If you’re having this problem and you’re using the $vusers[] list, try changing the order of the $vusers[] list. This alone may fix things.

I’ll try to get a “real” fix out soon (probably this weekend). A new version should be coming out anyway within days.

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Google set out with a specific goal: to create a browser that is designed to run mature, full featured web applications; and at first blush, it appears that they have entirely succeeded. I haven’t even tried it on Google’s own applications, such as their online word processor.

The design of this browser is quite different from other browsers, especially under the hood. I’ll probably keep Firefox for general browsing, but I will almost certainly use this for “application” use, from blogging to online banking.

Bravo.

(…and get that Mac version released!)

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I have seen and used plugins that added anywhere from ten to thirty new records to the options table, and a correspondent of mine reports that he has encountered a plugin that, upon activation, adds a whopping 140 new records to wp_options. Egad! There has to be a better way!

There is a better way. With a few simple changes to your code, plugin authors can put all the various settings into an array, and enter that array as a single record in the options table. This article will show you how.

On this site I use a plugin called ShrinkyLink. It performs the straightforward but useful function of shortening long URLs to a specified length, or replacing the link text entirely with a specified string. It was created by Andrew Rader, but as far as I can tell his web site no longer exists. For the purposes of this article, it has a number of good qualities:

• It inserts 10 separate records into the WordPress options table
• It is not likely to see further updates from the original author
• It is useful and thus worthy of updating
• The original author was kind enough to release it under the GPL2 license

The last version of ShrinkyLink was 0.2, released in 2006. Today we’re going to begin the rehabilitation of this plugin and create a version 0.3 that stores all its settings in a single array.

I’m going to split this into multiple sections:

1. How to set and retrieve settings using arrays
2. Upgrading your plugin’s Admin Screen form to use an array
3. Upgrading existing settings from multiple records to a single array

Let’s get to it.

(...)
Read the rest of Consolidate Options with Arrays in your WordPress Plugins (1,731 words)

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WordPress version 2.6 is going to be released very soon. Until I have had time to test Virtual Multiblog on WP 2.6, I recommend that you not upgrade WordPress past 2.5.1.

I’ve always said that the VMB system is quite future-proof, “unless WordPress makes significant changes to wp-config.php”. Well, WP 2.6 allows users to change the location of that critical file, and the wp-content folder. Either one of these changes may have ramifications for Virtual Multiblog.

Hang Tight folks. I’ll test it out and let you know.

if somebody daring does take the plunge, I would appreciate any problem reports.

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Version 2.3 is mostly under-the-hood improvements, but it might fix some of the issues people have. Additionally, I’ve made a few updates so it fits more seamlessly within the WordPress 2.5 Admin section.

I’ve also managed to abstract the optional Multiblog Support plugin to such a point that after this update you may never have to update it again! All plugin functions are now within the /multiblog/ folder, so changes down the road will happen within the main VMB system files instead of the separate plugin file.

Go get it, and Enjoy!

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Case and point. I got a call from another office because somebody’s printer is not working. I travel to that office, and ultimately just delete and reinstall the printer. Open up Word, insert some test garbage, and print. Done.

I come to work the next day and have a call in that the printer is not working. Turns out that it is not working for some particular program that (unbeknownst to me) needs a particular batch file/hack to run when Windows boots so that it can print. (Didn’t need the hack when we were on Windows 98.) Oh, yeah, I made a small change to the printer name when I reinstalled it. We just need to change the printer name in the one-line batch file…

…which requires me to travel to that office again. Unless I can do it via remote. Windows XP has this thing called “Remote Assistance”. I can have the person on that computer send me a request, and I can then just click on a link and run her computer remotely and fix the file. Neat, huh?

Nope. The program works by sending the request file via email, and she gets an error saying that Outlook Express is not set up. She doesn’t use Outlook Express, she uses Outlook. I instruct her to go to Control Panel and change the default email program to Microsoft Outlook. She does so and tries the request again. Same error. I send her back to Control Panel, and the default has reverted to Outlook Express. What the Hell???

Some Google searching turns up the little tidbit that you cannot change your default email program unless you are an administrator, as it is a system-wide setting. Huh? So apparently in Windows XP, two different users with two different accounts on one computer can’t use different email programs? What kind of drunken half-wit prick thought that was a good idea? (I’m looking at you, Bill.) Naturally, Windows does allow you to change the setting, but then silently reverts it the moment your back is turned (i.e. you close the settings window). This is one of the worst kinds of software failures — when a program changes things silently. Microsoft programs do this all the time — I think it must be in the style manual:

Help the user by constantly making assumptions about what they really meant to do, and then silently change what they actually did to what the software assumes they meant. Remember, people are stupid and software is smart.

I realize that the remote request likely won’t work anyway because I’ll be remote-controlling a non-admin login. Huh.

I call the person at that office who has admin access. He’s not a techie, but I should be able to talk him through it. I don’t like doing this because he’s a busy man (runs that office), but if three minutes of his time can save me an hour of travel, that’s a win. I get him to log on as admin. He goes to the batch file and makes the change. Just to double-check we did it right I ask him to go into Printer settings and double-check what I named the printer when I reinstalled it last night. Error. Sorry, administrator does not have access to the printer because it can not be found.

Fuck it. Looks like I’m traveling. If I thought I could get away with it I would stop at an Apple store on the way and buy a Mini to replace this piece of shit. Unfortunately we have one critical app that is running on… wait for it… DOS. Don’t even get me started.

(Note: Post title from this.)

[Insta-update -- As I'm writing this, the user called me to say that she could print again. It appears that the fix worked despite the printer being "lost". Once again -- What the Sam Hill is going on with this broken-ass software?]

[Update: Alternate Title: "There's a Hole in the Bucket. Just Fucket."]

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Version 2.2 has a number of under the hood changes and bug fixes. It also includes an improved and clarified ReadMe, so if you’ve had problems, give it a look.

NOTE TO UPGRADERS: If you have used a previous version of Virtual Multiblog, be aware that the wp-config.php file has changed — you must replace the one in your main WordPress directory with the new version (included).

Also note — if any of you have been adventurous enough to use the functions in templates and such, there has been a change there as well. Where they were previously called as vmb::function(), they are now called through the $vmb object, like so: $vmb->function(). I’ve tried very hard to make this system “future proof”, and I apologize if this change messes anybody up. I do believe that the new setup is going to remain very stable going forward.

I put a LOT of time into this one, folks. There was actually a version 2.1.2 that I was going to release, but I kept rolling along with “Well, I should fix this too. And I wanted to add that thing. Oh, wait, what about….” And here we are.

You know, kind of like the just-released WordPress 2.4 2.5. (And yes, the timing relative to that was just a coincidence!)

Go get it!

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I like to think of it as like walking into a supermarket. Categories are the big signs over the aisles, and tags are the contents labels on the products. Thus: Categories = broad sweeps; Tags = details.

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