Unlisted

As a business owner when I do a web search for my phone number many of the results are from directory services that post information on my business. For some businesses this may be fine, however, for me there are a few problems with this.

  1. The information is just wrong, I changed the name of my business and moved locations but the listings keep the old information. 
  2. I work from my home and don’t love the fact that a few dozen sites think is okay to post my personal information on line
  3. This is done without my consent, I have NO IDEA where these services are getting my information  My best guess is from the public directory of registered businesses. The public directory clearly states “FOR NO COMMERCIAL USE ONLY” meaning that the information shouldn’t be used for these listings
  4. I would rather have my company come up in search results rather than them.

Removal Instructions:

To remove your site you first need to find all the places you are listed. yext and google are both good tools for this.

I’ve had good luck with calling and requesting removal as well as email customer support. This can be tedious and time consuming but for me it’s worth it.

 

 

 

Uploading Files as Post attachments with Gravity Forms

Okay so like may others I love Gravity Forms. Simple, elegant forms for WordPress. However, I recently ran into a snag when trying to use the awesome Custom Post Type plugin to allow my client to upload a PDF then have that be saved as an attachment to the post. Here is my solution in hopes it helps you. I’m open to suggestions on better ways to do this.

add_filter("gform_after_submission", "nifty_add_post_attachements", 10, 3);
 function nifty_add_post_attachements($entry) {
 //you'll need this later, TRUST ME.
 if(!function_exists('wp_generate_attachment_metadata')){require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/image.php');}

//do we even have a file?
 if (isset($_FILES['input_4'])) {
 $file_url = $entry['4']; //great but what is its url?
 $upload_dir = wp_upload_dir(); //where do you want to put it?
 $file_data = file_get_contents($file_url); //show me what you're made of
 $filename = basename($file_url); //so cute but what's its name?
 if(wp_mkdir_p($upload_dir['path'])) //can we put it there?
 $file = $upload_dir['path'] . '/' . $filename; //yes great
 else //or no, okay fine let's try somewhere else
 $file = $upload_dir['basedir'] . '/' . $filename; //get the whole location
 file_put_contents($file, $file_data); // tada home at last

$wp_filetype = wp_check_filetype($filename, array('pdf' => 'application/pdf','pdf' => 'application/x-pdf') ); //is it the right type of of file?
 $attachment = array( //set up the attachment
 'post_mime_type' => $wp_filetype['type'],
 'post_title' => sanitize_file_name($filename),
 'post_content' => '',
 'post_status' => 'inherit'
 );

$attach_id = wp_insert_attachment( $attachment, $file, $entry['post_id'] ); //insert attachment
 $attach_data = wp_generate_attachment_metadata( $attach_id, $file ); //asign the meta
 wp_update_attachment_metadata( $attach_id, $attach_data ); //update the post

//remove the entry
 //(to keep the entry comment or delete these line)
 // IMPORTANT See:  http://pastebin.com/quvsvGHJ for the function
 if(!function_exists('sedc_gform_remove_entries')){ die('next time maybe you should read the comments');}
 else{ nifty_gform_remove_entries($entry, $form );}
 }
 }

I have included a function that removes the entry and original file upload. That function can be found here. There is also a simpler version that doesn’t give a damn about the file upload that can be found here. Both are original from the GF support forms but have been slightly modified for v 1.6.  I should also point out that some of the upload code came from here.

Hope you find this useful

Mobile EPS for WordPress 1.4

I just committed Mobile ESP for WP 1.4. This is a Minor Update that updates the Library to the latest version. No other changes have been made.

With HTML5 and responsive themes becoming the new standard (even with my own development) I’m wondering if this plugin is worth keeping updated but it’s the least I can do to keep the lib updated. Let me know if you have any issue or concerns with 1.4.

How to Add the latest Linux Mint Backgrounds (13 to 14)

I recently updated my laptop to Linux Mint 14 Nadia with this update came a bunch of really great desktop backgrounds (see release notes). I am still using mint 13 on my desktop and because it’s a LTS I have no need to update. I did however want the new backgrounds.

The solutions? Download the mint-backgrounds-nadia-extra.deb and install it. And just like that you have these new backgrounds.

Simple Portfolio Widget

Hi, I just wrote a simple portfolio widget and thought I would share. This code uses Justin Tadlock’s get_the_image plugin and custom widget code to display the featured image based on tag or post type.

Just drop this into your functions.php or create a plugin to see it in action

if ( function_exists( 'add_image_size' ) ) {
add_image_size( 'sidebar-thumb', 75,75,true   );

}
class PortfolioWidget extends WP_Widget
{
function PortfolioWidget()
{
$widget_ops = array('classname' => 'PortfolioWidget', 'description' => 'Displays a list of thumbnails for portfolio pieces in the sidebar' );
$this->WP_Widget('PortfolioWidget', 'Portfolio Thumbnails', $widget_ops);
}

function form($instance)
{
$instance = wp_parse_args( (array) $instance, array( 'title' => '','tags' => '', 'post_type' => '' ) );

$title = $instance['title'];
$tags = $instance['tags'];
$post_type = $instance['post_type'];
?>

<p><label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title'); ?>">Title: <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('title'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo attribute_escape($title); ?>" /></label></p>
<p><label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('tags'); ?>">Tags: <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('tags'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('tags'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo attribute_escape($tags); ?>" /></label></p>
<p><label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('post_type'); ?>">Post Types: <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('post_type'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('post_type'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo attribute_escape($post_type); ?>" /></label></p>
<?php
}

function update($new_instance, $old_instance)

{
$instance = $old_instance;
$instance['title'] = $new_instance['title'];
$instance['tags'] =  $new_instance['tags'];
$instance['post_type'] = $new_instance['post_type'];

return $instance;
}

function widget($args, $instance)
{
extract($args, EXTR_SKIP);

echo $before_widget;
$title = empty($instance['title']) ? '' : apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title']);
$tags = empty($instance['tags']) ? '' : wp_parse_id_list($instance['tags']);
$post_type = empty($instance['post_type']) ? '' : preg_split( '/[\s,]+/',strtolower($instance['post_type']));

if (!empty($title))
echo $before_title . $title . $after_title;

$query = new WP_Query( array( 'post_type' => $post_type, 'tag_id' => $tags  ) );
while ( $query->have_posts() ) : $query->the_post();
echo get_the_image( array( 'meta_key' => 'Thumbnail','size' => 'sidebar-thumb') );
endwhile;
wp_reset_postdata();
echo $after_widget;
}

}

Let me know your thoughts or if you have any questions. If there is a large intrest I may post a complete write up and example with images.

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