Category Archives: Updates / News

WordPress 3.6 is right around the corner. The planned released date is 20th May and we are trying to stay ahead of the game by preparing CSV 2 POST now. We have made a lot of big changes to our plugin, including adding support for the new Post Formats feature coming in WP 3.6. We are confident that we are ready and that the plugin works great in this new version. However we would like to be sure.

Beta Tester 50% Discount – May Only

We are offering all of our packages half-price during May, with a limit on the number of times our voucher code can be used. The voucher code is “WP3.6“, that is without the quotes. You can enter it during checkout, before arriving at Paypal.

The code can be used 10 times. The idea is to have just enough beta testers to help us ensure the plugin is ready but not so much that we cannot work with each buyer individually. We are confident our own testing shows things will go smoothly when WP 3.6 is released but further feedback from new users is essential as always and benefits our existing users. Users of the discount code accept that they will be using our latest build of CSV 2 POST which is version 6.9.6. It is designed to work with WordPress 3.6 only to enforce beta testing. That is only fair to recent buyers or anyone purchasing the plugin to use straight away on the current WP version.

Why New Users?

I just wanted to mention our need for new users rather than simply working with the feedback we are getting from current users who beta test for us.

New users make mistakes for one. They don’t have habits with the plugin that existing users may have. Some habits may lead to the avoidance of using certain features or using features in a certain way. A new user is likely to try a bit of everything. This also helps to ensure people are installing CSV 2 POST for the first time. This is important and we cannot know for sure if existing users are always installing the plugin on a fresh blog every-time we release a version.

The nature of the changes in CSV 2 POST 6.9.6 an the fact they come in-line with a new WordPress version brings more urgency to our testing than normal. In honest we hope to get 2-3 good best testers from this offer and enough feedback to deliver a much improved plugin by end of May.

Existing Testers Free Hosting Offer

Existing feedback from current testers has been great and without it we would be very stuck. Testing on a plugin of this size and complexity takes a lot of time, it is always appreciated. That is why we are offering free hosting to anyone providing feedback and reporting bugs. The length of the hosting will depend on the time spent working with us but will always start at 1 year. This sort of offer and approach will be in use a lot as we release more plugins in future so keep it in mind if you want to skip paying for hosting bills.

Future Offers

An offer like this will not happen again until end of December so be assured that it is value for money and is being controlled so that recent buyers are treated fairly.

A new version is available. Please contact us if you would like a copy of the premium edition.

If you have been following our “CSV2POST” Tweets you’ll already know what this version provides. We are also making greater use of the Changelog page by updating it during development. Each update will indicate a new feature or a key change. So I will not be posting the information here.

 

It appears some hosting don’t play well with CSV 2 POST, well specifically the PEAR CSV class which has been used in CSV 2 POST forever.

I’ve finally added “fgetcsv()”. A function I have used in the plugin previously but it had issues with certain delimiter/separator values in certain circumstances. It was enough to avoid using it back then but since there has been a lot of updates to PHP itself so it’s time to put fgetcsv() to use.

I’ve changed the function that imports data from CSV files to switch between methods. That is csv2post_data_import_from_csvfile_basic(). There is a new option on the Data settings screen for switching back to the PEAR CSV method. This small change paves the way for custom approaches and can easily be setup in csv2post_data_import_from_csvfile_basic(). To be clearer on that. Anyone can hack the plugin by adding script to that function that does something to the data being imported before it is stored in database. A handy piece of knowledge I hope.

This change applies to free and paid editions. It also applies to the Easy CSV Importer screen as they all use the same function to actually put data into the temporary database table.

Website “Users” Page

A page for all users to list their domains has been added. If popular enough we will add submission process to the plugin itself. Domain with link will be added to the list. I have seen this on other plugin sites but they generate the list automatically. I don’t believe that is acceptable. I’ve found my own domain on a list for a plugin I was testing for a client so the author is claiming I’m a user. I would disagree. We seek permission.

YouTube Tutorials

Our first videos have been published to YouTube. They focus on specific panels right now but Ryan is about to create tutorials to cover general procedures such as post creation.

1. Categories Video
2. Create Data Import Job Video

Lighter Package

Many image files have been removed from the plugins package to help make it lighter. We made a reduction of around 2 MB which should help downloading the free edition a lot.

RSS Feed for Freelance Jobs

We added a new RSS feed banner on the plugins Update screen for anyone interested in completing small jobs on CSV 2 POST. If you are a developer and already involved with CSV 2 POST you could easily make good money with what is usually simple tasks. We are simply trying to invest for the sake of progress and it helps to get fresh eyes on bugs, reducing the number of hours spent fixing them in many cases.

Log Files Removed

The log system is being changed from a .csv or .txt storage to database storage. A new table csv2post_log will now be added to the database on installing the plugin. This reduces complication in preparing logging as previously we had multiple files, one for each system. Database storage will allow us (user or plugin authors) to perform searches that help trace users steps and even build up statistics regarding the use of the plugin.

Ping

We can now select post ping status however it has not yet been added to the Easy CSV Importer screen. It will eventually.

Post Comments Status

The option to set post comment status has been added. Again not yet added to the Easy CSV Importer screen you will find it on the more advanced area.

WYSIWYG Editor

We had this already and it was removed while we fixed some jQuery UI issues. It has been added again for creating templates. Please keep in mind that we can use the custom post types and standard Edit Post screen provided by WordPress to create templates also.

More work is planned to make this area of the plugin easier to understand including the WYSIWYG editor being added to Easy CSV Importer screen.

Panel Introduction Text and Panel Buttons

Panels did have a line of text introducing each panel. The purpose was to remind users of the panels purpose but we decided the space could be better use. We also had a Help button text and having two text for a each panel is too much really. The “Help” button has been renamed to “Info”. A “Video” button has also been setup. The Video button will appear when a YouTube URL is added to a panels settings.

Plugin Theme Options Offers CSS Only

Multiple jQuery UI themes are no longer offered. A developer can easily apply desired theme by replacing our theme files. This allowed us to reduce package size. The theme panel now offers the choice between jQuery UI or WordPress CSS theming.

Condensed Settings

We merged two settings screens into one. This involved merging panels into one also. We  are looking into merging more panels or hiding more until required. A good example is the custom field screen. We could hide the panels that list custom fields for deletion until custom fields settings have been setup.

Free Or Premium

Main page now reads CSV 2 POST Free Edition or CSV 2 POST Premium to help avoid confusion especially if someone is beta testing and switching to free mode.

Technical Changes

* ['intro'] text removed from all panels

* Removed “templatesystem” folder and path (contents of folder now in main plugin folder)
* Removed plugin status images, they will be used for premium service accounts only from here on
* Removed “validationengine” folder from css folder
* Removed fileuploader.css from css folder
* Removed “themethumbs” folder
* $csv2post_theme_array no longer in use
* ['vertical'] is no longer in use in tab menu array, css for it removed also
* $csv2post_mpt_arr['menu']['main']['slug'] now has a value of ‘csv2post’, previously it was a NULL variable
* csv2post_tabnumber changed to csv2posttabnumber in csv2post_get_tabnumber()
* Moved csv2post_ADDACTION_admin_init_registered_scripts() from core file to script parent file
* Moved csv2post_print_admin_scripts() from core file to script parent file
* WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY added to csv2post_debugmode()
* WP_DEBUG_LOG added to csv2post_debugmode()
* $csv2post_adm_set['ecq'] now set to array() as default, the $csv2post_eas_set array was been removed
* $csv2post_easyquestions_array shortened to $csv2post_ecq_array
* $csv2post_adm_set['easyconfigurationquestions'] changed to $csv2post_adm_set['ecq']
* Panel help button function renamed to csv2post_panel_support_buttons() and the div wrapping the function is now inside this function to prevent the div being used when no buttons are in use
* CSS inside panels has been changed to reduce empty space and make more use of the page, important on screens with many panels or wide tables inside panels
* csv2post_load_arrays.php deleted, contents moved to csv2post.php