Any wordpress plugin programmers?

[monaghan]

I'm mainly a Drupal guy, I have a simple WP plugin, however, when I try to update it by uploading a new version via zip file I get

Unpacking the package…

Installing the plugin…

Destination folder already exists. /web/xxxxxxx/wp-content/plugins/xxxxxxx/

Plugin install failed.

If I delete the plugin and install the new version, all is good. Any suggestions on how I can make this update either via a new .zip upload of via an update URL? I can update the install manually, but want to make it easy for the customer to update using just the WP admin page.

 

[Adam H]

Looks like your host isnt allowing it to replace the files after extraction, simple way around it would be to simply unzip the contents and upload the folder to your plugins folder overwriting any files that require it. Its the same thing as your attempting now but just FTP upload rather than zip upload

 

[monaghan]

The host is me! It is on a local dev server and I've chmod 777 on the plugins folder so should not be a permissions issue. When it goes live it will be on a Plesk server that I don't have admin access to so it needs to be right as this is phase 1 and there will be further phases that will need simple update ability without messing about with ftp (I have no issue with ftp, but it has to be via the WP admin page to make this customer self service update.)

Any ideas on what format the update URI has to be in to work? There's mention on updating via wordpress.org, but this will be a bespoke commercial tool, not suitable for hosting at wordpress.

 

[Adam H]

It may not be a Permission issue , it maybe an ownership issue if scripts are not allowed to write or overwrite in this case as they should. Why not just delete the folder and upload the new one ? its the same as overwriting and the likelihood is when you move to the plesk platform it will be setup so this isnt an issue.

Your also not effectively "upgrading" a plugin like through the upgrade process from the wordpress plugin archives , your uploading a zip telling it to install not upgrade which it wont do when there is an instance already there.

If it has the option to "upgrade" in the plugin list with "upgrade now" link simply click that instead which removes the old version before installing the new. If its a custom plugin or one that isnt hosted on wordpress archieves then the correct way of doing it is by removing the folder and uploading the new one.

 

[monaghan]

Why not just delete the folder and upload the new one ?

You're missing my requirement, I can ftp (well I own the server so have the desired folder mounted on my workstation file system), my customer is non-technical, hence the desire to have the update work via the WP system. Drupal & Joomla seem to have this nailed, so assume that it should be possible with WP.

WP was installed via the "5 minute install" from WP. The initial plugin install works OK via WP, so assume initial ownership / permissions are good to allow me to create the folder and then to delete it through WP, just need to crack the in-place update.

 

[Adam H]

Ok lets put this in simple terms....

Does the commercial plugin have the ability to Auto update ?

If yes , do it via the auto update in the plugin list not through the upload plugin.

If no, then they need to have access to removing the plugin before being able to upload another zip.

The "add new" plugin part of word press from what i understand doesnt have the ability to remove the old version and install the new one.

 

[monaghan]

do it via the auto update in the plugin list not through the upload plugin

Where is this documented for non wordpress.org hosted plugins?

 

[Adam H]

Where is this documented for non wordpress.org hosted plugins?

Sorry what do you mean ? Are you asking where to find out if they are plugins which support autoupdating ?

if so goto the plugins part of wordpress

As you can see by a screenshot ive taken above you will see the plugin highlighted in red, at bottom it says update now.

An example URL would look like this :

youdomain.com/wp-admin/update.php?action=upgrade-plugin&plugin=wordfence%2Fwordfence.php&_wpnonce=652c5a0dd2

 

[monaghan]

Yes, where is the documentation on how to get WP to look at my own URL for an update? What do I need to add to the plugin in order to make it able to update from the GUI rather than a manual ftp upload?

To delete is a pain as the finished version will have an uninstall_hook to purge the custom tables

 

[Adam H]

Its not what you need to add, its whether your commercial plugin creators offer that.

Many plugins from places like codecanyon etc dont have that ability because they do not use the API.

See this post : http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/...s-http-api-automatic-plugin-updates--wp-25181

 

[monaghan]

Its not what you need to add, its whether your commercial plugin creators offer that.

The creator is me!

I'll look at the link and see if that helps

 

[Adam H]

The creator is me!

I'll look at the link and see if that helps

Ah i see, i apologise i didnt realise you were the creator of the plugin as well, you will need to look into the API , this post may help you too :

http://kaspars.net/blog/wordpress/a...ns-and-themes-hosted-outside-wordpress-extend