SuiteCRM 8 - Q & A

my 2cts … until you will see a production ready system with a certain level of completness and stability when it comes to concepts and implementation it will be 2022 or 2023. Currently there is a first alpha release. No coding has been released and there are significant tasks ahead. Starting from basics in gettings things like a basic list view ready, then edit views and record views. Making the cokplete thing customizuable and configurable. Making it extendible. Testing and proofing t. Porting all current features.

I might be wrong but lets see what reality will bring.

Hi peeps!

That’s more Q & As added the original post. Keep asking questions as it helps others in the community have a clearer picture of what to expect in the coming months!

Just to follow up on a few other points.


@christianknoll

For the charts we have on the roadmap to support filters and the full record set (unfiltered). The Alpha Preview II did not include both.


@cherub-chum

Thanks for the suggestion. We are currently using CDK tables following a reactive design with the data provided separately via API. Noted the loader does appear to look like loading the full page, but in fact it is loading only data – something we have raised with the development team to resolve in the future sprints.

Regards to the PDF library, as part of this whole exercise and development is reviewing the current libraries we have and identifying how and what needs to be upgraded, dropped or added. I’ve noted down the word doc generation.


@Watt_Wing

It always comes down to the phrase “it often depends”. In a SuiteCRM project I would recommend making a call based on how heavily customised is the system. Are there alot of the front end customisations i.e. javascript injections, new radical views etc. If they are, then since SuiteCRM 8 will be focusing on that then potentially it would be best to wait at least to see how much needs to be adapted (from a beta or release candidate release) . You will also have to potentially consider the learning curve of a new language to best utilise the new framework so in my suggestion would be that you work with what you have, whether this is SuiteCRM 7, and trickle into your future schedule POCs on the newer framework and review at certain milestones i.e. pre-production release, launch, and post launch.

Regards to the backend customisations those customisations will be more likely take minimal effort to upgrade so that would be another win to just get started on SuiteCRM 7 and easily transfer over when your team are ready to SuiteCRM 8 based on the review points of the project.

Of course we will always be here to help our users to migrate, as said earlier, with as much direct input as possible :slight_smile:


@christianknoll

Of course there are many tasks ahead, but we are loving the challenge. Since we are open source and thus collaborative there may be smaller delays but these delays are to be expected as they represent the review and influence that our community has on the software development cycle. If we didn’t take on board our members comments, then we would just be source available not open source.


Thanks again everyone for your comments and interaction on this thread. :smiley:

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can you point us towards the repository where the alpha code is maintained? In the sense of open source that woudl be very interesting.

PS: there are several other Open Source CRM solutions as well … :slight_smile: … some also built using SugarCRM and Angular … :slight_smile:

I know one, but I wouldn’t go near it… costs a bunch of money, their Community is so dead that they go out posting on the Forums of other CRM’s, whining about the fact that this project doesn’t follow the strategy options and the community management that didn’t work for them… :man_shrugging:

Q: Where is the public repository? Where will it be hosted?

We are still ironing out certain fundamental aspects and POCs (proof of concepts) before publishing our code to our GitHub repo. We plan to publicly release the codebase in our beta phases.

I would like to bring to your attention that we have already stated that we will supply the source code at the beta release. Whether the code is released in alpha, beta, release candidate or at another milestone the key aspect of “open” in open source software is the ability to collaborate, not that the code was available from conception.

I would like to also address to our community in that we have had to take action against a particular user of our forums ( I wouldn’t describe this user as a member of our community) for violating our code of conduct. We have always acted in good faith with other communities by being relatively community agnostic since we do maintain a large and active project. But unfortunately it has come to light that some other communities have taken advantage of our good will and purposely, and repetitively, antagonised the efforts of our team for their own agenda.

Here at SuiteCRM we always encourage constructive feedback, including comparisons to other projects, but when the intent is to consciously detract from the project , especially in order to benefit them, rather than seek to help improve then that becomes a problem that affects the morale of our community.

But thankfully these incidences are rare as we have such a wonderful array of community members all being respectful to each other and helping out. Big shout out to our members that understand what we are all here for and in making this an enjoyable place to converse :heart:

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Thank you for your answers, @samus-aran
Maybe we could feed the FAQ with a little set of questions.

Will SuiteCRM 8.0 have… ??

  • An encrypted native field type to work with sensitive information that is needed to be saved protected
    (related info)

  • A native way to save a file server path (URL field type not work with them). I mean, a field where you can save something like “\myfileserver\folderA\file123.docx” and it becomes in a clickable link to a file that opens Microsoft Word… or maybe save something like “\myfileserver\folderB” and it becames in a clickable link that opens “Windows Explorer” in that specific or folder.

  • A native field type to work in the same way as the multi-email in contacts (related info)

More questions to come in the future… hehehe :slight_smile:
Thanks!

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Any update on the Alpha preview III? https://suitecrm.com/suitecrm-roadmap/ mentions 15 Oct 2020.

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Glad to hear today that SuiteCRM 8 Alpha III is out for preview.

One thing that immediately caught me is that Is the Quick Create Menu on TOP RIGHT Configurable? In Existing versions its hard coded into TPLs which is very bad as if you disable the module, the Create Option is still there.

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Hi! Is url the same https://alpha.suiteondemand.com/ ?
I have got 404.

You can complete the form for access the third SuiteCRM 8 Alpha Preview

Then, you’ll recieve the new link :+1:

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I read somewhere that Alpha III is going to be in 2 versions a and b?? what are the updated timelines for the releases as alpha 3 was delayed from Oct1 to 15 and then released on 19 October.

When can we expect beta 1 for testing??

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Will change in core include improvements in upload/management of files like configure some directory structure based on modules or new directory create based on month etc?

Hey @Dale !
I’m a dev resposnible for customizations and new functionality of SuiteCRM in my company.
I had a glance and alpha preview and I love what you guys are doing.
That being said, I’m curious if you have any detailed information on ETA of 8?
I looked at roadmap and any threads I could find in Google but didn’t find any specifics there apart from 2020, Q4.
I expect that it might be delayed due to what’s been going on this year in the world?
Any answer is welcome.

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As you said SuiteCRM 8 UI will be based on Angular to make it a more linear and simplified approach. I want to know, how will it be compared to SpiceCRM’s Lightning Design System? Since both are going to base on Angular.

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Are there any plans on making SuiteCRM more accessible? Many of the colors used in the theme do not pass WCAG AA standards (1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA)). Users with low vision may have difficulties using it. There are other issues such as form tags without proper labels ( 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)) and headings that aren’t defined by heading tags. ( 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (Level AA)). Some governments are starting to enforce that websites become compliant. For most case, it’s only public accessible websites however in the future it most likely will extend to websites behind a login. It’s also just a good thing to do to make sure all users can use the CRM.

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When will Suitecrm 8 be fully launched? Is there more previews after Alpha Preview III (Phase 2)?
Will Kanban/Board View be available in the final product?

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Kanban can’t come soon enough-- that’s for sure. I’m really looking forward to that feature as well. :ok_hand:

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Hi,

will be version 8 using PDO ( Doctrine ORM) and will be possible to use other databases such as Postgresql?

Thanks

In the Covid, I think SuiteCRM 8 should integrate with social network and chat for collaboration in the business. Thanks

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Does MS SQL compatibility completely dropped out of stack?

Database

MariaDB 10.1+

MySQL 5.6, 5.7, 8