Now that Simplenews 5.x-1.2 has been released I will get my hands dirty to release Simplenews for Drupal 6.

This is the current road map:
First a technical release for Drupal-6 will be available. A release with not too may changes in functionality and operation, but stable enough to run on Drupal-6.
Next I like to realize some of my plans with Simplenews. In short it is to improve the integration between Simplenews and the Drupal landscape that has dramatically changed since the release of Drupal-5.
Some of my wishes:
* Make Simplenews work with an arbitraty node-type. Any node type should be able to be a newsletter.
* Enable Simplenews for Views. At a minimum the newsletter status, type, etc. and should be available in Views.
* Enable Simplenews for Trigger
* Let Simplenews work with Token
* Use Simplenews with other mail_backends
Other thoughts:
* Reduce code size by breaking up the module in usable parts
* Better debugging tools
* Perhaps even make Simplenews send newsletters to a Views list of subscribers

I will update this issue with more and/or changed thoughts as things move along. Suggestions for other integrations are welcome. Any code is warmly welcomed!!

Comments

greggles’s picture

subscribing.

Also, this sounds a lot like subscriptions 2.x. Perhaps the projects could be merged and simplenews could become a UI (block, simplified hook_user integration) on top of the underlying subscriptions API. I believe some of the features from the roadmap are missing from Subscriptions, but I'd rather see people working together whenever possible.

Sutharsan’s picture

I agree that working together is good; I will look into subscriptions 2.x.

Sutharsan’s picture

A working version for Drupal-6 is committed to HEAD now. Suitable for testing, NOT for production sites. Further developement is in progress. See the TODO statements in the code for details.
Please report any with to the HEAD version in a separate issue. Keep this issue for vision and further discussion.

tomski777’s picture

Subscribing....

tcblack’s picture

subscribing

ccdoss’s picture

I'm interested as well...I really, really, really think there needs to be a confirmation request on the "Reset to defaults" button. I did a lot of work setting up my header and footer. Then, I was distracted by my wife and accidentally hit "Reset to defaults" instead of "Save Configuration", and it wiped out everything. Fortunately, I had a backup of most of it, but was still a pain in the neck.

greggles’s picture

@ccdoss - this issue is only about upgrading the module to Drupal6. Please don´t veer off course in your discussion of issues. Also, the problem you describe is a core bug that is documented here: http://drupal.org/node/196522

physiotek’s picture

subscribing

hound’s picture

subscribing

This is a critical release for me - I can't consider Drupal 6 for many sites unless there is a way to send newsletters!

gopherspidey’s picture

subscribing

What about bounced email handling. Ok may that should be a feature request.

tcblack’s picture

If possible I would love for simplenews not to send until published when using scheduler module.

Sutharsan’s picture

@all: no need to 'subscribe' in this issue queue. Development is on its way, but progress is slow. I'd rather have specific discussion on integration than a general 'subscribe' I am fully aware that many people are using Simplenews and therefore want it to be upgraded, but there is only one maintainer active to do the work.

@tcblack: from the description of scheduler "This module allows nodes to be published and unpublished on specified dates." Publishing is not the same as sending a newsletter. Simplenews will support actions. Any module that can trigger an action at a specific date or with a specific interval may be used to send newsletters.

Sutharsan’s picture

Development is still in progress, but the code is now mature enough for a 6.x-1-x-dev version.

What is there:
* Drupal 6 core compatibility (of course)
* CCK compatibility, arbitrary node types possible
* Actions and triggers integration
* New mail backend: works with core mail api
* Multilingual support. Requires Translation module

What is still to come:
* An interface for the new mail back-end to monitor the status of outgoing e-mails
* More actions
* Token integration
* Views integration

What I need from the community:
* testing, testing, testing

The mailing 'back-end' of simplenews is completely re-written. The new mail functions of Drupal 6 and the requests for debugging and send status informations where the main driving forces for this overhaul. Simplenews now uses a database buffer to store outgoing e-mails before sending.

Sutharsan’s picture

Just a short update.

Now added:
* An actions are available to send newsletters. A newsletter to a user. An action to sending a newsleter to all subscribers on a cron run is available but hindered by a possible core bug.
* Views is integrated. Newsletter send status is available to views.

Testing:
A number of people have started testing Simplenews and came with very valuable results and help. Many thanks for that.
But more testers are welcome! Especially on sending large numbers of emails.

MauMau’s picture

Version: 7.x-1.x-dev » 6.x-1.x-dev

Publishing is not the same as sending a newsletter. Simplenews will support actions. Any module that can trigger an action at a specific date or with a specific interval may be used to send newsletters.

The Scheduler Module is a rather useful module. It glues itself to the content types of your choice and publishes and unpublishes the node on the dates of your choice. You use for for news, blogs and - yes - newsletters.

It looks as if

function simplenews_mail_send

could be tweaked to say something alon the lines of

"If Scheduler Module exists and we use cron to send newsletters, grab the Publish On timestamp from the database. If (Publish On timestamp > time()) return;"

That is: no mail would get sent until after Publish On timestamp.

It looks like a simple and useful addition to the great simplenews module.

tcblack’s picture

I wish I could even begin to code a patch for this functionality, but I would be happy to test it.

Sutharsan’s picture

Status: Active » Closed (fixed)

With Simplenews 7.x on its way, it is time to close this 6.x roadmap.

miro_dietiker’s picture