Plugin is finished… for now.

Well it’s been awhile since my last post. The last few weeks of the semester have been crazy busy. So, I’ll address some of the things I had planned to do in my last post, what I’ve done, and what I didn’t get to (in no particular order).

From my last post:

- I did get file upload working in the meta box for projects. However, it seemed pointless. Uploading the file there connected it with that specific project, but this can be done through uploading files directly from the Media section anyways, or through the file uploader when creating or editing the project. It isn’t really needed, so I removed it.

- Projects can now be viewable on the front end. I changed “show_in_nav_menus” to true, so now they can be added to the navigation via Appearance > Menu. I then display the meta data (the project information such as the category, budget, etc) by retrieving the values using get_post_custom_values() and using a foreach loop to go through and display the value for each field, and adding that to the bottom of the content (below the title/description of the project)… only if the post type is projects.

Level 1 is getting there!

Whew! It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about this class. Okay, let’s get to it!

A lot has happened since I hoped we’d get some background graphics – we have lots of graphics! And metrics. And a script! So on the weekend of the 17th-18th I had done a lot of work with the level. Dan, our other programmer, is extremely fast at getting things done, and on the 15th had put in a bunch of background graphics etc that we had gotten. A bunch of this stuff I wanted to learn myself, but I learn better by DOING not just looking at what others have done.

So I essentially re-did the thing myself to learn, and it was great. However, by the time I get to working on something new, Dan has already got it done! I’m not saying this is bad, but our working together wasn’t quite going that well. What was there for me to do? So on the 19th, after talking to Doug after class, I messaged Dan about splitting up the work – I’d work on other enemies as he’d already started the spinning top, and he could continue with the spinning top and the level layout. However, he told me he had other projects to work on for a few days and he wouldn’t work on the level until he heard from me… alright, then! Lol. I didn’t want us to have to take turns as that can slow down production, but that’s alright.

So, I downloaded and worked off of Dan’s latest version, and this is what I did over a few days last week (some of it is new work, some I had done in my own test platforms that I copied over):

Plugin Problem = Solved!

Last week I talked a bit about the problem I was having with my plugin saving the metadata into the database. Well, I had no such luck with it until yesterday.

By yesterday I still couldn’t figure out what the problem was after working on it throughout last week and the weekend. I had a meeting with Doug yesterday and for two hours we worked with the code, trying to see if we could solve it. We didn’t, but it helped me know where to focus my debugging on – the $_POST. At some point, the meta keys were going into the database, not the values. But something changed (I don’t know what unfortunately) and nothing was going into the database. So it had to be something to do with the $_POST or the form.

So last night I started by commenting out pieces to try to narrow down the problem, and echoing out the $_POST for one or two form inputs to see what is going on. I tried to force the meta keys to be sent to the database even if the $POSTs weren’t set, but that did no good. Then, I commented out the nonce check stuff… and it worked! I was able to see what was in the $_POST(s). So it was the nonce check that was causing the problem, as far as I can tell (I can’t remember when I put in the nonce check). I double checked by uncommenting it, and sure enough, metadata stopped going into the database.

Plugin Development

I began developing my plugin last week. I first purchased the book recommended to me, called “Professional WordPress Plugin Development” by Brad Williams, Ozh Richard, and Justin Tadlock. So far it has been a great help, I recommend it too!

I began by laying out the structure of the files and folders of my plugin. I had originally thought I would create a little menu/sub-menu on the admin sidebar for the plugin. I did this, and I was able to create the main link, and add sub-menu links. I also created a file for creating the database tables that I would add later on.

I then ran into some trouble. I want to be able to create new projects and clients, and I created these pages accordingly. However, I couldn’t link them from the main “Projects” and “Clients” pages (where you would see a list of all the projects and clients). I couldn’t find a solution anywhere. But, I found in my textbook a section on custom post types. Maybe this is what I need?

Scenario… and going to dive into some coding.

I forgot to post, so I’ll do it now. On Friday I had written up the scenario for the MRL Director persona, as well as the requirements. I have submitted it to Alanna, but until I get feedback on the personas and the scenario, I am going to begin looking this week at the actual plugin development. I do not have much time left in this semester, so it is really crunch time, and I feel I have a pretty good grasp of what this plugin needs to do to meet the needs of the people in the department/lab that will be using it. Though I’m sure questions will come up along the way, I really need to begin coding and move from the design to the development stage will the little time I have left. In one of my books, Smashing WordPress, it has a whole section on plugin development. I will be using it and any online resources I find to help me. I also have a recommendation by my friend Liliana for a book that is specifically about WordPress plugin development, so I may look into purchasing that as well.