K-Squared Ramblings

Bunny’s Technorati Tags and WordPress 2.0

Solved! To make Bunny’s Technorati Tags fully compatible with WordPress 2.0 you need to change two lines in the add_tags_textinput() function.

Just replace this:

function add_tags_textinput() {
	global $postdata;
	$tags = get_post_meta($postdata->ID, 'tags', true);

with this:

function add_tags_textinput() {
	global $post_ID;
	$tags = get_post_meta($post_ID, 'tags', true);

The problem is that it will show existing tags, or let you add a new tag, but it will lose tags when you edit a post. It’s not able to retrieve the tags to fill in the form field, apparently because $postdata isn’t returning the ID it expects.

I’ve submitted the fix to wp-plugins.org, so if the author is keeping track of tickets there, the fix should show up in the next version of the plugin.

Update Jan. 3: The plugin author has released version 0.5 with a slightly different fix (plus a few other improvements), and it’s now compatible with WordPress 2.0.

Accidental Blogspam

I just got a complaint about the latest comment on Another One Bites the Dust. Apparently the previous commenter (who checked the “Subscribe to comments” box) either entered someone else’s email address or forgot visiting the site. It’s a name123@example.com-style address, so it could easily have been a typo.

Either way, the new comment notice went out, and the recipient sent me a spam complaint. I apologized and removed him from the update list, but it moves “accidental spam” from a theoretical risk to an observed problem. I’ve disabled the subscription plugin until I have a chance to figure this out.

The good news is that Subscribe to Comments 2.0 is out now, so I should be able to upgrade when I get a chance. The bad news is that it doesn’t seem to have added a confirmation step, meaning it’s still (effectively) opt-out. Sure, you have to opt-in to get it in the first place…but the fact is that anyone can opt you in just by giving your email address instead of their own.

Open Letter to WordPress Plugin Authors

Please, when developing your plugins, be sure to always use the full opening tag for PHP:

<?php code goes here ?>

On some servers—maybe even your own—you can shorten this to just the opening <?. The following line in php.ini will disable this “feature,” and many web server administrators do so to simplify things like generating XML with PHP:

short_open_tag = Off

When this option is set, PHP will ignore <? and assume it’s simply part of the template… along with all the code following it. If you’re lucky, it means a bunch of PHP code gets sent to the web browser. If you’re not lucky, it results in invalid syntax, and PHP grinds to a halt, spitting out a blank page and a PHP Parse Error.

So please make sure you always use the full opening tag so that your plugin will be compatible with everyone’s system. If you run your own server, set that option in php.ini so that if you miss one, you can catch it before you post it.