Mote Marketing, Inc.

You guys, I apologize. You are absolutely right. Please disregard everything after I opened my yawning cakehole.

Stuart, although I certainly appreciate the response, talk about stating the obvious! ALL payment gateways are "third-party" developers! IPS does not own any payment gateways. However, several IPS help articles (such as this one) unequivocally state that the Square payment gateway was added to the list of IPS-supported gateways. This IPS article unequivocally gives (characteristically incomplete, vague and therefore useless) "instructions" for integrating Square as a payment method. As you can plainly see, it says to install the payment gateway, but (as usual) gives no guidance on how to do that! We have already created the Square application, and now simply need to install it in the IPS ACP. So, with all respect, what are you talking about? I'm not making this up out of thin air...I'm relying on IPS-created tech articles, for Pete's sake.

Various community articles (such as this one) seem to suggest that the Square Pay platform is supported by the IPS Commerce app, and say that you add new payment method, and select "Square Up Payment Gateway", but that option does not appear in my "Payment Methods" screen. Is this just another example of the IPS Help articles being woefully out of date, or...what? Can someone please point me to the correct instructions for integrating Square Pay?

You guys were spot-on correct! It was the PHP path. Hey, THANK YOU. Much-obliged! Charles

Daniel, I am showing that we are on PHP v8. Can you tell me where and what I need to update exactly? I'm logged into my server via an SSH session, and have opened the only CRONTAB, which shows exactly what the IPS ACP message calls for. Apologies if this is obvious. Is this updated via the php.ini file? I don't see anything in the CRONTAB file that seems to fit. The CRONTAB text is as follows, which is exactly as called-for in the IPS ACP error message: /usr/bin/php -d memory_limit=-1 -d max_execution_time=0 /homepages/31/d850801269/htdocs/applications/core/interface/task/task.php bd4b1a5e006ebb39f2f04ba352590a4d

Thanks Daniel. I don't believe we've updated our PHP version, but let me check.

As required by the IPS app, I have a CRON job that's been setup and running successfully every minute for nearly a year. But today, when I logged-in, I was greeted with the dreaded red "maintenance tasks not running" error. I have confirmed that the CRON job is still running. What am I supposed to do now??

We have two persistent Admin notifications that we cannot clear (see attached image), despite the fact that all of these functions are absolutely disabled in our php.ini file. My Developer says that this is a commonly-known issue with the IPS platform, but while it's certainly not the "end of the world", it is annoying to have false errors displayed, and tends to diminish the perceived importance of any real errors that might crop up. Is there any way to clear these?

Any thoughts on this?

I assume you mean to click the "gear" icon. That worked. Thank you!

Hi Jim, Thanks for the reply. No, push notification are not enabled. If I click "Enable" (either in the auto-generated popup or /notifications/options/), it says "Enabling..." permanently (hence my previous "endless loop" comment). Here's the Browser Console error output when I click "Enable": sendRemoveListener on closed conduit firefox-addon@expressvpn.com.2886218023767 ConduitsChild.jsm:112 _send resource://gre/modules/ConduitsChild.jsm:112 _send self-hosted:1282 removeListener resource://gre/modules/ExtensionChild.jsm:670 removeListener resource://gre/modules/ExtensionChild.jsm:905 onChanged chrome://extensions/content/child/ext-storage.js:332 removeListener resource://gre/modules/ExtensionCommon.jsm:2511 revoke resource://gre/modules/ExtensionCommon.jsm:2533 close resource://gre/modules/ExtensionCommon.jsm:2538 unload resource://gre/modules/ExtensionCommon.jsm:899 close resource://gre/modules/ExtensionContent.jsm:935 destroyed resource://gre/modules/ExtensionContent.jsm:1011 observe resource://gre/modules/ExtensionContent.jsm:1029 Again, this problem only affects Firefox.

Please modify the search box in this screen to search and return user-entered "Translation" values (as opposed to only the original IPS keys/text). We have extensive custom translation phrases entered, but unless we keep a separate log of which IPS-native key values were changed, they are forever lost in the ether, unless you want to manually slog through vast numbers of pages hoping to accidentally stumble upon the one you're looking for. Since those user-entered values are obviously stored in the DB, they should be searchable, right?

PS - It's not "cluttered" at all, as it's simply an underline (or other unobtrusive indicator, such as small "Help" info (e.g., "i for info" icons) on or adjacent to existing UI labeling denoting help popups available. That's the entire point (to not clutter the interface with always-displayed help text, but displaying it only when the user wants to see it, which is facilitated by a brief delay in displaying the mousover popup, to avoid inadvertent display unless the user hovers over the desired label for a certain amount of time). The other point is that it intrinsically ties help "articles" directly to the relevant UI elements). Our users have responded quite favorably to this strategy, and the IPS ACP could really benefit from this, since so many features are not at all "intuitive", in terms of how they are intended to work, or what the correct setup options are for any given scenario. Microsoft and others use this approach extensively, so it's hardly controversial or "ground-breaking". It obviously requires a sound balance between brevity (of a popup) and the verbosity of a full-on external Help article.

I was trying to be somewhat charitable, Jonas. 🙂

My Developers confirm that this is an IPS bug (probably specific to the latest update (v4.6.10): Browser: Firefox v97.0 (64-bit). Does not appear to affect the latest versions of Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome browsers. OS: Windows 11 Home, v10.0.22000 (64-bit) Description: The push notifications popup thrown by IPS enters an endless loop when the user attempts to enable push notifications in Firefox ("Enabling..." just keeps churning forever (see attached image).

I would also recommend that you consider implementing "in-line" help within the IPS ACP itself. I crafted such a strategy for our ReachOut365® enterprise content delivery platform that is used by some of the world's largest insurance companies. In our app, many if not all (non-self-explanatory) field labels have a pink underline indicating that there is mouseover help text available. This way, rather than the user having to go view an (out-of-date) external Help article, there is field/feature information right there where you need it). In addition to this, our mouseover help popups often link to more detailed external articles when appropriate (that we constantly update).

I want to thank Marc S. and the others who responded to my lengthy diatribe. Marc, I sincerely appreciate your willingness to examine issues brought to your attention. As for help articles, I find that in addition to some being materially out-of-date, most are quite superficial, and lack sufficient practical examples to be of any real use. For example, I have been working with a custom IPS Developer for over a year on a highly-customized IPS-powered portal (LiveMusicColorado.com), and still do not have a firm idea regarding how a number of features are intended to work, despite reading and re-reading every help article I can find in your system. See the attached image, which is a screen capture of my browser bookmarks relating to IPS. As this demonstrates, I am totally willing and able to do my own homework, but your Help system just doesn't cut it (unless you're a Developer, in which case, the documentation is reasonably good). An example of features that are not well-documented include "Our Picks". I also want to say that, whilst I completely understand your requirement to avoid support overhead that results from third-party plugins or dev work, forcing me (a 15 year patron of IPS products) to choose between a) crashing my site, or b) successfully submitting a support ticket, simply because your platform does not, in fact, properly re-enable all of those custom elements, is a rather crappy and unacceptable answer in my book, and is, as I mentioned previously, inducing us to look very hard at scrapping approx. $20K in IPS custom development costs in favor of a software platform that provides a modicum of accessibility to product support, when a legitimate issue arises. I'm not merely trying to bust your balls here...my loyalty and commitment to you guys is demonstrated by being a customer since 2007, and the fact that I chose IPS to power an expensive commercial website.

Patrick (and Matt), this is hardly a case of "momentary frustration". I've been purchasing and using IPS products since 2007, for Pete's sake. It is an irrefutable fact that the IPS ACP now makes it (at best) difficult, and (at worst) essentially impossible to start a support ticket. It wasn't always that way. I am not a casual, ignorant or lazy end-user...as an FAA LAX air traffic controller and international aircraft accident investigator, I ran $100M+ safety-critical national airspace capital software projects, and am a highly-experienced tech dude in a hugely diverse range of disciplines by virtually any standard. I personally developed the ReachOut365 platform, which is used by some of the world's largest insurance companies, and routinely work with Fortune 500 companies. I'm not bragging; it's just the truth. If I have access to decent self-support, I can resolve 99.9% of any issues that arise. I hate having to start a support ticket and engage in the time-consuming back and forth by email dance and would much rather self-serve. I should not be penalized and jacked around simply because "the rest of the human race is stupid" (to paraphrase Patrick). On the contrary, with IPS, I do not enjoy such access. Your "Help & Support" pages, despite having voluminous articles, rarely enable me to solve complex issues. Many of them are hopelessly out-of-date, and refer to screens and settings (e.g., social media integration) that bear no resemblance whatsoever to the present realities. Many of them are also extremely "shallow" in terms of necessary detail as well. I fully understand how difficult it is to keep such things updated, but that is not my problem in this case (except that at the end of the day, you've made it "my problem"). On the other hand, you marketing/sales media is first-rate. It's clearly a matter of priorities. Furthermore, your ACP "Get Support" function explicitly and unavoidably requires the Admin to disable all third-party customizations (in order to even start a ticket). A few days ago, I did that (with extreme hesitation, and for good reason, as it turned out), and when I clicked the "Re-enable customizations" (or similar button), my custom app settings (developed by one of, if not the Number-1 IPS-savvy and experienced [non-IP employee] Devs on Planet Earth), all but one were not re-enabled, which effectively nuked my website. I had to call that Dev to have her re-enable everything, which cost me out-of-pocket). I rarely ask for support, but when I do, after spending thousands on your products over a 15 year period, it shouldn't be such an unmitigated pain in the ass. I've been told by not merely one, but several IPS-expert Developers that we've worked with (in so many words), that, "IPS products are generally really good, but their support absolutely sucks. It's not just "my" opinion...it is a widely-held truism. Whilst I certainly understand you guys wanting to "channel" the support process to prevent issues that can be thusly resolved (by disabling 3rd-party plugins and apps, etc.). I have better things to do than to bust your balls, but I am extremely unhappy with this convoluted and crappy support ticket process, and I am not the only one by any stretch. I've already paid my Developer to work around the issue that I was attempting to start a stupid support ticket about, so that's no longer an issue. We have a highly customized site that has cost me tens of thousands to develop. Much of that expense is because the IPS front-end UI is so clearly designed by Developers (rather than talented UI designers), and among other things, so profoundly inefficient (in terms of screen "real estate" usage) and un-intuitive in terms of UXI strategies. In all fairness, I must also say that, once a support ticket actually somehow gets through, you guys are excellent (for the most part) in resolving issues (provided they don't come anywhere near straying from your frankly draconian definition of what constitutes "covered" topics). I understand that your margins require tight control, but I feel like you guys take it to a rather absurd extreme at times. Again, it wasn't always that way. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by the polar opposite end of the spectrum, such as Rackspace's Support and documentation, which blows your doors off on its worst day. It is hardly surprising or inappropriate for a businessman who has a lot riding on this platform choice to express strident frustration at poor performance. Even despite the huge pile of cash I've spent to self-resolve the clumsy UI issues (in particular), I am finding myself very seriously wondering if we made a ginormous error in judgment by going with the IPS platform, and the lack of effective, timely support is no small part of that second-guessing. Could you (Matt and IPS) please consider: Streamlining the support ticket process. Focus a bit on bringing your Support articles up-to-date, and; Hire or contract with skilled UXI designers? Thank you.

I am an enterprise-level UI designer and capital software project manager, and if you give me a decent support and help system, I can resolve almost anything on my own, but I am almost never successful using the IPS so-called "Support" system. Many of the articles are completely out of date, and do not reflect current realities. It's so damned ridiculous and frustrating. For God's sake, PLEASE get your faeces together.

IPS makes it essentially impossible to get decent product support. I just clicked "Get Support". The only option to proceed was to disable all customizations, which I did, but it would not allow me to disable the custom theme. Then, I when I clicked "Reenable all customizations", all but one were not reenabled, causing our site to go belly-up. I had to call my Developer and have her re-enable everything, which costs me cash. Why does Invision SUCK so incredibly hard at providing reasonable support? I've been using your products for something like 15 or 20 years, and have given thousands to your company over the years, but you just keep pissing me off to the point that we are seriously looking for other options to power our platform. Seriously, your support is just faeces. Also, despite the fact that all of the relevant PHP functions are quite clearly disabled, I have a persistent warning that "Dangerous PHP functions are disabled. According to my Developer, this is a common and widespread problem. Why, oh why can't you guys do better than this? This is an expensive platform, but it has way too many issues, including a UXI that is clearly designed by Developers with ZERO human interface talent. Can't you guys hire someone who knows how to design UIs with a modicum of expertise?