Blog Entry
Lodewijk Schutte has released his first commercial add-on, Low Variables. It does the following:
This ExpressionEngine add-on gives you and your users a better way of managing site wide variables. Currently, you can use User Defined Global Variables, which are parsed at the very end of EE’s Parse Order and can only be edited though the Templates tab. Alternatively, you can use Path.php Global Variables which are parsed much earlier, but do not provide an interface for your users. Finally, you can use Fresh Variables, which are also parsed early, but can be inappropriate for your users as it also gives them the power to break your templates.
Congratulations to Low on his first release, which you can read more about on his excellent blog post about it. It is currently only available for 1.6.8.
Blog Entry
The ExpresionEngine Podcast has been updated to episode 9. This show covers:
Ryan and Dan give you the skinny on ExpressionEngine 2.0. They discuss some new features, integration issues, upgrade paths, and more.
Blog Entry
The workshop here at EE Insider World Headquarters has been buzzing along creating fun stuff to share with you. Today, we’d like to make available the EE Insider accessory add-on for ExpressionEngine 2.0 (GitHub download).
The accessory (a new type of add-on in EE 2.0) gives you a quick and easy view of the latest news and tips from EE Insider. It’s a great way to keep up-to-date and take a break from building awesome EE-powered websites.
The accessory is available at GitHub and is free to download and use on as many sites as you like.
Have feedback? Send us your thoughts!
Blog Entry
High school and college teacher Zac Gordon is organizing a one-day ExpressionEngine workshop that is focused on learning EE for beginner to intermediate users on January 9th 2010 at the Center for Digital and Imaging Arts (CDIA) in Georgetown, DC. The cost of the class is $120 or only $60 if you’re a teacher or student.
If you’re an educator that is looking to use EE in the classroom, this sounds like a very affordable way to get started.
Learn more about the DC-area EE workshop.
Blog Entry
Last week I announced the availability of the beta ebook of my book ExpressionEngine 2.0: A Quick-Start Guide.
One of the many great things about buying from The Pragmatic Programmers is that you also get mobile versions (when available) of the books you purchase. My book is available in three convenient ebook formats:
- PDF, for reading on your laptop
- epub, for iPhone
- mobi, for the Kindle
To read the book on your iPhone or iPod Touch you can use Stanza, a free book reader in the App Store. For the Kindle, simply download the mobi version, mount the Kindle to your computer and then drag the book onto the Kindle.
Happy Reading!
Blog Entry
Ryan Masuga is at it again, causing all kinds of trouble by adding so many add-ons. It’s like Christmas every week (or your respective Holiday). Here is your weekly Devot:ee:
Thanks again to Ryan for putting this together and for Devot:ee for being a fantastic resource.
Blog Entry
Erik Reagan has written an excellent post on debugging your EE work:
How many times have you been working on a site and poof! something doesn’t work the way you expected? For most developers this is just part of the process. There are some common ways to debug issues that are built right into ExpressionEngine. You just need to know how to use them. There are other things that aren’t necessarily tools but rather features that might be missed causing errors. Let’s dive in.
Blog Entry
I’m happy to announce that my book, ExpressionEngine 2.0: A Quick-Start Guide, is now available in ebook format from The Pragmatic Programmers. The print edition will follow and will also be available in all major bookstores (Amazon, B&N, etc).
The book is part of PragProg’s “Beta Book” program, which is a great way to get books out early and get feedback from the community. Buying the beta ebook entitles you to the complete, professionally indexed and copyedited, published version of the ebook and any updates between now and then (they notify you when there’s a new version available). You also have the option of buying both the beta book (which you get immediately) and pre-ordering the print book (which you get later, once it’s in print).
The First Book on EE 2.0
This book covers EE 2.0 only. There’s an entire chapter on the new File Manager and one on some advanced techniques for making your templates more flexible and powerful. Just like with my screencasts, the goal was to teach you the best practices of building websites in EE 2.0. The book is written in straight-forward prose that guide you each step of the way towards completing your first EE 2.0 website. You can read the table of contents and a couple of excerpts over at the PragProg website.
Code Included
All of the code used or referenced in the book is available in a compressed file, as a separate download. Additionally, when reading the ebook you can click on the gray box above the code samples and download that snippet of code. It’s like magic!
Running EE 2.0
I put together a simple website for the book and it is, of course, powered by ExpressionEngine 2.0 PB. It’s running a recent build and is deployed directly from my SVN repository using Capistrano.
Available Now!
The gerbils are ready and waiting to build your PDF copy of the book. Get ahead and learn EE 2.0 now with the ExpressionEngine 2.0 Quick-Start Guide.
Blog Entry
Snippets are a new feature in EE 2.0 that allow you to store bits and pieces of code. “Great, Ryan, but this sounds like Global Variables” you’re thinking to yourself. Yes, but better.
Snippets are a native implementation of the Fresh Variables module on 1.6.8. Unlike normal User-defined Global Variables, the code you place in the Snippets is parsed (very early on during the parse order) by ExpressionEngine.
Get familiar with them by reading the official Snippets documentation.
Blog Entry
The reverend Paul Burdick has written a post on add-ons for Solspace add-ons.
As ExpressionEngine modules continue to grow in complexity and functionality, we are seeing more and more third party developers writing Add-Ons that extend Solspace’s own code or provide entirely new abilities using the data created by Solspace Add-Ons. Naturally, we want to encourage such behavior and want to assist in opening up our software to allow others to expand it as their needs require. If there is an extension hook you need in one of our Add-Ons or guidance on how to use our Add-On’s data or code in your work, feel free to post in our forums or email me directly. During the process of converting our major Add-Ons to work with the ExpressionEngine 2.x branch, we are in a perfect situation to make new code additions to help you and have them tested prior to final release.
The blog post continues with two such add-ons that add on to Solspace’s add-ons.
Blog Entry
A new build of the ExpressionEngine 2 Beta has been released. Updates include:
- Fixed bug (#10164) Updating language text in installer that referenced Core Installations.
- Fixed bug (#10179) Moved “Create New Custom Field” button to the right of the page to be more consistent with other pages.
- Fixed bug (#10189) Resolved PHP Error in Fruit Theme Template Manager
- Fixed bug (#10368) Resolved an error where clicking links in the News and Stats accessory would cause you to leave the page.
- Fixed bug (#10378) Resolved an write mode would not close due to javascript error.
- Fixed bug (#10184) Resolved an error where custom fields were not being added to the correct field group.
- Fixed bug (#10333) PHP error in the custom profile data tag.
- Fixed bug (#10342) Incorrect success message content in the mailing list editor.
- Fixed bug (#10380) Fixed an error where a selected page would not re-populate when editing an entry.
- Fixed bug (#10175) Resolved PHP error on global variables manager.
- Changed home page ‘modify’ section links for pages module to link to the module’s home page
- Fixed a bug with default accessory installation in the Trial version.
- Fixed a bug where My Account area will produce an error in PHP4 environments.
- Fixed a bug (#10367) where the default channel assignment in the channel options could be wrong when editing an entry.
Kudos to the EE team for pushing these updates out so quickly.
Blog Entry
It’s a small thing, but very useful, especially to those who are new to ExpressionEngine.
The “Help” button in the main navigation of the EE 2.0 Control Panel changes its link depending on where you are in the Control Panel. So, if you’re on the homepage of the CP, the Help button links off to the Control Panel Home Page page of the docs. When viewing the Snippets screen, the Help button helpfully links to the Snippets documentation.
Nice bit of detail in the 2.0 Control Panel.
Blog Entry
Trackbacks are gone in EE 2.0. The brainchild of Six Apart, they were meant as a way to connect conversations across the blogosphere. They’re mostly spam bait these days and I haven’t built a site with them in quite a long time.
Until someone builds a Trackback module for EE 2.0, you’re out of luck and have to make a decision when upgrading to 2.0.
The install/upgrade wizard gives you two options:
- Export your trackbacks to an archive.
- Convert them into comments and then have them deleted.
If you’re holding out for a third-party trackback module, I’d recommend archiving the trackbacks. If you’re not but want to save the data, option number two is your ticket.
Blog Entry
Devot:ee is kicking off its end-of-year awards. Like all great subcultures, we must have an award show. If you have a Devot:ee account, you can go vote for the best. Here are the nominees:
2009 Plugin of the Year
- Image Sizer (David Rencher - Lumis)
- TruncHTML (Oliver Heine - silenz)
- EE Gravatar (Philip Zaengle)
- Edit This (Hop Studios)
- Splitter (Oliver Heine - silenz)
- Hop Inject (Hop Studios)
- BU Search Pagination (BridgingUnit - Aidann Bowley)
- FLV Player (vinnyio)
- Reeposition (Studio625 - Mr. Wilson)
- PD Fileformat (Pepper Digital - Andy Harris)
2009 Module of the Year
- User (Solspace)
- Freeform (Solspace)
- Structure (Travis Schmeisser)
- Deeploy Helper (Hop Studios)
- SL Developer Info (Stephen Lewis)
- Navigator (Cocoaholic)
- Low NoSpam (low)
- Tag (Solspace)
- Reeorder (Cocoaholic)
- Favorites (Solspace)
2009 Extension of the Year
- FieldFrame (Brandon Kelly)
- Playa (Brandon Kelly)
- nGen File (Fred Boyle, nGenWorks)
- LG Add Sitename (Leevi Graham)
- Wygwam (Brandon Kelly)
- Gypsy (Brandon Kelly)
- SL Google Map (Stephen Lewis)
- Publish Tweeks (nGenWorks)
- LG Better Meta (Leevi Graham)
- Edit Menu (Cocoaholic)
2009 Developer of the Year
- Brandon Kelly (Pixel & Tonic)
- Leevi Graham (Newism)
- Solspace
- Lodewijk Schutte (Low)
- Elwin Zuiderveld (Cocoaholic)
- Derek Hogue (Amphibian Design)
- Erik Reagan
- Jack McDade (SmoothFunction)
- Stephen Lewis (Experience Internet)
- nGenWorks
You must be a registered member of Devot:ee to vote.
Blog Entry
It takes a considerable amount of time, effort and resources to keep this site running day-to-day. The advertisers play an important role in making that happen. So, I’d like to thank them for their support of EE Insider.
As you’ve probably noticed, I only choose advertisers that have something to share with you that is related to your work with ExpressionEngine. I’m happy that the following companies or products are advertising on EE Insider:
Thank you, sponsors!
How to Advertise on EE Insider
Advertising on EE Insider is an effective way of getting your product or service out in front of the EE community. We offer a variety of sponsorship opportunities, including weekly sponsorship of the full-content RSS feed.
If you want to learn more and inquire about our rates and availability, please shoot me an email and let’s talk!
Blog Entry
There have been reports of a big encrypting issue with the ExpressionEngine 2 trial. I think there is one very important clarification to make:
- Only the trial is encrypted. The full version doesn’t involve any sort of super secret lock & key nor is it encrypted. Our assumption, here at the Insider, is that EllisLab wanted a way for people to try EE out, without the overhead of supporting the old “core” version.
- The trial version has a lot of problems due to encrypting. EllisLab, being sentient aware beings, are trying to help fix it as best as they can. Derek Jones wrote a blog post about it, so read that if you need more information.
You can, of course, get the full unlocked version of ExpressionEngine 2 Beta right here and never have to worry about encoding/decoding or copy-protection again.
Blog Entry
Chris Macpherson has release CJM Amazon a Module for ExpressionEngine. What, you may ask on this cold winter day, does it do?
I really wanted to display some books that I’ve been reading and liked the idea of learning more about using web services. The Amazon generated links to their items include some nasty images and the formatting isn’t that great so I decided to write a wrapper for the Associate Web Service to enable me to pull whichever bits and pieces I wanted for each item, be it the image or the price, description or size.
It looks pretty great. $5 to the person who writes one for Readernaut, my favorite book-chronicle service.
Blog Entry
The other day Mark Reeves tweeted about problems getting Coda to recognize his CSS template as CSS. This is a problem because EE 1.6.x uses the .php extension on all template files, no matter if they’re HTML, CSS or even RSS.
Fortunately, ExpressionEngine 2.0 has fixed this problem. Your templates are now saved with the proper extensions:
- Webpage Templates:
.html
- RSS Templates:
.rss
- CSS Templates:
.css
- Javascript Templates:
.js
- Static Templates:
.html
- XML Templates:
.xml
This will solve any issues you may have with your text editor properly recognizing all of the different type of documents.
And there was much rejoicing.
Blog Entry
The handy {assign_variable} variable has been removed from ExpressionEngine 2.0. In its place is a less elegantly named variable: {preload_replace}.
The variable works just the same as before, allowing you to easily do a text replacement inside of a template. Typically, this is used to set a channel name at the top of the template and then use it throughout (you see this in the default RSS template from 1.6.8).
So, instead of
{assign_variable:foo="bar"}
EE 2.0 now uses
{preload_replace:foo="bar"}
I don’t know what the thinking behind the name change was (improved clarity of what exactly it does, perhaps?) but it’s worth noting since the {assign_variable} variable will no longer work in 2.0.
Blog Entry
A new build of EE2 has been released. That was fast. Here are the fixes:
- Fixed bug (#10164) Updating language text in installer that referenced Core Installations.
- Fixed bug (#10179) Moved “Create New Custom Field” button to the right of the page to be more consistent with other pages.
- Fixed bug (#10189) Resolved PHP Error in Fruit Theme Template Manager
- Fixed bug (#10368) Resolved an error where clicking links in the News and Stats accessory would cause you to leave the page.
- Fixed bug (#10378) Resolved an write mode would not close due to javascript error.
- Fixed bug (#10184) Resolved an error where custom fields were not being added to the correct field group.
- Fixed bug (#10333) PHP error in the custom profile data tag.
- Fixed bug (#10342) Incorrect success message content in the mailing list editor.
- Fixed bug (#10380) Fixed an error where a selected page would not re-populate when editing an entry.
- Fixed bug (#10175) Resolved PHP error on global variables manager.
- Changed home page ‘modify’ section links for pages module to link to the module’s home page
- Fixed a bug with default accessory installation in the Trial version.
- Fixed a bug where My Account area will produce an error in PHP4 environments.
- Fixed a bug (#10367) where the default channel assignment in the channel options could be wrong when editing an entry.
Kudos to the EE team for pumping this one out fast.
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