Comments on: Enable Automatic Updates for Plugins Hosted by Developers

By: Kaspars

Kaspars — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:44:33 +0000

Ryan, you should uncomment the last two lines in the plugin file in order to initiate the transient_update_plugins filter call.

if (is_admin())
	$current = get_transient('update_plugins');

You must also specify your own $api_url.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:44:33 +0000

I’m stumped. How on earth do we get this to work?

Is there any chance you could roll this into a plugin which actually works? I must be doing something stupid with the file as it looks like it SHOULD work, but all my attempts keep creating a plugin which never says it needs updated :(

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:44:33 +0000

Thanks a million for this :) I thought this was going to be horridly complex but it seems to be fairly straightforward by the looks of your example.

@Dave – I doubt the core guys will have any qualms with this. There are many, many different reasons people will need to use a non-official repository, particularly for non-distributed plugins.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:44:33 +0000

Wow, I think it’s awesome. What do WP core guys think of it?

By: Using a non-official plugin repository - WordPress Tavern Forum

Using a non-official plugin repository - WordPress Tavern Forum — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:44:33 +0000

[...] out Kaspar's post here: http://konstruktors.com/blog/w.....evelopers/ This works for themes too. Twitter | [...]

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:44:33 +0000

Only part about this that bugs me is when the paid version comes into conversation. Other then that though, this is cool information, so thanks for sharing it.

Long as you realize folks could buy your plugin and still turn around and give it away to others for free …

By: Jeff Rose

Jeff Rose — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:44:33 +0000

Thanks for this post. The timing is just about perfect. I’m working on a Premium Plugin and had just written some custom code to implement update notifications, but wasn’t happy with it. It shows up on the plugin page, but not at the top or in the counter.

I’ll have a look at your implementation.

Regarding the Free in the repository and premium for sale, the folks at WordPress recently made announcements to discourage this. Encouraging more high quality free plugins and less using the repository as a place to advertise your for-sale products.

By: Kaspars

Kaspars — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:44:33 +0000

Andrew, interesting that you bring up premiummod, because if they implemented this update API, they could provide automatic updates for those modified themes too :) Re: higher quality of premium plugins & themes -- I think that the main feature users are interested in is the continued development. Some might need the support, but regular updates are what people would be more than willing to pay for.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:44:33 +0000

Jeffro made an interesting point on Twitter when he said that people were assuming that plugins for sale would be higher quality. They certainly could be, but being paid for doesn’t guarantee it.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:44:33 +0000

Kaspars, I've been thinking of similar ways as well. Perhaps a basic plugin for free and then something that plugs into that which can be purchased. I'm also wondering how long until premiummod gets extended to plugins.

By: Kaspars

Kaspars — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:44:33 +0000

Andrew, no, not really. I am just thinking of ways to monetize plugins while still offering them as a free download to those who want to study and improve them. One could provide a basic version hosted on WP.org and another full feature version to those who purchase an API key. Updates for the basic version would still go through WP.org, while I would control the full feature version. Ideally I would imagine users making a donation right from their admin panel and receiving an API key upon PayPal confirmation. p.s. I just realized that this works also for themes.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:44:33 +0000

So, are you going to produce a plugin for WPers to set up their own API on their WP blog then sell it through the store?