score, mini-BOS, place.
Add/Edit BOS Scores – score, place.
Sponsors – level, logo, description, display.

A Tables Planning Mode has been implemented to allow admins to plan their table configurations and judge/steward assignments prior to sorting. This removes the previous restriction requiring entries to be marked as “received” to set up tables.
- Once sorting happens and entries are marked as "received" in the system, Admins should then switch back to the default state, Tables Competition Mode, to review their table configurations, flight assignments, round associations, and personnel assignments in preparation for judging.
Display of archived results data (non-hosted installations only). If entry, score, and/or BOS data is present in an archived table, a new Past Winners column will be available on all public pages with links to results for past competition iterations.
- Admins will need enable display of past results data via the Admin > Data Management > Archive function.
Designate a Head Judge for any defined table. Competitions using Queued Judging will also have the option to designate Mini-BOS judges for the table as well.

Version 2.1.19 Released July 28, 2020

This version, of course, is a bug-fix release addressing issues in the v2.1.19 milestone.

There's a couple of new features, including:

Integration of the Australian Amateur Brewing Championship (AABC) 2019 style guidelines into core functionality. This style set joins the BJCP and Brewers Association (BA) style sets as options for judging styles.
BA styles have been updated for 2020.
Integration of Brazilian Portuguese as a language option for all public pages. A big thanks to Rodrigo Jordão de Magalhães Rosa from Associação dos Cervejeiros Artesanais Paulistas for the translation effort!

Version 2.1.18 October 1, 2019

A bug-fix release addressing issues in the v2.1.18 milestone. Some new functionality too, including:

Ability to send emails generated by the application via SMTP using PHPMailer (change the MAILER definition in paths.php to TRUE and customize the variables in the /site/config.mail.php folder to your server environment).
Integration of Czech language option for all public pages.

Version 2.1.17 March 13, 2019

A small bug-fix release detailed in the 2.1.17 Milestone.

Version 2.1.16 February 1, 2019

A small bug-fix release addressing issues with the “Working” overlay for selected download links that were particularly annoying.

Version 2.1.15 January 24, 2019

Mainly a bug-fix release with a few new features and enhancements, detailed in the 2.1.15 Milestone on GitHub, including:

Fixed the BJCP XML report bug introduced in 2.1.14.
Added Brewery/Organization to CSV downloads.
Mini-BOS reports with and without original table/flight information.
Added Irish homebrew clubs to the available clubs list.
Judge role designation when assigning to tables (Head Judge, Mini-BOS Judge) - for queued judging method only at this time.

Version 2.1.14 October 5, 2018

Bug-fix release with a few new features and enhancements, detailed in the 2.1.14 Milestone on GitHub, including:

Ability for entrants to print multiple bottle labels at once. Requires an Admin to define the number of bottles required via Competition Organization Preferences and to choose one of two available formats via Site Preferences.
Updated Participant Summaries report to feature BOS places.
Button to open modal of email addresses of all participants, all participants with entries, available judges, available stewards. List can be copied and pasted into your favorite email program.
New All Results report that incorporates all winners, BOS, custom winning categories, and best club/brewer results.
Rework of BJCP reporting to fix points calculation bug.
Ability of entrants to indicate whether they have already received a pro-am for the next Great American Beer Festival.

Version 2.1.13 August 21, 2018

Substantial bug-fix release with a couple of new features thrown in. New features in this release:

Support for the seven BJCP 2015 provisional styles (including the four released on July 4, 2018).
Ability for entrants to identify potential allergens in their entries.
Migration of BA styles to the local DB table due to the Brewery DB's April 2018 decision to not issue any further API keys.
Ability to combine Mead and Cider style types for Best of Show (BOS) scoring and reporting.
Ability to choose whether to include BOS places in Best Brewer and Best Club calculations.
A report available to admins that details any Best Brewer and Best Club results before results are officially posted.
Two new fields to enter notes about a given entry:
- Admin Notes is intended to provide further info about an entry to organizers and site admins such as "payment not received" or "may be mis-categorized."
- Staff Notes for any information staff may need to know about the entry such as "single bottle" or "missing MBOS bottle."

Addresses bugs reported since the 2.1.12 release. All fixes are detailed in the 2.1.13 Milestone.

Version 2.1.12 April 19, 2018

Substantial bug-fix release that addresses issues reported since the 2.1.11 release, including:

Fixes to best of show display.
Fixes to Best Brewer and Best Club display.
Fixes to scoresheet purging/archiving.
Clarification of drop-off location nomenclature.
Editing of entries if the entry window is open but the maximum number of entries has been reached.

All fixes are detailed in the 2.1.12 Milestone.

Version 2.1.11 October 31, 2017

Small bug-fix release that addresses issues reported since the 2.1.10 release, including:

Fixes to club name display.
Proper formatting of scoresheet names.
Restoration of missing names of winning entrants on BOS reports.
Handling of special characters in CSV exports.

All fixes are detailed in the 2.1.11 Milestone.

Version 2.1.10 October 20, 2017

Version 2.1.10 features numerous bug fixes and good chunk of new functionality, most of which are detailed in the 2.1.10 Milestone. Notably:

Optional Best Brewer and Best Club calculations and display based upon user-defined point assignments and tie-breaking methodologies.
BA styles (via BreweryDB API) are now supported.
Admins have the option to chose the traditional "Amateur Edition" for homebrew competition or the new "Professional Edition" for professional brewer competitions where entrants are breweries, meaderies, distilleries, etc. with a single point of contact, not individual brewers.
Integration of PayPal's Instant Payment Notification service to immediately update the paid status of entries after completing payment via PayPal. Requires a PayPal business account and some configuration. More information and setup instructions are here.
More secure password reset process - requires php's mail() protocol (Issue #788 and Issue #740). If the mail() protocol is not an option, Top-Level Admins can still reset passwords for any user.
Allow users to mark entries as paid when checking in entries using QR codes (Issue #771).
Allow entrants to see if their entries have been marked as received (Issue #761).
Admins have quick views of all entrant email addresses, including paid and unpaid. Allows for copy/paste into email clients (Issue #752).
Entry numbers are now listed on participant address labels for easy retrieval of accompanying scoresheets (Issue #741).
Allow admins to upload scoresheets by entry number or judging number (Issue #731).
Provide an additional field for styles that list optional information that entrants can specify (Issue #725).
Access to scoresheets from archived data (Issue #655).
Publish results now button on the Admin Dashboard (Issue #756).
Now supports Google's reCAPTCHA v2, with a fallback option to reCAPTCHA v1.
Enhanced uploaded scorsheet naming conventions for more flexibility.

Version 2.1.10 Beta July 25, 2017

Version 2.1.10 Beta is a pre-release of version 2.1.10. It features quite a few bug fixes and new functionality, most of which are detailed in the 2.1.10 Milestone.

Version 2.1.10 Alpha July 14, 2017

Version 2.1.10 Alpha is a pre-release of version 2.1.10. It features quite a few bug fixes and new features, most of which are detailed in the 2.1.10 Milestone. Notably:

BA 2015 styles (via BreweryDB API) are now supported
Admins have the option to chose the traditional "Amateur Edition" for homebrew competition or the new "Professional Edition" for professional brewer competitions where entrants are breweries, meaderies, distilleries, etc. with a single point of contact, not individual brewers

This release does not require the update script if upgrading from 2.1.6. or later.

Version 2.1.9 February 1, 2017

This release corrects some registration issues inadvertently introduced in version 2.1.8. The registration process has been completely rebuilt to fix the problems encountered by some installations. This release also fixes a bug that prevented the examples provided by the BJCP for Specialty IPA (21B) and Historical Beer (27B) from being associated with an entry. New in this release is the ability for entrants to indicate that they are interested in being a staff member. See the 2.1.9 Milestones for specific bugs and features included in the release.

This release does not require the update script if upgrading from 2.1.6. or later.

Version 2.1.8 December 6, 2016

This release features some bug fixes and enhancements that include making the examples provided by the BJCP in the 2015 Style Guidelines for Specialty IPA (21B) and Historical Beer (27B) available as "sub-categories" for entries (see Issue #700 for details). See the 2.1.8 Milestones for specific bugs and features included in the release.

This release does not require the update script if upgrading from 2.1.6. or later.

Version 2.1.7 September 14, 2016

This is small bug-fix release that fixes a pretty big issue with sites getting caught in a redirect loop (Issue #674). See the 2.1.7 Milestones for specific bugs and features.

This release does not require the update script if upgrading from 2.1.6 or later. Please note: further development pertaining to the translation effort begun in 2.1.5 is not part of this release, but will be in future releases.

Version 2.1.6 September 9, 2016

This is small bug-fix release that will require the update script to run if upgrading from 2.1.5. See the 2.1.6 Milestones for specific bugs and features.

Please note: further development pertaining to the translation effort begun in 2.1.5 is not part of this release, but will be in future releases.

Version 2.1.5 August 31, 2016

This is a bug-fix release (with a couple of new features thrown in) that will require the update script to run if upgrading from 2.1.4. See the 2.1.5 Milestones for specific bugs and features.

In addition to the bug fixes and new features, there were some fairly major behind-the-scenes coding efforts going on, most notably the beginning of an internationalization effort toward making BCOE&M easily translated into other languages. This effort will complete in subsequent 2.1.X releases. If you are fluent in English and another language, please contact me if you are willing to help with the translation effort!

Version 2.1.4 June 28, 2016

This is a bug-fix release that addresses Issues #619, #621, #622, #628, #632, #633, #634, #635 and various bugs not caught in previous releases. No DB updates in this release; therefore, the update script will not run if upgrading from 2.1.3. See the 2.1.4 Milestones for details.

Version 2.1.3 May 31, 2016

This is a bug-fix release that addresses Issue #617 and various bugs not caught in previous releases as well as coding to mitigate php warnings, alerts, and conflicts. No DB updates in this release; therefore, the update script will not run.

Version 2.1.2 May 24, 2016

This release corrects issues with the upgrade process introduced in the now deprecated 2.1.1 release - see issue #616. Also addresses issues #615, #611, #610, #609, #608, and #607. See the 2.1.2 Milestones.

Version 2.1.1 May 18, 2016

The 2.1.1 Release was “backed out” due to issues with the upgrade scripting. Please see the GitHub Issues list for support if you have already installed 2.1.1 and are experiencing issues.

Version 2.1.0 May 12, 2016

Major behind-the-scenes coding that touched nearly every file has been incorporated into this release - converting all php deprecated mysql calls to the mysqli protocol. Addresses bug reports and feature requests labeled with the 2.1.0 Milestone.

Enhancements include:

Scoresheet upload/download - saves postage!
Mobile device entry check-in using QR codes.
Three new bottle label options including an anonymous option much the same as the final round of the National Homebrew Competition uses.
Account registration email confirmations.
A paid entry limit.
The ability to cap the number of judges and/or stewards.
The ability for administrators to reset the password of any user.

Version 2.0.1 February 12, 2016

This is a bug fix release for problems encountered since 2.0.0’s release, addressing various GitHub Issues tagged with the 2.0.1 Milestone.

Version 2.0.0 February 5, 2016

BCOE&M Version 2.0.0 features a new interface, rebuilt from the ground up leveraging the popular Bootstrap framework.

What's more, the interface has been optimized for mobile devices... content will render beautifully and optimally no matter what device you access the site on - smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop.

A complete list of enhancements is detailed below and on the development milestones on GitHub. The screenshots below are just a taste of what the application looks like...

Home Page (Desktop)

My Account (Desktop)

Admin Dashboard (Desktop)

Version 2.0.0 enhancements include:

Enhanced and completely mobile-friendly user interface optimized for desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone devices.
In-app help for most commonly used functions. Look for the question mark icon in the upper navigation.
Separate dates for Drop-Off and Shipping Windows independent from the defined Entry Window.
Drag-and-drop, multiple logo image upload.
Logo display on winner list screen.
Award labels.
Larger font on bottle labels.
Enhanced Admin Dashboard.
Off-canvas Admin Essentials menu containing access to the most commonly used administration features.
Admin quick add participant function that features only essential registration fields. Useful for on-the-fly registration of judges, stewards, or staff.
View judges not assigned to tables function.
Judge Experience registration field to provide insight for organizers as to the number of previous competitions participants have judged.
Judge Notes to Organizers feature with report.
Firefox printing is now fully operational with the latest version of Firefox for PC, Mac, and mobile. All generated pages now print beautifully with Firefox (Chrome still prints well, but has some issues with splitting information contained in HTML tables).
Optimized CSS and JS files for faster loading.

Version 1.3.2.0 October 27, 2015

Enhancement and bug fix release. Addresses various bugs reported to GitHub since the 1.3.1.0 release in August, 2015. See the GitHub issues list - all bugs and enhancements addressed are labeled resolved for v1.3.2.0.

Enhancements include:

Support for A4 mailing labels using Avery 3422 label stock.
Manual triggering of database cleanup and purge functions.

Version 1.3.1.0 September 1, 2015

Enhancement and bug fix release. Addresses 46 pre- and post-beta GitHub issues.

Enhancements include:

Support for BJCP 2015 style guidelines.
A conversion function for existing competitions already accepting entries that wish to use BJCP 2015 styles for judging.
Entries by Sub-Style report.
Option to have entrants print only bottle labels for each entry (no recipe sheet).
Delete function for individual scored entries.
Updated nomenclature to clarify Registration Window vs. Entry Window dates.

Version 1.3.0.2 through 1.3.0.4 September 13, 2013 through November 1, 2014

Bug fix releases. Addresses GitHub Issue 295, Issue 298, Issue 300, Issue 302, Issue 304, Issue 305, Issue 311, Issue 313, Issue 314, Issue 316, Issue 317, Issue 318, Issue 319, Issue 321, Issue 325, Issue 326, Issue 327, Issue 328, and Issue 329. Issue 330, Issue 332, Issue 333, Issue 334, Issue 335, Issue 336, Issue 337, Issue 338, Issue 339, Issue 340, and Issue 342 as well as other minor unreported issues.

Version 1.3.0.1 September 4, 2013

This is a bug fix release. Addresses GitHub Issue 285, Issue 286, Issue 288, Issue 289, Issue 290, Issue 291, and Issue 294.

Version 1.3.0.0 August 19, 2013

It has been a long while since a new release has been available. I thank all of the users out there for your continued patience. I think version 1.3.0.0 is worth the wait!

Here are just a few of the new features that have been added:

Code extensions in the form of custom modules - admins can extend the functionality of BCOE&M with their own HTML or PHP code (advanced users only).
Barcode option for bottle entry forms and entry check-in so comp staff can use a barcode scanner to check-in entries and assign judging numbers them. The methodology was tested in the 8000+ entry National Homebrewers Competition this year and was very well received by the competition staff.
Preregistration option - users can create their accounts and enter their personal information, judging preferences, etc. before entries are accepted.
Entry limit per user option.
Subcategory entry limit per user option - from unlimited to a single entry per user per subcategory.
Subcategory entry limit exception option - for those subcategories that lend themselves to a broader range of interpretation (e.g., Specialty Beer, Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer, Open Category Mead, Specialty Cider and Perry, etc.).
Admin ability to enable/disable search engine friendly URLs for all public pages.
Extended printing options including larger round bottle labels, labels with special ingredients, category/subcategory only labels, etc.
Expansion of recipe-related fields to accommodate more ingredients - malts/grains, other fermentables, and hops increase to 20 fields each, mash schedule increases to 10.
Enhanced recipe entry with robust checks for the presence of required information for certain styles (e.g., special ingredients for Category 23, strength for mead styles, etc.)
Extended use of session variables to limit calls to the MySQL database for redundant/constant pieces of information customized for each user.
Numerous behind-the-scenes coding clean up and enhancements aimed at improving performance and reducing page load times.

Of course, there were some bug fixes in there as well. Addresses the following reported issues on GitHub: Issue 198, Issue 206, Issue 207, Issue 218, Issue 221, Issue 222, Issue 223, Issue 225, Issue 226, Issue 227, Issue 228, Issue 229, Issue 230, Issue 231, Issue 232, Issue 236, Issue 237, Issue 240, Issue 241, Issue 242, Issue 243, Issue 245, Issue 246, Issue 247, Issue 249, Issue 252, Issue 253, Issue 254, Issue 255, Issue 256, Issue 257, Issue 258, Issue 260, Issue 261, Issue 262, Issue 263, Issue 266, Issue 269, Issue 271, Issue 272, Issue 273, Issue 274,Issue 275, and Issue 276.

Version 1.2.1.3 November 28, 2012

This release features mostly bug fixes and a couple of enhancements:

Enhanced the data integrity functions to be very explicit with regard to messaging about special ingredients/classic style requirements.
Added the ability to utilize "clean" URLs for public pages (Entry Information, Rules, Volunteer Info, etc.)
Updated to Fancybox 2.1.3
Updated to some CSS3 scripting, especially concerning rounded corners (now supported by IE9)
Fixed some Archive display issues resulting from legacy code and database structure

Addresses the following reported issues on GitHub: Issue 186, Issue 188, Issue 189, Issue 190, Issue 191, Issue 195, Issue 197 ,Issue 199, Issue 200, Issue 202, Issue 204, Issue 205, Issue 208, Issue 209, Issue 210, Issue 211, Issue 212, Issue 213, Issue 214.

Version 1.2.1.2 October 24, 2012

This release again features mostly bug fixes and a few enhancements.

Enhanced the data integrity checking for sub-styles that require participants to enter special ingredients and/or a classic style (beer, mead, cider), as well as strength (mead), and carbonation/sweetness (mead, cider).

If participants do not add the requisite information, their entry is marked "unconfirmed," and subject to deletion after 24 hours.

Enhanced display of entry numbers to four digits (0000 - 9999). Standardizes display.
Minor tweak to processing of proper names to allow for dashes, initials, and apostrophes.
Tweaked the special ingredient bottle label download to only show the requisite categories.

Addressed all verified bugs reported to GitHub: Issue 177, Issue 178, Issue 179, Issue 180, Issue 181, Issue 182, Issue 183, and Issue 184.

Version 1.2.1.1 October 1, 2012

This release features mostly bug fixes and a few enhancements.

Added more CSV exports (all paid entries, all non-paid entries).
Added more options for printing sorting sheets.
Enhanced display of judging numbers to make them more readable at a glance. Uses the convention: XX-XXX (e.g., the fourteenth entry in category 3 would be 03-014).

Addressed all verified bugs reported to GitHub: Issue 160, Issue 163, Issue 164, Issue 166, Issue 167, Issue 169, Issue 171, Issue 172, Issue 173, Issue 174, Issue 175, Issue 176, and Issue 177.

Version 1.2.1.0 September 7, 2012

This release features a few fairly major upgrades and numerous minor ones. It also addresses bugs reported between December 1, 2011 and August 25, 2012.

Added browser-based database setup and updating.
Added the ability to for the BCOE&M installation to run on a shared database (or multiple installations on a single database).
Added the ability to cap the number of entries.
Added custom winning category functionality.
Added ability for competitions to accept payment via Google Wallet (Issue 48).
Added localization capabilities. Allows for granular, time-zone specific dates and times to be utilized by the program.
Added registration windows for judges and stewards (now separate from regular entrants). Comps can now register judges and stewards before and after the entry window (Issue 133).
Added the ability for admins to designate the method to designate winners (by table, by category or by subcategory - Issue 142).
Added a new public page: Volunteer Information (thanks to Bruce Buerger for his contribution).
Added data integrity scripting that checks for inconsistencies between the user and brewer tables as well as deleting any entry that is either blank or is not attributed to any verified user.
Added another bottle label option that includes special ingredients (if any) on the label itself. Useful for Category 23, for example, and custom categories.
Added the ability to export promo materials in Bulletin Board Code (BBC) format. Useful for posting a competition announcement to various homebrewing forums.
Added the ability to export all entry data in CSV format (Issue 149).
Added time stamping for users and entry updates (Issue 52).
Added ability to filter admin display of paid entries (Issue 129).
Added granular display of the number of entries that had reduced fees from a promo code (Issue 146).
Updated the BJCP Ranks to utilize those that went into effect April 1, 2012 (as reported to SourceForge). Added explanation/help text to the participant information screen.
Cleaned up archived data display.
Addressed all verified bugs reported to GitHub: Issue 117, Issue 119, Issue 120, Issue 123, Issue 124, Issue 127, Issue 137,Issue 138, Issue 150, Issue 151, Issue 152, Issue 153, Issue 155, Issue 156, and Issue 157.
Deprecated the option to choose whether to utilize BCOE&M for competition organization. Going forward, it will be assumed that Administrators will utilize the organization functions (those beyond simply gathering participant and entry data) as little or as much as they wish without needing to specify as such.

Version 1.2.0.4 December 11, 2011

This release address several bugs and feature enhancements that were reported to Google Code and SourceForge between October 21, 2011 and November 30, 2011.

Addressed Issue 109: Admin Add/Edit of Entries
Addressed Issue 111: Upload Image Function Allowing Non Admins to Upload
Addressed Issue 112: Users Not Seeing Entries (Case Sensitivity of User Names)
Addressed Issue 113: Registration Section shows Entry Window Closed Date
Addressed Issue 114: Competition Contacts Not Working
Addressed Issue 115: Incorrect Name on Results List
Addressed Issue 116: Inconsistent Display of Entry and Judging Numbers
Judges and stewards are now able to register as either/both after the designated entry window has closed.
Admins now have a "Numbers at a Glance" box on the main admin page to quickly get the number of entries, participants, etc.
Results sheets now have a "club" column.

Version 1.2.0.3 October 21, 2011

This release address several bugs and feature enhancements that were reported to Google Code and SourceForge between September 16, 2011 and October 21, 2011.

Fixed PayPal connection error.
Fixed pullsheet issue.
Fixed forgot password function error.
Fixed display of scores and places on participant list of entries.
Fixed calculations of BJCP judge, steward, organizer, and staff points.
Fixed bug in exporting of participant data, specifically judge likes and dislikes.
Fixed bug in judge/steward assignment.
Fixed bug in judge/steward assignment print outs.
Added the ability of participants to enter a mead judge designation.
Added a judging number to each entry that only administrators see.
Added the ability for admins to regenerate judging numbers if the need arises.
Added the ability for admins to designate any circuit that their competition qualifies for (MCAB, etc.).
Updated to the latest version of TinyMCE.

Version 1.2.0.2 September 13, 2011

This release address several small bugs and feature enhancements that were reported to Google Code and SourceForge between August 18, 2011 and September 13, 2011.

Fixed PayPal connection error.
Added a missing javascript file.
Fixed Archive data display bug.
Fixed bug preventing PayPal payments on installations that have discount codes.
Fixed minor bug that allowed entries to be added without a Entry Name.
Added reported strength, carbonation, and dryness levels for Cider and Mead styles to pullsheets.
Added coding to convert entry name and brewer name entry text to show proper capitalization.
Added Google Web Fonts API fonts to the css files of all themes.