Easy Digital Downloads Version 1.0.8.3 Released

Version 1.0.8.3 was released late last night and brings a huge number of minor bug fixes, a couple of major bug fixes, some security improvements, and a couple of new shortcodes.

One of the big changes made is in the [downloads] shortcode that allows you to display a list or grid of your downloadable products. This shortcode has been in the plugin since version 1.0 but has never seen much light, as it needed major improvements.

Some of the changes / improvements are highlighted below.

[downloads] Shortcode

This shortcode can be used for outputting a list or grid of downloadable products, including thumbnails, titles, excerpts and purchase buttons. The shortcode has a variety of parameters, including ones for limiting the display to only downloads in specified categories and/or tags.

Documentation for this shortcode can be found here.

[download_discounts] Shortcode

The [download_discounts] shortcode can be used to output a list of all currently active discount codes. This would work very well for a “promotional” section of your site will you show all of the promotions you currently have running.

Improved Security

One of the more important updates we’ve made with EDD v1.0.8.3 is a significant improvement to the security of your download files. Anytime you upload a file to a product, it is stored in a special folder in your wp-content/uploads folder specific to Easy Digital Downloads. Prior to v1.0.8.3, the uploaded files just sat here and could be pretty easily accessed if someone knew the URL. Now, however, .htaccess files are generated for every sub folder within the EDD folder that blocks unauthorized users and prevents the folder from ever being browsed.

This should certainly help to mitigate the fears of anyone who is concerned about pirates getting their files without purchasing them.

Complete Change Log

There were a lot of changes and the complete list can be seen below:

* Added a default purchase receipt email that is used if no custom email has been defined
* Fixed a bug with the discount codes and their usage counts not getting recorded correctly
* Fixed a bug with the install script
* Fixed a problem with apostrophe encoding in the purchase summary sent to PayPal
* Added pagination to the download/sale log on download Edit screens
* Added new “edd_default_downloads_name” filter for changing the default singular and plural “download” labels used globally throughout the plugin
* Adding new span.edd-cart-item-separator to the cart widget and short code
* Added more support for the [downloads] short code, used to display a list or grid of digital products
* Moved load_plugin_textdomain to an “init” hook in order to work better with translation plugins
* Fixed a couple of undefined index errors
* Added option to send purchase receipt when manually marked a payment as complete
* Added new “edd_success_page_redirect” filter to the function that redirects a buyer to the success page
* Changed the default charset in the PayPal standard gateway to that of the website
* Added “Payment Method” to the “View Order Details” popup
* Made ajax enabled by default
* Reorganized the edd_complete_purchase() function to be more extensible
* Added new constant EDD_READ_FILE_MODE for defining how download files are delivered
* Added auto creation for .htaccess files in the uploads directory for EDD to help protect unauthorized file downloads
* Added Turkish language files
* Added detection for php.ini variables important to PayPal payment verification
* Added a new short code for showing a list of active discounts: [download_discounts]