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December 10, 2020

WordPress 5.6 Begins New Policy of Automatic Updates

Developers beware! WordPress released version 5.6 on December 8, 2020. This version begins a new policy of automatic updates to major versions for all fresh installations of 5.6. This means that if you create a new WordPress site with WordPress version 5.6, it will automatically be updated to WP version 5.7 when it comes out in 2021. Existing sites that only update to 5.6, will not be subject to this policy. So if you are creating a new site but wish to maintain control over your updates, you have options. You may want to install an older version of...

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Code Snippets
September 29, 2020

Bulk Archive Remote Images

There is a plugin that will retrieve remote images in the post content and save it in the media library. It is ancient but I tested on 5.5.1 so it is hanging in there 🙂 Archive Remote Images Unfortunately, you have to open and save each post for it to work. So I created a little plugin that will add a field to the bulk edit interface and trigger the plugin to work on multiple posts. The one catch is you have to hack the ARI plugin in one teeny place so it will accept a $_REQUEST element rather...

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Code Snippets
April 17, 2020

Extract a Portion of a Large Database Backup

The following function reads a large Updraft backup file and extracts a portion to another file. In this way, you can pull out the MYSQL insert statements for the table you want. And in the process, create a smaller file you can actually open.  You can set Updraft to create smaller backups. But if you get stuck with one of these monster files, this is how you can parse out what you need. In this case, I put the file in the same directory as the code and new file. You may have to change the path to the...

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Payment Gateways
August 27, 2019

Authorize.net Network Change

Authorize.net is rolling out yet another change to their  API. According to a recent Partner Notification they will be changing from Akamai SureRoute to Cloudflare as their content delivery network (CDN) for their network portals. As usual the roll out will begin with developer ‘sandbox’ accounts so that we may test the new CDN and ensure any code we manage is compatible. There will be plenty of time during this phase to make any changes needed and test thoroughly. Should any of our Authorize.net plugins require modification, changes will be made long before production sites are affected. The latest...

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Woocommerce
May 1, 2019

Add SKU to Woocommerce Search

Recently a client requested that the sku be added to the woocommerce product search on his site. He wanted his customers to easily find a product by typing in the sku in the product search bar. I found most of the code in the codex here but it didn't work out of the box....

April 27, 2018

Updating Gravity Forms to 2.3

Gravity Forms has released a major update with version 2.3. It addressed some organizational issues that probably needed addressing. But it also is breaking sites that have custom code that access Gravity Forms database tables directly. This post addresses how to fix some of the Gravity Forms update issues that may arise....

July 11, 2017

How Long Will It Take To Build A Plugin?

The answer to the question 'How long does it take to build a plugin' has as much to do with my current schedule as it does the size and complexity of the job. For smaller jobs, I can usually work it in under two weeks. But for larger projects, I generally I ask for a 30 day lead time....

April 20, 2017

How do you choose a good password?

To choose a good password is more important now than ever. So how do you choose a good password that is also easy to remember? A surprising fact is that the length matters. A lot. So my suggestion is simple. To choose a good password, create an easy to remember string of words. Here are some examples along with their password score. Password Score wherethesidewalkends 4 / 4 bewarethejabberwock 4 / 4 fromheretoeternity 4 / 4 joemaryalicejohnmichael 4 / 4 As you can see, symbols, numbers and capital letters are not required for a good password. However, I would...

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March 26, 2017

Authorize Capture or Just Authorize?

What is the difference between authorize and authorize capture? During the checkout process, your website sends customer information and instructions on what to do with it to your payment gateway in the form of a ‘request’.  The two most common requests are Authorize and Authorize Capture. Your gateway then acts on your request by communicating with your customer’s bank on your behalf.  They try to determine if the card is valid and the requested funds are available. If all goes well, they request that the bank funds be held (so they are not available to anyone else) until the transaction can...

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