Another *nix coder/sysadmin
hacking in the night…

Progress proceeds apace. I’ve managed to go through and simplify some of the conversion process a bit (thanks to VI’s wonderful regex engine) and looking at the code blocks I’ve isolated 12 remaining in need of conversion. One or two of them, I believe that I’ll end up scrapping as they deal with the way multiple users were handled on Evolution. With this WordPress version, multiple users will be best handled with WP-MU where each user will have their own blog. I could probably do it a different way, but it makes no sense given that the plugin uses the Admin Panel backend for management.

The work won’t be done when that’s complete, not by far, but at that point it’ll be usable to you the same way it is over at Evolution. Once all the conversion is complete, then I need to add in:

• A widget to show your latest progress
• An admin page to control options (permalink style, base?, etc)
• A template system so people can show off their WIP pages however they want

Once the conversion is done I’ll roll the first version out and then do updates; I won’t wait for the other 3 items to be complete to issue a release.

WIP Manager, WordPress | No Comments »

I’ve been making some headway on porting over the WIP Manager and wanted to post an update to let people know progress is still ongoing.

WIP Manager, WordPress | 1 Comment »

I’m releasing 0.1 of the Progress Meters. I think it still needs some work (there have been some reports of some erratic behavior under WP-MU that I haven’t had a chance to track down yet), but I think that this is a good first release.

Version 0.2 should include the widget functionality to make things easier.

Download here:

• Morgan’s Progress Meters version 0.1

Progress Meters, WordPress | No Comments »

Since I mentioned the progress meter code port… here’s how it’s looking right now:

I’m going to take a break from working on this right now as the cold I have is making it hard to concentrate.

Progress Meters | 1 Comment »

Ok, I’m releasing 0.3 of this widget now, though I’m not 100% sure it’s quite right yet. Please take a look and see how it runs.

Download here:

• Morgan’s Replacement Links Widget version 0.3 (Has support for multiple instances.)

Widgets | 3 Comments »

I’ve just put up 0.2 of the Links Widget. This is just a quick off-the-cuff version for WP 2.1. It needs work, but it’s a step in the right direction. Note that I’m starting to change all the file names (since I’m adding more options to the widgets than just drop-down select lists) so deactivate the old plugin.

With this widget, I want to support multiple instances of it and be able to specify via a drop-down list in the Widget control panel as to which category you want displayed within that instance of the widget. That way you can drag different link categories around on your sidebars easily…

Please give it a shot and see how it works for you.

Download here:

• Morgan’s Replacement Links Widget version 0.2

Widgets | 3 Comments »

WordPress 2.1 changed how the links were stored in the database so the drop-down links widget will not work with WP 2.1. I’ll be rolling a new version soon. Things have been pretty busy for me lately (see my LiveJournal for more information) but I’ll try to get this going as soon as possible. I’m really digging WP 2.1, so I’m looking to get all my widgets updated for it.

I’m also going to be branching out into developing some pure WP plugins, rather than just sticking to widgets. I’m going to take some of the writer’s tools I’ve developed for Evolution Writers and make them into WP plugins (like the WIP manager, the progress meters, etc.). They’ll support WP-MU as well, and I’ll be installing them over on my MU install at Authors Abode.

I’ve also been developing a LUA add-on for World of Warcraft called UFActionBars (Unit Frame Action Bars) which is basically a replacement for the defunct Group Buttons mod that died– along with a slew of so very many others– with the launch of 2.0.

I’m also working on StormChat again. Now that the server move has been completed I’ve moved the CVS repository over and started work on cleaning up the code (again). I’ve written a quick, off-the-cuff FAL to get it to work with WordPress for the wife and will be expanding it to work nicely with WP-MU so I can install it on Authors Abode as well.

I still haven’t had a chance to dig up documentation on how to localize widgets/plugins in Wordpress. If any readers happen to have a bookmark they can toss me, that’d be much appreciated. Thanks!

Progress Meters, StormChat, UFActionBars, WIP Manager, Widgets | No Comments »

I saw an interesting comment from Andy Skelton over here:

“Hey there! Nice work on this plugin/widget code. However, it won’t work on future versions of WordPress because you’ve queried a table that will no longer be available. Links are tricky business these days… “

Interesting. The widget I just wrote also queries the database table directly. The API doesn’t allow for much manipulation of the links, as it has anchor tags hard-coded in (not viable for use in a drop down list).

I’m wondering if there is a reference online for how newer versions will change in regards to this? I’m assuming he’s referring to WP 2.1.

It would also be nice if the API allowed for a way to use the data like I am, without needing to re-implement the functions to format them appropriately. get_archives() was designed intelligently for this type of use. Unfortunately get_links() and list_cats() are not.

WordPress | 5 Comments »

Made a new widget: Drop-down Links Widget

I figured given the popularity of the Drop-down Archives Widget, that a drop-down version of the links list was probably in order. I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of different feeds that I watch (via a Gregarius installation).

I’ve added the sanity check of silently failing if the AWP is not activated to this from the beginning.

Widgets, WordPress | No Comments »

I’ve rolled new versions of the widgets with a minor bugfix. If you activate a widget without having the AutoMattic Widgets Plugin (AWP) turned on, you’ll either get a blank page on your site or you’ll get an error (most likely “Fatal error: Call to undefined function register_sidebar_widget()“).

The new versions will silently bypass the widget registration process if the AWP is not activated. It’s not exactly the way I wanted to do it, as I would have preferred to deactivate the widget automatically if the AWP wasn’t activated. The problem is, given how plugins are loaded, my widgets are often loaded before AWP, so they would never be active.

New versions:

• Category Replacement Widget version 0.5
• Drop-down Archives Widget version 0.2
• Get Weather Widget version 0.2

Widgets, WordPress | 3 Comments »