Apr 15 2008

Executable PHP Widget And WordPress 2.5

Category: WordPressChrisM @ 12:53 am

Or more specifically, the possibility of an issue with the Exec PHP Widget and the plugin auto upgrade feature found in WP 2.5
When upgrading this blog to WordPress 2.5, I thought I had tested all plugins thoroughly, however after I auto-upgraded the Executable PHP Widget a couple of days ago, it appears that my widgets were removed from the sidebar, and their contents lost.


So, before upgrading this plugin, it might be an idea to keep a copy of any widget(s) code you have placed.
The next time a new version of this plugin is released, I will check whether simply overwriting the PHP file is sufficient to keep the widget’s contents and placement in the sidebar(s). Part of the issue could have been that the auto-upgrade process first de-activates the plugin, downloads the new version, then re-enables it. This is, of course, the recommended course of action even when manually updating, it is just I’ve not bothered in the past, and so didn’t think to check if the code was still present.

[edit]
I’m also going to need to monitor the Blog Voyeur plugin closely sometime, as I’m not yet convinced it has retained full functionality since this blog was upgrade to 2.5

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27 Responses to “Executable PHP Widget And WordPress 2.5”

  1. hem says:

    I have problem with executable PHP widget plugin after i upgraded to latest version of WordPress. the PHP widget doesn’t work.

  2. ChrisM says:

    What were the actual errors you encountered? Which version did you upgrade FROM and TO? How did you upgrade – automatically or manually.
    You can see the plugin working on this site, especially where adverts only appear within certain categories…

  3. Ramp says:

    You need to upgrade your PHP exec to 1.1 version.
    To run it on new WP. but… then you might get this..

  4. ChrisM says:

    Free Game Shut???
    OK, so I am slow this morning, took me a while to figure out that was actually Free Games Hut 😉

    ‘but… then you might get this…’
    Might get what?

    PS In case the advice was for me, I have since upgraded to v1.1, that was when the problem of losing my old widgets occurred.

  5. Alex says:

    Hello
    i have a problem with Executable PHP widget 1.1 and WPMU 2.6
    When i enter the and save it, after a refresh it is lost.
    No problem with text, tho

    what could be wrong?

  6. ChrisM says:

    This could be connected to a similar problem back with straight WP 2.3? 2.5? Anyway, quickest way to test would be to switch browsers IE<>FF . Can’t remember if it was Internet Explorer or Firefox, but which ever you’re using right now, try temporarily switching over, and see if the exact same problem replicates/mutates or dies.
    Failing that, have you searched for the author support forum/page?

    So, are you going to let us see this site 🙂

    PS Apologies for the delay in this reply, private life is a little hectic right now.

  7. Alex says:

    Thank for tip, but it doesn’t work (won’t save php code), not IE nor FF 🙁
    something more to try?

  8. ChrisM says:

    Nope, I’m out. Send me a new comment around 30th August, when I’m back home, and I’ll try and research it properly.

  9. ChrisM says:

    I knew there was an old post I had to look at somewhere 🙂

    OK, so multiple browsers points to the issue not being local, obviously.

    Next thing to try is disabling __ALL__ plugins except the Executable PHP one. If the problem is gone, try enabling them back again one or two at a time. When the problem returns, you’ll know which plugin is the culprit.

    If the problem remains with ALL plugins disabled, does this issue occur with ALL users on this WPMU blog? Also, is your user set as an admin, or a different role?

    Finally, I’d head on over to the plugin author’s site (see here), specifically this post, as it was the last time I could find that he wrote a post regarding Executable PHP widget version 1.1 . Leave a comment explaining your problem, or try adding him as a friend on facebook or twitter (see widget in his left hand column),

  10. Alex says:

    Nothing 🙁
    will try to contact Otto

  11. ChrisM says:

    Good luck, sorry I couldn’t help you 🙁

  12. Alex says:

    Otto: something must be wrong with your site. 🙁

  13. Alex says:

    Got the answer from the forums: Because MU strips out all scripts and code unless you allow for it.

    How it could be enabled? is it safe?

  14. ChrisM says:

    If any WPMU users who had access to this plugin were trusted, and the WordPress installation itself was secure (so no 3rd parties could force access), I //guess// it should be safe.
    However, any new security vulnerabilities found for WordPress & WPMU would need to be monitored and fixed quickly I’d imagine, as this plugin would probably draw in scum like flies if they thought they could gain access.

  15. Alex says:

    So i think i’ll made some custom hello world widgets with desired php functions inside. But don’t know how to widgetize functions that need to be posted in posts or pages, for example [list_all_new,50,30,1] from somekind of activated plugin.

  16. ChrisM says:

    not sure if this will exactly match your needs, but the following approaches for only having code work on certain pages/urls could assist you…

    https://chrismerriman.com/details-of-code-changes/

    OR

    follow the instructions (and download the plugin linked to) at http://www.moneymakingstudent.co.uk/2008/05/30/how-to-display-matchedcouk-adverts-on-wordpress-blogs/

    [edit]
    you’ll have to excuse me if the two ideas above can’t be adapted to your needs, currently on some meds that are fuzzying my mind a little.

  17. Govind says:

    How did it cost to start up this blog…I want to start my own.

  18. ChrisM says:

    I use Bluehost as my web server – this is around $7 a month I believe, then there is the cost of registering the domain each year – around $10 a year. WordPress itself is of course free, and I believe I have donated a little bit of money to a couple of plugin developers whose work I really appreciated.

  19. Ted says:

    Govind,
    This is quite a coprehensive blog and Chris is at the top of his Game. If you are starting our I would suggest the free options first and see how your blog grows. A lot of bloggers die after a month or 2 as they discover that blogging isn’t their thing.

    I suggest giving Blogger a shot, its very easy and wont cost you anything.

    If you do turn into a top blogger then you can always move your posts over to a more comprehenve solution like wordpress (which is more CMS that weblog but a very good solution as Chris’ site shows).

  20. ChrisM says:

    Just to quickly point out that WordPress.org is the place to go to if you want to download the software to run a WP blog on your own server, and WordPress.com is the place to head to for if you want to run a blog but with free hosting (with a few less features and some rules about content).
    I’ve only ever setup one blogger account, but I believe it is relatively easy to import them to your own personal WordPress blog, should you want to in the future. I’ll always bleat on about how great WordPress is for many types of sites, but my friends seem to find Drupal a better suited approach to more CMS orientated sites.
    Oh, one thing to consider is removing posts from your old free blog once they are live on your new site, if you want to be careful regarding duplicate content penalties from Google et al. Obviously keep any that you didn’t import to your new self-run blog, and ensure you have prominent links on the front page and sidebar (when possible) redirecting visitors to your new URL.

  21. widget  says:

    nice widget, i hope i can use it, good article, good luck

  22. ChrisM says:

    @Widget – Thanks. This post still gets a lot of traffic, even after two years. Unfortunately it also gets a lot of attention from spammers.

  23. Ted says:

    Hi Chris, dont we all!

    Just pooped over to see how you were getting on, I like the site redesign, looks good. Noticed your page rank has dropped which is suprising.

    I had a go with wordpress for my own website but found that the SEO was pretty fickle. WordPress provides plenty of options et al but I dropped from PR 4 to PR0 !! very odd, still had the traffic but Google doesn’t seem to like wordpress.

    Anyway, went back to bespoke design so will be interesting to see if it turns around.

    Hope you are well.

  24. Ted says:

    Great typo, pooped should be popped lol. Sorry

  25. ChrisM says:

    lol @ pooped/popped

    The page rank dropped a long time ago, it actually dipped down to 0 at one point. The backlinks are still there (though not that many new ones, I think the last batch from sites not previously linking was when I posted on the Bird Flu panic over here.
    Back up to 2 (4 is a long distant memory now), though if it wasn’t for the sponsored posts I write on this site, I’d be at 5, I’m guessing from other sites.
    I hope the return to a bespoke design has the desired effect.

  26. Ted says:

    🙂

    Its interesting when analysing pagerank. /There have been quite a few changes since the rollout of Google Caffiene. I had PR drops on a couple of sites but traffic levels increased, its a funny old game.

    PR is of course just a nice green bar but it does make you thnk when it drops.

  27. ChrisM says:

    Back when I was writing a LOT more sponsored posts, and was active with a lot more schemes, my PR had a massive say over my income. With my current work, it has no say at all, so I don’t worry as much. When I hear there has been a new PR update carried out, I tend to check on my sites, but don’t lose sleep over it anymore. See https://chrismerriman.com/pr-of-3/ and https://chrismerriman.com/google-strike-again/ (and also https://chrismerriman.com/google-adsense-sucks/ for my original frustration with some of their other activities).