Allan Collins

WordPress Plugin Testers Wanted!

Allan Collins — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:00:44 +0000

Hey boys and girls, I’m getting close to finishing up on some new plugins and a major update for one of my popular ones and I really need your help! From my experience, not every WordPress install is exactly the same and I have to struggle with conflicting plugins, servers and even low-experienced users after releasing a new or updated plugin. So, I’m calling for volunteers that would be interested in testing out plugins before they are released into the wild.

What do I need to do?

I need you to test my plugins with WordPress 2.8.6 and up with popular plugins installed and note any compatibility or usability issues.

Why should I help you?

There are a few good reasons:

Most plugins in the wild don’t work.
Supporting the plugins will be easier in the future. (Remember, open source plugin development isn’t a paying gig…)
Finding the issues I missed. This is where your extra set of eyes becomes helpful.
You get access to plugins before they are release and you are credited for their successful deployment.
For helping, you can have the option of a credit link on the plugin’s blog post or a link on the plugin’s administrative page.

How do I sign up?

To get started as a plugin tester, signup here!

Photo by escalepade.

An Introduction to PHP

Allan Collins — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:48:16 +0000

Learning PHP is a big step for anyone to take. With PHP, you can extend WordPress by writing your own plugins or perhaps you want to write a web application that solves a problem.

Hello World!

Just about every programming book starts with the “Hello World!” application. The following will display “Hello World!” in the browser: echo “Hello World!”;

There you have it. Your very first PHP application.

For more information on how you can learn PHP in 17 hours click here.

Misc Links

Allan Collins — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:40:43 +0000

Sometimes, you have links that you need to share, but you just don’t know where to put them…

Win a SQL server book! – Take a quiz on SQL Server and you could win a free book.
Air Rifle Scope – Reviews and information on scopes for air rifles.
HipHop for PHP – Convert PHP to C++ for speed.
Acoustic Guitar Lessons – Blog dedicated to lessons for the acoustic guitar.

Feed Subscriber Stats 3

Allan Collins — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:06:28 +0000

DOWNLOAD FEED SUBSCRIBER STATS 3!

Feed Subscriber Stats was originally developed to simply display the number of RSS feed subscribers on your WordPress Dashboard. Version 3 expands the plugin further with new exciting features. So what’s new?

Graphing

The major improvement of version 3 adds an archiving feature. With this feature you can view the number of subscribers and hits from as far back as January 1, 2008. This data is then plotted on a graph which will allow you to view yearly trends and subscriber fluctuations.

Support for WP 2.7 and up ONLY!

I have made it a point to not support versions of WordPress older than 2.7. I understand that this may be harsh for some, but it’s not logical to be supporting outdated software.

Support for PHP 5 and up ONLY!

PHP 5 was released in 2004! I think it’s about time we stop supporting older versions of PHP, frankly because there isn’t any more support for PHP 4 anymore, which opens the doors for security risks.

Bug Reporting

Do you have an issue with this plugin?
Are you running WordPress 2.7 or higher?
Does your server run PHP 5?
Do you have the Feedburner Awareness API activated?

If you answered YES to all three questions, please post a comment below explaining your issue.

If you don’t have an issue and you are happy with the plugin, let me know by commenting below.

Form Helper Class

Allan Collins — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:37:53 +0000

Download The Form Helper Class
Version 0.1

Tired of writing repetitive HTML for forms?
Create forms faster and maintain them easier with a form helper class.

Text Input

$object->input($label,$name,$value,$params);

Example: $form->input(‘First Name:’,'first_name’,'Joe’,array(‘size’=>’10′));

This will create the following:

First Name:

The $params array can be any parameter you want it to be. You can put classes, styles, etc.
$value and $params are optional.

TextArea

$object->textarea($label,$name,$value,$params);

Example: $form->textarea(‘Comment:’,'comment’,'This is my comment.’,array(‘rows’=>’10′));

This will create the following:

Comment:This is my comment.

The $params array can be any parameter you want it to be. You can put classes, styles, etc.
$value and $params are optional.

Select Dropdown

$object->select($label,$name,$value,$params);

Example: $form->select(‘How many kids do you have?’,'number_of_kids’,array(0,1,2,3,4));

This will create the following:

How many kids do you have?

The $params array can be any parameter you want it to be. You can put classes, styles, etc.
$params are optional.

This class doesn’t have the option to create checkboxes or radio buttons, but that is definitely on the way in a future update. I hope this class helps you as much as it helps me out.

include "formHelper.php"; // Include the class file.

$form=new formBuilder();  // Initialize the helper.

echo $form->open('formProcessor.php','post'); // Open the form tag, list where it goes and how it is supposed to get there.

echo $form->input('First Name:','first_name'); // Create an text input field.

echo $form->select('How many kids do you have?','number_of_kids',array(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15)); // Create a select dropdown.

echo $form->textarea('Comments','comments','',array('rows'=>'10')); // Create a textarea.

echo $form->submit('Submit It Now!'); //Create a submit button.

echo ""; // Close the form tag.