While poking around we happened to notice that the User Library was missing. It didn’t take us but a moment to realize that it was simply hidden. Power users and administrators access this directory frequently and the most common solution (changing the defaults to display all hidden files and directories) isn’t ideal since it will reveal all hidden items. So I thought I’d share a little UNIX trick I picked up in ACSA deployment training for unhiding a single directory.

Simply launch Terminal and use the following command to unhide the User Library:

chflags nohidden ~/Library/

Open Finder and visit your User directory to ensure the Library is now revealed.

Sometimes 30 days proves to be more time that you need to store trash items. Sometimes you might want to keep these items longer. Some people might even find it useful to keep these trash items indefinitely. After browsing through the Codex, I came across an option made available to use which allows us to control the length of time items are kept in the trash.

To turn off simply add the following code to your wp-config.php file:

define('EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS', 0);

To shorten the time items are cleared, 10 days for example, simply change the second variable:

define('EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS', 10);

Or to increase the time, say… 60 days:

define('EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS', 60);

As I mentioned before, leaving this option alone will default to 30 days.

You can sort by all of the typical WordPress query variables. Below is an example to sort your custom posts in reverse chronological order by post date, as you’re accustomed to with WordPress’ default Post type.

add_filter( 'parse_query', 'order_by_query' );
function order_by_query( $query ) {
    global $pagenow;
    if ( is_admin() && $pagenow == 'edit.php' && isset( $_GET['post_type'] ) && isset( $_GET['post_type'] ) == 'your_post_type' && isset( $wp_query->query['orderby'] )  ) {
        $query->query_vars['orderby'] = 'date';
        $query->query_vars['order'] = 'DESC';
    }
}

Simply add the above filter to your themes functions.php file, plugin, or alongside wherever you register your custom post type.

Edit: As Bruce noted below in the original example I neglected to include making the list actively sortable. The above function now includes this. Thanks, Bruce.

Staggered import of large and very large MySQL Dumps (like phpMyAdmin 2.x Dumps) even through the web servers with hard runtime limit and those in safe mode. The script executes only a small part of the huge dump and restarts itself. The next session starts where the last was stopped.

Why use BigDump?

To restore the very large backup of your mySQL database (or a part of it) into the new or the same mySQL database. You can’t access the server shell and you can’t import the dump using phpMyAdmin or any other scripts due to hard memory resp. runtime limit of the web server.

What you’ll need to use BigDump

• The BigDump file
• The MySQL dump from your existing database.
• Existing database server, database name, username, and password information.
• FTP access to your web server.
• A text editor to exit the BigDump configuration file.
• Common knowledge about PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, FTP and HTTP are a plus.

How to use BigDump

STEP 1: Setup BigDump

The first step will be to configure BigDump to connect to your database.

Open the bigdump.php file which you downloaded in your favorite editor. (TextEdit for Mac, or Notepad for Windows will work fine.) The only lines required for BigDump to function are those for the database configuration, which you will see below:

// Database configuration
$db_server   = 'localhost';
$db_name     = '';
$db_username = '';
$db_password = '';

Here you will need to enter the database name, usermane, password, and server. If your MySQL server is located on the same server as your web services, simply leave this set to localhost. Otherwise, enter the server address for your SQL server.

Now save the file and upload it to your web server via FTP. (I suggest creating a separate directory for BigDump file, as we’ll also be placing your SQL dumps in this directory.)

STEP 2: Upload Your SQL Dump to the Web Server

Your MySQL dump file has to be in the same directory as BigDump, so place your dump in the same location that you just uploaded bigdump.php.

STEP 3: Execute the BigDump Script

• Access your BigDump file at: http://www.yourdomain.com/dump-directory/bigdump.php
• Locate the MySQL dump file in the list of available databases.
• Click the “Start Import” link.
• Wait for the import to finish. Do not close your browser window/tab while it’s running.
• Once finished a confirmation will be displayed (displayed below).

From here you should be done and your imported database should be ready to use. Use phpMyAdmin (or any other tool) to verify the database tables have been successfully imported.

REMEMBER: FOR SECURITY DELETE THE BIGDUMP.PHP FILE AND SQL DATABASES FROM THE WEB SERVER WHEN DONE.

I was just poking around the interwebs and realized Facebook released a new feature last month that solves this problem. To post or comment under your Facebook fan page name simply:

• Login to your Facebook account which is an admin of your fan page
• Visit your fan page
• Click the link in the right sidebar that says: “Use Facebook as Your Page Name“

Kudos to Facebook for finally implementing this. Shame on me for just finding this out. Yes, I blog about old news.

• WordPress.com Stats (Previously available via standalone plugin.)
• Twitter Widget (Already several 3rd party variations out there, but this is the same one available to WordPress.com blogs.)
• Gravatar Hovercards
• WP.me Shortlinks
• Sharedaddy (Again, most dot.org folks were using  AddToAny or some other variation.)
• LaTex (for the uber-geeky)
• After the Deadline (More grammar, spelling, styling assist.)
• Shortcode Embeds (For embedding videos and other media.)

From Automattic:

In this spirit, we have great news. We are now making the power of WordPress.com available to almost all WordPress blogs, regardless of where they are hosted.

With Jetpack, a new plugin from Automattic, people not on WordPress.com can now access features that depend on WordPress.com. Jetpack also provides convenience features that don’t use the cloud, but are now easier to install, or were unavailable as plugins before.

 

Matt Mullenweg explained the reasoning behind their decision to Open Source these features:

The dot.org users can get the best of WordPress.com without giving up control, which might be the future of open source in general. …If you’re on WordPress you’re part of the family, it shouldn’t matter if we host you or not.

Thanks Matt!

I’ll be testing out this plugin over the next couple days and will come back with some thoughts and opinions for those not already familiar with the Jetpack lineup.

• Query your WP database without SSH or another browser based GUI tool (like phpMyAdmin).
• Upload themes, plugins, or other files without needing to switch over to your FTP client. (Great tool for when you’re not at your main workstation and find yourself without an FTP client.)
• Quick access a list of WP filters and hooks.
• Enable error mode for your admin users, while suppressing them for other users.
• Quick access to your PHP config info.
• Quick access to a full list of defined options and constants, with the ability to easily edit serialized content.

You’re not discovering anything new here, just brining it all under one roof. Check it out and let me know what you think.

The quick way to attempt a fix is to add the following to your WordPress installations wp-config.php:

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M');

I believe by default WordPress defines the WP_MEMORY_LIMIT variable as 32M, so in most cases this should quickly resolve your problem.  If you’re running WordPress Multi-User (or a very heavy WP site in general) then you might need a bit more, which might require some fine-tuning to your servers php.ini file to increase the servers PHP memory limit.  Most shared hosting doesn’t allow this so ask your hosting provider. If you have access to this file simply add or update the memory_limit variable to match or exceed that of WP_MEMORY_LIMIT.

If after you define the WP_MEMORY_LIMIT variable you’re still receiving this error then you might want to check out the TCP! Memory Usage plugin. This will give you some brief statistics on your servers and WordPress installation memory limits and usage, and indicate your memory requirements.