Comments on: My Plugin Now in Alpha! http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/ Motivating readers to believe, act, and achieve by looking at life with wit, wisdom, and engaging creativity Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:18:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Bobby Revell http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-19068 Bobby Revell Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:07:45 +0000 http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-19068 I don't mind the rant at all! Here's mine: My site's about to give me a nervous breakdown. All my back ups are corrupted, all my new back ups are corrupted...ARGH!!! So, I can't even move to a new host because I can't import a corrupted back up. On top of that, my site goes off line every 15 minutes for 5 minutes. I guess it's just going to be that way for 3-4 more months until I can afford to pay a real database engineer to debug my database. I am extremely frustrated. Sorry about the rant, I can't think about anything else right now. I don’t mind the rant at all! Here’s mine: My site’s about to give me a nervous breakdown. All my back ups are corrupted, all my new back ups are corrupted…ARGH!!! So, I can’t even move to a new host because I can’t import a corrupted back up. On top of that, my site goes off line every 15 minutes for 5 minutes. I guess it’s just going to be that way for 3-4 more months until I can afford to pay a real database engineer to debug my database. I am extremely frustrated. Sorry about the rant, I can’t think about anything else right now.

]]> By: dcr http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18924 dcr Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:54:20 +0000 http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18924 No, it is certainly not fun. This is probably as much a nightmare as you had with the errors on your site. Despite representations that WordPress is "well-documented," it doesn't appear to be with regard to writing plugins. And, if it is, it is certainly not very well-organized to where you can find what you need. Reading a database shouldn't be this hard. I've followed the examples. I've tried assorted variations. I've examined code from other plugins and, as far as I have been able to determine, my code is correct but it returns no results even though there are results that should be resulting from the call for results. I should return 12 results, but I get 0 results. Done another way, I get 12 results, but that way I cannot extract any data. The way I can extract data is the way that produces 0 results, so I cannot extract data from it because it is returning no results even though it should be returning 12 results. Sorry about the rant, but it's no fun spending half a day trying to figure things out and looking up things in the WordPress Codex and looking up things elsewhere online (which is not easy since most search engines results are for other plugins and not help with plugins) and coding and recoding and examining other plugins and you end up no further at the end of the day than you were at the start, which means you've pretty much wasted your time. No, it is certainly not fun. This is probably as much a nightmare as you had with the errors on your site. Despite representations that WordPress is “well-documented,” it doesn’t appear to be with regard to writing plugins. And, if it is, it is certainly not very well-organized to where you can find what you need.

Reading a database shouldn’t be this hard. I’ve followed the examples. I’ve tried assorted variations. I’ve examined code from other plugins and, as far as I have been able to determine, my code is correct but it returns no results even though there are results that should be resulting from the call for results. I should return 12 results, but I get 0 results. Done another way, I get 12 results, but that way I cannot extract any data. The way I can extract data is the way that produces 0 results, so I cannot extract data from it because it is returning no results even though it should be returning 12 results.

Sorry about the rant, but it’s no fun spending half a day trying to figure things out and looking up things in the WordPress Codex and looking up things elsewhere online (which is not easy since most search engines results are for other plugins and not help with plugins) and coding and recoding and examining other plugins and you end up no further at the end of the day than you were at the start, which means you’ve pretty much wasted your time.

]]> By: Bobby Revell http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18914 Bobby Revell Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:36:37 +0000 http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18914 Sounds like you're having fun writing your first plug in! After the nightmare of errors I had today, my goal is to use as few plug ins as possible. As far as any design, I have been taking php tutorials for over a month and going through a WP template design book I have. Good luck with your plug in escapades! I just wish every plugin from wordpress.org had a bandwidth usage chart listed by it :mrgreen: Sounds like you’re having fun writing your first plug in! After the nightmare of errors I had today, my goal is to use as few plug ins as possible. As far as any design, I have been taking php tutorials for over a month and going through a WP template design book I have. Good luck with your plug in escapades! I just wish every plugin from wordpress.org had a bandwidth usage chart listed by it :mrgreen:

]]> By: dcr http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18903 dcr Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:01:24 +0000 http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18903 I thought of a variation of that, but I would need to hook into WordPress' blogroll management loop and essentially override it. If a blog is a "hot blog" it wouldn't display when the normal blogroll call is made (in the sidebar, for example). My thought was that, instead of a checkbox, you would just create a "hotblog" category. You would enter your links as usual, but categorize them as a "hotblog" rather than your other categories. My plugin would then stop the "hotblog" categorized listings from appearing in the normal blogroll listing and only display them where you put the tag for the plugin. Either way, that seems to be rather complicated. Maybe not for someone that's got a lot of experience digging into WordPress' code, but certainly for me at least. I thought of a variation of that, but I would need to hook into WordPress’ blogroll management loop and essentially override it. If a blog is a “hot blog” it wouldn’t display when the normal blogroll call is made (in the sidebar, for example).

My thought was that, instead of a checkbox, you would just create a “hotblog” category. You would enter your links as usual, but categorize them as a “hotblog” rather than your other categories. My plugin would then stop the “hotblog” categorized listings from appearing in the normal blogroll listing and only display them where you put the tag for the plugin.

Either way, that seems to be rather complicated. Maybe not for someone that’s got a lot of experience digging into WordPress’ code, but certainly for me at least.

]]> By: pete http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18900 pete Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:28:47 +0000 http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18900 I just thought of an approach to selecting the blogs for inclusion. Is there a way to hook into the Blogroll page and add another checkbox next to each listing? That way, all you would have to do is go to the admin interface blogroll page, select the blogs you want in the "hot blogs." Instead of managing a manual list on the plugin settings page, it would be integrated into the blogroll page. But I have no idea how easy or hard that would be, just a suggestion. :) I just thought of an approach to selecting the blogs for inclusion. Is there a way to hook into the Blogroll page and add another checkbox next to each listing? That way, all you would have to do is go to the admin interface blogroll page, select the blogs you want in the “hot blogs.” Instead of managing a manual list on the plugin settings page, it would be integrated into the blogroll page. But I have no idea how easy or hard that would be, just a suggestion. :)

]]> By: pete http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18899 pete Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:24:49 +0000 http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18899 Nice, you work fast. Eagerly awaiting the Beta release. Nice, you work fast. Eagerly awaiting the Beta release.

]]> By: Awake In Rochester http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18883 Awake In Rochester Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:23:15 +0000 http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18883 You have been Tagged! See my blog for details. ;o) You have been Tagged! See my blog for details. ;o)

]]> By: dcr http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18878 dcr Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:01:03 +0000 http://www.dcrblogs.com/2008/07/12/my-plugin-now-in-alpha/#comment-18878 Okay, I have it now where I can present the list in random order or in alphabetical order. It is currently set for alphabetical order. However, they may not appear to be in alphabetical order, as it is sorting them alphabetically by URL rather than by name. But, that will be a project for tomorrow. I'm tired. Okay, I have it now where I can present the list in random order or in alphabetical order. It is currently set for alphabetical order. However, they may not appear to be in alphabetical order, as it is sorting them alphabetically by URL rather than by name. But, that will be a project for tomorrow. I’m tired.

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