Since the text on these pages is generated from the readme.txt in a given plugin’s repo I figured I’d take a look there and see if the automattic guys were doing anything different… oh yeah, there were!

These repo’s had a “assets” folder in the root, and in there was a banner-772×250.png. Simply by generating my own banner (772px wide by 250px high), creating an assets folder in each of my repos and committing did the trick – so secret sauce required! (NOTE:You have to wait a while for wp.org to update, I waited overnight)

I think these are looking rather groovy

• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/phpbb-recent-topics/
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/root-cookie/
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/linickx-lifestream/

<?php
/*
                DO NOT INDEX /blog
        */

        if ( (!is_front_page()) && (!is_page()) && (!is_single()) && (!is_archive()) ) {
                echo '<meta name="robots" content="noindex">' . "\n";
        }
?>

You may notice that WordPress doesn’t appear to be an is_blog function which would do the same thing.

Actually a two year wait isn’t strictly true, those watching the dev log would have seen I’ve pushed the odd update here and there.

So what prompts this release, well I’ve noticed that in WP3.3 that the cookie functions have changed, so to ensure future compatibility (and minimal issues for me) I have updated this plugin to be aligned to the core source.

The usual blurb…

• Download: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/root-cookie/download/
• Support: https://wordpress.org/tags/root-cookie?forum_id=10#postform
• Bugs: http://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/newticket?component=root-cookie&owner=linickx

ChangeLog

• Contextual Help
• Bug fix “undefined method WP_Error::get_items”
• Logout Enhancement
• WP 3.3 Compatability
• Donation Link (it’s good for your karma)

New Fetures

• Post Format Support
  Feeds can be assigned post formats, Standard is the default format if you theme doesn’t support this, twentlyelevn does and I think the link format works quite well.
• Fail without Bail
  A bug I’d just lived with was if the feed was corrupt then the plugin would simply crash and burn, sometimes a factory reset was required to recover. Now the plugin will detect the error, dump the message and carry on… much better!
• Admin Page Updates
  I’ve been slowly adding context help to my plugins, you know the little help in the top right hand corner, so help is now even closer. The news feed at the bottom will now take advantage of the fail-without-bail feature for when linickx.com is down. The final change here is a dontate feature, there is a tick box to remove this

All the old features still exist and the same old information applies…

Enjoy!

I actually started on this release a couple of months ago but couldn’t find the time to write this post and tag the release :-$ The good news is that there have been lots of changes since 0.6, basically I’ve implemented as many bug fixes and feature as I can in the WordPress-Plugin bug tracker.

If you have a feature request or patch, please submit here.

Support questions and requests for help should be directed at the forum.

Without further ado… What’s New?

• WordPress 3.1.4 Testing
  Yep, with such a slow development cycle I can confirm that PRT works with WordPress version 3, but you knew that right ?
• CSS Styleable output
  A common request, there is now a UL class called prt_ul and a LI class called prt_li which can be used to make you sidebar look pretty!
• Plugin Options Modernisation
  I follow planet.wordpress so any tips, tricks and modern ways of doing things have been implemented i.e.
  • Collapse multiple options into an array
  • Implement register settings to close http://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1217
  • Implement upgrade.php to migrate all variable to new array form
• Resolved: Missing argument 1 for phpbb_topics()
  This was a stoooopid bug that has been in the code for ages, I finally found the time to squish it!
• Code clean-up (Lots of changes)
  I’ve put a lot of effort in 0.7 to remove all the un-necessary code, the kind of stuff that get’s pasted in as a good idea but not needed, hopefully this has some positive impact in your site as well as my kama
• Timezone/Off-Set fix (Reads +/- hours from WordPress Settings)
  This was perhaps the most requested feature, I figured out a neat way of doing it by reading the WordPress options.
• Localisation of date/time fix (http://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1173)
  I’m planning to complete localisation in 0.8, but this is a start right?
• Callback functionality
  Do you want to do something cool with PRT? Check out phpbb_topics_callback in the readme!
• Contextual Help in the admin dashboard
  In the past, this blog post has contained the instructions for getting going, I’ve now put everything either in the readme or actually in the wordpress help, keep a weather eye out for the “help” in the top right hand corner of the WordPress dashboard.

Where do I get it?
Download phpbb_recent_topics version 0.7 from WordPress.org

I hope you enjoy this release!

Footnote: Version 0.7.1 has been pushed out which fixes the date display issue reported below!

Yesterday I completed the subversion mirror of my WordPress projects – phpbb_recent_topics , root cookie and linickx lifestream – now this isn’t a migration, it is a mirror! For the time being I’m happy using the subversion tools provided by Automattic and the WordPress team but I understand that git is gaining momentum and many are switching, basically I’m hoping this makes it easier for the WP community to get in touch or make suggestions to the code.

I’m also working on uploading some of my old work, I rely heavily on google to broadcast my wares and perhaps there are some old dinosaurs that need resurrecting by a new community of devs? Well if you’re feeling nosey “A is for Abandonware”

It’s likely that new code and projects will appear on git hub, I’ve been toying with running subversion on linickx.com but now that Xcode4 has git built in this cloud based social service might be a better option…. I guess only time will tell!

Enjoy!

$my_query = $wp_query->query; // Copy the existing query into a new one
$my_query['posts_per_page'] = "30"; // change the number we want displayed.
$my_query['orderby'] = "title"; // Sort by title.
$my_query['order'] = "ASC"; // 'A' first!
query_posts($my_query);  // Run our query.... normal service resumes.

Hopefully this post will give someone the light bulb moment they’re after.

I’m going to assume that you’ve requested access to WordPress.org’s SVN repository, and you’ve found the admin panel and want to get your Xcode goodness hooked up to the WP SVN.

To get started create a new Empty Xcode project.

Xcode project chooser	Empty Project

From the menu bar select SCM then Configure Repositories, the window select the + to add a new repo, the username & password pair are your wordpress.org credentials, you can find the URL to your SVN repo on the wordpress.org site.

The WP.org admin interface

Next from the menu bar select SCM then Repositories, highlight the repo you’ve just created and choose checkout; you’re going to be asked for a folder to “save” the contents of the repo to, I chose inside my Xcode project folder.

Repo’ Config	Code Checkout

You now need to add those “checked out” files to you project, in the tree on the left, right/control click the blue project icon at the top and select add existing files, accept the defaults and the repo should be imported.

Imported Code

These files now in the project need to be associated with the repo, this is done by highlighting the blue project icon and clicking the “Info” button, then click “Configure Roots & SCM”; click the + button and choose your repo folder (again)… the dropdown on the right should automatically select the correct SCM.

Project Properties	Project Roots

If you now change a file / add / delete / etc it will appear under the SCM tree, you can right/control click and commit to the repo…. job done

Yay it works!

Very quickly you’re going to find out that you want to test your changes prior to commiting them, to do this you may want to copy your files upto a webserver…. I get Xcode to do that for me, using macfuse to mount my webroot via ssh but for this example I’ll create a directory on the desktop … you also need to create any subdirectories you may need.. I have to create “admin”.

To copy the files we’re use an Xcode target, from the menu bar choose Project then New Target then Copy Files Target, I called my new target CopyFile. Using the info button change the absolute path of the copy – e.g. /Users/Nick/Desktop/LL … now here I ran into a problem (suggestions welcome)… next I created extra copy build phases for each subdirectory. Control/right click your Target ( i.e CopyFiles) then choose Add, New Build Phase, New Copy Files Build Phase… I then set the absolute path of this “sub target” to /Users/nick/Desktop/LL/admin/ to represent my admin subdirectory.

Finally DRAG down the files into their correct target, all being well and a fair wind clicking “BUILD” will cause your files to be copied into your directory. You can now make changes, click build to test, and then commit them to subversion when you’re happy

Finished!

The red sweater post that inspires this now talks about creating a RUN shortcut to automatically open a web browser for testing, however mine didn’t work… I got this error “The program being debugged is not being run“… suggestions to fix welcome!

Screenshot phpbb_recent_topics admin page

Admin GUI

It’s that time again, enough things have happened in the support forum to warrant another version.

phpbb_recent_topics 0.6 owes a debt of gratitude to number3nl he has worked very hard to push in two main new features and his work was so good it only needed a couple of minor tweaks from myself.

New Features!

• The loooong awaited phpBB recent posts feature has been enabled, simply tick the box that says “Sort results by post date” and you’re away!
• Tooltips are here! Yup if you’re into that kind of thing enabling tool tips will show a snippet of the post content to your visitors prior to them clicking on any links.
• Admin UI Error Messages are here; the GUI will now inform you if you’re connected to phpBB.

Bug Fixes.

• The variables in display.php now match those of admin-display.php; hopefully this will make community contribution simpler.
• Uninstall.php has been added so removal of the plugin is more comprehensive.

A note to upgrader’s.

• If you’re using secure database connectivity you’ll need to GRANT access to the posts table….
  GRANT SELECT ON phpbb_database.phpbb_posts TO wp_user@localhost;

Download phpBB_Recent_Topics_0.6 from wordpress.org

The usual stuff now follows….

The Installation

Before starting you need to get your database configuration sorted. So, are you going to connect to the PHPBB Database securely or Insecurely?

To connect Securely you need to GRANT access TO WordPress FROM phpbb.

How to GRANT wordpress read only access to phpBB ?
If you don’t know it already you need to find your wordpress mysql user id, it’ll be in wp-config.php

define('DB_USER', 'wp_user');     // Your MySQL username

and you should have already found your phpbb database & table for the above.
You need to type the following syntax into your mysql database

GRANT SELECT ON phpbb_database.phpbb_topics TO wp_user@localhost;

AND

GRANT SELECT ON phpbb_database.phpbb_forums TO wp_user@localhost;

AND

GRANT SELECT ON phpbb_database.phpbb_posts TO wp_user@localhost;

this can be achieved by logging into phpmyadmin as your phpbb user, selecting SQL and pasting the correct GRANT into the text box.

WordPress Installation

• Unzip phpbb_recent_topics.tgz in your `/wp-content/plugins/` directory. (You’ll have a new directory, with this plugin in /wp-content/plugins/phpbb_recent_topics)
• Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
• Configure the plugin, you need to tell wordpress about phpbb, this is done in the wordpress menu ‘Settings’ -> ‘phpBB Recent Topics’
  The following Settings are required:
  • * The name of your phpBB database (e.g phpbb)
  • * The name of the table where topics are held (the default is phpbb_topics )
  • * The full url of your forum for links (e.g. http://www.mydomain.com/forum)
  • * The number of topics to show. (If left blank you get 5)
  • * The Date Formatting, i.e. “d/M/y – g:i a” similar to the WordPress “General Settings”
• The use of Insecure connectivity is optional – See Below
• Tick the boxes of any Forums you don’t want this plugin to show posts from
• Hit ‘Update Options”
• To output the list of topics in a page or post…
  • * create a new page/post, type {phpbb_recent_topics} , hit ‘Publish’ or ‘Create new page’

  To output the list of topics in your theme sidebar using the widget…

  • * click “design” in the dashboard
  • * click “widgets”
  • * next to phpBB Recent Topics click “add”
  • * click “save changes”

  To output the list of topics in your theme sidebar using a template tag…

  • * edit sidebar.php and inside <div id=”sidebar”> type…

    <?php
    if (function_exists('phpbb_topics')) {
    phpbb_topics();
    }
    ?>

What is Insecure MySQL Connectivity & How do I use it?
If you need to you can connect in a less secure manner, the connection details held in your PHPBB config.php can be loaded into WordPress. This is insecure becuase the phpbb3 credentials are store in clear text, this is bad cuase if someone somehow comprised WordPress they’d have full access to PHPBB.

To use, tick the “Enable Insecure Database Connection” box, and submit, when the page re-freshes you’ll have some more boxes to populate, from your phpbb config.php fill in


$dbuser = phpbb MySQL Database UserName
$dbpasswd = phpbb MySQL Database Password
$dbhost = phpbb MySQL Server


Click update, and you should be connected!

Support
I’ve always been honest about support, there isn’t any. Basically I write this for my own needs and then publish it for you to use for free. You’re more than welcome to post comments here and if you need support the community phpbb-recent-topics forum is available, I do read every post there but we all have busy lives and I make no promises on how quickly I’ll reply to you.

Finally Subversion
The source for this plugin is in the wordpress subversion, you can checkout the trunk directly from here, if you weren’t aware wp.org also auto-magically creates a nightly build of any developments here.

I hope you enjoy my plug-in!

Dear Creator of Plugin, thank you very much for your great job. I am trying to use it in web site.
i am trying to use your plugin LINICKX LifeStream v0.2 and i have 2 questions.
1. I inserted 23 URL of Feeds but plugin loading only 3 of them, why?
2. Could I load also content of posts, if yes than how?
great thanks!
best regards
Edgar

Actually Edgar I’ve only tested with about 5 feeds, so I will load up my test site and see what happens, it could be possible that your feed 4 is corrupt and blocking the rest.

If you wish to create posts from feeds see FeedWordPress by Charles Johnson, I was planning to include this functionality but issues mean that now I’m not bothering, see line L236 of run.php, feel free to submit a patch if you can fix it.

Festive Regards,