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The New WHMCS Module - Issues & Feedback
Problem reported by Chris Danks - 7/6/2023 at 4:49 AM
Submitted
HI
I today downloaded the new Smartermail WHMCS module and i'm using the latest smartermail released the very end of June.

Its quit clear to me that this hasn't been tested by Smartertools and has that budget offshore development feel to it.

1. when you go to configure the addon you'll see this:

We're not using WHM/cPanel so I don't see why this is here?

2. I configured the domains path on addons > smartermaIl > add server yet when I create a package it asks again for the domain folder path?

3.  the 0 = unlimited does not work for example:

this would produce this error when creating an account:

changing the limits from 0 to ie 10 will work.

3. Client area feedback


a. I would remove add user/add aliases from the left as an add option already exists on the manage users/alias
b. Login to webmail should load in a new window rather than the same windows.
c. if just one user exists and they clicked delete it give a success messages, it doesn't actually delete it though which i assume would break the domain.
d. the add user page could look more friendly and maybe show @domain automatically after the username box.
e. same goes for add user alias, its just not very nice looking and doesn't look user friendly to the typical user who wants an email account.

4 Replies

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3
Derek Curtis Replied
Employee Post
Chris,
 
You've been around long enough to know how insulting your "offshore development" statement is. In the future, anything like that will not get a response or the post may get deleted.
 
As you know, we do ALL of our own development. The module is functional. You may not agree with how it looks, but much of that depends on WHMCS and its templated system which restricts what we can and can’t do. In our testing, the unlimited settings worked as did deletions, so contact support so we can help get you the best results.
 
As for the Add User/Add Alias, we debated keeping those or removing them. We decided to keep them as they're a quick way to add new users and aliases versus using the Manage area.
 
Regarding "user friendliness", the module was built for domain administrators. As a result, a certain level of knowledge is expected -- if you're given the responsibility of managing a domain, you should be able to do just that, and part of that is know how certain things work.
 
Finally, the module was released under MIT Open Source licensing. So, anyone can take the code and modify it to their heart's content. If you can do better, we've given YOU a template. 
Derek Curtis COO SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com
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Chris Danks Replied
Derek,

I am sorry if my post felt insulating this was not my intention and I apologist to you sincerely for making you feel that way.

I get the statement about domain administrators and for someone like myself I could cope with this, I just like to always put the end user in mind and the UI for smartermail is probably the best out there and my expections of smartertools is really high and it just felt a little disappointing that the same efforts were not in the WHMCS module. 

Do smartertools plan to change this new WHMCS module in the near future?

I would also recommend considering reaching out to https://www.modulesgarden.com/ and see if its a module they would consider developing as they would sell the module too which would pay towards its future development.

1
Employee Replied
Employee Post
Hi Chris, 

I reviewed each of your responses and wanted to offer my own feedback. 

1. when you go to configure the addon you'll see this image. We're not using WHM/cPanel so I don't see why this is here? 
These are shown here because you CAN use WHM/cPanel. These options are available for all. 

2. I configured the domains path on addons > smartermaIl > add server yet when I create a package it asks again for the domain folder path?
The ability to set the domain path per package is to allow flexibility. For example, you can offer a high performance package that stores domains/users on SSD based drives rather than platter drives, and conversely, offer cheaper email storage in the opposite configuration.
I believe the Addons section is deprecated, however, and I will escalate this for review. 

3.  the 0 = unlimited does not work for example. 
I was not able to replicate this issue in my testing. Please submit a support ticket for further review so we can get more information and escalate this concern to development. 

a. I would remove add user/add aliases from the left as an add option already exists on the manage users/alias 
As Derek mentioned, we decided to keep these shortcuts as they're a quick way to add new users and aliases versus using the Manage area.

b. Login to webmail should load in a new window rather than the same windows. 
This should be occurring in a new browser tab. I escalate this for review to confirm that the webmail redirect happens in a new browser tab. 

c. if just one user exists and they clicked delete it give a success messages, it doesn't actually delete it though which i assume would break the domain. 
I was able to replicate this issue. You are correct that it doesn't actually delete the user, which is a good news. We will get the incorrect success message corrected in a future build.

d. the add user page could look more friendly and maybe show @domain automatically after the username box. 
e. same goes for add user alias, its just not very nice looking and doesn't look user friendly to the typical user who wants an email account. 
We can consider changes to the display here; however, there aren't many settings available to work with. Regarding the domain name... we do have a safeguard in place that will strip out the domain if it is included with the username. For example, if you enter a new user as "user@domain.com", the user will be added with a username of only "user". This occurs in aliases too. 


Kind regards,
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Chris Danks Replied
Thanks Andrea

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