Osclass continues to evolve with the release of version 8.0, bringing a fresh approach to versioning, security, child themes, and improved usability. This release marks a significant milestone, ensuring long-term development and continuous innovation.
New Versioning System – A Leap to 8.x.x
Osclass has transitioned from version 4.x to 8.x to eliminate confusion caused by multiple branches of version 4. This change also introduces a structured release cycle:
- Major Versions (8.1.x, 8.2.x...) – Released annually, focusing on long-term improvements and platform stability.
- Minor Versions (8.x.1, 8.x.2...) – Released more frequently, containing bug fixes, performance optimizations, and smaller feature updates.
The shift to version 8 represents the commitment to long-term development and support, ensuring Osclass remains a top-tier classifieds platform.
Locations v3.0 – A Complete Overhaul
The new locations database has been rebuilt from scratch to offer better coverage, structure, and performance.
Key Improvements:
- 3x more cities compared to locations v2.0.
- Four new countries added.
- Improved regional hierarchy and better city accuracy.
- Reduced maintenance complexity for future updates.
While locations v3.0 is a great enhancement for new installations, replacing an existing location set on a running Osclass site with thousands of listings remains challenging.
Security Enhancement – Rename oc-admin Folder
Administrators can now rename the oc-admin folder, improving security and preventing unauthorized access.
Why Rename oc-admin?
- Prevents automated attacks on the default admin path.
- Reduces exposure to brute-force login attempts.
- Hides the Osclass backoffice location from public visibility.
How to Rename oc-admin:
- In your file system, rename the
oc-admin folder to a unique name, e.g., Xa28Adm77.
- Open config.php and add the following line at the end:
define('OC_ADMIN_FOLDER', 'Xa28Adm77');
Enhanced Child Theme Functionality
Child themes have been improved to make customization easier:
- osc_current_web_theme_path and osc_current_web_theme_url now automatically check child theme folders, eliminating the need to update every file that references them.
- A new function, osc_current_web_theme_path_value, works similarly but returns the file path instead of the URL.
These enhancements make child themes more practical and easier to manage.
Improved Ban Rules Management
Ban rules now offer better control and usability:
- Pagination and search functionality added.
- Keyword search now works for names, emails, and IP addresses.
- Multiple email addresses can be added in a single ban rule, separated by commas.
- A new ban rules summary widget is available in the backoffice home page.
New Custom Field Types
Osclass 8.0 introduces new HTML5-based custom field types for better form validation and improved user experience:
- Phone – Uses the
tel input type.
- Email – Uses the
email input type.
- Color – Uses the
color input type.
- Number – Uses the
number input type.
The admin interface for managing custom fields has also been improved.
Additional Features & Enhancements
- Updated transliteration from Cyrillic to Latin for URLs.
- New widget: "Latest Product Updates" from OsclassPoint.com, displaying recent changes to themes and plugins.
- Configuration information page no longer calculates folder sizes by default, improving performance.
- Admins can now manually trigger detailed configuration scans when needed.
- New function: osc_theme_get_info($theme) retrieves theme information from its index.php file.
- Default alert listing count increased from 3 to 12.
- Category object added to extendData and extendDataSingle functions for easier category-based logic.
- A new "Changelog" menu item in the Tools section allows quick access to recent changes.
- Plugins available for update can now be easily listed in the Plugins section.
- Admin hook
admin_content_footer removed for performance improvements.
- Composer dependencies updated to their latest versions.
- Database table engines consolidated for better compatibility.
- Category IDs are now visible in oc-admin as tooltips and headers when editing categories.
- Updated copyright notices across all files.
- Function osc_user_phone now returns a user's primary mobile number first, falling back to a landline number if no mobile is set.
- Native location names are now available in the premium listings section without requiring theme modifications.
- Optimized minified CSS and JavaScript files are now automatically cleaned and refreshed when a theme is activated, a plugin is installed/uninstalled, or a plugin is activated/deactivated.
Upgrade to Osclass 8.0 Now
With a new versioning approach, better security, improved child theme functionality, enhanced ban rules, and numerous performance optimizations, Osclass 8.0 is a major step forward.
