Murky » Wordpress

Running WordPress on Mac OS X

Murk — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:34:28 +0000

For a while, I’ve been wanting to install wordpress on Mac OS X, so that when I modify themes I can do this offline for testing. I also want to have the theme modifications automatically upload to the servers and to mirror the site database on my local copy.

The information how to do this is ‘out there’ – but I thought it would be good to collect it all in one place. Much of this could be adapted for other platforms such as windows or Unix. Pick and mix what you need, this is what I’ve done.

As always with this sort of thing, it’s your own responsibility if you mess up – understand each command before you type it. If in doubt, type man command, e.g. man rf )

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Post tags: bash, local, MAMP, OS X, scripts, thematic, Themes, Wordpress

Updated Code for Series Posts

Murk — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:56:35 +0000

I just posted about a problem with series posts. Almost immediately I solved it.

I’m not really ready for this to go public – as all it does is tag the posts (I really want to only show the HTML of those posts), but I wanted to check that my manual remedy for ensuring that posting code doesn’t do funny things to my friend’s RSS reader works (see comment on previous). I’ve tried to prevent this by using a ‘read more’ tag as that should stop the RSS at that point.

Ultimately, I’d want to have the software automatically trim down the lines so I don’t have to rely on doing this manually.

This code tags the first/last/prev and next posts, and then uses CSS to clean it up.
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Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : Updated Code for Series Posts | © Murky, 2010. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: code, functions.php, php, thematic, Wordpress

Series Posting in WordPress

Murk — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:32:03 +0000

In my functions.php file, I have some code which implements series posting. This relies on the thematic framework

function childtheme_article_footer($footer) {
	// This variable is the stuff I put before the regular footer
	$extra_stuff='';

	global $id, $post;
	$series = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Series', true);
	$pstlink = get_permalink();
	$psttitle = get_the_title();
	$pstbody = get_the_excerpt();

	// Check for a 'series' as a custom field - if there is one, grab the value contained
	if($series) :
		$args = array(
			'numberposts' => -1,
			'meta_key' => 'Series',
			'meta_value' => $series,
		);

		// This bit grabs the series posts, and stores the HTML linking to them in $extra_stuff variable
		$series_posts = get_posts($args);
		if($series_posts) :
			$class = preg_replace("/[^a-z0-9\\040\\.\\-\\_\\\\]/i", "", $series);
			$class = strtolower(str_replace(array(' ', ' '), '-', $class));
			if (is_single()) {
				$extra_stuff = '' . __('Articles in this series') . '
';
				foreach($series_posts as $serial) :
					if($serial->ID == $post->ID)
						$extra_stuff = $extra_stuff . '' . $serial->post_title . '';
					else
					$extra_stuff = $extra_stuff .  'post_title) . '">' . str_replace('"', '"', $serial->post_title) . '';
				endforeach;
				$extra_stuff = $extra_stuff .  '';
			} else {
                                $extra_stuff = $extra_stuff .  '';
                                $extra_stuff = $extra_stuff .  '' . $psttitle . '';
                                $extra_stuff = $extra_stuff .  ' is part of a series' . '';
                        }
		endif;
	endif;

       // This is irrelevant to series list, but it does add twitter links and the like
	$pageurl = get_bloginfo('siteurl');
        $pageurl = $pageurl . "?p=" . $post->ID;
	$extra_stuff_post = '';
	$extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . 'Send to: Twitter';
	$extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . 'del.icio.us';
	$extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . 'Digg';
	$rss_url = get_bloginfo('rss2_url');
	$extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . 'Use the: RSS Feed';
	$extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . '';

	// This slams it all together at the end of the post
	$footer = $extra_stuff . $footer . $extra_stuff_post;
	return $footer;
}

// This replaces thematics stuff with mine
add_action('thematic_postfooter','childtheme_article_footer');

It’s been a while since I did this, and my aim of tidying the output is now further away than it was. What I want is for the code to ONLY output the first post in a series, the previous post, the current post (with no link), the next post and the last post. If any of these posts are one and the same, they would only be output once.

I’m really drawing a bit of a blank on how to do this – though I sense I’m missing a trick. If anyone has any bright ideas, I’d be glad to hear them.

Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : Series Posting in WordPress | © Murky, 2010. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: code, functions.php, php, thematic, Wordpress

iPhone/iPod Touch

Murk — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:11:53 +0000

This site is now optimised for viewing on an iPhone or iPod touch. It should not affect web viewing.

Please do try it and see – I’ve just added it to my home screen on the iPod, but then, I would….

Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : iPhone/iPod Touch | © Murky, 2009. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iphone, ipod, ipod touch, Wordpress

Thematic Child Theme – Post Footer Modification

Murk — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:20:30 +0000

For this site, I use ‘Murkymatic‘ which is a child theme of ‘Thematic’.

I wanted to amend the footer on each post to allow me to link posts which are in a series. I add a custom field to posts in a series, and I want to pick that up, and automatically link the posts.

I’ve now done this, following a little help from a commenter which told me something relatively easy that I just didn’t know – the resulting code is shown below and is currently in my functions.php file. I’ve also added social bookmarking links.

function childtheme_article_footer($footer) {      $extra_stuff='';

     global $id, $post;      $series = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Series', true);      $pstlink = get_permalink();      $psttitle = get_the_title();      $pstbody = get_the_excerpt();      if($series) :           $args = array(                'numberposts' => -1,                'meta_key' => 'Series',                'meta_value' => $series,           );           $series_posts = get_posts($args);           if($series_posts) :                $class = preg_replace("/[^a-z0-9\\040\\.\\-\\_\\\\]/i", "", $series);                $class = strtolower(str_replace(array(' ', ' '), '-', $class));                if (is_single()) {                     $extra_stuff = '
' . __('Articles in this series') . '
';                     foreach($series_posts as $serial) :                          if($serial->ID == $post->ID)                               $extra_stuff = $extra_stuff . '' . $serial->post_title . ' ';                          else                          $extra_stuff = $extra_stuff . 'post_title) . '">' . str_replace('"', '"', $serial->post_title) . ' ';                     endforeach;                     $extra_stuff = $extra_stuff . '
';                } else {                $extra_stuff = $extra_stuff . '';                $extra_stuff = $extra_stuff . '' . $psttitle . '';                $extra_stuff = $extra_stuff . ' is part of a series' . ' ';           }           endif;      endif;

     $extra_stuff_post = '
';      $extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . 'Send to: Twitter ';      $extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . 'del.icio.us ';      $extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . 'Digg ';      $rss_url = get_bloginfo('rss2_url');      $extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . 'Use the: RSS Feed ';      $extra_stuff_post = $extra_stuff_post . '
';

     $footer = $extra_stuff . $footer . $extra_stuff_post;      return $footer; }

add_action('thematic_postfooter','childtheme_article_footer');

Where I want to include a post in a series, I add a custom field imaginatively called ‘Series’ and give that series a name. Any post sharing that series name is included.

What I now want to do is to modify the function above to show a restricted listing of the series, e.g. First in Series, Previous in Series, Next in Series, Last in Series…. except, perhaps, for the first post in the series which would show the entire sequence. I’m not quite sure of how to do this neatly, the best I can think of is to do two passes through the list of post IDs to find the relevant IDs. I’d appreciate any input.

Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : Thematic Child Theme – Post Footer Modification | © Murky, 2009. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Child Theme, functions.php, Murkymatic, php, thematic, Wordpress

WordPress 2.7.1 update

Murk — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:15:52 +0000

Regarding the release of WordPress 2.7.1, the number of open tickets has gone up to 52.

With the deadline 17 hours away, it looks really tight. It’ll be interesting to see if they make it.

Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : WordPress 2.7.1 update | © Murky, 2009. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blogging, trac, Wordpress

WordPress 2.7.1

Murk — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:53:50 +0000

According to the WordPress roadmap, version 2.7.1 is due tomorrow.

As I write, there are 63 closed tickets and 50 active tickets. A ‘ticket’ is opened for every issue that needs to be resolved for that milestone.

Will it be done in time?

Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : WordPress 2.7.1 | © Murky, 2009. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blogging, trac, Wordpress

Thematic – A problem with php

Murk — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:11:37 +0000

I am working on a Child Theme based on the ‘Thematic‘ framework for WordPress. For more information, see the ‘Murkymatic‘ pages.

In Thematic there is a clever little script in functions.php which goes after every post and displays the tags, categories and so forth. This displays something subtly different on tags pages to category pages and so on. I like it, I want to keep it.

So far, so good. I want to insert into my own function into the child theme after the post but before the post footer.

My function, which is to show related posts if a post is part of a series.

This function works, and works well. Here it is:

function childtheme_article_series() {     global $id, $post;     $series = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Series', true);     if($series) :         $args = array(             'numberposts' => -1,             'meta_key' => 'Series',             'meta_value' => $series,         );         $series_posts = get_posts($args);         if($series_posts) :             $class = preg_replace("/[^a-z0-9\\040\\.\\-\\_\\\\]/i", "", $series);             $class = strtolower(str_replace(array(' ', ' '), '-', $class));             if (is_single()) {                 echo '
' . __('Articles in this series') . '
';                 foreach($series_posts as $serial) :                     if($serial->ID == $post->ID)                         echo '' . $serial->post_title . ' ';                     else                     echo 'post_title) . '">' . str_replace('"', '"', $serial->post_title) . ' ';                 endforeach;                 echo '
';             } else {                 $pstlink = get_permalink();                 $psttitle = get_the_title();                 echo '';                 echo '' . $psttitle . '';                 echo ' is part of a series' . ' ';             }         endif;     endif; }

The above code goes into the functions.php of my Child Theme.

The next step is to tell that function when to run, so I hook it into the Thematic hook which is there for that very purpose.

Into my functions.php I add the line: add_action('thematic_postfooter','childtheme_article_series');

Unfortunately, this replaces the existing Thematic footer with my footer. This is not what I want.

In short, I can’t work out how to tell WordPress to run my Child Theme function, then to do the Thematic parent theme function.

I’m at a bit of a loss right now.

I could recreate the existing footer in my routine – but that removes one of the advantages of the child theme, should the Thematic code be updated, my replacement footer would not be.

It is important to be able to over-ride the parent theme’s footer, but it’d be nice to be able to supplement it too. What I want is to tell WordPress to run this function before the thematic_postfooter() function. I don’t want to have to edit Thematic to do this (as this also removes the parent/Child Theme advantage). Though I did try this, and it caused a server 500 error – I have no clue why.

One solution would be if Thematic had a hook before it called thematic_postfooter() which otherwise did nothing – but it doesn’t.

Another solution is if I could work out how to explicitly pass control to the thematic_postfooter() function at the end of my function.

I tried using the information about priorities giving my function a priority of 5, but this didn’t work at all, it still replaced the thematic footer. It seems that sometimes adding an action over-rides, and sometimes it just adds (as expected).

It’s rather a mystery to me right now. It’s something that I think *should* be possible, but I cannot work out how. I’ve left this message on the thematic forums.

I would really appreciate a pointer here, if anyone has a bright idea. The latest murkymatic code can be found on google code.

Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : Thematic – A problem with php | © Murky, 2009. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Child Theme, code, coding, HTML, Murkymatic, php, thematic, Wordpress

How I styled the Admin Dashboard

Murk — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 10:18:32 +0000

I wanted to style my WordPress dashboard, purely to see if I could.

It wasn’t too difficult, and this is how I did it.

In my theme, I found the functions.php file (creating it if it did not exist) and added an ‘action’ which would come into play when the admin-head() hook was called. In WordPress, there are ‘hooks’ at various points in the code. These are places which can be used to insert special functions. One such hook is admin-head() which is called in the header section of an admin page.

The file functions.php is where the user can put their php functions. It is wise to be sure you can edit the file (or in extremis delete) theme files without relying on the WordPress interface, as you can cause an error in editing these files which deny you access. If you can use ssh or ftp to see these files, you should be fine. Before you do anything, make a backup. You do this at your own risk, etc. etc.

Into functions.php, between I inserted a piece of code which would insert into admin pages a link to a stylesheet:

// custom admin theme function childtheme_admin() { echo ''; }

Be careful about the single and double quotes in there!

The next step is to create a file called ‘adminstyling.css’. This should be in the theme directory.

My admin stylesheet is very simple – and I would love to see some more complex examples.

/* Styling the Admin pages */

#wpwrap {background-image: url(images/backgroundimage.png); position: top left; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color: #fff; background-attachment: fixed;}

You will also need to place a background image in a subdirectory of your theme, called images.

The final step is to go back to functions.php and tie the function just created to the ‘hook’ which tells the function when to operate. At the bottom of functions.php add the following:

add_action('admin_head', 'childtheme_admin');

This should go before the final ?> and after the function you just added (usually the add_action statements are the last thing in the file).

If all is well, saving the files and refreshing the admin screen will do several things:

Call your function which….
Inserts a reference to the stylesheet (if needed, check by viewing source of HTML in your browser), which….
Loads the stylesheet (if needed, check the reference is correct by copying the reference from the HTML into the browser bar and seeing that you do indeed load the right file), which ….
Styles your dashboard pages

This is my dashboard following the above modifications

If you try this, I’d be pleased to see a screenshot along with any nice bits of css you used. Do refer me to the appropriate post on your website!

Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : How I styled the Admin Dashboard | © Murky, 2009. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: css, dashboard, functions.php, php, style, theme, Wordpress

Thematic – functions.php problem solved

Murk — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:59:24 +0000

Thanks to a helpful email from Ian Stewart, I now have solved the problem whereby I wanted my child theme, murkymatic, to check for the existence of a variant.css file. The issue was that I was not using the path to the directory, but was instead using the path for the web. I.e. the program needed a path that looked like /home/public_html/wp-content/themes/.... etc, and I gave it http://www.murky.org/wp-content/... etc…

function childtheme_variantcss() {     // Pre-2.6 compatibility     if ( !defined('WP_CONTENT_URL') )         define( 'WP_CONTENT_URL', get_option('siteurl') . '/wp-content');     if ( !defined('WP_CONTENT_DIR') )         define( 'WP_CONTENT_DIR', ABSPATH . 'wp-content' );

    // Guess the location     $variantcss_path = WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes/murkymatic/variant.css';     $variantcss_url = WP_CONTENT_URL.'/themes/murkymatic/variant.css';

    if (file_exists($variantcss_path)) { ?>                             }

add_action('wp_head', 'childtheme_variantcss');

This is placed in the functions.php file.

Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : Thematic – functions.php problem solved | © Murky, 2009. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: code, coding, css, framework, php, thematic, Themes, Wordpress

Murky » Wordpress

Running WordPress on Mac OS X

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