wp-SwimTeam

This morning I posted an update to wp-SwimTeam.

This release fixes a couple more places where the first and/or last name should appear but was being displayed as “N/A”.  It turns out I had re-used the same code which I had fixed a couple weeks ago in some other spots so the problem was the same.  This time I fixed it by moving the solution down into a parent class and eliminated a bunch of redundant code.  Hopefully it is gone but there is an outside chance I missed one.

Anyone who has used wp-SwimTeam may recall that the actions used to be buttons across the bottom of the widget I frequently use to display data.  This worked well until I had more actions than I had room for buttons.  My solution was to move the actions into a drop down list and many of the tabs used this model.  This release reconciles the inconsistencies so all tabs now use the drop down action model.

I have started work on some of the event changes I have posted about, hopefully I’ll have some new functionality in the next week or so.

This evening I released a new version of the phpHtmlLib plugin which wp-SwimTeam depends on.  This update addresses a number of PHP5 deprecated function warnings which are commonly seen when running under PHP5 with E_STRICT set.  I also fixed an icon bug which appeared on the GUI widget used across wp-SwimTeam when there was no data to display.

The update also removes the documentation and examples from the version of the plugin hosted in the WordPress plugin repository since they are only useful for developers.  A full version of the plugin including documentation and examples can be downloaded from the Download & Installation page.

I have addressed the bug which slipped through the last build and released v1.14.674.  There was a situation when querying for a users first name or last name against a username where the first or last name didn’t exist, the WordPress API returned an empty array and sometimes returned a one element array containing an empty string.  I am not sure if this is due to different versions of PHP or some other nuance but this update correctly accounts for both situations.  The bug manifested itself as a warning from the phpHtmlLib plugin (which wp-SwimTeam depends on).

The update should appear in the WordPress Dashboard shortly and is available now from the Download Page.

This afternoon I posted an update to wp-SwimTeam.  You can get v1.13.669 from the download page or update from the WordPress plugin repository (recommended).  This update fixes several bugs:

1. First and last name were displayed as “N/A” on the Users list on both the Swim Team tab and the Manage tab.
2. The default values for “State or Province” and “Postal Code” were not stored correctly so in a new installation, the registration form would not work until these fields were set in the Options.
3. Removed borders from sections of the Options->Swim Team form that were used for debugging the form layout and had inadvertently been left behind.   Some other minor tweaks to the layout were also made.
4. Rudimentary 3.3.1 testing has been performed.

The update is already in the WordPress plugin repository so you should see notification on your Dashboard soon.

There was a typo in one of commits I made over the weekend which resulted in the Opt-In/Opt-Out CC address not working correctly.  This release fixes that problem (which was affecting the MacDolphins).  The release is available from the Download page and has also been committed to the Plugin repository.  It should appear via the Auto-Updater in the next hour or two.

Update: I had the version number wrong in the post title – the correct version is 1.12.662.

About a week ago one of the volunteers inadvertently registered (Opt-In) our entire rosters for a swim meet.  An Opt-In will supercede any existing Opt-In or Opt-Out information so we lost our entire scratch list for our meet this past Tuesday.  I was out running errands getting my son ready to go on a mission trip when I started seeing numerous registration e-mails coming across my phone.  Yikes – what happened?  Initially I thought someone had gotten administrative access to our database and was playing games.

As it turns out the mistake our volunteer made was an honest one and I tracked it down by examining the Opt-In/Opt-Out records in the database.  I have always logged the user ID for the user who submitted an Opt-In/Opt-Out request but never displayed it as I never had a need.  It would have been really useful last weekend – imagine digging through your database using phpMyAdmin on an iPhone which is how I found it because I wasn’t anywhere near a computer at the time.

As a result of this exercise I have enhanced the Swim Meet Report on the Report menu to optionally show the user detail for the user who submitted the request.  I also changed the Time Stamp so it can be shown if desired.  Both of these options are on by default.

This release also addresses a bug where Opt-In/Opt-Out email confirmations were being sent to the Registration e-mail address.  For a lot of teams this is probably same address but for the MacDolphins it is not.  The result was our Accountant was being flooded with Opt-In/Opt-Out email confirmations and has been for the past three years!  She never mentioned it to me until recently.  Oops!

The release is now available from the Download page but has not been committed to the WordPress Plugin Repository yet because WordPress changed all of their passwords last week.  While I can login to WordPress.com without any problems, I cannot get access to the plugin repository.  Hopefully I will get this sorted out soon and then it should appear as an automatic update from the WordPress plugin repository shortly.

Update: I finally got my WordPress.org password issue straightened out and have committed the latest set of changes.  The automatic update process should proceed within a couple hours.

I have uploaded an early release of 1.9.646 to the Downloads page.  This new version has the ability to send out Job Assignment reminder e-mails.  There is a new action available from the Manage->Swim Meets tab called “Job Reminders”.  This action will pull all of the job assignments for the requested meet and send a reminder e-mail to each person.

The MacDolphins are testing this functionality this weekend for our Time Trials on Tuesday and barring any problems, I’ll make it available via the WordPress plugin repository later tonight or early tomorrow.  If you want it early, download it and install it manually from the Download page.

Over the past week or so I’ve been working on some new functionality that is finally ready to go.  The opt-in/opt-out module has been based on strokes since the initial implementation and this model worked well for the MacDolphins but some other teams prefer to register (or scratch) swimmers on a per event basis.

Events have been supported for a while but other than adding them to a swim meet, nothing has been done with them.  The existing event functionality is the basis for the results work I hope to complete some day.  Because the Event information is already defined, allowing the Opt-In/Opt-Out module to be based on the actual events was pretty straight forward.  There is a new setting on the Options->Swim Team tab which controls which Opt-In/Opt-Out model wp-SwimTeam uses (Event or Stroke).  By default it will continue to use Stroke since that was the original functionality.

The new functionality had a ripple effect across much of the plugin, causing changes to the Reports module and other places too.  While working on the Reports I decided to expose the Job Assignments and Swimmers Reports for all users however non-admin users will only see their own job assignments or their own swimmers.  This new functionality also came from one of the MacDolphins parents who wanted to be able to see which jobs she had signed up for.  In the same conversation, another parent asked me if I could make it so she could see if she had scratched her swimmers.  These two requests led to exposing some of the Reports in a limited fashion to all users.

The last major feature is the ability to run a report that shows the parents of active swimmers and their status against the volunteer (jobs) commitment set by the team (set it to zero for no commitment).  This is a feature our volunteer coordinator has been after me to implement for some time.  While the Report works fine, it is a little slow, particularly the first time it is run so be patient.

The new version modifies the database tables so PLEASE BACKUP your database before you install it.  I don’t expect any issues and I’ve been running it on the MacDolphins site for the last two days but it is always a good idea to backup your database before upgrading.

There are a few other minor bug fixes and cosmetic changes that I made while working on these improvements.  I ran into one very odd bug that only exposed itself on Chrome – I’ve changed the Load All Events functionality because the Javascript that pulled all of the events from one list box to another didn’t work on Chrome.

There are still some things to improve – I’d like the list of events a swimmer can be registered for be limited to the events for their age group but don’t have good solution for that right now.  I am considering using icons across the action bar instead of the drop down menu.  I had moved away from buttons because they didn’t fit but the dropdown actions are confusing so don’t be surprised to see icons in the near future if I can find some I like!

The WordPress plugin repository has been updated so the plugin should begin to auto-update soon too but in the meantime, you can find the latest release on the download page.

It took longer than I wanted and I didn’t get all of the features I wanted done, but I have release v1.6.605 of wp-SwimTeam tonight.  This release addresses a number of things my own team has been asking for, in particular with respect to jobs.  A number of our parents have asked how they can see which jobs they have signed up for and if they have scratched their swimmers or not.  A key new feature in this release is the Swim Meets report is now exposed to all users but the information presented to users is limited to their swimmers and their jobs.

• Fixed bug when optional user and/or swimmer field count is zero preventing reports from running.
• Added My Jobs tab for all users. User can now easily see which jobs they’ve signed up for.
• Added e-mail field to user profile. Users are familiar with the swim team profile, easy to update.
• Exposed Swim Meet report to all users allowing users to see their swimmer opt-in/out and jobs easily.
• Added Dashboard widget.
• Fixed quite a few minor bugs – too many to list!

This release is available now on the Download page and will be available from the WordPress plugin updater later tonight

I have just released wp-SwimTeam v.1.5.579, you can find it on the download page and shortly, via the automatic plugin updater.  This release fixes an issue which has bothered me personally for a long time.

There was a problem in the E-mail Confirmation code for both registrations and opt-in/opt-out.  This same code was used for the new Jobs module so it existed there too.  For a long time the confirmation e-mails were duplicated and if a swimmer had to two contacts, only one of them would receive the e-mail.  I have finally found and fixed this problem so e-mail confirmation should be cleaner and sent to the appropriate people.