// [showfiles]
function dump_files($atts) {
        extract(shortcode_atts(array(), $atts));
        global $post;
        $return = '';
        $children = get_children( 'numberposts=-1&orderby=menu_order&order=ASC&post_type=attachment&post_parent='.$post->ID );
        if ($children) :
        $return .= '<ul>';
        foreach ($children as $child) {
        $return .= '<li>
            <a href="'.$child->guid.'">'.$child->post_title.'</a>';
            if ($child->post_content):
                $return .='<br>'.$child->post_content;
            endif;
            $return .='</li>';
            } // endfor
        $return .='</ul>';
        endif;
        return $return;
}
add_shortcode("showfiles", "dump_files");
// end shortcode

This shortcode should go in your functions.php theme file. It is designed to pull in all post attachments, if any exist, and then print them out on the page in an unordered list. You can additionally specify mime types as a parameter in the get_children() function.

Use it in your theme by typing [showfiles] in your content.

Here’s the function

function set_post_background() {
	global $post;
	$bgimage = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id( $post->ID ), "Full");
	if (!empty($bgimage)) {
		return '<style type="text/css">body {background-image: url('.$bgimage[0].');}</style>';
	}
}

Here’s what it does:

1. The featured image source is pulled from the post data
2. If the featured image URL exists, the function prints a style tag that sets the body’s background-image to that url. If not, it doesn’t do anything.

Call this function anywhere in your theme like so:

<?php echo set_post_background(); ?>

And that’s it.

Futher Reading:

• WordPress Post Thumbnails
• Get Attachment Source

It is possible to add a filter function to add new text to the password protected page. The code to add to your functions.php files is as follows:

<?php
add_filter( 'the_password_form', 'custom_password_form' );
function custom_password_form() {
	global $post;
	$label = 'pwbox-'.( empty( $post->ID ) ? rand() : $post->ID );
	$o = '<form action="' . get_option('siteurl') . '/wp-pass.php" method="post">
	' . __( "This post is password protected and this is what I want to say about that. To view it please enter your password below:" ) . '
	<label for="' . $label . '">' . __( "Password:" ) . ' </label><input name="post_password" id="' . $label . '" type="password" size="20" /><input type="submit" name="Submit" value="' . esc_attr__( "Submit" ) . '" />
	</form>
	';
	return $o;
}
?>

But with just a tiny bit more coding…

…and an if statement, you can add a check to see if a custom field exists, and if it does, to spit it out instead of using the default text. Added code is in Yellow.

add_filter( 'the_password_form', 'custom_password_form' );
function custom_password_form() {
	global $post;
	$label = 'pwbox-'.( empty( $post->ID ) ? rand() : $post->ID );
	$o = '<form class="protected-post-form" action="' . get_option('siteurl') . '/wp-pass.php" method="post">';
 if (get_post_meta($post->ID, 'password-prompt-text', true)) {
 $o .= get_post_meta($post->ID, 'password-prompt-text', true);
 } else {
 $o .='<p>'. __( "This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:" ).'</p>';
 }
	$o .= '<label for="' . $label . '">' . __( "Password:" ) . ' </label><input name="post_password" id="' . $label . '" type="password" size="20" /><input type="submit" name="Submit" value="' . esc_attr__( "Submit" ) . '" />
	</form>';
	return $o;
}

The variable $o begins return a string. My if statement in yellow, interrupts the string with an if statement to see if the post has a custom field called password-prompt-text, and if it does, uses it instead of the text “This post is password protected…”.

Using this method, you can provide HTML into the description, so go crazy. I used H2 for title, then a paragraph for description. The cool thing about this, is that because of the else: it degrades nicely if you don’t have the custom field added to the post.

Hope that helps somebody.

Credit to Michael Fields for the original code, Googled and found here. Also mentioned at WordImpressed.

My last order of business in coding the site was that some of the Youtube videos and embeds had been inserted at a width of 640 pixels, which was 90 pixels wider than the content area. With CSS, the options are really only to choose overflow: hidden;, which then only cuts off the content that is wider, instead of resizing it. So, I wrote a quick little script that some folks might find helpful. May I introduce jQuery resizer.

Here’s the actual function for my fellow geeks:

function resizer( selectors, w ) {
 jQuery(selectors).each(function() {
 var owidth = jQuery(this).width(); var oheight = jQuery(this).height();
 if (owidth > w) {
 var newH = (oheight * w / owidth);
 jQuery(this).attr({
 width: w,
 height: newH
 });
 }; // endif
 });
}

Essentially the function loops through every selector you give it, checks it against the width you give it, and if it’s wider, it will recalculate the attributes of width and height based on their original values to scale the image down, it takes two attributes, the selector, and the width. The function can be called like so:

resizer('.content iframe', 500);

Additionally, you can give it a comma separated list of selectors, like so:

resizer('.content iframe, .content embed, .content object, .content img', 500);

So, the very straightforward, bottom line usage is as follows:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="appropriate-path/jq-resizer.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
 resizer('iframe, img', 550);
});
</script>

You can see a quick demo here.

Click to download the js file (in a zip).

I’m also planning on getting my newsletter up and running that will have semi-regular monthly or bi-weekly emails with random tid-bits and tips I come across. Basically just things I want to share with anyone who cares. So you can expect to see that up here on the sidebar pretty soon.

So if you start the WordPress upgrade and it gets locked up and leaves you hangin’, here’s what you do:

Note: You should always backup your database and wp-content directory before beginning a WordPress update, even an automatic one. Also, you should ALWAYS rename a default theme like TwentyTen to a different name or it might get overwritten in an automatic update.

1) Download the latest version of WordPress from WordPress.org

2) With an FTP program (FileZilla for Mac/PC, Cyberduck for Mac; I prefer Transmit, bit it ain’t free). Upload the entire WordPress install, except for the wp-content folder. This should overwrite all files in the WordPress Core. Unless you’ve messed with the core (which you shouldn’t have), this will not affect your files.

3) Remove the file called “.maintenance” from your site’s root directory (this is what is triggering the maintenance message).

4) Navigate to the appropriate wp-admin folder. WordPress will ask you to upgrade the database. Click the button and your back to where you were before, only now your upgraded.

I hope someone finds this helpful.

In any single.php template, use this code:

Using $post->ID

<?php

$pages = get_posts('numberposts=-1&orderby=menu_order&order=ASC&post_type=page&post_status=publish&post_parent='.$post->ID);

if (!empty($pages)) {

$has_children = true; // Page has children

} ?>

Using get_the_ID()

<?php

$the_ID = get_the_ID();

$pages = get_posts('numberposts=-1&orderby=menu_order&order=ASC&post_type=page&post_status=publish&post_parent='.$the_ID);
if (!empty($pages)) {
$has_children = true; // Page has children

} ?>

Now you’re even set to loop through your pages to create your sub-menu.

Hope someone finds that helpful

Further Reading

• WordPress Template Tag: get_posts()

I’ve been trying to come up with a solution for this. So I asked my friend Brian Morykon his thoughts. He suggested using spans instead of iframes, then when the dom was ready to replace the spans with iframes throughout, that way it would load after everything else. I tried it, and it worked. The only thing that is a little different here is that I am only using the src attribute from the spans, the other parameters I’m filling in on .replaceWith()

Facebook Like button (using span instead of iframe)

<div class="facebooklike">
 <span class="facelike" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=60px&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=21"></span>
</div>

jQuery function to find and replace spans with class ‘facelike’:

jQuery("span.facelike").each(function() {
 var url = jQuery(this).attr("src");
 jQuery(this).replaceWith('<iframe src=' + url + ' scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:60pxpx; height:21px;" allowTransparency="true" />');
 });

Note:

1. The jQuery is replacing the span with class ‘facelike’ with an iframe, with the attribute the same as the span. the other parameters (frameborder, style, scrolling) get passed from the jquery and not pulled out of each span (it’s much easier this way, plus you can change them all at once if you need to adjust).
2. This doesn’t have anything to do with jQuery, more with WordPress, but I’m using the_permalink() to pass the url to like, so you have to run this inside the loop.

WordPress Snippets (http://wp-snippets.com) is a really neat resource that has lots of little known WordPress snippets. They’re adding more every day, it’s very exciting for a geek like me, so I thought it would be exciting for other geeks too.

Almost all of the code snippets are best used in your functions.php file. Go, have fun.