techNerdia - Web Development Tips » wp

Adding a Link to the WordPress Dashboard Menu that opens an Internal or External Page. [Updated]

tribalNerd — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:20:16 +0000

Updated: January 23, 2012 – This tip walks you through adding a Statistics link for Google Analytics within the WordPress Admin under the Dashboard tab.

Sources:

Adding a Link to the Dashboard of WordPress

The example below is two functions. The second function (dashboardMenu) adds the link within the dashboard, then calls the first function (linkedPage).

What To Do…

On Line 8 replace the ENTER-YOUR-GOOGLE-ANALYTICS-URL-HERE with your Google Analytics URL or any URL you wish to open.
On Line 10 replace YOUR-DOMAIN with your domain.

/* The Redirect Function */
function linkedPage(){
	if(!current_user_can('manage_options')){
		wp_die( __('You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.'));
	}
?>

How Does It Work?

When the Statistics link is clicked in the dashboard, the linkedPage function is called. This sets two Javascripts in action, the first opens Google Analytics in a tab-less browser window. The second redirect waits a few seconds, then returns back to your WordPress Admin homepage.

Adding Multiple Dashboard Links

Duplicate the linkedPage function and rename it, and adjust the urls within the Javascript. Then in the dashboardMenu function, duplicate the add_submenu_page line, adjust the link name and finally replace the linkedPage function with the new function name.

/* Multiple Redirects */
function secondFunctionName(){
	if(!current_user_can('manage_options')){
		wp_die( __('You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.'));
	}
?>

Opening an Internal Page

Instead of redirecting to an outsideURL, you can open a page directly within the admin, then add all the links and goodies you like to that page.

The example below offers two methods for display HTML. The first is to include the html within the function – a much cleaner way of doing it, and the second is to display the html directly within the function.

function linkedPage(){
	if(!current_user_can('manage_options')){
		wp_die( __('You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.'));
	}
/* Method #1 - Include the HTML */
//include("full/path/to/file.php");
/* */
/* Method #2 - HTML within the Function */ ?>

	Bird is the Word

Simple Enough!

This can save you a bit of time and it can be twisted in many various ways. Add links to Feed Stats, Online Tools, Related Sites, Social Networks and whatever else you like.

Did this article help you? Did this article solve your problem? Have Feedback?

Let me know in the comments below or drop me feedback directly! Your input helps improve, expand, and create future articles, so speak up!

Enjoy your day ~tribalNerd

Thanks For Reading Adding a Link to the WordPress Dashboard Menu that opens an Internal or External Page. [Updated] from techNerdia.com

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Using Shortcodes to Display and Manipulate Custom PHP Code within WordPress Posts or Pages

tribalNerd — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:27:15 +0000

From WordPress, a Shortcode is: a simple set of functions for creating macro codes for use in post content.

Shortcodes are the perfect tool to use for pulling in Affiliate API‘s directly into WordPress, by passing in variables within the Shortcode directly, which manipulates the output or display of the API. Because Shortcodes are built in WordPress Functions, caching plugins will work on them. Another words, using Shortcodes to display API’s instead of writing a custom plugin, means you don’t also have to write in extra code for caching!

The functions.php file
Shortcode Functions get added directly into the functions.php file of a theme.

A Basic Shortcode Function

Shortcodes need a function assigned to them to make them, function. Below is a basic example of this taking place.

Place the below within the functions.php file:

function myShortcode() {
    return 'Hello!';
}
add_shortcode( shortcode_name, myShortcode );

In the last line above, the add_shortcode Function contains the name of the short code (shortcode_name) and calls the function above it (myShortcode). The name of this shortcode is: shortcode_name and the function name is: myShortcode

Use a shortcode name that relates to the purpose of the function.
Always use lowercase letters in your Shortcode names.

Shortcode Call: The Shortcode will return the text: Hello

[shortcode_name]

This is a rather basic example, you can find many ways to use them with a quick Google Search, they are amazingly versatile, so don’t be afraid to play with them.

Passing an Attribute to the Shortcode

Rather than simply returning Hello, the Shortcode can have text passed directly to it. The text can be returned, or used to activate an if or switch statement. The example below checks to see if $atts is passed in, if so it returns the results of param, which is Hello World!

function myShortcode( $atts ) {
if ( $atts) {
    return $atts['param'];
}
}
add_shortcode( shortcode_name, myShortcode );

Passing in an Attribute:

[shortcode_name param="Hello World!"]

Both of the above examples are some what limited, to unlock the full potential of Shortcodes, Attributes need to be passed in.

Attributes within Shortcodes

Attributes are basically Variables ($a) that get passed into the Shortcode Function.

This is done simply by adding in the following to the function:

extract( shortcode_atts( array( 'variable' => 'value', ), $atts ) );

The array() contains a variable(s) that may or may not equal something, in this case the variable equals value. Add more Variables by adding to the Array:

 'variable' => 'value', 'another-var' => 'another-value',

Full example:

extract( shortcode_atts( array( 'variable' => 'value', 'another-var' => 'another-value', ), $atts ) );

Typically using Shortcodes with Attributes means something more complex is happening than displaying a single line of text, being so the output needs to be captured before displaying it.

Output Buffering

An Advanced Shortcode is basically useless without capturing the output of the code. Without it, code can display at wrong times or locations and depending on what the code does within the Shortcode function, it may return header warnings.

To correct this we use a few PHP functions: ob_start, ob_get_contents and ob_end_clean. These functions capture the output of the code into a memory first, then displays (or cleans) the output based on the order it was captured in.

Example Shortcode Function Using Output Buffering

In the example below, we capture the if statements results based on the variable’s value.

function myShortcode( $atts ) {
	extract( shortcode_atts( array( 'variable' => '', ), $atts ) );
	ob_start();
		if ( $variable == '' ) { echo "Do Nothing!"; }
		if ( $variable == '1' ) { echo "Do This Code!"; }
		if ( $variable == '2' ) { echo "Do That Code!"; }
	$output_string = ob_get_contents();
	ob_end_clean();
		return $output_string;
}
add_shortcode( short_code_name, myShortcode);

This Shortcode will return: Do This Code!

[shortcode_name variable="1"]

Advanced Example Shortcode Function

This example captures an XML Feed, loads it into a string, then manipulates the output based on the passed in Attributes. This Shortcode can display various outputs based on the value of type. When type=cars a unique API Url is called, then we foreach through each result, correct the HTML entities and cut the description length off at 255 characters before returning them.

function myShortcode( $atts ) {
	extract( shortcode_atts( array( 'type' => '', 'debug' => '', ), $atts ) );
	ob_start();
/* start code */
if ( !$type ) { $type = "cars"; }
if ( $type == "cars" ) {
	$apiUrl = file_get_contents("http://apiurl.com/");
}
if ( $type == "boats" ) {
	$apiUrl = file_get_contents("http://apiurl.com/");
}
if ( $type ) {
	$xml = simplexml_load_string($apiUrl);
	if( $debug ){echo "";print_r($xml);echo ""; exit;}
}
if ( $type == "cars" ) {
	 foreach($xml->cars as $car){
		$title = $car->title;
		$about = $car->description;
			echo ''. htmlentities($title); .'';
			echo ''. substr($about,0,255); .'';
	}
}
if ( $type == "boats" ) {
	$name = $xml->boats->boat->name;
	echo $name;
}
/* end code */
	$output_string = ob_get_contents();
	ob_end_clean();
		return $output_string;
}
add_shortcode( short_code_name, myShortcode);

The Shortcodes

[short_code_name type="cars"]
[short_code_name type="boats"]
[short_code_name type="cars" debug="1"]

As you can see, a single Shortcode can contain many “rules” before executing the code. As long as you capture the output, it really makes no difference what you do. You could connect to Mysql, run advanced math, call other functions and classes, include other files, and much more – all within one Shortcode.

This does not mean you should stack everything into a single Shortcode, but it does mean it’s possible!

What one of my Shortcode functions looks like

This is one of my actual Shortcode functions. I pass in several Attributes in, however I only call one or few at a time, each of which manipulate the results of the included api.php file.

The show variable in the shortcode_atts array is set to full (show=full), this means the default value of show to full, thus if nothing is passed in it’s value is full, otherwise its value is whatever is passed in from the Shortcode.

function apiData_func( $atts ) {
		extract( shortcode_atts( array('type' => '', 'show' => 'full', 'letter' => '', 'site' => '', 'start' => '', 'search' => '', 'speed' => '', 'filter' => 'filter', ), $atts ) );
	ob_start();
	  include('api.php');
	 $output_string = ob_get_contents();
	ob_end_clean();
   return $output_string;
 }
add_shortcode( api_data, apiData_func );

The Shortcode

[api_data type="golf" letter="a" start="1" ]

This Shortcode would display golf products, starting with the letter A on page 1, and would ‘show’ the ‘full’ information template.

Enable Shortcodes in Sidebar Widgets

Add the line below (as is) to your themes function.php file to turn on Shortcodes within Widgets. Now the same [ShortCodes] used within Posts and Pages can be used within Sidebar Widgets.

add_filter('widget_text', 'do_shortcode', 11);

What is the 11?

That is the Priority number, this tells WordPress to load do_shortcode after the WordPress content has started to load. In some unique cases you may need the Shortcode to load before WordPress, like when modifying headers, then the Priority number would be 9 (I believe). Other times you may have nested the Shortcodes, and need them to execute in an order. Typically, it stays 11 or gets excluded all together.

Shortcodes are the ultimate WordPress Shortcuts and when it comes to API’s – Shortcodes are a godsend!

Thanks For Reading Using Shortcodes to Display and Manipulate Custom PHP Code within WordPress Posts or Pages from techNerdia.com

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Find the Parent Post ID and Children ID’s of Multiple Nested Posts or Pages – WordPress Tip

tribalNerd — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:05:40 +0000

Google is filled with countless WordPress users asking How to find the Parent Post ID from a Child Page, when that Child Page is multiple nested levels deep. And like those users, I recently found myself asking this same question.

Unfortunately this is one question that has more answers, solutions, and headaches than even Google can understand. All the solutions I did find did not recursively go through endless children posts, the rest simply didn’t work.

So I kept looking and I’m glad that I did….

Even though this is still a popular topic today, it appears WordPress solved this problem way back in version 2.5, with the function get_post_ancestors.

The get_post_ancestors function creates an array of Post ID’s, starting on the first Child Page. So if you’re 50 nested pages and on the 50th page, this function would display every post id, for every page, up to the parent page.

Note: This function does not display the Parent Post ID IF you are on the Parent Post Page itself – You must be at least one level deep for it to work.

Examples of get_post_ancestors

 /* Example use of get_post_ancestors */
/*Outside Loop: like the sidebar, footer, etc. */
$ancestors = get_post_ancestors( $wp_query->post );
/*Within Loop: Pages template. */
$postid = get_the_ID();
$ancestors = get_post_ancestors( $postid );

The results of get_post_ancestors in now in an Array named, $ancestors. For development purposes you may want to view the results of the array.

 /* Display $ancestors */
echo "";
print_r($ancestors):
echo "
";

 /* Output of $ancestors */
Array
(
    [0] => 824
    [1] => 822
    [2] => 796
)

In the example above, the Parent Post ID would be: 796 – Or the last value in the array.

You can access the unique value by calling it directly: This would only work if if you are two levels deep from the parent.

echo $ancestors[2];

PHP Function in_array

In the example below, we use the PHP function in_array to look at all the values returned in the Array, rather than calling each value, like above.

 /* http://php.net/manual/en/function.in-array.php */
in_array( "796", $ancestors );

Example Use: In the example below, if ID 796 is found in the $ancestors Array, the if statement would echo: Found In Array

 /* Full example use of get_post_ancestors */
$ancestors = get_post_ancestors( $wp_query->post );
if( in_array( "796", $ancestors ) ){ echo "Found In Array"; }

Practical Use

I use the get_post_ancestors function within the sidebar.php file of a few product related websites. When the parent page or child page of that parent is loaded, a unique sidebar & widget is called based on the ID. The widget contains a unique, yet typical list style menu that contains nested items within the list.

Example Nested List:

  
	Parent Page
   
	Child Page 1
	  
		Sub-Child Page 2
		  
			Sub-Sub-Child Page 3
		  
		Sub-Child Page 4

Example Use In Sidebar

This will display the custom sidebar-widget menu on the Parent Page and all Child Pages of that Parent.

 /* get_post_ancestors in the sidebar */
if( function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') ) {
 $ancestors = get_post_ancestors( $wp_query->post ); /* Build Ancestors Array*/?>

The is_page function: This function checks to see if the Parent Page is being shown. If you only wanted the custom menu to display on the Child pages, remove is_page() from the above if statement.

Custom sidebar.php file using get_post_ancestors

A more complete example of using the get_post_ancestors function within the sidebar.php file.

 /* get_post_ancestors in the sidebar */
post ); 						/* Build Ancestors Array*/
?>
   

   
} /* end dynamic_sidebar */
?>

It’s that simple… this method can be used throughout a theme, simply make sure you’re passing the post id into get_post_ancestors, and everything will work perfectly!

If you have any questions or find a problem drop me a comment below.

~tribalNerd

Thanks For Reading Find the Parent Post ID and Children ID’s of Multiple Nested Posts or Pages – WordPress Tip from techNerdia.com

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10 Steps to Replacing Feedburner With Your Own Feed URL – with Statistics

tribalNerd — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:49:48 +0000

This article covers removing Feedburner from your WordPress Websites and setting up your own RSS Feeds with Statistics, Advertisements and Scraper Protection.

Two Methods To Removing Feedburner.

Create a temporary Feed that will be used in Feedburner, forcing your readers to update now!
Using a notice within your current Feeds, allowing your readers to naturally move over to your new Feed.

Sites like techNerdia, with a relatively low reader count can force readers to update the Feed URL’s now… It is not hurting me much, if any because of my size. However, for active sites with a large number of readers, an aggressive change like this will make people unhappy, so giving them a notice is a much better option.

Before We Start: Steps 1 ½ (removing plugins), step #3 and step #6 can be skipped by those not wanting to aggressively force readers to update Feed URLs OR if you use the Email Subscriptions feature within Feedburner.

Why am I removing Feedburner?
First, it’s not winning any speed points loading the external Feedburner graphic on my Website. I know it’s really nothing and I could simply not use it. But in the future I would like to show off my new feed count, and hosting it myself is a speed gain.

Secondly, I already give Google enough of my freak’in data….. And Finally, this being the real reason – I added up the time I spent on external services, checking stats or data type information, and it’s disturbingly a high number of HOURS – so my goal overall is to reduce the time spent on external services of all types.

Excuses aside; I’ve found a way to replace Feedburner, help move subscribers over to my new Feed, with statistics, including advertising, while keeping scrapers at bay, all within WordPress. And I’m saving some time by not having to visit another external service.

If you’ve setup your own WordPress Websites and can manage them yourself, then you can do this…

Step 1:

WordPress Plugins

Starting things off is three WordPress Plugins that need to be installed. After this, you may need to shut a few off if you’re taking the aggressive route.

These plugins take care of the dirty work that Feedburner did for you. The other features, such as pinging can be taken care within WordPress and Twitter Posts can easily be done with several plugins or many services that can read your feed.

Installing Plugins

RSS Footer: This plugin has two purposes. The first is to help stop scrapers from taking your Feeds and posting them without credit, and it’s a way to include advertisements.
Feed Statistics: As the name suggests, it’s feed statistics. While it’s not as good as FeedBurner’s pretty stats, it does do the job.
Redirection: Optional: This Plugin is recommended for Multisite Networks but any WP Install can use it. If your sites are setup on the WordPress Multisite Network then you’ll need the Redirection Plugin to handle 301 redirects for each unique site. Otherwise, you can use the .htaccess file in the root of your WordPress site to set up redirects. (Explained Below)

Shutting Off Plugins & Social Networks.

Not everyone needs to do these steps…. If you’re going to naturally move your readers over or if you use Feedburner’s Email Subscriptions feature then skip these steps.

Log into Feedburner, click the Publicize Tab and shut off Ping Shot and Socialize if they’re setup.
Shut Off Plugins that help socialize posts through your Feedburner URL.
Shut Off Social Networks that use your Feedburner URL for posting updates

Step 2:

Setting Up RSS Footer

The RSS Footer Plugin is a key feature to keeping your feeds safe from scrapers or at least making sure you get credit when it happens, and offering some advertising to your readers if you like.

In the example below, the big red box can be text or an advertisement/promo, put in whatever you like. The bold text below the red box is actually more important. The purpose of not linking the Domain Name is to help stop scrapers from ripping out everything within HTML tags, thus leaving the original source to where the article can be found.

Example #1 – HTML that asks readers to Update the Feed URL. This should be used if you’re not forcing your readers to update (ie: a slow change over), perfect for sites with a large active reader base.

NOTICE - PLEASE READ Please update our Feed URL As Soon As Possible - we're removing Feedburner! Thanks ~tribalNerd NEW Feed URL http://technerdia.com/feed

Thanks For Reading %%POSTLINK%% from techNerdia.com

What Example #1 Looks Like:

NOTICE – PLEASE READ Please update our Feed URL As Soon As Possible – we’re removing Feedburner! Thanks ~tribalNerd NEW Feed URL http://technerdia.com/feed

Thanks For Reading %%POSTLINK%% from techNerdia.com

Example #2 – Current HTML I put into my RSS Footer.

Thanks For Reading %%POSTLINK%% from techNerdia.com

~ Visit the New techNerdia.com today ~

What Example #2 Looks Like:

Thanks For Reading %%POSTLINK%% from techNerdia.com

~ Visit the New techNerdia.com today ~

Step 3:

Creating a Temporary RSS Feed

This feed is used to replace your Feed URL in Feedburner, giving the viewer a custom message to update the Feed URL, every single day, until they update. It is aggressive, but it works!

View the Temp techNerdia Feed that I created.
View the Feed at FeedBurner for a different view.

Grab the example below, name it: rss-mySite.xml “One You Modify It” FTP to your WordPress install, create a folder called xml (or whatever), then upload the file. Note: The file extension should be .xml

The example below is really 3 sections. Inside of each section is a title, description, link, and guid link that needs to be modified. The first title section is the name of the feed, the next two title sections would be the updates that are displayed. This script will re-post the same message every day.

* In the example below replace the titles, desc’s and links to match your own information. It’s not a perfect feed, but it does the job and that’s all it needs to do.

n");?>


techNerdia [UPDATE]
Please Update Your Feed URL
http://technerdia.com/feed
 00:00:01 -1600
 00:00:01 -1600

TechNerdia [UPDATE] Please Change Your Feed URL
Please Update Your Feed URL to technerdia.com/feed http://technerdia.com/feed ....then Delete The Feedburner Feed URL that is currently being used. ~ Thanks!
http://technerdia.com/feed
http://technerdia.com/feed
 00:00:01 -1600


Questions or Problems?
If you're having problems or have a question about the feed change or something else, simply drop me an email.
http://technerdia.com/help
http://technerdia.com/help
 00:00:02 -1600

.htaccess

Grab the directive below, and upload a .htaccess file to your /xml/ folder. This will allow the php to parse the xml, making the feed work.

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .xml

Now log into your Feedburner Account, select the Feed you’re going to modify, click Edit Feed at the top (next to the rss icon) – and modify the Feed URL.
You may need to Subscribe to your feed in a Reader to view how your readers will see it.
The message you put into your rss-mySite.xml should now display OR if you’re doing a natural update your new message should appear.

Step 4:

Setting Up Feed Statistics

Setting and using the Feed Statistics Plugin is rather straight forward. However, it appears I may have found a bug, which could very well relate to WordPress Multisite, either way – it’s easy to correct.

Access the Feed Menu > Feed Link – which is the default page when first opened. The end of the first line will tell you how many feed subscribers you currently have.

The issue I was having was updating the number of days and checking the first box. Every time I changed it to 30 and checked, it reset itself – even when I made the change in the DB, accessing the script reset the options.

To beat this, I made some very simple adjustments in the Plugin itself.

FTP to your /wp-content/plugins folder and go into /wordpress-feed-statistics/ – Download the feed-statistics.php file.
Search for two things, both are with functions called ‘update_option’

Search for:

update_option("feed_statistics_track_clickthroughs", "0");
update_option("feed_statistics_expiration_days","3");

Replace the track_clickthroughs lines in two locations.
Replace the expiration_days change line in one location.
Save the file and re-upload.

Replace With:

update_option("feed_statistics_track_clickthroughs", "1");
update_option("feed_statistics_expiration_days","30");

Making The Change Live

Step 5:

Changing / Setting Up Feed URL Redirects

If you currently 301 Redirect your Feeds to Feedburner you’ll need to disable the directs and point them to the root Feed URL on your site, that you put into Feedburner originally. Something like: http://technerdia.com/feed

Redirects: You have two choices basically.

For standalone WordPress sites I recommend setting up the redirects in your root .htaccess file, this is the fastest and most reliable way to do the redirects. The examples below are the long methods to doing redirects, read this article for RewriteRules for Feedburner that can easily be changed to your own feed URL.
For WordPress Multisites you can’t do this without sites conflicting, so I recommend using the Redirection Plugin, which works perfectly on Multisite installs.

Example 1 .htaccess files redirects – Keeping comment, category, and other post feeds while redirecting main Feed URLs into one location.

redirect 301 /wp-commentrss2.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /wp-atom.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /wp-rss2.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /wp-rss.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feed/atom http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feed/rss2 http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feed/rss http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feed/rdf http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /rss.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feeds http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /rss http://your-domain.com/feed

Example 2 .htaccess files redirects – This redirects all Feed URLs, comment, category, archive, and post feeds into one central location. This is what I use on technerdia.com – If you add /feed to the end of this post, it will redirect you to my root feed: technerdia.com/feed

redirect 301 /wp-commentrss2.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 ^/(.*)/feed$ http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /wp-atom.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /wp-rss2.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /wp-rss.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feed/atom http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feed/rss2 http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feed/rss http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feed/rdf http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /htmlfeed http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /comments http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /rss.php http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /feeds http://your-domain.com/feed
redirect 301 /rss http://your-domain.com/feed

Example3: Using the above redirects in the Redirection Plugin.

/wp-commentrss2.php /feed
^/(.*)/feed$ /feed
/wp-atom.php /feed
/wp-rss2.php /feed
/wp-rss.php /feed
/feed/atom /feed
/feed/rss2 /feed
/feed/rss /feed
/feed/rdf /feed
/htmlfeed /feed
/comments /feed
/rss.php /feed
/feeds /feed
/rss /feed

Step 6:

Swapping Out Feed URL’s In Feedburner & Turning Off Services

Not everyone will need to do this…. If you’re just putting an update notice into your current feed and waiting for the change to happen naturally, ignore the step.

For everyone else, you need to change the Feed URL in your Feedburner account AND shut off the extra features, like pinging.
Log into your Feedburner account and click on the Feed in question.
Then, click on the Publicize Tab and shut off Ping Shot and Socialize options.
Then click the “Edit Feed Details” link at the top and change the URL, to the Temporary RSS Feed that we created in Step 3.
Mine is set to: http://technerdia.com/search/xml/rss-tn.xml

Step 7:

Check Your Work!

It’s time to ensure everything is working before we proceed. Visually check your Feedburner URL in the browser to see if it has updated, then check it in a Reader by adding a new record to make sure it displays correctly. The new temporary RSS Feed Notice should appear or your RSS Footer notice to update the Feed URL.

Repeat the same steps with your new Feed URL. Make sure the Websites updates appear and that the RSS Footer notice is showing up.
Check Feed Statistics by clicking on the Feed Menu link > Top Feeds link option to see if Subscribers are showing up. It will take a few days for it to settle down.

Step 8:

Update Your Websites

Oh the tasks of tasks! It’s not just Templates it’s also Widgets.

FTP to your theme, download the entire theme, open every PHP file in a Text Editor like Notepad 2. Find & Replace (Edit > Replace or CTRL+H) your Feedburner URL with your Sites default/new Feed URL.

Do this for every template, once done upload the templates back.

Enter your WordPress Admin > Appearance Menu > Widgets. Open your Widgets Areas and view the Widgets. Scan through each (Normally Text & PHP Widgets) and find/replace the Feedburner URL with your new Feed URL.
Refresh Your Cache.

Step 9:

Update the Social Networks & Online Services

Many of us have socialized our Feedburner URLs, pinged them, posted them, done all types of stuff with the URL. So first, update your Social Networks from Step #1 1/2 then hunt down every other Social Network or Service that you may have used your Feedburner URL on and replace it with your new pimpin Feed URL.

This task may extend far past today’s duties depending on what you’ve done with your Feedburner URL.

Step 10:

Down The Road

I can’t think of a reason to ever delete your Feedburner feed, unless it’s fully dead. As the months roll by you should change out the notice to update the Feed URL, maybe add a Video notice in. The final update that I do, will include a self promo landing page within the Feed. If anyone happens to find it, at least I know they’ll get what I feel is important, some marketing, and information on how to update Feed URLs.

That’s It!!!
I tried to be as detailed as possible with the steps I took… This may seem like a lot of work, but really it isn’t bad. I was able to set up and swap out 10 sites Feeds in less than an hour, once you do it once, it’s a snap after that.

If you have any questions, a problem or just want to say something, drop me a comment below or hit me up on twitter @tribalNerd – And don’t forget to Subscribe to my RSS Feed or my Newsletter (to the right or below), which emails you updates directly….

Enjoy your day ~tribalNerd

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WP Function that protects your wp-login.php with PHP Auth [UPDATED]

tribalNerd — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:15:29 +0000

The Function below adds a simple layer of security to your WordPress Websites. When anyone visits the wp-login.php page an authentication window will pop prompting the visitor to enter a Username and Password before they can access the wp-login.php file.

This is a simple protection solution for any WordPress site with Registrations turned off and for sites with very few or only one person that manages them.

Place the function below into your functions.php file for each WordPress Theme/site that you want to protect. Swap out the YOUR-USERNAME and YOUR-PASSWORD with your user/pass info, and it’s ready to go!

  if ( $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] == "/wp-login.php" ) { add_action( 'init', 'login_init' ); /* Do Action */ }
 function login_init() {
  $user = "YOUR-USERNAME";
  $pass = "YOUR-PASSWORD";
   get_option('get_header');
	if( $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER'] != $user && $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_PW'] != $pass ) {
		header("WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm=""");
		header("HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized");
	exit;
   }
 }

Version 2

If the above example works, but a correct username & password doesn’t seem to be accepted, the issue might be that PHP can not access the PHP_AUTH_USER and PHP_AUTH_PW functions.

To correct this you’ll need use a RewriteRule.

The RewriteRule

Use ONE of the following RewriteRules in your Websites root .htaccess file. I do not fully understand this rule, but it appears that:

The PHP_AUTH_USER and PHP_AUTH_PW functions and values of them, when entered into the auth box, is loaded into a variable called HTTP_AUTHORIZATION. The PHP afterward then gets the PHP_AUTH_USER and PHP_AUTH_PW values by accessing the HTTP_AUTHORIZATION variable.

** Test your Website after adding the rewrite rule. Posts, Pages and Images will 404 if you have the incorrect one.

Worked On WordPress Multisite – Put the Rule directly below RewriteEngine On line, within the .htaccess file of your Website.

RewriteRule .? - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]

Other Possible RewriteRules: The first RewriteRule below is the most common use rule.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization},L]

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [env=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization},last]

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [env=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]

The Code
Place the function below into your functions.php file for each WordPress Theme/site that you want to protect. Swap out the YOUR-USERNAME and YOUR-PASSWORD with your user/pass info.

if ( $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] == "/wp-login.php" ) {
	add_action( 'init', 'login_init' );
}
function login_init() {
	$user = "YOUR-USERNAME";
	$pass = "YOUR-PASSWORD";
	get_option('get_header');
	list( $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER'], $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_PW'] ) = explode( ':', base64_decode( substr( $_SERVER['HTTP_AUTHORIZATION'], 6 ) ) );
	if ( $user == $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER'] && $pass == $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_PW'] ) {
		header('WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm=""');
		header("HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized");
		echo '';
		exit;
	}
 }

You can use the same username and password for each site, however I recommend each site has at least a unique password.
Do Not use the same username and password that you use to access the WordPress Admin.
Don’t forget to sometimes change your username and passwords up.
Use Password Management Software like KeePass to manage your passwords.
Remember, this is simply an extra layer of security, it for sure is NOT a solid solution for protection – you should still select a very complex master username and password to access the Admin along with other WordPress Security Plugins.

Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or suggestions… ~tribalNerd

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Simple Press – WordPress Forum Plugin

tribalNerd — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:43:18 +0000

Simple:Press is a feature rich forum plugin for WordPress. Simple Press fully integrates into your WP based site utilizing the same user records and database and displaying on a single WP page. It is fully customizable and comes with a number of skins and sets of icons to get your started. Current users have shown it to be fully scalable whether your site membership numbers the tens or the thousands.

Download Simple:Press, it’s Free!

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bbPress – Light weight forum and bulletin board system.

tribalNerd — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:38:02 +0000

bbPress is forum software created by the makers of WordPress. bbPress is focused on web standards, ease of use, ease of integration, and speed, while keeping things as small and light as possible while still allowing for great add on features through our extensive plugin system.

Take a look at the bbPress Forums in action to see how simple this forum software is.

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