In April we worked on:

  • Load Stock & Search & Update: Improved feedback during stock searches to reduce user confusion; locked the “Search & Update” button after clicking to ensure stability; automated updates to the “Reg Price” field for accurate pricing information.
  • Core Code: Optimised the codebase to improve performance and maintainability.
  • Association Portal: Added a flag to identify second-hand books for better categorisation.
  • Deals Interface: Implemented a responsive design for better accessibility on smaller screens; added features for marking deals as done or in progress; supported timezones; improved pagination, filters, sorting, and deal product views.
  • General Ledger: Implemented functionality to handle CREDIT & DEBIT special items; allowed for slight deviations in amounts when creating new transactions; developed handling for Non-Tracked Items and introduced a method to translate Shipping into the Ledger.

Housekeeping concentrated on:

  • Flaky Tests
  • Deprecate Feature Flags;
  • Switch to BETA
  • Node Version
  • CI Tests
  • Automated Test
  • Rails: Rails 6; Rails 6.1; Rails 4 Removal; Rails Gems; Rails Deprecation
  • Ruby 3.1
  • Core Code
  • Gems
  • Vue 3: Vue 3 Cypress Integration; Vue 3 Upgrade

New Features

  • General Ledger
    • We progressed on our new feature in development, implementing a functionality to handle CREDIT & DEBIT special items in General Ledger, ensuring accurate financial tracking and reporting for all transactions in our system. #187281523
    • We progressed in our new feature in development allowing for a slight deviation in amounts when creating new ledger transactions, accommodating rounding errors and enhancing accuracy in financial record-keeping. #187281516
    • We progressed in our new feature in development, handling the Non-Tracked Items while translating a Layby Invoice into the Ledger, and introducing a way to translate Shipping into the Ledger. #187158647
      • Credit Note
        • We progressed in our new feature in development, implementing a new feature to handle shipping refunds accurately when returning items, improving the financial management process and ensuring accurate ledger entries. #187281514

Improvements

  • Load Stock
    •  Search & Update
      • We enhanced the message displayed while metadata is being fetched during a stock search, providing clearer feedback to users and reducing confusion. This improvement enhances user experience during stock management tasks. #187436513
      • We applied a lock to the “Search & Update” button after it is clicked to prevent the user from spamming the request, his improvement prevents potential misuse and ensures the stability and reliability of the system. #187289897
    • We’ve enhanced the stock management system to automatically update the “Reg Price” field with data from external feeds, providing users with accurate and up-to-date pricing information. #186866363
  • Core Code
    • We optimised the codebase by removing legacy code from the update flow, refactoring the nesting command assign data method, and creating a generic method to define validation errors, improving maintainability and performance. #186992809 #187272095
  • Association Portal
    • Second-hand Books
      • We’ve enhanced the Association Portal by adding a flag to identify second-hand books, utilising the existing suffix system to improve book categorisation and organisation. #186337482
  • Deals Interface
    • We implemented a responsive interface for the Deals page, enhancing accessibility on smaller screens and improving user experience across devices. This enhancement improves usability and expands user reach. #187340784
    • We added a feature to enable member sites to mark deals as done or in progress, enhancing deal management capabilities and improving communication between team members. #187207632
    • We enhanced the deal interface to support timezones, allowing users to input and manage accurate date values, thus improving the accuracy and reliability of the system. #187244451
    • We improved the user interface to be responsive across all screen sizes and devices, enhancing the user experience and accessibility. #187340784
    • We improved our new interface on Vue3, allowing the users to delete deals and we added pagination to the interface, so users can now navigate through the records easily #187225863 #187268566
    • We improved the new interface by adding a filter, sorting, an edit form and view the Deal products in a new tab. #187274546 #187122802 #187207635
  • Category Mapping
    • We enhanced category mapping functionality by automating the process of moving the inbox items to their respective categories on the association’s site, improving efficiency and accuracy in categorising products. #187233835
  • Pre Orders
    • We extended the duration of the pre-order flag to remain on titles until their actual release date, preventing an early removal and improving visibility for upcoming releases. #187318069

Housekeeping & Upgrades

    • Flaky Tests
      • We addressed and fixed flaky tests, ensuring more reliable and accurate test results. This enhancement improves the reliability of our testing suite. #187181729
    • Deprecate Feature Flags
      • We deprecated the “Pre Order” feature flag, improving clarity and consistency in displaying pre-order information to users. This enhancement simplifies feature management and enhances user experience. #187345024
      • We streamlined the cash management process, enabling more efficient handling of cash-up data and journal entries in Xero. – #187275349
      • We completed the refactor of the Aged Receivable Report, improving its performance and maintainability by removing deprecated feature flags. #187275315
        The “Special Order Follow-up” and the “Circle Gift Card PDF Download” feature flags were deprecated. From now on, they are enabled for all bookshops. #187190188 #187190173
    • Switch to BETA
      • We updated the “Switch to BETA” link to BETA6 after completing the Rails6 migration, ensuring users are directed to the correct environment. This update enhances user experience and navigation. #187427958
    • Node Version
      • We upgraded the Node version used in our docker image and updated Vue dependencies, ensuring compatibility with our application’s latest features and security patches. #187344391
    • CI Tests
      • We improved our CI pipeline by adding timeouts to the jobs and we solved an issue with a test file breaking due to conflicts between two PRs on production, which ensures smooth testing and deployment of future changes. #187401769 #187393056
    • Automated Test
      • We resolved the issue causing a CI spec failure, ensuring the smooth execution of automated tests and maintaining the reliability of our codebase. #187307185
    • Rails
      • Rails 6
        • We successfully investigated and resolved the error related to the load stock page and we migrated the clockwork feature from the prod4 environment to the prod6 environment, ensuring smooth operations and maintenance in the future. #187321083 #187169506
      • Rails 6.1
        • We added Rails 6.1 to alpha as part of housekeeping, keeping the technology stack up-to-date and leveraging the latest features and improvements. #187191974
      • Rails 4 Removal
        • We eliminated Rails 4 configurations, Kubernetes configurations, Gemfile parts, and Docker Compose service, reducing technical complexity and enhancing maintainability. This simplification optimises system performance. #187430281
      • Rails Gems
        • We updated gems in test and dev groups as part of housekeeping, ensuring compatibility, security, and stability of the application. #187181577
    • Rails Deprecation
      • We fixed rendering issues related to deprecated naming conventions in Rails, ensuring compatibility with newer versions and maintaining code quality standards. The fixing is directly related to api/v1/circle_gift_cards API endpoint. #187096137
      • We addressed deprecated transaction block usage, ensuring compatibility with future versions of Rails and maintaining code quality and standards. #187095888
    • Ruby 3.1
      • We switched alpha6-1 to Ruby 3.1, ensuring compatibility with Rails 6.1.7.7 and improving system stability. This update enhances system performance and prepares for future updates. #187413155
      • We successfully addressed and fixed issues with controller tests, ensuring the reliability and accuracy of our application’s functionality. #187304003
    • Core Code
      • We’ve enhanced the organisation and efficiency of our core codebase, facilitating easier management and future development #187307556 #187281033
    • Gems
      • We updated the tinymce-rails gem to resolve compatibility issues with Ruby 3.1, enabling smoother upgrades and ensuring compatibility with the latest Ruby versions. #187224257
      • We successfully conducted a review of the prettyphoto-rails gem usage and removed it where unnecessary, optimising our application’s dependencies and improving efficiency. #186981980HousekeepingVue 3
      • We successfully refactored the Activate Physical Card Dialog to utilise our new provider pattern. We cleaned up redundant Zod types, optimising our Vue 3 codebase for better maintainability and performance. #187382765 #187361852
      • We improved type safety in Profile components and updated migration patterns, enhancing the stability and maintainability of the Vue 3 application. #187225245
      • We solved the issue by updating the Saas Agreement Editor queries to fit our new type patterns, ensuring compatibility with system updates, and verifying that the end-to-end tests are consistently passing. #187353475
      • Vue 3 Cypress Integration
        • We’ve improved our development workflow by setting up an Eslint checker and Github actions workflow for running Cypress integration tests in CI, enhancing code quality and stability. #186776827
  • Upgrades
      • Vue 3 Upgrade
        • We applied a new layout to the Promotions feature, ensuring consistency in layout patterns and enhancing visual coherence. This update improves user interface aesthetics and usability. #186938842
        • We refactored Sell Gift Card Queries to use update query patterns, improving query efficiency and maintainability. This enhancement strengthens backend performance. #187412980
        • We applied a new component to Self Onboarding, creating a consistent look across app features and improving visual coherence. This enhancement enhances user interface consistency. #187425598
        • We applied our reusable pagination component to the Lookup feature and the Deals page, enhancing navigation within the feature. This update improves user experience during data lookup operations. #187440344 #187388778

    See www.twitter.com/circlesupport for all changes including bug fixes.

    Some of the things we are currently working on:

      • Rails 7
      • Vue 3 Upgrade
      • Deals
      • General Ledger
      • Bug Fixes