The following snippets use the wc command and can be run on the command line to output the total number of new line characters present in all files within a directory recursively.

wc -l `find /path/to/directory/ -type f`

This will output results in the following format, showing the number of lines for each file:

[root@server ~]# wc -l `find /path/to/directory/ -type f`
 103 /path/to/directory/a.php
 378 /path/to/directory/b/c.xml
 132 /path/to/directory/d/e.xml
 613 total

Alternatively, to output just the total number of new line characters without the file by file counts to following command can prove useful:

find /path/to/directory/ -type f -exec wc -l {} \; | awk '{total += $1} END{print total}'

The output for this is a single numeric value, in this case 613:

[root@server ~]# find /path/to/directory/ -type f -exec wc -l {} \; | awk '{total += $1} END{print total}'
 613

As always, there are many different methods that could be used to achieve the same results mentioned here, I just found these to be quick and sufficient for providing the rough estimates we needed.

The Custom Shortlink Domain plugin was committed to the WordPress Plugin Directory today (2012-04-07) and provides the ability to override the domain name used.

Once installed, you can enter your custom domain via the Settings > Permalinks page by entering a value for the “Shortlink Domain” field under the Optional section.

In order for the custom domain to work, it must be pointed at (or parked on) your site, for more information on how this can be done you should contact your hosting provider if you are unaware of the process of doing this.

For full instructions on how to use the plugin or for more information visit the plugin page, or submit a post to the support forums for help or bug submissions.

To install this plugin you will need to launch the Eclipse Indigo application and in the main menu bar go to Help > Install New Software.

In the Available Software screen, work with http://directory.apache.org/studio/update/1.x by either entering it into the input or clicking Add… then providing a name, such as “Apache Directory Studio” and using this URL as the location value.

Once loaded, you will see a list of available software, you need to select “Apache Directory Studio LDAP Browser” and click Next >.

After the calculation of dependencies has taken place, you will need to review the items to be installed and click Next > once again.

At this point you are required to review the licenses before the software can be installed. If you accept the terms click Finish to begin the installation process.

During the installation you may be prompted to trust the Apache Directory Studio certificate, ensure you have checked the box before clicking OK otherwise the install will be aborted.

Once the installation is complete you should restart Eclipse before you can begin using the LDAP Browser.

Once restarted, you may not be able to see the LDAP Browser option. To open the perspective go to Window > Open Perspective > Other and choose LDAP from the options list before clicking OK.

You can then proceed to adding a new Connection to your LDAP server by clicking on the small LDAP+ icon in the Connections view which can usually be found in the bottom left of the screen.

If this section is not visible it can be enabled by going to Window > Show View > Connections.

To help explain how this can be achieved, we will be creating a plugin called “Ajax Example“, stored in the folder “ajax-example” inside the plugin directory of your WordPress install.

Further information on creating a WordPress plugin can be found on WordPress.org and other resources, so won’t go into too much detail here.

First we need to create a file called “index.html” and copy the following into this file:

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Ajax Example
Plugin URI: http://wp.me/pWbfz-dB
Description: Simple example of how to integrate front-end ajax requests via your plugin.
Version: 0.1
Date: 2011-09-01
Author: Steve Whiteley
Author URI: http://flav36rs.com
*/

class Ajax_Example
{
	public function __construct()
	{
		// ...
 	}
}

$ajaxExample = new Ajax_Example();

?>

We will be using the OOP structure for this plugin instead of the prefixed function format, however could be converted with ease. This class provides the skeleton structure of our plugin, you should save this file to our “ajax-example” folder before we start to add more functionality.

The next step is to include the JavaScript file that performs the AJAX request, which is called by the “init” action hook added to the class constructor method:

add_action( 'init', array( &$this, 'init' ) );

Then we add the init function to the plugin, which includes calls to insert the JavaScript file (wp_enqueue_script) and set the parameters required by the external file (wp_localize_script).

public function init()
{
	wp_enqueue_script( 'ajax-example', plugin_dir_url( __FILE__ ) . 'ajax.js', array( 'jquery' ) );
	wp_localize_script( 'ajax-example', 'AjaxExample', array(
		'ajaxurl' => admin_url( 'admin-ajax.php' ),
		'nonce' => wp_create_nonce( 'ajax-example-nonce' )
	) );
}

Additional parameters can be added to array if they are required, the two mentioned should be the minimum that are required.

While we’re here, we should add the function that handles the response generated by the AJAX request. Notice here that we check the nonce value that is defined in the function above and set the content type before returning the encoded JSON array.

public function ajax_call()
{
	if ( ! isset( $_REQUEST['nonce'] ) || ! wp_verify_nonce( $_REQUEST['nonce'], 'ajax-example-nonce' ) )
		die ( 'Invalid Nonce' );
	header( "Content-Type: application/json" );
	echo json_encode( array(
		'success' => true,
		'time' => time()
	) );
	exit;
}

Create “ajax-example/ajax.js” and copy the following snippet into this file. In order to perform the AJAX request, we use the jQuery .getJSON() method. Alternative methods could be used depending on the type of request you are performing.

jQuery.getJSON(
    AjaxExample.ajaxurl,
    {
        action: 'ajax-example',
        nonce: AjaxExample.nonce
    },
    function( response ) {
    	alert( response.success );
    }
);

Unfortunately this won’t actually do anything until we add two hooks to extend the built in AJAX functionality. These are added to the class constructor, the first (wp_ajax_nopriv_ajax-example) provides access for logged in users, the second (wp_ajax_ajax-example) for anonymous / non-logged in visitors.

if ( is_admin() ) {
	add_action( 'wp_ajax_nopriv_ajax-example', array( &$this, 'ajax_call' ) );
	add_action( 'wp_ajax_ajax-example', array( &$this, 'ajax_call' ) );
}

Please be aware that when using these hooks, they are called from within is_admin(), otherwise they are not correctly set.

The full contents of the plugin file “ajax-example/index.php” should be as follows:

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Ajax Example
Plugin URI: http://wp.me/pWbfz-dB
Description: Simple example of how to integrate front-end ajax requests via your plugin.
Version: 0.1
Date: 2011-09-01
Author: Steve Whiteley
Author URI: http://flav36rs.com
*/

class Ajax_Example
{
	public function __construct()
	{
		if ( is_admin() ) {
			add_action( 'wp_ajax_nopriv_ajax-example', array( &$this, 'ajax_call' ) );
			add_action( 'wp_ajax_ajax-example', array( &$this, 'ajax_call' ) );
		}
		add_action( 'init', array( &$this, 'init' ) );
	}

	public function init()
	{
		wp_enqueue_script( 'ajax-example', plugin_dir_url( __FILE__ ) . 'ajax.js', array( 'jquery' ) );
		wp_localize_script( 'ajax-example', 'AjaxExample', array(
		    'ajaxurl' => admin_url( 'admin-ajax.php' ),
		    'nonce' => wp_create_nonce( 'ajax-example-nonce' )
		) );
	}

	public function ajax_call()
	{
		if ( ! isset( $_REQUEST['nonce'] ) || ! wp_verify_nonce( $_REQUEST['nonce'], 'ajax-example-nonce' ) )
			die ( 'Invalid Nonce' );
		header( "Content-Type: application/json" );
		echo json_encode( array(
			'success' => true,
			'time' => time()
		) );
		exit;
	}

}

$ajaxExample = new Ajax_Example();

?>

Other things to consider when using the example code provided above are that you should probably ensure jQuery is loaded and possibly only add the the scripts to the pages that they are required, rather than globally.

This functionality was tested with WordPress 3.2.1, it may however change and be simplified in future releases.

The option value is a serialized array of the active plugins saved in alphabetical order according to the plugin directory and file name, for example:

Array
(
	[0] => akismet/akismet.php
	[1] => example-plugin/index.php
)

You can however alter the order of the plugins in the array, which will in turn set the order in which the plugins are loaded by WordPress.

The first step towards adjusting the order is to add the following action to your plugin file, which is most likely to be /my-plugin/index.php or /my-plugin/my-plugin.php.

add_action( 'activated_plugin', 'my_plugin_load_first' );

Next you need to include the functionality to perform the actual re-ordering. The following function will fetch the existing list, check that your plugin is in the array and if so remove then append it to the beginning, before finally saving the altered list to the database.

function my_plugin_load_first()
{
	$path = str_replace( WP_PLUGIN_DIR . '/', '', __FILE__ );
	if ( $plugins = get_option( 'active_plugins' ) ) {
		if ( $key = array_search( $path, $plugins ) ) {
			array_splice( $plugins, $key, 1 );
			array_unshift( $plugins, $path );
			update_option( 'active_plugins', $plugins );
		}
	}
}

It should not be necessary for you to adjust anything specified here other than modifying the name of the function used to suit the namespace used by your plugin.

One final thing to consider is only adding this action when the dashboard or administration panels are being displayed, by making use of the is_admin() conditional tag.

Please note that modifying this option is not something I recommend people do unless absolutely necessary, and it my situation it proved to be very useful.

If you are not a plugin author intending to use this functionality within a plugin, you should place the following code examples into your theme’s functions.php file.

The first filter “manage_edit-comments_columns” is used to adjust the table headings by appending a column called “My Custom Column” to the end of the table headings.

function myplugin_comment_columns( $columns )
{
	$columns['my_custom_column'] = __( 'My Custom Column' );
	return $columns;
}
add_filter( 'manage_edit-comments_columns', 'myplugin_comment_columns' );

The second filter “manage_comments_custom_column” will populate each comment row with data. It checks that the column ID matches that set in the function above (“my_custom_column”) and outputs “Custom Data for ID:” followed by the comment ID  for each row.

function myplugin_comment_column( $column, $comment_ID )
{
	if ( 'my_custom_column' == $column ) {
		echo 'Custom Data for ID: ' . $comment_ID;
	}
}
add_filter( 'manage_comments_custom_column', 'myplugin_comment_column', 10, 2 );

Outputting this text isn’t really that useful to anyone, instead you will more likely want to show some actual data related to the comment. One thing you may want to do is adjust the function to display some meta data stored for the comment.

function myplugin_comment_column( $column, $comment_ID )
{
	if ( 'my_custom_column' == $column ) {
		if ( $meta = get_comment_meta( $comment_ID, $column , true ) ) {
			echo $meta;
		}
	}
}

The above snippet assumes that meta key is the same as the column ID (“my_custom_column”) and you only want to add a single column, but what if you want to add multiple columns and show different data?

function myplugin_comment_columns( $columns )
{
	return array_merge( $columns, array(
		'custom_column_one' => __( 'Custom Column One' ),
		'custom_column_two' => __( 'Custom Column Two' ),
		'custom_column_three' => __( 'Custom Column Three' )
	) );
}
add_filter( 'manage_edit-comments_columns', 'myplugin_comment_columns' );

function myplugin_comment_column( $column, $comment_ID )
{
	switch ( $column ) {
		case 'custom_column_one':
		case 'custom_column_two':
			if ( $meta = get_comment_meta( $comment_ID, $column , true ) ) {
				echo $meta;
			} else {
				echo '-';
			}
		break;
		case 'custom_column_three':
			echo 'Third Column Data';
		break;
	}
}
add_filter( 'manage_comments_custom_column', 'myplugin_comment_column', 10, 2 );

The above will add three columns to the edit page, the first two will try to lookup comment meta data and the third output the text “Third Column Data” for the sake of this example.

Similar function and filter combinations can be used for adding columns to the other admin pages. Just adjust the filters used by replacing {type} with either ‘posts‘ or ‘pages‘ in the filters below, however we will not go into further detail here.

• manage_{type}_columns
• manage_{type}_custom_column

Please note that the above functions have only been tested using WordPress 3.2.1 and cannot guarantee they will work correctly or the same in older versions.

Setting up the Time Capsule Disk as just a local network drive is fairly easy², however there is little instruction on sharing disks over WAN if you’re using Windows.

The following instructions assume that you have already configured your Time Capsule as a router and that you are assigned a static IP Address by your ISP³.

Open the AirPort Utility Program.

Double click on your Time Machine in the panel on the left.

Click the Disks icon.

You should make a note of the Time Capsule Disk “Name” stated here as it will be required later, for example here it is “Time Capsule”.

Click the “File Sharing” Tab.

1. Ensure “Enable File Sharing” is checked.
2. Secure Shared Disks should have “With a disk password” selected.
3. Enter and verify a “Disk Password”.
4. Check the “Share disks over WAN” box.
5. Lastly, click the “Update” button to restart the TC.

Lookup the IP Address.

Simply visiting whatismyip.com should be enough for this unless you have a more complicated network configuration.

Map the Time Capsule as a network drive.

Click on “Computer” in the Start Menu, then “Map Network Drive” in the top menu.

1. Select an available the drive to mount the Time Capsule as, e.g. “X:”.
2. Enter “\\yourip\diskname” as the “Folder” value, e.g. \\12.34.56.78\Time Capsule. (These are the two values from earlier)
3. Click “Finish”.

Enter authentication details.

The user should be “admin” and the password whatever you set as the disk password earlier. Click OK to complete the setup process.

You should then see the Time Capsule drive when navigating back to “Computer”⁴.

Notes

1. These instructions were written using Windows 7, older versions of the OS may require variations of the setup process.
2. Follow the steps above but instead of enter entering the IP Address when mapping the drive, simply click browse and click the name of the Time Capsule Disk folder.
3. UK Virgin Media customers should be OK with this, although you are not strictly given a static IP Address, it’s uncommon for it to change.
4. If you have the TC mapped as a local drive as well as a following these instructions, you will see two Network drives for the TC.

The problem with using the ID class to identify an individual page is that a page ID can quite easily change when working with a development version or even migrating your blog from one install to another.

One solution to this problem is to append the post type and slug as a class name to the body, e.g. ‘page-about‘ or ‘post-hello-world‘.

Simply add the following to your functions.php file to automatically append the classes:

function add_body_class( $classes )
{
    global $post;
    if ( isset( $post ) ) {
        $classes[] = $post->post_type . '-' . $post->post_name;
    }
    return $classes;
}
add_filter( 'body_class', 'add_body_class' );

Note: This method will also apply to individual post pages and custom post types.

When the issue of removing the Admin Bar first cropped up, the solution was to remove the associated init action, however this is not the correct method of disabling it and should not be used.

remove_action('init', 'wp_admin_bar_init');

Instead, you either use the show_admin_bar filter and simply return false:

function hide_admin_bar() {
    return false;
}
add_filter( 'show_admin_bar', 'hide_admin_bar' );

Or alternatively call the show_admin_bar function directly:

show_admin_bar( false );

If you are disabling the bar from within an init action it is important that you correctly pass the priority value, otherwise some of the assets may remain (such as the JavaScript file) and cause unwanted behaviour.

Using a priority of 9 seemed to be be the most successful from my experiments, although other possibilities may be used:

add_action( 'init', 'my_init_function', 9 );

There are a number of comments in the source code of 3.1, discouraging you from using the previous method of removing the wp_admin_bar_init action, so encourage anyone to update the method they are using.

All of the methods mentioned here can be used in either your plugin file or functions.php file.

The issue in my case seemed to be caused by the the phone shutting down automatically due to an empty battery, although there may be other causes.

Having searched the web for a solution, there are a number of possible ways to fix the issue, with many appearing to work in some cases but not others:

• Simply turning “Set Automatically” to OFF then back ON.
• Going to Utilities > Clock and removing the World clocks, then switch the phone off and on again.
• Hard rebooting the phone by holding down the home and on / off button at the same time (until the Apple logo appears).

For me the problem was solved by carrying out the following actions:

1. Go to Settings > General > Date & Time.
2. Turn the “Set Automatically” option to OFF
3. Plug the phone into your computer and sync it using iTunes.
4. Go back to the Date & Time options page and switch “Set Automatically” back to ON.

You may have to try a combination of the methods listed above, or if you have an alternative solution to the problem then let us all know.