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9 Responses to “3.1.0 Beta 4 Beta 5”

1. Alan Posted: Feb 23rd, 2008 at 16:19

   1 when there is no series, you want the widget to return without printing anything. so amend widget_series_toc function as if(!empty($toc) && is_single()) { $output = $args['before_widget']; $output .= $args['before_title'] . $options['title'] . $args['after_title']; $output .= $toc; $output .= $args['after_widget']; } echo $output; Reply to this comment.

2. Quandary Posted: Feb 24th, 2008 at 12:16

   2 Author Comment Nope, the current code is exactly correct. The before/after_widget text needs to be output even if there is no ToC to be printed; otherwise, the final HTML output may be broken (specifically, if the ToC widget is the only widget in the sidebar, you’ll get <ul></ul>, which won’t pass validation). Thanks, though. ;) Reply to this comment.

3. Iskwew Posted: Mar 16th, 2008 at 12:57

   3 Hi and thanks for a neat plugin. I downloaded the previous version, though. But here are som thoughts on what you might put into the next version: 1. Series on pages. What would be nice is to have a static page for each series, with just the table of content and some comments. 2. A table of content page which should be numbered 0, since it is not part of the actual series. 3. Posibility to add some posts which are related to the series, but more like appendixes, or material for further reading. Regards, Iskwew Reply to this comment.

4. Quandary Posted: Mar 16th, 2008 at 14:37

   4 Author Comment The first item you mentioned is covered by bug 29. The second and third items probably are a single feature, i.e., “related posts” that aren’t actually part of the content of the series proper. It’s a valid ask, but I’m going to have to ponder on what a good author experience would look like, as well as what a good reader experience would be. I’ve filed bug 39 to cover this. Thanks! Reply to this comment.

5. Steve Posted: Mar 17th, 2008 at 10:07

   5 Re: Alan’s post about the widget. I understand where he’s coming from. I’ve built several themes with boxes, borders, whatever, around sidebar widgets. If the widget shows up and is empty, it looks ugly. Unfortunately, you can’t depend on users being intelligent enough to not put the widget in until there’s a series. So - conditionally register the widget and its control. If there is no series, there is no widget. BTW - great work on this. I used the earlier one but abandoned it because it didn’t work as expected and I didn’t have time to screw with it. Thanks for picking up the ball and running with this. It’s a good plugin and more useful than the rest. Reply to this comment.

6. Quandary Posted: Mar 17th, 2008 at 17:46

   6 Author Comment Hey Steve, I prefer to blame the system for being stupid before blaming users. ;) Conditional registration is a thought that had not occurred to me, and it’s a novel idea, but I think it could be confusing and potentially harmful. Specifically, I can envision: Users reporting the fact that the widget is not available as a bug Users not using the series widget, because it’s not immediately available after installation Users creating a series, adding the widget, then deciding they didn’t want that series… at which point, we’re in a broken state (unregistered widget on the sidebar). What I can do is make it so that the widget will still output its header, even when there’s no content. Given the header, I think that most folks will know “hey, that spot’s empty because I don’t have any series yet; maybe I should go write one, or take that widget out.” :) Reply to this comment.

7. Steve Posted: Mar 18th, 2008 at 11:53

   7 Right you are…you have different considerations when writing a plugin for general consumption vs. a custom, like I usually do. BTW, if the series went away, so would the widget registration so your point #3 shouldn’t be a problem. The widget would disappear, although all the options would still be in the db - much the same as deactivating a plugin without removing the widget first. The other two reasons, though, are enough arguments against doing it as I suggested. And duh - having a blank sidebar widget would certainly be an indication to take it out, wouldn’t it? LOL Another BTW - if you use the get_args($args) function, you have available all of the arguments as vars, i.e., $before_widget, $before_title, etc. rather than having to get them from the array. Just a little easier, IMHO. Reply to this comment.

8. Quandary Posted: Mar 18th, 2008 at 18:18

   8 Author Comment BTW, if the series went away, so would the widget registration so your point #3 shouldn’t be a problem. The widget would disappear, although all the options would still be in the db - much the same as deactivating a plugin without removing the widget first. Eeeeh… I’d have to test that. The scenario I’m envisioning is that the user has only the Series List widget installed, and then removes their only post… then their sidebar either reverts to the default (and stays that way), or switches between the default sidebar and the custom/widget sidebar (depending on if they add a new series). You may very well be technically correct; in any case, I have to commend you for a very interesting way to solve the problem. :) Another BTW - if you use the get_args($args) function, you have available all of the arguments as vars, i.e., $before_widget, $before_title, etc. rather than having to get them from the array. Just a little easier, IMHO. get_args() isn’t a PHP or WordPress-defined function; I assume you mean extract($args). I concur that explicit array references are not as pretty as nice, succinct variable references. However, from a clarity and defensive coding standpoint, I much prefer explicit array references. Specifically, someone reading the code knows where the variable came from (clarity), and you won’t accidentally overwrite your local variables if your caller decides to add new values to the array (security). Yes, you can tell extract() to not clobber existing variables (it’s not the default), but you still pollute your namespace — as soon as some schmuck decides to use an uninitialized variable, you have a potential vulnerability in your code. :) I really appreciate you taking the time to go through the code base and give your thoughts; please feel free to get in touch with me via e-mail if you’d like to discuss anything else. I can always use more help! Reply to this comment.

9. Alan Posted: Apr 22nd, 2008 at 13:31

   9 Just so you know where i was coming from, the vast majority of posts on the blog i run are not in a series - but for the series we DO have, it is important to have a ToC. An empty ToC widget does mess things up though. Fortunately i’ve written my own plugin that allows me to show the widget only when is_single() && InSeries::adv_CurrentSeries($post->ID) Cheers for the plugin - wouldn’t be without it. Reply to this comment.