Over the past couple of months, the FS Code team has been working for a lofty cause. The aim was to lay the groundwork for the future development of Booknetic and at the same time solve the current problems as well as make our customers happy with new features. And finally, that day has come. So, we can proudly say that - We did it! The alpha version of Booknetic V3 has been released for all our customers participating in the alpha stage. In this post, we have compiled everything you need to know about the new version of Booknetic.
What has changed in the new version?
If we give a brief overview of what has changed in the new version, we can say Everything! :) Booknetic has been re-coded in a more professional way so that its further improvement will be much cozier. First and foremost, the core of the system has been totally changed and made faster.
We separated some of the built-in modules as add-ons. So some of our current features: Reports, Coupons, Giftcards, Taxes, Email notifications, SMS Notifications, WhatsApp notifications, Customer panel, Custom Forms, Google Calendar, Invoices, Paypal, Stripe, Square, Mollie, and WooCommerce payment gateways, as well as Zoom, have all become optional add-ons, so you can oversimplify your process by deactivating add-ons you don't use.
You can be sure that this will have a positive effect on performance. Installing and uninstalling these addons is now a super simply one-click process through the BooStore - A new marketplace for Booknetic add-ons. Also, we have added a new module - Workflow builder. So you can now prepare your own workflows so that you can send notifications to the relevant people who need to receive these notifications.
However, the purpose of workflows is not limited to notifications. You can also create many combinations and automate your workflow. All features available in the notifications have been made compatible with the Workflow module. The entire automation process, including notifications and other features, will now be done through this module.
If you have purchased Booknetic before the V3 release, then all the addons which used to be serving at V2 will be added to your library for free.
How to properly update?
Just before updating, do not forget to take a backup of your site for contingencies. This will ensure that your data is protected in case of any unfortunate situations. Please update after making sure you took the backup of the following files:
- Database SQL Backup;
- Booknetic Data Export;
- Booknetic folder in Plugins.
BooStore - New Marketplace for Booknetic Add-ons
As the name suggests, BooStore is a marketplace. Here you will find various add-ons (features, integrations, options, and more) for Booknetic. Since the engine of Booknetic has changed completely, the existence of such a marketplace has been created, and preparing a feature for Booknetic is now even easier than you think! Although every new feature we added to our plugin in the past made our customers happy, it was a fact that we could not deny that it also slowed down the plugin.
Because every new feature was added to the core of the system and this is a standalone reason for a slowing down of the system. But the fact is that this problem is now history! Now Booknetic is entering a new era. In the near future, only add-ons prepared by our company will be published on BooStore.
However, in the future, developers from around the world will be able to prepare add-ons for Booknetic and they will have an opportunity to sell these add-ons on BooStore. Also, we would like to let you know that, if you have purchased the Booknetic before the V3 version, you will not need to purchase these add-ons again. These add-ons will be automatically added to your Library. Only new customers will need to purchase desired add-ons.
Workflow module
Workflow is a great feature where you can easily do all your automating actions. By creating various combinations in this module, you can make a certain action happen in a certain situation. This module has been prepared perfectly and this feature, which is magnificent even in its current form, contains a lot of potential for the future.
Email notifications, SMS notifications, and WhatsApp notifications will be sent through the Workflow from now. Another advantage of this feature is that the notifications are not limited to the customer and staff only. It is possible to send notifications to the desired people other than the staff and the customer.
The combinations you create are entirely up to you. For example, you can even create a combination like this:
When: New booking
Do this: Send Email and Send SMS Message and Send WhatsApp Message and Send Telegram Message
To: Customer and Staff and Website admin and Emails and phone numbers in custom forms
Any imaginable combinations are possible in our Workflow module.
All the filtering options for notifications are still available in the Workflow module. Also, the "Any locale" selection has been added as language filtering, which protects sending notifications against possible misconfiguration.
Taxes
The Taxes feature is now an add-on on its own and includes many features. So now you can create a tax and assign it to more than one of your services. At the same time, creating a tax and assigning it to a location will ensure that tax is added for all your services in those locations. Besides all of these, you will now be able to add multiple taxes for a service or location.
Custom Status
Custom Status add-on, allows you to create appointment statuses according to your wishes. The icon, color, title, and whether it occupies a timeslot in the booking calendar can be adjusted. Now you can create custom statuses according to your wishes, change existing statuses and take full advantage of the concept of customization.
Telegram action for Workflows
Using this add-on will instantly inform you about the appointments or actions via the Telegram Bot. This add-on is created for use with the Workflow module. Telegram Bot will be able to send you documents as well. It is possible to use all the automatization features of the Workflow module with Telegram action. By setting staff, service, location filters, you can set certain notifications to be sent only in certain situations.
Amazon SNS for Workflow
You can use this addon to send automatic SMS notifications to relevant people. While notifications are sent to your staff members and customers, they can also be sent to other people if you wish. You can use all the automatization features of the Workflow module with SMS action. By setting staff, service, location filters, you can set certain notifications to be sent only in certain situations. You can send notifications to your customers in the language they use on your site. To use the service, you need to register via Amazon Simple Notification Service.
Google Calendar Events on Booknetic Calendar
As you know, our Google Calendar integration was working with two-way sync. Appointments made in Booknetic were directly visible in Google Calendar, and at the same time, events added via Google Calendar were occupying the timeslot in Booknetic. However, there was no feature that made it appear visually in Booknetic for Google Calendar events. Now there is! Events that you add via Google Calendar will now appear visually in Booknetic Calendar.
Changes on Custom Forms
- Added two new input types: Email and Phone - Notifications can be sent to the emails and numbers you collect with these forms.
- Added an ability to select Custom field in the New Appointment modal - While it was possible to add custom form information when editing an appointment in the past, this was not possible when creating a new appointment. It's possible now!
Changes on Coupons
- Added the Coupons tab to the Appointment Info - Coupons can now be added to appointments manually.
- Added an ability to select/delete/edit coupons in the New Appointment and Edit Appointment modal - You will be able to use coupon options both when editing the appointment and when you create a new appointment.
Minor changes
- Added a new modal for Customer info - It is now possible to view customer information without editing!
- Added an ability to add Notes for Appointments - Now, when creating a manual appointment, you have the opportunity to add notes for this appointment only.
- Added an ability to export payments in the Payments module - It is now possible to export payments in CSV format.
Changes on shortcodes
{appointment_date_client} - Showing the time data to the customer according to the customer timezone;
{appointment_date_time_client} - Showing the date and time data to the customer according to the customer timezone;
{appointment_start_time_client} - Showing the start time of appointment data to the customer according to the customer timezone;
{appointment_end_time_client} - Showing the end time of appointment data to the customer according to the customer timezone;
{add_to_google_calendar_link} - Showing the “Add to Google Calendar” link to the customer. Customers will be able to add an appointment to their own Google Calendar.
{coupon_code} - Showing the coupon code;
{giftcard_code} - Showing the giftcard code;
{zoom_meeting_host_url} - Showing the Zoom Meeting URL according to the host.
Others:
Almost all the problems attending in Booknetic V2 have found their solution in Booknetic V3! We also would like to inform you, all the problems we encounter during the alpha testing stage will also be quickly resolved meantime.
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Booknetic is a simple yet powerful plugin for accepting online bookings & payments on your WordPress site.