[wp-hackers] WP Plugin Update Detect
Stephen O'Connor
steve at stevarino.com
Tue Aug 3 17:28:08 UTC 2004
Great idea, but two concerns: you don't specify a time-out time for
update-checks and you don't include a method to disable individual
plugin updates.
By a time-out period, I'm referring to this plugin only checking for
updates every hour. By checking for updates every time plugins.php
loads, an end-user could easily be seen as spamming an authors site.
Also think about page-load times...
And that brings me to my next point: disabling individual plugin
updates... If a user has maybe 20 or more plugins there plugins.php will
take forever to load. If a few of those plugin sites are bad or slow,
the end-user's web browser has a danger of timing out (leaving
plugins.php unreachable).
Again, while I think it's a great idea, there are some things to be
worked out. Keep up the good work. :)
- Stephen
Ryan Meyers wrote:
> WP Plugin Update Detect
> ©2004 Ryan Meyers
> http://www.ryanmeyers.com
>
> Anyone want to know when their favorite plugins have been updated? I
> know that I do! And even more so, I want users of my plugins to know
> when I've fixed the hundreds of critters running around in them.
>
> With the few plugins that I've released for public use, it's been
> amazing how many tech support e-mails that flood in each day. While a
> real bug-report is a great help (thanks Janice!), often it's something
> that's already been fixed. Users aren't checking the home pages for
> updates, miss or don't read the posts on the hacks forum, and thus
> have no idea that a brand new, better version of your plugin is
> available for their consumption. This is my attempt at making that
> process a little bit easier.
>
> Users, please note that adding support for update won't break plugins
> that don't support it. Authors, please note that adding support for
> update won't break your plugin on users that decide not to utilize
> it. It's an optional component on both ends, but one that's worth
> taking advantage of, I think.
>
> Once a supported database of WordPress plugins (a la Firefox
> extensions) is created, this feature could possibly reach new levels
> of ease, speed, and usability. As it is, I think that it will achieve
> its simple purpose with a small footprint, since the files it will be
> retrieving will be a few bytes in size.
>
> ==========================================================
>
> FOR WORDPRESS USERS:
>
> Installation requires editing one file: wp-admin/plugins.php
>
> 1) Open wp-admin/plugins.php in your editor
>
> 2) Find:
> if ( preg_match("|Version:(.*)|i", $plugin_data, $version) )
> $version = $version[1];
> else
> $version ='';
>
> 3) After, add:
> // BEGIN PLUGIN UPDATE ADD-ON
> if ( preg_match("|Update:(.*)|i", $plugin_data, $update) )
> {
> $update = $update[1];
> $update = trim($update);
> if ($u = @file("$update")) {
> $u = implode('',$u);
> $u = trim($u);
> $v = trim($version);
> if($u != $v){
> $updatelink = '<a href="';
> $updatelink .= $plugin_uri[1];
> $updatelink .= '">';
> $updatelink .= '<em><strong>Update
> Available:</strong> (';
> $updatelink .= $u;
> $updatelink .= ')</em></a>';
> $description[1] .= '<br />';
> $description[1] .= $updatelink;
>
> }
> else
> {
> $updatelink = '';
> }
> }
> else{
> $updatelink = '';
> }
> }
> else
> { $update ='';}
>
> //END PLUGIN UPDATE ADD-ON
>
> 4) Upload wp-admin/plugins.php
>
> 5) Update those plugins!
>
>
> ==========================================================
>
> FOR PLUGIN AUTHORS:
>
> The trick to making this the best it can be for users is a consistent
> format. You can alter the code on your end to a certain extent, but
> the idea is for users to easily be able to detect updates to your
> plugins. Keep it simple!
>
> 1) Upload plugin-update.php to your WordPress root.
>
> 2) Add a Custom field called 'Current Version' with a value relative
> to your plugin's development to each of your WordPress posts detailing
> their development.
>
> 3) Add the following line to your plugin source (replace 99999 with
> the ID for the post mentioned above:
> Update: http://www.yoursite.com/yourwpinstall/plugin-update?p=99999
>
>
> ===========================================================
>
> A NOTE FOR AUTHORS OF PLUGINS:
>
> In an effort for mass-usability, I'm proposing that plugin authors
> that desire their plugins to be easily updated distrubute the
> following instructions with their plugins and/or distribute this file:
>
> /************************************
> ** **
> ** TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF UPDATE **
> ** DETECTION, PLEASE CONSIDER **
> ** MAKING THE FOLLOWING ADDITION **
> ** TO YOUR WORDPRESS INSTALL **
> ** **
> *************************************
>
> OPEN FOR EDITING : wp-admin/plugins.php
>
> FIND :
>
> if ( preg_match("|Version:(.*)|i", $plugin_data, $version) )
> $version = $version[1];
> else
> $version ='';
>
>
> ADD THE FOLLOWING CODE AFTERWARDS :
>
> // BEGIN PLUGIN UPDATE ADD-ON
> if ( preg_match("|Update:(.*)|i", $plugin_data, $update) )
> {
> $update = $update[1];
> $update = trim($update);
> if ($u = @file("$update")) {
> $u = implode('',$u);
> $u = trim($u);
> $v = trim($version);
> if($u != $v){
> $updatelink = '<a href="';
> $updatelink .= $plugin_uri[1];
> $updatelink .= '">';
> $updatelink .= '<em><strong>Update
> Available:</strong> (';
> $updatelink .= $u;
> $updatelink .= ')</em></a>';
> $description[1] .= '<br />';
> $description[1] .= $updatelink;
>
> }
> else
> {
> $updatelink = '';
> }
> }
> else{
> $updatelink = '';
> }
> }
> else
> { $update ='';}
>
> //END PLUGIN UPDATE ADD-ON
>
>
> */
>
>
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