The basics so far have been the following downloads:

1. Tortoise SVN
2. Git
3. WampServer
4. PhpStorm

Tortoise SVN and Git are for the version control aspects of this project; WampServer (since I am testing on a Windows PC) is for the “local” environment; and PhpStorm is a recently discovered IDE that ties all of these together.

The next step was choosing a plugin and theme as well as setting up WordPress, my preferred CMS for development. I chose to go with the Nightly Builds version of WordPress, keeping it up to date via the core subversion access.

The plugin and theme are respectively ‘BNS Theme Add-Ins’ and ‘NoNa’. The first, a new WordPress plugin I recently released; and the second, one of my WordPress Themes due to be updated. To test the version control aspects these are now being maintained via github.

Although it has been a bit of a stumbling, grumbling affair I am finding the mix of these tools to have some interesting potential. I have been doing most of my current development work on “live” test servers (all I need is access to the Internet) and have always found everything goes quite well.

Transferring an existing project into the new process goes along these lines:

1. Download existing project via FTP into the local environment folder.
2. Share the new plugin/theme with GitHub.
3. Develop and test in local environment.
4. Deploy to a test server for online testing.
5. Commit/push changes to GitHub.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 as needed.
7. Release to the appropriate WordPress repository.

Starting a new project would work in a similar fashion … maybe.

The discussions on twitter gave me reason to reconsider local development so I will give this some time, namely the 30 day demonstration period attached to PhpStorm. If all works out I may just spend the $99 for the application and make this my new workflow.

© 2011, Edward Caissie. All rights reserved.

The following is from one of the newer Plugin repository enhancements: an email notification when an update is made to a plugin you contribute to.

Revision

445926

Author

cais

Date

2011-09-30 22:30:33 +0000 (Fri, 30 Sep 2011)

Log Message

Added Paths

• bns-theme-add-ins/tags/0.1/
• bns-theme-add-ins/tags/0.1/bns-child-theme-add-ins.php
• bns-theme-add-ins/tags/0.1/readme.txt
• bns-theme-add-ins/trunk/bns-child-theme-add-ins.php
• bns-theme-add-ins/trunk/readme.txt

Diff

Property changes: bns-theme-add-ins/tags/0.1

Added: bugtraq:number

Added: bns-theme-add-ins/tags/0.1/bns-child-theme-add-ins.php (0 => 445926)

Long story short: the first iteration of “BNS Theme Add-Ins” is now available on the WordPress Extend Plugin repository.

© 2011, Edward Caissie. All rights reserved.

It is a collection of functions and code that can be used to extend the capabilities of WordPress Parent-Themes and Child-Themes. Current functions:

* Add BNS Extra Theme Headers
* Add BNS Child-Theme Version Control
* Add BNS Readme Menu Item
* Add BNS Changelog Menu Item
* Add BNS Child-Theme TextDomain and i18n (translation) support

Although I did offer to release each of the above functions individually, how I optimized this initial release (read: alpha version) requires the code to remain intact.

I usually make these announcements on BuyNowShop, but this plugin quickly became very special as I utilized more advanced code techniques as well as core functionality I have not implemented in the past; and I just didn’t want to wait until it get subversion access.

Besides, this seemed like a great “Aside” post to make.

Enjoy!

© 2011, Edward Caissie. All rights reserved.

Amongst the suggestions and discussion is the idea of adding a Template Version to reference the version of the Parent-Theme for which the Child-Theme has been confirmed to work with by its author.

This struck me as an opportunity to have a look in core to see if this was being addressed; or, if I could offer a patch to address the idea. Several searches under various different criteria for this idea yielded no results … I didn’t expect any.

So, I proceeded to write and submit the patch. You can read the Trac ticket here: #16395

I believe this will be a useful piece of information that can be added to the style.css header block, if accepted.

Now it’s just a matter of time … what are your thoughts? Feel free to add them here for my patch idea; or, join the discussions on the “Make” site.

© 2011, Edward Caissie. All rights reserved.

The plugin, BNS Category Plus, was created for the HCAS Volunteers group and may be publicly available in the near future. The concept extends the default Categories plugin to allow additional options. The overview will cover some design ideas and programming tips on how this and other plugins can be quickly created to fill a niche. I will also talk about the tools and resources I use to write and research plugin code.

The slides from the presentation are available as a PDF here: Creating a Plugin (126)

A link to the BNS Category Plus code will be provided once it is publicly released; meeting attendees are also welcome to contact me for a copy of the BNS Category Plus code before its release.

© 2010, Edward Caissie. All rights reserved.

If you want to help (this is an easy way to contribute for those who aren’t coders), go to http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/view/considering and start looking at threads. Start from the pages at the back of the list, and on each one you can help resolve:

• Read the thread.
• If you don’t know if something exists as a plugin or has been implemented, use Google.
• Add a comment to the thread indicating the status/outcome. If you found an appropriate plugin, link to it.
• Add the “modlook” tag.
• Bask in the glow of knowing that this small task is part of a big job, and is much appreciated by the community.

The sooner we get the old ideas cleared out of there, the sooner it can become more useful as a discussion tool (and clear up Trac to focus on accepted features and enhancements). So thanks, Jeffr0, and anyone else who steps up to join us in this task!
Jane Wells

I will be adding this to my daily to-do list of WordPress related items, will you?

© 2010, Edward Caissie. All rights reserved.

I like to spend time on the WordPress Support forums helping where I can. Some days I’m able to offer a tip, or a suggestion, or a bit of advice; other days I am learning from what I read. I do what I can to contribute to the community and I was greatly pleased to see it recognized … as well as seeing all the other great people that volunteer their time and efforts on the Support forums receiving recognition for their efforts, too.

The following is an excerpt from the blog post “A Little Support?” at WordPress.org:

The Honor Roll
These people are not official moderators, but their knowledge and activity levels have caught the attention of those who are. A big round of thanks to these folks for selflessly sharing their knowledge with other WordPress users.

Most active volunteers, nominated by more than one official moderator for recognition (for the reasons given):
alchymyth – “Overall knowledge”
apljdi – “Overall knowledge and programming skills”
t31os_ – “Programming skills”
whooami – “For her security responses” “Knows her stuff”

Generally active volunteers, nominated by official moderators for recognition:
esmi, ClaytonJames, numeeja, stvwlf, buddhatrance, songdogtech, alism, alchymyth, Ipstenu, RVoodoo, jdingman, kmessinger, ArnoldGoodway, Shane G., figaro, jonimueller, blepoxp, cais, mfields, designdolphin, doc4, greenshady, mercime, mrmist, bh_WP_fan , henkholland, krembo99, jdembowski, pboosten, adiant, andrea_r, GDHosting, Gangleri.

Some newcomers who’ve been getting active:
a_johnson, equalmark, WebTechGlobal, kymac.
Posted November 30, 2009 by Jane Wells.

Thank you to all those mentioned above, the list is by no means exhaustive …

© 2009 – 2010, Edward Caissie. All rights reserved.