Referrer Detector 4.0 is out!
Finally I’ve made it! Referrer Detector version 4.0 is now out! I decided to mark this as a major version increment because of these reasons:
- The code has been COMPLETELY re-written from scratch. As of the previous versions, it was one big file that handled everything from admin to front-end control. Needless to say how inconvenient this approach had become when bug fixes and new features were added… too bad that I have decided to throw all away and build a brand new OOP Referrer Detector. Well, it was a looong and tough way, but I’ve never looked back!
- The data are now in (ahem) database. I was thinking (and convincing myself) that a JavaScript file is faster, as it reduces the number of database requests. But with time, it becomes too bloat and too hard for me to track bugs as well as to add improvements. So I told myself: hell with this sacrifice, I better obey the power of MySQL.
- The biggest new feature that I’m really excited of is the ability to add localized messages. In the past, your users were welcomed the the same (English) greetings regardless of which country they were from. Now you can specify a localized message for those from Vietnam, another for Brazilians, Portuguese, and so on. The plugin will try to detect users’ country and decide which message to show. Isn’t it cool?
- The second new feature is the ability to backup and restore stuffs, including entries, excluded URLs, and options. For restoring, in order to keep the administration panel AJAX’ed, I go with Uploadify, a wonderful jQuery file upload plugin. This plugin uses a bit of Flash, but no worries, it will still works if your browser has no Flash player installed.
- For the Stats panel, there were two problems that caused me much of headache. One is Google TLDs which are hundreds in number thus totally ruined the chart. The other is the chart itself: PHP/SWF Charts library is too darn heavy and often broke my SVN commits. So I wrote some code to group those annoying TLDs into one group, and use Google Chart instead.
- In the admin panel, I added a “Support this plugin!” tab. Just a bit about myself, like “Follow me on Twitter”. Hope you aren’t pissed of with this change.
As usual, the plugin is downloadable at WordPress Codex. Your comments are always welcome here and in the plugin page. Let me know if you’re happy with the new version, or about the bugs you encounter!
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Thaya Kareeson
13 May, 2009
Congratulations on this release! I’m glad you found some time in your schedule to update this plugin. I still have to find time to fix some of my own bugs in WPGB
.
Robert Fischer
13 May, 2009
I’m getting an error about needing to set allow_call_time_pass_reference, but I don’t have access to my php.ini or the php_flag in .htacces. Can you refactor the code to avoid this deprecation? Until that happens, I’m afraid I have to disable your plugin (it throws ugly warnings all over my blog).
phoenix.heart
13 May, 2009
Thaya, if you stop producing great plugins, you will save some time
phoenix.heart
13 May, 2009
Robert, I’m really sorry for this inconvenience. A quick fix should be available in the next some minutes. Could you please check it and let me know the result?
Thaya Kareeson
24 May, 2009
@phoenix.heart,
Haha… they’re not that great. I’m actually slowing down plugin development now. I’m planning to move towards iPhone applications instead. That’s where the money is!
Sapan
24 Jul, 2009
Thanks a lot for this wonderful plugin to both Thaya and Phoenix