Version 8.5 Release Notes
Release Information
Version: 8.5.2
Release Type: Security
Latest Update: 30th November 2022
Distribution Types: Full and Via Automatic Updater
Contents
- 1 Version History
- 2 Download
- 3 Upgrade Process
- 4 Release Notes
- 4.1 cPanel SEO via MarketConnect
- 4.2 Multi-Year SSL Orders with DigiCert via MarketConnect
- 4.3 Client Area Home Page SSO
- 4.4 Custom Actions
- 4.5 Shopping Cart Cross-selling
- 4.6 Metric Billing for Plesk
- 4.7 Improved System Settings and Setup Tasks Display
- 4.8 Updates to iDeal via Mollie Module
- 4.9 Hook System Improvements
- 4.10 Custom Actions in Sidebar Menus
- 5 Deprecation and Removal Notices
- 6 Templates
- 7 Changelog
Version History
| 8.5.0 | Beta 1 | 20th April 2022 |
| 8.5.0 | Release Candidate 1 | 13th May 2022 |
| 8.5.0 | General Availability | 9th June 2022 |
| 8.5.1 | Maintenance | 15th June 2022 |
| 8.5.2 | Security | 30th November 2022 |
Download
Download the latest version of WHMCS from https://download.whmcs.com/
Upgrade Process
WHMCS 8.0 and above requires PHP 7.2 or later. WHMCS 8.0 introduces support for PHP 7.4. Earlier versions of WHMCS do not support PHP 7.4.
Once you are running WHMCS 8, you can upgrade to PHP 7.4.
Automatic Updating
If you are running WHMCS 7.0 or later, you can use the built-in Automatic Update utility.
Go to Utilities > Update WHMCS to begin the process.
If the update was released recently, you may need to click Check for Updates before the update will be available.
For more information about updating, refer to the Automatic Updater documentation.
Release Notes
cPanel SEO via MarketConnect
You can now offer cPanel SEO, a tool to help clients optimize their website content and reach the top rankings in Google®'s search results. MarketConnect and WHMCS automatically handle provisioning, renewals, and upgrades between two plans.
Multi-Year SSL Orders with DigiCert via MarketConnect
You can now offer two-year and three-year DigiCert SSL certificate orders through MarketConnect. WHMCS will automatically handle reissuance and reinstallation throughout the length of the order, including automated emails and renewals.
WHMCS installations should not have existing pricing for multi-year certificates. However, if your installation already specifies custom prices for them, the update process may overwrite them.
Client Area Home Page SSO
Clients can now use single sign-on (SSO) to access their active services directly from the main page of the Client Area Home Page. Due to this addition, it is now possible to create custom Client Area Home Page panels that span both columns of the desktop web browser page layout.
Custom Actions
In the WHMCS 8.5.0 RC 1 release and later, custom actions are available for use in provisioning modules. The CustomAction object lets developers define items that can perform actions and then redirect the user to a defined URI. Currently, you can use this to define a list of SSO items that will display on the Client Area Home Page.
SSO Links
Due to these changes, you may need to update custom hooks that use menu item methods (for example, the getChild() and removeChild() methods) and the menu item names for existing SSO buttons may have changed. For example, the Log In to cPanel menu item in WHMCS 8.4 and earlier is now the cpanel menu item.
Shopping Cart Cross-selling
You can now configure cross-selling to display recommendations when customers add a related item to the shopping cart. You can control recommendation locations, content, and appearance as well as individually configuring the recommendations to associate with each product.
Metric Billing for Plesk
The Plesk provisioning module now supports usage billing in the Metric Billing tab at Configuration () > System Settings > Products/Services. This functionality allows you to bill clients for the individual resources they use, such as email addresses, disk space, or bandwidth.
Improved System Settings and Setup Tasks Display
When you view Configuration () > System Settings, you can now view the list of interfaces in several predetermined categories and use sorting to find features fast.
We have also improved how the Setup Tasks list displays, and, in the WHMCS 8.5.0 GA 1 release, we added a list of recently-visited features to the sidebar menu.
Updates to iDeal via Mollie Module
We have updated the iDEAL via Mollie module to use the new Mollie API.
Because Mollie has deprecated their prior XML API, in WHMCS 8.4 and earlier this module will cease to function.
Hook System Improvements
Developers can now specifically exclude hook files from execution by prefixing their filenames with an underscore character (_).
The hook system now also explicitly disallows use of the index.php file.
Custom Actions in Sidebar Menus
In the WHMCS 8.5.0 GA 1 release and later, custom actions can appear in Client Area sidebar menus in addition to the existing support for Home Page panels. The CustomAction object lets developers define items that can perform actions and then redirect the user to a defined URI.
Deprecation and Removal Notices
Removed Modules
We have removed the GMO Internet module.
Additionally, the third-party BuycPanel module has been deprecated and will not function in earlier versions of WHMCS. Upgrading to WHMCS 8.5 will remove the module and update any products that used it to use the Auto Release module instead.
ClientDelete Hook
We have deprecated the ClientDelete hook and recommend using the PreDeleteClient hook instead.
SiteLock VPN
SiteLock discontinued its support for SiteLock VPN in May 2022. As a result, new purchases and renewals of SiteLock VPN are no longer possible.
This will not currently affect clients' currently-active SiteLock VPN purchases, but renewals will not be available in the future.
Templates
For a list of changed files and a graphical view of the exact changes, please refer to the GitHub repositories below.
Twenty-One Theme
The following link provides a comparison of changes between 8.4.1 and 8.5.2 (Maintenance):
https://github.com/WHMCS/templates-twenty-one/compare/v8.4.1-release.1...v8.5.2-release.1
Six Theme
The following link provides a comparison of changes between 8.4.1 and 8.5.2 (Security):
https://github.com/WHMCS/templates-six/compare/v8.4.1-release.1...v8.5.2-release.1
Standard Cart Order Form
The following link provides a comparison of changes between 8.4.1 and 8.5.2 (Security):
https://github.com/WHMCS/orderforms-standard_cart/compare/v8.4.1-release.1...v8.5.2-release.1