POP Forums Version History

Here’s a partial version history that shows how POP Forums has evolved over the years. It’s fun to look back at some of the things we now take for granted in a forum app.

Version v21.0.0 (12/x/24)

  • Update IForumAdapter to use async methods (breaking change) #361
  • Clean up naming and organization of Authorization and Authentication bits #377
  • Remove Twitter from profiles #372
  • Migrate to .Net 9 and new libraries #371
  • Refactor in-process background services to run on IHostedService #357
  • Use streams when reading image data from SQL #359
  • Refactor settings caching to make it simple #370
  • BUG: Valid emails are being rejected #367
  • BUG: PopForumsAuthorizationIgnoreAttribute doesn’t actually cause middleware to skip user hydration #376
  • BUG: GetUsersByPointTotals won’t serialize for caching #358
  • BUG: New PM incorrectly shows as “user not found” #360
  • BUG: URL ending in closing parentheses breaks links #375
  • BUG: Duplicate ForumsUserIDType claim being added to identity in SignalR hub #378
  • BUG: Sequence contains no elements exception thrown in middleware #379

Version v20.0.0 (12/8/23)

  • Allow option to rely entirely on 3rd-party OAuth2 and OIDC for sign-in #183
  • Vote up buttons need an interim state during call #334
  • Update ElasticKit to use v8.x #335
  • Updating to TypeScript 5.x requires accommodation of suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors deprecation #345
  • Animate notification and PM count so you see it #327
  • Reduce size of trimmed URL’s to fit in mobile situations #323
  • Delete queued email messages after send #145
  • Update to .NET v8 #348
  • Update Polly to v8.x (in ElasticKit) #352
  • Replace Moq with NSubstitute #340
  • User creation should be atomic with profile, not sourced in a controller #328
  • Refactor out the old FullUrlHelper #326
  • PopForumsUserAttribute needs to be refactored to async #347
  • BUG: Fix regex not escaping special characters #342
  • BUG: Close private chat if the other user is deleted #321
  • BUG: Chromium 114 causes element property name conflict #336
  • BUG: Associate external login failing #324
  • BUG: Load more before reply chokes when only one page of posts #319
  • BUG: Images uploaded in post edit are flagged for deletion #316

Version v19.0.2 (6/6/23)

  • BUG: Chromium 114 causes element property name conflict #336

Version v19.0.1 (1/29/23)

  • BUG: Images uploaded in edit are flagged for deletion #316
  • BUG: Load more before reply chokes when only one page of posts #319
  • BUG: Associate external login failing #324

Version v19.0.0 (10/9/22)

  • Image upload in posts #109
  • Create notification system #265
  • Change PM system to real-time chat #304
  • Refine post quoting to reduce full-post quotes #283
  • Clean up old notifications #298
  • Refresh and expand iconography #300
  • Migrate from email based subscriptions to in-app notification #264
  • Remove email subscriptions #276
  • Update PM count in real-time #275
  • New setting: reply-to email address #252
  • Offer view of recent users in admin for spam monitoring #258
  • Don’t show user profiles for unverified accounts #263
  • Include prompts to verify account where necessary #266
  • Allow vote up reversal #287
  • Use a reactive state box as base for new features #269
  • Remove composite activity feed #299
  • Use fulltext editor for profile signatures #291
  • Decommission email from profile #310
  • Add option to write error log to table storage #314
  • Refactor: Move all of the client stuff to the Mvc project, ditch the npm package #285
  • Refactor: Update MailKit library to v3.x #268
  • Refactor: Update ImageSharp library to v2.x #267
  • Refactor: Update TinyMCE library to v6.x #274
  • Refactor: DateTime parsing on client using server localization, with DST #188
  • Refactor: Create proper client-side localization mechanism #293
  • Refactor: Migrate old PopForums.js to a more manageable, not-spaghetti, TypeScript base #286
  • Refactor: Clean up on aisle admin #295
  • Refactor: Exclude bots from session tracking #301
  • Refactor: Signalr hub consolidation #312
  • BUG: New SqlCommand can’t parse setup script without semicolons #288
  • BUG: Scroll to newest misses target because of inline images loading #290
  • BUG: Infinite scroll repositions back to hash when more posts load #257
  • BUG: New topic or reply fails if using Azure queues and they fail #284

Version v18.0.2 (5/28/22)

  • BUG: Fix bug in newer version of SqlClient when running setup script. #288

Version v18.0.1 (1/8/22)

  • BUG: Fix auto scroll when new posts load. #257

Version 18.0.0 (11/8/21)

  • Update to .NET 6. #211
  • Migrate to Bootstrap v5. #215
  • Eliminate dependencies on jQuery. #216
  • Migrate admin to Vue.js v3. #232
  • Embrace C# concepts. #249
  • Use crop mode for avatars when they’re uploaded. #239
  • Update text parser to default to https on www URL’s. #248
  • Trim IP and email ban entries before saving. #222
  • Remove dependency on Newtonsoft serializer for controllers with enums. #247
  • Add a security policy. #238
  • Update AzureKit to use modern libraries. #226
  • Put a cache sink in Redis CacheHelper in AzureKit. #231
  • Update Redis CacheHelper to use System.Text.Json when it’s compatible. #169
  • Discontinue use of PopForums.json for config, use default instead. #225
  • BUG: Mailing list unsubscribe doesn’t decode spaces from URL’s. #237
  • BUG: CSS needs case sensitive path for Linux environments. #228
  • BUG: SmtpWrapper doesn’t catch connections or auth exceptions. #237
  • BUG: Bots causing null ref exception in TopicViewCountService when trying to fetch cookies. #210
  • BUG: Setup stopped working in a previous version. #244
  • BUG: Text parser fails on URL’s with multiples protocol instances (like those from web archive). #233

Version 17.0.2 (9/29/21)

  • Fix for broken setup bug. #244

Version 17.0.1 (4/4/21)

  • Fix for multiple image bug. #234

Version 17.0.0 (8/24/20)

  • Rename AwsKit project to ElasticKit. #184
  • Add alerts for admin errors. #152
  • Use the right Bootstrap color context on email verification. #195
  • Add configuration for entirely private forum. #86
  • Use the HTML quoting in post edit box instead of forum tags. #201
  • Generate site maps for all topics. #199
  • Audit CSS and use Bootstrap when possible. #186
  • Search for user on enter on admin user edit page. #194
  • Use hashing mechanism for topic unsubscribes, the way mailing list works. #189
  • Migrate to Microsoft.Azure.Storage packages from Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage. #182
  • Use Bootstrap hidden utilities to hide elements on mobile. #181
  • Move recent and feed links to navigation bar. #187
  • Embrace IHttpContextAccessor in user shim. #176
  • Add a telemetry interface for Redis cache, but don’t implement it. #185
  • Use contrasting colors for new post indicators. #179
  • Refresh user profiles. #174
  • Improve ElasticSearch for proper resiliency, add API key ability. #173
  • Log search service errors. #171
  • BUG: User profile tabs have wrong background for activity and awards. #172
  • BUG: Avatars and signatures not appearing for anonymous user. #197
  • BUG: Pasted URL’s paste as links, parser can’t shorten the text. #163
  • BUG: Formatting in quoted posts sometimes causes portions of post to get parsed out. #198
  • BUG: LastTopicView could have duplicate entries. #202

Version 16.0.1 (12/27/19)

  • BUG: Redis cache helper can’t serialize forum view/post graphs. #168

Version 16.0.0 (12/17/19)

  • Update to .Net Core v3.1. #151
  • Redis connection failures recorded as “information” instead of “error.” #162
  • Optimize user objects and caching. #44
  • Using “page” in routes can potentially interfere with Razor pages. #150
  • Close dormant threads on a background job. #67
  • Allow topic author to edit title. #80
  • Refactor all the things to async/await. #132
  • Refactor external logins to decouple from Identity (uses POP Identity). #140
  • Cleanup startup configuration. #129
  • Refactor the posting service classes. #121
  • Cleanup unused methods and tests. #133
  • Add unique constraints for user name and email. #144
  • Add ReCAPTCHA option for login. #143
  • Update to a stronger hash algorithm for passwords. #142
  • Reintroduce profile caching. #148
  • BUG: Failed reply doesn’t wire up error message and attempts to redirect. #160
  • BUG: Delete, undelete, hard delete doesn’t remove from search index. #154
  • BUG: Give background job to delete indexed words in self-rolled search more time. #149
  • BUG: Creation of Redis connection not thread safe, possible race condition. #135
  • BUG: Delete/undelete does not trigger a search reindex. #136
  • BUG: Search indexer Azure function does not respect settings for provider setting. #137
  • BUG: External login list has duplicate entries for description. #139

Version 15.0.0 (5/27/19)

  • General update of dependencies.
  • Rewrite of admin to use Vue.js. #120
  • Scaffolding for recording view data, correlating between users and topics (for future analytic use). #104
  • Optionally run background processes as Azure functions. #76
  • Social icons in profile. #119
  • Redis backplane for SingalR in multi-node hosting. #64
  • Migrated to Bootstrap v4.x. #94
  • Abandon decade-old constructors in models. #96
  • Remove first post preview from topic lists (no one used it). #97
  • Truncate error log instead of delete all. #103
  • Adopt Dapper usage in PopForums.Sql library. #105
  • Improve performance for IP history and security log. #106
  • Realign social links in profile to modern services. #107
  • Provide a standard way to fail distributed events. #117
  • Add support for ElasticSearch. #116
  • BUG: Over-zealous regex hangs unparse of client HTML. #118
  • BUG: Fix Favorite & Subscription Topic pages. #111
  • BUG: It’s possible to submit empty posts with just returns. #82
  • BUG: TinyMCE is mangling hyperlinks. #125
  • BUG: TinyMCE is inserting extra attributes in image tags, breaking parsing. #128

Version 14.1.0 (12/9/18)

  • Update to .Net Core v2.2.
  • General package updates.
  • Move all MVC views to a project that can be published as a Razor class library package.
  • Remove ability to resize images in TinyMCE editor, since attributes are ignored anyway.
  • Bug: for pager links in faves and subs (#90 and #91).

Version 14.0.0 (7/15/18)

  • This is a port of v13 to ASP.NET Core v2.1.0. It’s mostly intended to achieve feature parity.
  • Experimental AzureKit allows for multi-instance use and scaling.

Version 13.0.0 (2/14/15)

  • Completely revised UI uses Bootstrap, replaces separate mobile views.
  • New Q&A style forums.
  • Preview your posts for formatting.
  • Social logins using OWIN 2.x.
  • StructureMap replaces Ninject for dependency injection.
  • Admins can permanently delete a topic.
  • Facebook and Twitter links added to profiles.
  • IP ban works on partial matches.
  • Bug: Initial user creation didn’t salt passwords (Codeplex 131)
  • Bug: Replies not triggering reindex for topics (#4).
  • Bug: LastReadService often called from Post action of ForumController without user, throws null ref (#1).
  • Bug: Reply and quote buttons appear in posts even when the topic is closed (#8).
  • Bug: When email verify is on, changing email does not set IsApproved to false (#10).
  • Bug: Image controller throws when Googlebot sends a weird If-Modified-Since header (#13).
  • Bug: Reply or new topic can be added to archived forum via direct POST outside of UI (#15).
  • Bug: Multiple entries to last forum and topic view tables causing exception when reading values into dictionary (#17).
  • Experimental: Support for multiple instances in Azure with shared Redis cache (not production ready).

Version 12.1.0 (4/25/14)

  • Added Taiwanese Mandarin translation
  • Fixed HtmlHelper to remove reference to DependencyResolver. #122: HtmlHelper for role checkboxes referenced static DependencyResolver
  • Disable submit buttons on new topics/replies for mobile views. #121: Port the submit button disable for posts in mobile view
  • Fixed mobile view of edit doesn’t parse text for overridden mobile mode. #123: Mobile post edit view has HTML, save doesn’t persist line breaks

Version 12.0.0 (12/8/13)

  • Updated to use .NET 4.5.1 and MVC 5, including the latest library code (jQuery, SignalR, OWIN, etc.)
  • User passwords now include per-user salt, backward compatible to existing user data. #120: Salt passwords by user
  • External logins implemented via OWIN, for Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft accounts. #117:Integrate the OWIN external auth stuff
  • YouTube URL’s not formatted as hyperlinks converted to embedded video, provided images are allowed in posts. #116: Parse YouTube URL’s to convert into YouTube iframes
  • Controller dependencies converted to private members. #115: Refactor controller dependencies to private members

Version 11.1.0 (9/4/13)

  • Added Ukrainian to supported languages. Also includes English, Spanish, German and Dutch.
  • Fixed issue #115: Mobile view allows double post.

Version 11.0.1 (5/15/13)

  • Fix for issue #113: User can post in closed topic via mobile views.

Version 11.0.0 (4/17/13)

  • Updated to use v4.5 of .NET.
  • External references now use NuGet.
  • Adding an award definition in admin now bounces you to its edit page.
  • Fixed: Show more posts updates topic context with updated page counts.
  • Activities and awards restyled.
  • User profiles are tabbed.
  • Activity feed shows real-time view of activity sent via the scoring game API.
  • Times are updated every minute, formatted to current culture.
  • More posts are loaded on scroll (a la Facebook), but pager links are maintained for search engine discoverability.
  • New posts appear inline at end of post stream as they’re made.
  • Forum home and individual topic lists updated in real time.
  • Breadcrumb/navigation floats at top of browser.
  • .forumGrid CSS removes outline, so it’s more Metro-y.

Version 10.0.1 (9/15/12)

This update has no UI component or data changes. It only addresses the following bug:

  • ServiceModule has potential race condition in ASP.NET v4.5
  • A bug in the MVC 4 framework requires this package for mobile views: http://nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.FixedDisplayModes

Version 10.0.0 (8/16/12)

  • Uses a very light weight CSS and Javascript package to provide a touch-friendly interface for mobile devices.
  • Numbers are formatted (sensitive to culture) when 1,000 or higher.
  • CSS is more integration friendly, and specific to the ForumContainer element.
  • Mail delivery from queue is now parallel, so you can specify a sending interval, and the number of messages to process on each interval.
  • Background “services” refactored, and will only run with a call on app start to PopForumsActivation.StartServices(). This is partly to facilitate future use in Web farms/multiple Web roles in Azure.
  • Update to jQuery v1.7.1.
  • Replaced use of .live() with .on() in script, pursuant to jQuery update, which deprecates .live().
  • Renamed HomeController to ForumHomeController, to make lives easier when integrating into an MVC app.
  • Dependency resolution no longer requires that you set Ninject as the container for the entire MVC app. The controllers now resolve their dependencies in their constructors, so you’re free to set up any DI container in your global.asax.
  • The included single-server SQL data layer now uses the base classes and interfaces for (DbConnection, DbCommand, etc.) instead of the specific SQL flavors, for easier refactoring in case you want to build an Oracle version or something.
  • FIX: Bug in topic repository around caching keys for single-server data layer.
  • FIX: Pager links on recent topics pointed to incorrect route.
  • FIX: Deleting a post didn’t update last user/post time.
  • FIX: Ditched attempt at writing to event log with super failures, since almost no one has permission in production.
  • FIX: Bug in grayed-out fields in admin mail setup.
  • FIX: Weird color profiles would break loading of images for resize.
  • FIX: TOS text on account sign-up was double encoded.

Version 9.2.1 (1/26/12)

  • Added Spanish (es) translation.

Version 9.2.0 (1/23/12)

  • Localization: The app can be easily translated using .resx files. Initially includes English (en), German (de) and Dutch (nl).
  • Vote up posts: Give credit to people who make good posts, see who voted up each one.
  • The scoring game: Extensible system that allows you to give users points, and issue awards based on repeated events. For example, you can set up awards based on the number of new posts or topics a user makes (both of which are recorded).
  • Fix: Weird line breaks in lists when posting from Firefox.

Version 9.1.1 (12/18/11)

  • Corrects a bug that prevented a topic from being marked viewed when a user looked at it, resulting in “new post” indicators that didn’t go away until the user marked the entire forum as read.

Version 9.1.0 (12/15/11)

  • New “adapter” interface for forums. Using the IForumAdapter interface, a developer can plug-in code that alters the model and/or resulting view on topic lists and the actual threads. For example, you might add to or alter the model, then present a different view to display the data. See the comments on the IForumAdapter interface for more information.
  • Also new, users starting a reply will see a button indicating that they can load any new posts that have occurred since they started writing their apply, so they don’t miss any of the conversation.
  • Fix: Moderating topic title doesn’t update the UrlName.
  • SEO enhancement: Page links in topics and forums include rel=”next” and rel=”prev” to tell search engines there’s more to look at.
  • Fix: User post list had broken markup, preventing topic preview.
  • Fix: Added missing permission checking on action methods to preview or load individual posts.
  • User name in top nav now acts as a link to the user’s profile.
  • Fix: Cache key for caching view post roles was incorrect.

Version 9.0.0 (4/24/11)

  • Rewritten from scratch for ASP.NET MVC3, with reasonable test coverage
  • Posts can be loaded inline
  • Avatars and user images resized on server

Version 8.5.0 (not publicly released)

  • Added plug-in infrastructure to allow changes to UI. Made for photo forum on CoasterBuzz

Version 8.0.0 (11/10/08)

  • Added AJAX features, takes advantage of ASP.NET v3.5.

Version 7.5.1 (2/9/05)

  • Significantly altered the TextParser class
  • Changed text in RegisterLogin.ascx to indicate e-mail is used to send activation code
  • Topic titles now parsed for naughty words and HTML

Version 7.5.0 (10/25/04)

  • New text parsing engine
  • New online user engine
  • RichText control displays in Windows 2000
  • Fixed member post paging
  • Online user stats now draw from PopForums.OnlineUsers
  • Added RequiredFieldValidator to SendPrivateMessage.ascx to check for a subject
  • PM reply doesn’t add endless string of “re:”
  • Fixed PagerLinks.cs to correctly display tool tips
  • Added PagedPagerLinks.cs to display paged results from new PopForums.Forum.GetTopics() overload
  • Made the member mailer text box in the admin bigger
  • Can’t reply to closed topics, even if reply box was visible before submitting

Version 7.0.3 (1/24/04)

  • Fixed URL and image detection in TextParser.

Version 7.0.2 (11/11/03)

  • Updated the RichText class to make it compatible with a recent update to Internet Explorer.

Version 7.0.1 (11/4/03)

  • Removed license scheme to make POP Forums free.

Version 7.0.0 (10/22/03)

  • Total rewrite with separation of data, logic and user interface.
  • Several user interfaces available at launch.
  • Data caching can reduce database activity by 60% or more.
  • A RichText server control that renders in Internet Explorer.
  • Role-based security you can use anywhere on your site, based on ASP.NET’s forms authentication.
  • Discreet data class, so you can write your own to access any database. (SQL Server used by default.)
  • A TimeAdjust class to convert times to local time zones, and even adjust for daylight savings.
  • Text parsing engine takes care of HTML generated by RichText as well as traditional “forum code.”

Version 6.0.0 (7/1/02)

  • Original ASP application ported to ASP.NET.
  • Significant improvements to HTML parsing engine.
  • Forum exists as a user control, just drop it in your .aspx page!
  • E-mail notification for anyone who replies to a topic.
  • All-CSS interface shipped along side “admin-able” formatting.
  • Asynchronous mailing to opt-in members (no need to tie up your browser with mailing process).
  • Last post indicated by member name.
  • Scroll to new post bounces you to page with newest post.
  • Role-based security. Only those in certain roles can access or post in the forums you designate.
  • Robust forum property and ordering in admin area.
  • Error logging to database.

Version 5.1 (3/4/02)

  • New HTML/forum code parsing engine.

Version 5.0 (8/19/01)

  • Support for SQL Server Full-Text Indexing built-in for much faster searching.
  • WYSIWYG post editor for Internet Explorer users, normal for other browsers.
  • Favorite topic list.
  • Terms of Service agreement with first post, reset all members’ agreement.
  • Member post quotas, to limit “noisy” members.
  • Support for Persits and Dimac mail components.
  • Post preview.
  • “Jump to” added to topic and thread pages to jump to another forum.
  • Public stats shown optionally (number of sessions, topics, members, etc.)
  • Client-side form validation of new topics or replies to challenge empty fields.
  • Admin edit member accounts.
  • Recent topics shows links to multi-paged topics.
  • Error page for URL’s of deleted topics and forums.
  • Fixed edit page hang for long posts.
  • Search only returns private forum results to those who have access.
  • Removed “requires AspMail” from admin page.
  • Moderator IP view spans all pages in thread.
  • Manage e-mail notification page reformatted.
  • Double carriage returns now parsed as p tags.
  • Fixed CDONTS mailer for compatibility with settings of other components.
  • Fixed br unparsing with forum code off.

Version 4.0 (1/8/01)

  • Added support for CDO, CDONTS and AspQMail components.
  • Post new topic and reply links added to topic and thread pages.
  • COPPA check defeat.
  • Support for Spellchecker.net.
  • Scroll to newest post link.
  • Addition of pre and quote forum tags.
  • Paged threads. Posts per page are admin-defined. Links to each page appear in topic list.
  • Auto-login after first post.
  • AIM and ICQ hyperlinks in member info.
  • Non-logged-in forums indicates “register to track new posts.”
  • COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) compliance.
  • Moderators can view IP addresses of posters.
  • E-mail notification of new posts when member starts thread.
  • Member area to remove e-mail notification of new posts.
  • Opt-out or delete account option built into special URL sent with mass mailings to members.
  • Mail to friend now uses system e-mail contact as from address, member as replyto address (to handle SMTP authentication issues).
  • Moving lone topic from forum no longer results in an error.

Version 3.2 (11/12/00)

  • Included explanation of smilies in help file.

Version 3.1 (9/20/00)

  • One-click close/open/delete threads for moderators.
  • Parse ftp:// URL’s.
  • Post-and-close thread check box for moderators,
  • Next/previous thread.
  • Mail thread to a friend.
  • Recent topics.
  • Fixed left column text color in search results.

Version 3.0 (8/22/00)

  • Major rewrite of most code.
  • Dozens of files consolidated.
  • Made to be portable between systems.
  • Extensive administration area.
  • Custom formatting added to instantly change fonts, colors, etc.
  • Search engine added.
  • Private and archived forums added.

Version 2.0 (1/31/00)

  • Written for CoasterBuzz.
  • Cleaner format.
  • Forum off/on.
  • “Mark posts read” time stored in profile instead of browser.
  • Signature block added.
  • Profile photo upload added.

Version 1.0 (11/23/99)

  • Written for Guide to The Point.
  • Basic features only.

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