Every OpenSource CMS lives from it's community. So does Mambo. Many people are developing extras for MOS like guestbooks, forums, newsletters and many other nice things. In today's article we take a deeper look on how MOS 4.5 handles things.

Components un-/install

The new version 4.5 will handle components pretty much like the old version execept for two features, which are absolutely new. The first one is the badly needed uninstall feature for Components. This makes it easy to add and remove things. Another feature is very handy for developers. Components can integrate links into the admin menu.

New Components

When comparing the components menu and the above listing you might notice, that Contact and Newsflash have changed to real modules while Banners and Weblinks are still hardcoded. Maybe this changes one day and all components are getting real components.

Modules un-/install

Nearly the same as above applies to the new Modules screen, where modules can easily be installed and uninstalled if the webmaster wishes. Adding links to the admin menu structure is also possible.

Manage Modules

On a separate screen it is possible to manage the position of the module block. The following screen shows the overview screen where all modules are listed, which currently run on your site.

Edit Module details

After clicking the edit or new button you will come to the edit screen. As you can see it is possible now to choose for every module on which pages it should appear on the site. Also you can choose the blocks title, position, order and access level.

Conclusion

Some things have been changed and thats very positive. What's still left is an upload feature for modules and components. Maybe this will be implemented in the final release. it also would be very nice if all components are real components, which can be uninstalled or exchanged with a rewritten version. We will see, what the final version brings...