Review: WHMCS Version 7

Few days back, WHMCS released their beta version of WHMCS v7, the forthcoming new version of the core WHMCS software. As the slogan suggest, “The Last update you will ever need to download”.

What does this means? – Previously, every one who owns a WHMCS License had to download the latest WHMCS and upload it on the previous version in case of release of new version.

Now, With the v7 Auto Update Feature, downloading the latest version is not necessary. It has the Auto Update feature which automatically updates the WHMCS to latest version.

After downloading the beta version, we have gone to test the WHMCS v7 and it’s auto update feature.

As you can see in the above Screenshot, it automatically detects for the new version with one click. Now we proceed to upgrading the system and here are the details you have to enter in order to upgrade.

Before the system could upgrade itself, it needs to download and store new files from the WHMCS Server to your server. Therefore, we need to create a folder where it can store the files. Due to security reasons, you need to create this temporary files folder outside public_html. Once it accepts and verify the path, you can now proceed with the update. After few verification windows, it starts the update process.

For us, the update was finished within no time, aprox less than 1 min which was extremely impressive unlike the manuals update process which was followed before version 7 where we had to upload all files (4k + files) again to the server which would take aprox 30 mins to complete.

Auto update is the major feature of WHMCS v7 but here are few other features which are introduced in v7:

Spotlight TLDs – Highlight your best selling TLDs and extensions. Proven to increase sales and conversions, now you can select up to 8 of your top selling extensions for display at the top of a new domain lookup experience for customers. Sale groups also allow you to highlight extensions that are New, Hot and on Sale, giving them increased visibility and prominence.

A new, improved and streamlined interface for initiating domain transfers rounds out the domain lookup and purchase area improvements.

PayPal Integration Optimisations – Reducing the number of steps required by end users to complete checkout, now users email addresses will be pre-filled in the PayPal login form along with itemised purchase details being displayed in the PayPal Checkout Experience to minimise buyer uncertainty and increase confidence.

Simple Product Configuration – The new, simpler way to configure products. Supporting cPanel, DirectAdmin and Plesk, and open to module developers to begin implementing today, simple product configuration allows module developers to provide a simpler and more streamlined user experience for users configuring module parameters by offering a simple mode with support for dynamic fetching of values from a remote service. Now configuring a package is as simple as choosing the desired package name from a dropdown of choices.

Quick Start Setup Wizard – For new users, there’s a brand new wizard based experience the first time they login that makes getting up and running with WHMCS simpler, more intuitive, and quicker than ever before. Be ready to begin selling and making money in minutes with WHMCS 7.0.

PHP 7.0 Compatibility – With PHP 5.6 and 7.0 compatibility, WHMCS 7.0 can be run on the latest versions of PHP to deliver maximum performance. As announced previously, WHMCS 7.0 will require PHP 5.6 as a minimum and we are working closely with some of our leading hosting partners to ensure that their systems are ready for WHMCS 7.0. In addition, while Ioncube loaders for PHP 7 remain in beta at this time, we do have open dialog ongoing with Ioncube and are working with them testing and reporting our findings. We join everyone in the PHP community in looking forward to seeing stable loaders for PHP 7.0 as soon as is feasible

— WHMCS Blog

Conclusion: With the increase in demand of WHMCS, auto update was a feature which should have been introduced long back in whmcs. This is one of the major update of WHMCS from past few years as the previous version had WHMCS Connect which dint turn out to be a useful tool and was not used.