WordPress ‘Attachments’ Plugin Debut

 Comments

31 Comments

1. Joe Lencioni November 2nd, 2009

   

   It looks like you’ve done a great job with this plugin. Well done!

   Will it work well on a WordPress MU installation? Do you have any links that showcase interesting uses of your plugin?

   Keep on rockin.

2. Jonathan Christopher November 2nd, 2009

   
   Author

   @Joe Lencioni: Great question! I actually haven’t tested on MU, but I’ve just added it to my high priority list — I’ll be sure to post my findings. My initial thought is that it’ll work fine, but better safe than sorry! No showcase sites quite yet, but a need for something like this comes up with almost every project I work on haha. Great suggestion for a section on the official plugin home page though!

3. Andy November 2nd, 2009

   

   Hey Jonathan,

   This looks really handy – though I do have one comment (based on screen cast) – I think it would be quite handy if you could supply the media type (at least the file extension) in the attachments array.

   For example, your selection there included a bunch of files including music and photos, but without writing some kind of basic file type detection I wouldn’t be able to load any directly into the page. It’d be great to dump an assortment of media like this in on a post with no additional effort so I could handle flash movies differently to photos.

   I know I could do it myself in my own code – just grabbing the file extension using my own script – but just thought I’d suggest it as a possible option for improvement (you did ask!)

   A.

4. Jonathan Christopher November 2nd, 2009

   
   Author

   @Andy: Great suggestion! I will make that change sooner than later with it being so quick. Let me ask, though: WordPress keeps track of the MIME type for each attachment, would that be more useful than the file extension? Should both be provided? What do you think?

5. Andy November 2nd, 2009

   

   @Jonathan: Difficult, because it’s simplicity vs. complexity isn’t it? It’s probably not a bad idea to rely on internal WP detection if they already collect the MIME – it also allows the greatest flexibility for the user. Ultimately, I don’t have a strong opinion either way though, as long as I have some indication of they type of file I am working with.

   Glad you liked the idea, I’ve just got to find a use for it now!

6. Jonathan Christopher November 2nd, 2009

   
   Author

   @Andy: I went ahead and just now committed version 1.0.1 and it should show up within the hour. Along with a small bug fix, the MIME type is now returned when retrieving all Attachments. That way if you’ve got GIFs, JPGs, and PNGs, you only need one conditional. It’s a double edged sword, but like you said, simplicity vs. complexity! Thanks again!

7. Jonathan Christopher November 2nd, 2009

   
   Author

   Scratch that, just updated to 1.0.2

8. Bernhard Zebedin November 3rd, 2009

   

   Hey Jonathan.
   I found a problem in the function attachments_get_attachments in file attachments.php.

   If there are no attachment in a post, php throws a warning.
   For fixing that warning please change the function as follows:

   function attachments_get_attachments($post_id=null)
   {
   global $post;

   if($post_id==null)
   {
   $post_id = $post->ID;
   }

   $existing_attachments = unserialize(get_post_meta($post_id, ‘_attachments’, true));

   $post_attachments = array();
   if( is_array($existing_attachments) && count($existing_attachments) > 0)
   {
   if( count($existing_attachments) > 1 )
   {
   usort($existing_attachments, “cmp”);
   }
   foreach ($existing_attachments as $attachment)
   {
   array_push($post_attachments, array(
   ‘id’ => $attachment['id'],
   ‘mime’ => $attachment['mime'],
   ‘title’ => $attachment['title'],
   ‘caption’ => $attachment['caption'],
   ‘location’ => $attachment['location']
   ));
   }
   }

   return $post_attachments;
   }

9. Jonathan Christopher November 4th, 2009

   
   Author

   @Bernhard Zebedin: haha wow thanks for the bug report, and thanks so much for including the fix as well! I’ve just committed version 1.0.3 which includes the fix, you should see it show up soon!

10. Scott Nellé November 5th, 2009

    

    The timing on this couldn’t be better. I have to start a project this week that requires a custom image gallery and I had no idea what I’d use to pull it together. I think this is just the thing.

    Any idea if Attachments will run on a server with PHP 4 installed, or are there PHP-5-only functions in use? I’m forced to host on a bit of a legacy system in this case.

11. Jonathan Christopher November 5th, 2009

    
    Author

    @Scott Nellé: Glad it will (hopefully) help you out! Attachments should run just fine in PHP4, but if you come across any issues, feel free to post here or contact me directly and I’ll be more than happy to make sure it works for you.

12. Victor November 9th, 2009

    

    Your plugin is exactly what I have been looking for….except for one thing, you have to edit the core files. I’m using Thesis theme which uses the hook system., so I’ll see if there is a way around this…I’ll let you know.

13. Jonathan Christopher November 9th, 2009

    
    Author

    @Victor: Glad it might help you out! I did want to be super clear though; the plugin does not require that you edit core files, but theme files. This plugin is more-so meant for WordPress developers putting together their own themes as opposed to integrating directly with the countless themes already out there. Best of luck!

14. Tendouji November 18th, 2009

    

    Hi, this post might be a bit out of place, as it is in regards to WordPress Post Gallery (WPPG). I have been using it for 1 of my projects and am thinking to switch to WordPress Attachment (WPA) if necessary.

    I have encountered some issues with WPPG plugin and also would like to know if the WPA has fixed the issue.

    One problem is that, there are times when I edit a post with image attached to it via WPPG, I noticed the images are not loaded correctly in the Post Image panel. And when I hit update post, the image will then be gone from the post. I will then have to reattach the image.

    It may be due to bad internet connections but my client may still prefer it to be solved. Also, it happens only when I use IE8.

15. Levi Gideon November 27th, 2009

    

    Hi, I’m not sure if this a bug, or just a mistake made by me. But when I try to attach files I get the error “Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\plugins\attachments\attachments.php on line 96″ and I’m not really sure what to do about it. Any ideas?

16. Andre November 27th, 2009

    

    Hi Jonathan,

    Great plugin, exactly what I need! However, so far it does not work for me. I can select the pictures I like to include as an attachment in my post, but after I hit ‘Apply’ I get the following error message above the thumbnail in the attachments box:

    Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in \wp-content\plugins\attachments\attachments.php on line 96

    Also when I try to save the post it does not remember my choice.

    I test it both locally and on my webserver with same results.

    Hope you can help me fix this bug!

    Greetings,
    Andre J.

17. Jonathan Christopher November 27th, 2009

    
    Author

    @Tendouji: Very sorry to hear that Post Gallery has given you trouble. If it’s not too much of an issue I’d definitely suggest migrating to Attachments. In general, it is a much more stable and effective plugin.

    @Levi Gideon @Andre: I’ve just committed version 1.0.4 that should fix that bug, but please let me know if you continue to have problems after updating.

18. Levi Gideon November 28th, 2009

    

    Thanks for getting on the issue so quickly. The error message no longer shows up, but there is still an issue with the attachments not getting saved after I save the post. Thanks.

19. Jonathan Christopher November 28th, 2009

    
    Author

    Do those still having problems attaching files happen to be using any version of Internet Explorer?

20. Andre J. November 30th, 2009

    

    Hello Jonathan,

    Thanks for the quick fix. It does fix the php error message. However, I get the same result as Levi Gideon with attachments not being saved after the post/page was edited.

    Thanks for your work.

    Andre J.

21. Andre J. November 30th, 2009

    

    I’m sorry, forgot to mention this happens on Firefox 3.5.5 (mac)

22. Alexander Kovalev December 5th, 2009

    

    Hello Jonathan!

    Thank you for your plugin.
    I have installed and activated it.
    After some media items have been attached to post and the latter was saved and published nothing is saved.
    And as far as I can see attachments_get_attachments() return empty array.

    I have tested this plugin on local instance of wordpress running thru virtual host. Maybe this could be the reason thou it seems very strange.

    All files I have uploaded with attachments plugin are successfully saved wp-content/uploads directory but no items is passed to post page

    I’d be very grateful to you if recommend me something that could solve this strange issue

    best,
    Alexander

23. Alexander Kovalev December 5th, 2009

    

    The problem was caused by disabled “short open tag” in php settings of my local server

24. Jonathan Christopher December 7th, 2009

    

    @Alexander Kovalev: Ah ha! Thank you so much, I shouldn’t have let that slip under my radar but thank you. Version 1.0.4.1 has been committed which replaces shortcode echos with longcode versions.

25. Matt Hill December 8th, 2009

    

    This is a very, very cool plugin! It does exactly what I need — great work! However, I’ve noticed a big problem, sorry!

    I’m using the Role Scoper plugin to manage a fairly complex permissions system for multiple users. The main users have Contributor permissions — they can only create/edit posts and have to wait for an Admin to publish them. I’ve extended their permissions with the ability to upload files — all good so far.

    Role Scoper won’t show anything in the media library that the Contributor didn’t upload which is perfect. So a Contributor can’t delete or use anything uploaded by another Contributor.

    But your plugin doesn’t respect these permissions — I can still see all the files uploaded by everyone in the media library when I use the Browse feature of the Attachments plugin. Not good.

    I guess it’s a lot of work for you, but do you think it’s possible to add integration with Role Scoper permissions?

26. Serge Meier December 17th, 2009

    

    Yes, Matt Hill is right, user should only see pictures he has uploaded, not pictures uploaded by other users.
    That is also something I’m looking for.

    The only different, I’m using “Member” (http://justintadlock.com/archi.....ess-plugin) instead of Role Scoper.

27. Jonathan Christopher January 2nd, 2010

    
    Author

    Thanks so much for the feedback! I’ve just committed version 1.0.5 which gives you the option to limit the available attachments to those uploaded by the current user. That should help issues with both “Member” and “Role Scoper”. Please let me know if you continue to experience any issue!

28. Daniel January 13th, 2010

    

    Thanks for the great plugin Jonathan!
    I am running in a problem trying to move Wordpress+attachments plugin from one host to another.

    The attachment data in the db table wp_postmeta (meta_key: _attachments) contains the absolute path to the attachments and now that i moved the Wordpress installation to a new host the attachment URLs still refer to the old host. When i try to search/replace the old hostname with the new hostname all attachment data is lost. It’s still in the db table but it won’t show up in Wordpress admin in the post attachment section. Any ideas whats going wrong here? Thanks.

29. Daniel January 13th, 2010

    

    Looks like I’ve been looking in the wrong place. Updating the wp_posts GUID and leaving the wp_postmeta table alone worked for me – see http://www.papasoft.com/2008/1.....-database/

30. Dan Philibin January 18th, 2010

    

    I’m running into a trouble with captions. I have the latest version of WP running. When I add attachments, everything works fine. But as soon as I add a caption to any of the images and then update the post, all of the attachments are removed from the post. They’re still attached via the core WordPress system – so I can still add images via the Browse area – but aren’t listed in the Attachments system anymore.

31. Jonathan Christopher January 19th, 2010

    

    @Dan Philibin: Very sorry to hear that! Can I have a bit more info from you so I can troubleshoot the issue? First, have you tried deactivating all other plugins and making sure there’s no interference on that level? If so and the problem still occurs, which browser(s) have you tried it in? Thanks in advance.

 I am Jonathan Christopher. Hi.

I am currently working as a front end developer in Albany, NY. This website has been put together as a resource for other Web designers and developers to discuss our trade. You’ll find articles on Web standards, accessibility, design, and even some bits about markup and style. Would you like to find out more?