1.1 is about be released this week so I’d share with you some of the updates that shall be included:

What’s in 1.1

Guest booking options

1.0 gave you the option of only allowing logged in users to place bookings. Or you could allow guests to place bookings, but they would be created an account. 1.1 allows you to make this registration optional, so guests can place bookings without creating an account.

There is a downside for choosing this option though. 1.2 will be focussed on bookee improvements, and include widgets & shortcodes so that you can display a bookee’s booking history or a list of upcoming events they are attending. These will not work for ‘guest’ bookees.

Multiple forms

Different events call for different booking forms, so in this update I’ve added the ability to create multiple forms. There is an additional drop-down on your events admin page to select which form you would like to use for your event. Existing events will automatically use the first booking form created, unless you select otherwise.

Include booking meta in the booking downloads

In 1.0 you could easily download all your bookings, but it didn’t include information entered into your custom booking form. That all changes in 1.1, where clicking ‘Download bookings’ allows you to select what booking meta you would like included in the download.

API Improvements

For the developers I’ve been working hard to check and document parts of the bookings API. These include the function:

• eo_get_bookings( $args ) – Retrieve an array of bookings
• eo_get_booking_meta( $booking_id, $key ) – Get meta associated with a booking
• eo_insert_booking( $booking_array ) – Create a booking
• eo_confirm_booking( $booking_id ) – Confirm a booking
• eo_cancel_booking( $booking_id ) – (Permantly) cancel a booking.

Documentation for these will appear on the site shortly.

UI Tweaks

At the booking form logged-in users are told who they are logged in as, with an option to log-out.

What’s next

1.2 is currently planned for June and will be focussed on improving the plug-in’s ‘bookee handling’. This will include the above mentioned booking history / ‘upcoming events you’re attending’ widget, and shortcodes, along with a further extended API for you developers.