I have noodled on how to handle wp-SwimTeam’s dependency on phpHtmlLib on several occasions. Today I was at the gym with my mind wandering while I was on the elliptical machine, I started thinking about it again.
I am considering pulling it into the plugin as SVN external. This would allow me to ensure it is always installed. Doing this will greatly simplify the download and installation process for the end user as well which ultimately will make it easier to support users of the plugin. The more I think about it, the better idea I think this is. I need to read up on SVN externals!
I have been asked to demonstrate the MacDolphins‘ web based Swim Team registration system (which is wp-SwimTeam) to the Tarheel Swimming Association at one of their upcoming board meetings.
I will we out of town for work for their February meeting so it looks like it will be in March which should give me sufficient time and motivation to finish up a lot of the unfinished work. I really need to get to work on a sample theme too – the theme I am currently using on the MacDolphins site is not widget ready which is a big limitation.
Last night I got my wp-SwimTeam development environment back up and running. Since I last worked on the plugin I have gotten a new computer (Dell E4300) and changed how I was using VMware Workstation to manage the various things I am working on.
Because my computer actually belongs to my employer, I keep my hobby projects running under virtual machines (which I also use for a number of things at work which is why I have VMware). I used to have a separate VM for each project but they tend to consume a lot of disk space so I have moved to using SnapShots (see page 189 of the VMware Workstation Users Guide) and they are really working well.
I had migrated all of my projects over to my new VM with various SnapShot configurations (PHP4, MySQL 4, PHP5, MySQL 5, etc.) with the exception of two – my wp-SwimTeam development and the MacDolphins web site development (which I still need to do).
Once I got it all moved I needed to figure out where I left off. I still had a few files uncommitted so I simply committed them and started running the plugin through its paces. I found a few issues right away (e.g. I removed the ability to add a new swimmer – oops) but that was quickly fixed. Starting with an empty database turned out to a good idea as it exposed a couple mistakes, one of which I am still chasing – the roster isn’t showing everything it should and I am not sure why.
I fixed a few other odds and ends and now that WordPress 2.7 is released, I know for sure how the plugin behaves with the new Dashboard. It isn’t too bad but I definitely will create a new top level menu with an icon. This will almost certainly mean that 2.7 will be required to use the plugin. The 2.7 Dashboard also changes the background on the #wrap DIV from white (#ffffff) to a very light grey (#f9f9f9). To integrated the ActiveTab widget properly, this color change needs to be accounted for so I am opting to do it in the 2.7 color.
Before I know it swim team season will be here again and it has been a while since I worked on the plugin. Uh-oh. This fall has been busy, busy, busy with other stuff and I put the plugin development on the back burner for a while.
Since I last worked on the plugin, WordPress 2.7 has been released. WordPress 2.7 is so much better than any of the prior releases, going forward I expect it will be a requirement to continue to use the plugin. The Dashboard integration will be much more elegant if I require 2.7.
Look for some new updates in the very near future.
