Event Tickets with Ticket Scanner

2.9.4 – 2026-03-03

• Performance: Plugin options migrated from individual wp_options rows to a dedicated custom table — all settings now load in a single query instead of 150+ separate queries (#73)
• New: Options change history — tracks who changed which setting, when, with old and new values. Revert button to restore previous values. Keeps last 10 entries per option, older entries cleaned up automatically. Available in Options > Change History tab (#73)
• New: Context-Wizards — smart suggestions on the options page based on your current configuration. Detects related settings and offers to enable them with one click. Covers email attachments, scanner presets, ticket display, and security settings. Dismissals are per-user (#232)
• New: Export and import seating plan seats via CSV for backup, external editing, or transfer between plans (Premium) (#209)
• Fix: Old premium plugin (< 1.6.0 or without version constant) caused crash instead of being gracefully blocked
• Fix: Options migration is now abort-safe — if interrupted, it resumes on next page load instead of silently losing settings. Existing values are updated correctly on re-run.
• Fix: Database upgrade jobs now run before saving the new DB version, preventing incomplete upgrades from being marked as finished
• Fix: Premium or third-party upgrade hooks that throw exceptions are now caught and logged instead of causing an infinite crash loop
• Security: Activate global ticket counter brake to prevent free limit bypass via delete-and-recreate

2.9.3 – 2026-03-02

• New: “Check License” button — recheck premium license status on demand from Options page (next to serial field) and Support Info page. Shows status, last check, expiration, failure count.
• Improvement: Saving a serial key now immediately checks the license and shows the result inline. On success, the page reloads automatically so premium features are available without manual refresh.
• Improvement: “Check License Now” button bypasses the 7-day server cache to always get a fresh response
• Fix: Dismiss button for ticket format warnings did not work — two bugs: nonce parameter name mismatch, and wp_redirect() called during admin_notices (after output started). Dismiss handler now runs on admin_init.
• Fix: JavaScript error “cannot call methods on dialog prior to initialization” — closeDialog() tried to destroy all dialog elements on page instead of only the target dialog
• Fix: backend.js could be cached by browser across updates — jQuery.getScript() bypassed WordPress cache busting. Now uses file modification time as additional cache-buster parameter.
• New: Setup Wizard — multi-step dialog guides new users through use-case selection (Event tickets, Day passes, Memberships, Vouchers) and configures optimal settings automatically. Covers redemption rules, scanner behavior, email delivery (ICS, date, order view), and order processing. Premium users also get PDF attachment settings. Re-launchable via “Start Wizard” button.
• New: Premium Wizard — one-time dialog when premium is activated, offers to enable recommended premium defaults (PDF email attachment, merge into one PDF). Re-launchable via “Premium Wizard” button (only visible with premium). (#233)
• New: Export/Import options — backup and restore all plugin settings as JSON file
• New: “Max redeems per day” option per product — limit how many times a multi-redeem ticket can be redeemed on a single day (0 = unlimited, only total max applies)
• Improvement: “First Steps” onboarding box upgraded to interactive card with progress bar, auto-detection of completed steps, and action buttons
• Improvement: Code generation now uses date-based prefix (encoded as 5 letters) to partition address space — virtually eliminates collisions even with short code formats
• Improvement: Increased code generation retry limit from 100 to 500 attempts
• Improvement: Ticket detail view now shows WooCommerce order status, billing email, product name, and variation attributes
• Improvement: Support Info — options list is now hidden behind a button click to reduce page load clutter
• Improvement: Bulk action dropdown now shows a message when no tickets are selected
• Improvement: AJAX calls now properly handle network-level errors (timeout, connection lost)
• Improvement: Cart input fields (name per ticket, restriction code) now auto-save on Enter key (#234)
• New: Auto-update dialog — after entering a serial key with an outdated premium plugin, automatically checks for updates and offers to install them. Shows release notes for users without an active subscription.
• Fix: Value-per-ticket dropdown in cart never saved — selector targeted wrong element type and attribute (#234)
• Fix: Options in-memory cache corruption in _setOptionValuesByKey() — variable name collision caused stale/incorrect values within the same request
• Fix: Restriction code input in cart crashed on PHP 8.x due to wrong constant name case (META_KEY_CODELIST_RESTRICTION_order_item → _ORDER_ITEM)
• Fix: False “Ticket format exhausted” warning when free version ticket limit (32) was reached — #208 exception was incorrectly triggering format warning on first attempt
• Fix: clearFormatWarning() never actually cleared warnings — editList() was called with wrong signature, exception silently caught
• Fix: “Edit list” link in format warning notice and email pointed to non-existent admin page
• Fix: Import options failed silently due to WordPress wp_magic_quotes escaping JSON — now handled via stripslashes
• Fix: Product meta save could trigger PHP warning for undefined array key due to operator precedence bug
• Fix: Admin ping timeout (e.g. when browser tab is frozen) no longer shows repeated error dialogs
• Fix: Typo in displayFirstStepsHelp option description (“activet” → “activated”)

2.9.2 – 2026-02-23

• Fix: Format warning data (attempts, last_email) was never persisted — editList() called with wrong signature and would auto-clear warnings

2.9.1 – 2026-02-23

• Fix: Crash during checkout when format warning check runs (undefined method _json_encode_with_error_handling)

2.9.0 – 2026-02-23

• Fix: Crash on PHP 8.x when plugin loading order puts basic before premium (e.g. after auto-update) — now defers premium loading via plugins_loaded hook
• Fix: Crash in get_expiration() on PHP 8.x when license data contains invalid JSON
• New: Old premium versions (< 1.6.0) are now gracefully blocked instead of causing fatal errors — site runs as free with admin warning
• New: Serial key field shown in basic plugin settings when old premium is detected, so users can still manage their license
• Improvement: License check now properly throttles retries when serial key is invalid, preventing excessive server calls
• Improvement: Changing the serial key now immediately triggers a fresh license check instead of waiting for the next cycle
• Fix: Invalid serial key no longer causes license check on every page load
• Fix: All non-German translations (NL, ES, IT, PT_BR, PT_PT, HU, JA, ZH_CN) replaced with proper localized translations — previously contained German text
• Fix: Renewal and reactivation links in admin notices pointed to wrong URL
• Fix: Ticket redemption blocking (“deny redeem before event start”) was off by the GMT offset for non-UTC timezones

2.8.10 – 2026-02-18

• Fix: Premium license recovery — license revalidation now runs even when local license data is stale, preventing permanent premium lockout
• Fix: Stale “notvalid” flag is now cleared when the license server confirms a valid subscription

2.8.8 – 2026-02-18

• Fix: Option “No login required to access scanner” (wcTicketScannerAllowedRoles) now works correctly again for non-authenticated users
• Fix: PHP 8.4 compatibility — explicit nullable type hints for deprecated implicit nullable parameters
• Improved: Updated translations for all 11 languages (DE, ES, FR, HU, IT, JA, NL, PT-BR, PT-PT, ZH) with 16 new strings from v2.8.6 and v2.8.7 (PWA, scanner options, format warnings)
• New: Ticket scanner shows timestamp of last scan for better tracking
• New: Admin notice when PHP version is below the required 8.1
• Improved: Corrected library version display in system info (FPDF 1.85, Twig PHP requirement note)

2.8.7 – 2026-02-16

• New: PWA (Progressive Web App) support — install the ticket scanner as a home screen app on mobile devices (optional, enable in settings)
• New: Fullscreen mode button for the ticket scanner — immersive scanning without browser chrome
• New: Haptic feedback (vibration) on scan result — different patterns for success and failure
• New: Customizable scanner theme color — affects PWA status bar, loading spinner, and scanner buttons
• New: Expanded FAQ with 7 categories and 21 questions covering scanner setup, PDF design, WooCommerce, webhooks, and more
• Improved: Scanner HTML now uses proper DOCTYPE, charset, and viewport meta tags
• Improved: Scanner assets (JS libraries, CSS, images) cached by service worker for faster loading
• Security: Hardened premium license revalidation with independent subscription verification
• Security: Added HMAC checksum protection against license data tampering in database
• Fix: Resolved infinite recursion during plugin initialization when premium plugin is active
• Fix: Translation loading no longer triggers WordPress 6.7+ “too early” notice
• Fix: License checksum verification now stable across CLI and web contexts
• Fix: License server response now correctly overrides local data (fixed array_merge order)
• Fix: API connection failures are now tracked; premium deactivates after 5 consecutive failures
• Fix: Admin page loads now trigger license check if last check was >24h ago (cron fallback)
• Fix: License key input field now always visible when premium plugin is installed

2.8.6 – 2026-02-11

• New: Full bleed mode option for ticket designer — removes ALL margins for edge-to-edge background images.
• New: Separate full bleed option for test ticket designer.
• New: Ticket background color option — set a custom background color for PDF tickets, badges, and flyers.
• New: Ticket number format exhaustion warning — alerts admin when ticket format is running out of combinations (counter-based detection).
• New: Automatic email notifications when ticket format reaches 50% capacity or is exhausted (once per day).
• New: Admin notice with dismiss button for format warnings, includes direct link to edit ticket list.
• New: Format warning auto-clears when ticket list is manually saved (user likely adjusted formatter).
• Security: Fixed unauthenticated REST endpoint that exposed admin dispatcher (CVSS 9 — reported by Patchstack).
• Security: REST permission callback now requires authentication (login or authtoken) by default.
• Security: Added capability guards for sensitive admin actions (defense in depth).
• Security: Removed wp_rest nonce fallback from admin action handler.

2.8.5 – 2026-01-26

• Fix: Fatal error on non-premium installations when SASO_EVENTTICKETS_PREMIUM_PLUGIN_VERSION constant is undefined.
• Improved: VollstartValidatorDebug URL parameter now passed through to AJAX requests for easier debugging.

2.8.4 – 2026-01-26

• New: Seating plan visualization in ticket scanner — view venue map with highlighted seat position.
• New: Option to enable/disable seating plan button in scanner.
• New: Option to enable/disable venue image button in scanner.
• Improved: Seating plan data loaded on demand (lazy loading) for better scanner performance.
• New: Shortcode parameter order_id for [sasoEventTicketsValidator_code] to display tickets from a specific order.
• New: Shortcode [sasoEventTicketsValidator_ticket_detail] to display ticket detail view on any page.
• Fix: Date localization now correctly displays translated month/day names while maintaining correct timezone handling.
• Fix: Fatal error in removeUsedInformationFromCode() when changing order status.

2.8.3 – 2026-01-22

• New: Seating Designer — Element rotation (0-359°) with preset buttons.
• New: Seating Designer — Group rotation (rotate multiple selected elements around their common center).
• New: Seating Designer — Bulk property editing when multiple elements are selected.
• New: Seating Designer — Duplicate selection for groups (copy multiple elements at once).
• New: Seating Designer — Enhanced visual feedback for multi-selected elements.
• Improved: Seating API now uses unified bulk operations for better performance.
• Fix: PDF QR code compatibility with third-party FPDI libraries.
• Fix: Event times displayed incorrectly due to double timezone conversion in ticket templates.

2.8.2 – 2026-01-21

• New: Clone/duplicate seating plans with all seats and layout.
• New: Batch operations for seats (activate, deactivate, delete multiple seats at once).
• New: Premium subscription expiration check with admin warnings and grace period.
• New: Lifetime license support.
• New: Delete All Tickets button on ticket list with double confirmation.
• New: Shortcode parameter download_all_pdf for downloading all user tickets as one PDF.
• New: Safety check when deleting ticket lists — warns if list is still assigned to products.
• Fix: Restored deprecated methods for backward compatibility with older premium plugin versions.

2.8.1 – 2026-01-20

• Fix: PHP 8.4 compatibility — explicit nullable type for REST API parameter.

2.8.0 – 2026-01-20

• New: Interactive seating plan designer with drag & drop editor for creating venue layouts.
• New: Let customers choose their seats during checkout with visual seat selection.
• New: Seat information displayed on PDF tickets, in emails, and in the ticket scanner.
• New: Automatic seat blocking during checkout with configurable timeout.
• New: Seat release on order cancel or refund.
• New: Seating plan support on shop/archive pages.
• New: Voice output for the ticket scanner.
• Improved: Security checks for admin area access.
• Improved: Public ticket number now displayed in emails instead of internal ticket number.
• Fix: Ticket list description slashes.
• Fix: Customer search in admin backend.