[wp-hackers] How to rename plugins in the plugin repository?

[Raj]

Thank you piyush and Eric,

I agree that hard coding directory names is a bad practice. I started working on this plugin a little over a year ago when I was something of a wordpress API newbie so I did what worked :) 

All of the emails that my plugin sends to email subscribers have URLs that lead directly to the plugin files. Like this:

http://www.youriste.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-responder-email-autoresponder-and-newsletter-plugin/confirm.php?p=[some_10_character_string_identifies_subscriber]

Many email providers, especially Gmail, strip out URLs in emails that are too long. As you can see the biggest offender is the plugin's directory name which is unnecessarily long. So it is becoming a problem for the users of the plugin. 

Obviously I will have to change the plugin such that it doesn't link directly to one of the plugin files. But now....as of day 5 after submitting to wp extend directory the plugin has had around 610 downloads which I think is pretty impressive. It's really painful to think about all those people having installed the plugin and not many of them being able to use this plugin reliably. I need to solve this problem ASAP.

Please help.

Raj



-----Original Message-----
From: wp-hackers-bounces at lists.automattic.com [mailto:wp-hackers-bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of eric at eamann.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 8:21 PM
To: wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
Subject: Re: [wp-hackers] How to rename plugins in the plugin repository?

Beyond renaming the plug-in, it's bad practice to hard-code directory names in
the first place. �Many users will want to rename this folder or that folder for
whatever reason, and hard-coding folder names in your plug-in removes that
ability.
�
Take a multi-blog environment as an example. �I host several blogs for other
users, and many like to use the same plug-ins but not the same themes.
�Occasionally, a theme comes around that will work with version 1.0 of a
plug-in, but for whatever reason won't work with version 1.2. �Rather than
telling user A they're out of luck and upgrading for user B (or vice-versa),
I'll install them side-by-side in different folders. �This way the users can
pick the version that works for them. �To do this, I have to change folder names
- if I was doing it with your plug-in, I'd then have to go in and change
hard-coded values as well. �That's a major coding no-no.
�
Instead, I'd recommend using something like define('BASE_URL', dirname(__FILE__)
); to set the current directory name as a constant. �Then you can reference
BASE_URL elsewhere in your script as necessary.
�

On June 30, 2010 at 1:50 PM list at expost.org wrote:

> Hi,
>
>�
>
> I recently submitted a plugin to the wordpress plugin repository. While
> submitting it I made the mistake of providing a long name : "WP Responder -
> Email Autoresponder and Newlsetter Plugin'. Now the plugin URL is:
>
>�
>
> http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/wp-responder-email-autoresponder-and-newsle
> tter-plugin/
>
>�
>
> When users install the plugin from the dashboard the plugin's directory is:
>
>�
>
> wp-responder-email-autoresponder-and-newsletter-plugin
>
>�
>
> when it should be just:
>
>�
>
> wpresponder
>
>�
>
> I have hardcoded the name of the plugin's directory as 'wpresponder' in the
> plugin files. As a result the plugin is creating many problems for those who
> download and install the plugin. I am getting a lot of email from users of
> the plugin about it.
>
>�
>
> If the plugin directory was named wpresponder and the svn URL is as shown
> below the problem would be solved.
>
>�
>
> http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/wpresponder/
>
>�
>
> Could you please tell me how the directory can be renamed? Who should I
> contact, what I need to do?
>
>�
>
> Looking forward to your replies,
>
>�
>
> Raj Sekharan
>
> _______________________________________________
> wp-hackers mailing list
> wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers
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