[eC] EnEsCe Corp

So while I wait for Soldat 1.5 to be packed, I have been working on some updates to PHP-Commander. For those of you who don’t know what that is: it’s the browser based Control Panel I use for game server hosting. Read full article for more information on that. I’m not going to give anymore estimates regarding release date for 1.5, lesson learnt. Back to good old:

“When its ready.”

In other unrelated news, its my birthday in 2 days. April 18th ^_^. Turning 20. Cant wait. Send me an email on the day if you wish :)

The upcoming PHP-Commander Control Panel update currently features mostly changes regarding the Billing/Invoice system. I expect to push this update to the live control panel at the same time as customer servers are upgraded to 2.6.4. That is currently scheduled for 2 days after Soldat 1.5.0 is released. Existing customers: the Terms of Service will also be updated so please take a moment to re-read them once this upgrade is live.

* Advanced Pay Periods
New and Existing customers will be able to choose how many months they wish to pay for in advance. Maximum is currently set to 6 months. This will save alot of hassle for certain customers. New orders will have an option in the Order Form for this, and existing customers will be able to modify their “Pay Period” only when an invoice has been generated (7 days before due date). You must have Javascript enabled when using the order form, otherwise certain elements wont work at all. Such as the price preview.

* New Invoice Layout & Public Linkable
The Invoice viewer and PayPal links have been redesigned to be alot more informative, dynamic, neat, and also no longer require you to be logged in to view/pay for an invoice. You must still know the Invoice ID. The printer version has also been updated with the new layout. See screenshots below

* MSN/Yahoo Notification Bot
As a side-project, I have been programming a chat bot for the MSN15 and Yahoo protocol; codenamed “Sierra”. To put it into action, I have integrated Sierra into PHP-Commander. Currently, Sierra will send you a message (even if you are offline) when an Invoice gets generated, and any other important account related messages. Some customers complained that they don’t check their email often enough, so this is the alternative. It was also my first attempt at using Spool methods for messages. Existing customers will be able to link their PHP-Commander account to a MSN/Yahoo address by visiting the “My Account” page. New orders will have an option in the Order Form.
If anyone has an idea on improving Sierra, leave a comment. To recap clearly, all Sierra currently does is sends notification for Invoices for both EU and US customers, even if you are offline at the time.

* More languages integrated
PHP-Commander will be able to be viewed in the following additional languages:
Swedish, German, Polish, French, Russian, Finnish, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, and Italian. Emails will only be available in Swedish, German, Polish.
English is included, durr.

* Improved File Manager
The File Manager is now properly integrated into the website style, and no longer has those annoying frame scroll bars when editing files or listing folders with lots of files.

* Multiple Game Support
To allow room for some future expansions, PHP-Commander will now be able to offer other games than Soldat. No further details about this are available at this time.

Invoice Layout Preview

The best thing about all this, is that all upgrades are completely free. Pricing has not changed for 3 years, despite all the awesome features of PHP-Commander that you will not find with ANY other host!

Thank you to everyone who has ever rented from me over the past 3+ years, and the donations. Without you, I would not have the resources or time to develop things such as the Script Core, Soldat Server, PHP-Commander, etc. You are contributing to keeping the Soldat community alive.

That’s all for now, folks. Oh also, bit late but happy Easter anyway.

As usual, please comment on anything regarding this article.

Isao Machii slices BB gun bullet in mid air with Samurai Sword. I found it quite amazing, check the related videos for his other “tests”