For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why only one certain includes file wasn’t getting translated correctly. I must say this was a sneaky little bug which actually turns out to be an easy fix.

The problem was the WordPress function that handles the translation, load_theme_textdomain was loading after one of the admin pages was being included.

I’ve written up a fix for this in the forum which will also be included in 3.0.3 next month.

On another note, I’ve also created a .po file that excludes the admin pages. This gives you the option to only translate the customer-facing web site pages which is much faster to do. This was a request by one of our existing customers, Magnus (thanks) and it makes a lot of sense.

You can download this file from our ClassiPress Resources page. It’s the Version 3.0.2 download link.

Below you will find a list of all fixes and changes in this release. For specific files affected, please see the changelog.txt file accompanied with the 3.0.2 download.

Anyone who has already translated ClassiPress into their native language will have to update their .mo file. I have written a tutorial on how to do this at the bottom of this page: How to Translate a WordPress Theme.

Bug Fixes

• fixed sidebars & footer widgets so they now work when cp is translated into other languages.
• fixed google maps get direction function so it no longer gives you a 404 page not found.
• fixed category bug for nav menu and directory home page view of sub cats options.
• fixed TinyMCE js validation on new ad submission form so you don’t have to click next step twice and the error message appears correctly.
• replaced all date functions with date_i18n for better internationalization support
• added body background color style to prevent white background on slower page loads.
• added a fixed height to the featured ads slider box so on page load, it doesn’t leave a huge space below it.
• fixed “% of sellers ad price” pricing option bug and spelling error. it now calculates the correct price.
• fixed ad inquiry form confirmation where body has quotes or apostrophes is adds a forward slash.
• fixed new ad submission form step 2 when clicking on the “go back” button in IE.
• fixed home page pagination bug where blog posts were making it seem like there were multiple pages

Enhancements

• removed title attribute from ad image so hover doesn’t show image file name.
• added function to automatically insert an expiration date on an ad if it’s manually or auto-script created. This fixes ads that immediately expired because they didn’t have a date set.
• added new ad submission form validation support for 30 default languages. new option added on the admin settings page.
• added new function (cp_make_clickable) to automatically hyperlink urls or email addresses found in custom fields.
• added new option to override the generic WordPress new user registration and forgot password email headers.
• added custom.css file so you can add their own styles without having to touch the core .css files. Thx Levi.
• added new admin section called advanced options which includes the option to disable core .css files so you can easily build child themes.
• added empty index.php files to the core directories for security to prevent directory browsing.
• on new theme activation, set the default new WordPress user role to contributor only if it’s currently set to the subscriber default.
• added new trim function to ad listing titles on the home page to prevent pushing the price field down.
• added new option to show zero sub categories in the main menu and index-directory.php page.
• added new plugin called “New User Email Setup” in the plugins folder. This allows you to customize the generic WordPress new registration emails.
• made some minor adjustments to the styles on how the background gradient image was loading.

Lots of good stuff packed in this update and I appreciate everyone who submitted their bugs/feature requests. ClassiPress gets more and more stable with each release which means a better product for you all.

NOTE: Any support questions should be posted in the forum and not in the comments below. We have a dedicated team that can respond much faster and usually with multiple answers from the community. Thank you.

You will need to replace your existing /themes/classipress/ folder with this new version. Deactivate the theme first before doing this. Then reactivate 3.0.1 because there are some items that need to be updated in your database.

Below you will find a list of all fixes and changes in this release. For specific files affected, please see the changelog.txt file accompanied with the 3.0.1 download.

Anyone who has already translated ClassiPress into their native language will have to update their .mo file. I have written a tutorial on how to do this at the bottom of this page: How to Translate a WordPress Theme

Bug Fixes

• fixed the “access denied” error that some people were experiencing.
• added parameter for uniqid() function to comply with php 4.3 or earlier.
• added substr function on directory home page featured titles to help prevent wrap.
• fixed problem with some profile fields not saving data.
• fixed profile sidebar twitter and facebook urls so they now show updated links
• fixed minor css bug by removing the float: left for ad thumbnails
• fixed disappearing nav drop-down issue. changed z-index to 999
• added two new currency position options so you can have spaces
• fixed image uploads so more than six now correctly get uploaded.
• fixed search so it respects the category selected and shows those results.
• forced image names and extensions to lowercase on file check. some systems threw error if .JPG, etc
• add inquiry emails were missing the reply-to email address.
• text on search button wasn’t setup for localization. added correct _e wrap.
• added missing custom url logo field to the settings page.
• when using ad packs, ad length wasn’t getting passed into paypal correctly. it was using prune length instead.
• price per category wasn’t showing up for new CP customers. replaced legacy get_option tags with correct ones.
• changed admin alert to check for “contains” /%postname%/ instead of exact match so other permalink styles can be used

General Changes

• changed security check from user levels to roles. also added new value to disable this feature
• moved featured home page ads price under the image and removed the (). Added a trim function so long titles get cut down.
• added a “pending listings” total to the account statistics profile sidebar.
• added a new option to hide/show the featured ads section on the home page.
• added a new option to control the featured ads title length before trimming occurs.
• setup single ad page to display custom fields in order they were set in custom form layout. created new function and moved duplicate code from edit item page.
• added two new sidebar widgets called “top ads today” & “top ads overall”. made the search widget usable on multiple sidebars. unregistered the default search widget.

If you discover any new bugs or something that should be working that isn’t, please post it in our 3.0 bug forum. First make sure you do a quick scan to see if someone has already logged that bug to prevent duplicates.

For one of my ad categories called “Boats”, I created a custom form layout and then added my two custom fields.  I then reordered the fields and made them mandatory all within a matter of seconds. I also demonstrate how the new form validation works for both fields and image uploads.

In step two of the new ad submission form you’ll see a summary of the ad as well as a breakdown of how much it will cost. There is also a “terms of use” text box that you can easily modify to your needs. Once the ad has been submitted, you automatically get redirected to PayPal to make your payment. After payment has been made, you’ll be sent back to ClassiPress to see your new ad published.

In addition on the new ClassiPress dashboard, the developer’s edition (professional edition) will show you how much money you’ve made thus far. Watch the demo below to see it all in action.

You will also notice the addition of tag and image editing. It will show a thumbnail image for each of their ad images, a checkbox to delete an image, and additional image upload boxes. There is a new option in CP 3.0 where you set the number of images allowed per ad which controls how many upload boxes will show up.

3.0 is also setup to automatically block non-admin users from accessing your WordPress back-end (i.e. /wp-admin/ section). This means you no longer need to rely on plugins like “IWG Hide Dashboard” or “Role Manager”.

Anyhow, enough talking….I’ll let the video tell the rest of the story.

I felt it was important to fix several bugs in the 2.9 branch before taking ClassiPress to 3.0. When I first started working on 2.9.3 is was supposed to have only been a small release — mainly adding support for new PayPal currencies, fixing a mail function bug, and improving the discovery of the ad thumbnail image path. Well, I ended up spending many long days cleaning up and stabilizing the product which was much needed.

So should I upgrade or not?

That’s the question most of you existing customers will ask. To contradict myself from the previous blog post, “ClassiPress v2.9.3 Coming Soon“, I recommend all ClassiPress customers upgrade to v2.9.3 because of the fixes and small security issue. If you’ve done lots of customization and don’t want to redo them all after the upgrade, I recommend manually making the upgrade by looking at the changelog.txt included with the update.

The two most important changes to make would be upgrading your fancybox script to 1.2.6+ (which will fix the IE8 bug for displaying images), and the security fix to remove ad owners jumbled email address from hidden field.

The good news for those using ClassiPress in another language, you can upgrade and use your existing .po without a hitch. I was very careful when making all the fixes not to disturb the translation text so I don’t see any issues there.

In order to download the latest version, just use your original E-Junkie download link. It will always contain the latest version. If you lost or deleted your email (shame on you), then follow the instructions under the ClassiPress FAQ.

Should I hold out for 3.0 and forget this update?

Good question and the answer can vary. It really comes down to how much work you’ve already put into customizing your theme. If you haven’t done any mods, then the upgrade is an easy process. No changes required and you just overwrite your existing /themes/classipress directory. On the other hand, if you’ve modified the ClassiPress code a ton and plan on using 3.0, it might not be worth it.

Since 3.0 will be completely rewritten, you’ll have some work ahead of you and you won’t want to do it twice. Some customers might decide to just stay on v2.9+ so they don’t have to deal with the hassle. There will be some manual migration work and if you’ve got a fairly large site, it will be a bear to do.

So here’s the official list of all fixes and changes packed into 2.9.3.

2.9.3 Fixes:

• Changed mail function to wp_mail on “report ad” and “send message” features. Resolves intl character issue and problems sending email on some hosts.
• Added support to better detect where your ad thumbnail images are located. Fixes blank thumbnails on ads for some.
• Updated plugins to the latest versions.
• Added missing cp translation tag to the word “ago” and a couple mentions of “categories”.
• Ad image zoom support for IE8 which fixes IE8 “not implemented” JS error.
• Fixed backslash bug on form fields when ad is submitted without completing all required fields.
• Security fix to remove ad owners jumbled email address from hidden field on contact ad owner sidebar form.
• Fixed IE alignment issue on contact ad owner captcha field.
• Fixed IE 6&7 peekaboo css div bug on login and other pages. Basically those pages had content disappear unless you mouse over it.
• Fixed IE hover issue now showing hand icon on home page ads.
• Cleaned up several non-compliant tags to wc3 standards.
• Widened pagination links div so it no longer wraps.
• Removed unused set_time_limit function which sometimes generated “Warning: set_time_limit() has been disabled for security reasons”.
• Fixed home page date value wrapping when format is long like November 20, 2009.
• Added new function to check for http:// in new ad URL field submission. If it’s missing, automatically add it.

2.9.3 Changes:

• Added PayPal support for five new currencies (Brazilian Real, Malaysian Ringgits, Philippine Pesos, Taiwan New Dollars, and Thai Baht).
• Moved favicon admin image to local image folder.
• Added a CP version meta tag.
• Sticky ads now work on category pages. This was fixed with the WordPress 2.9 release.

This will most likely be the final release for 2.9 unless there are some critical fixes that need to be done. Now it’s full steam ahead with development on 3.0. The holidays have (and will) make it difficult to spend a lot of time on 3.0 which is why I’m setting an end of January release date.

If your primary language is English, USD as your currency, and your thumbnail images are working fine, then you don’t need to bother with the upgrade unless you really want to.

When I started working on 2.9.3 last week, I wanted to make some other updates but I decided it was best to hold off. Once you add new code, it changes the position of all the text that needs to be translated which results in .po language files getting all messed up. I didn’t want to create more work for those who use ClassiPress in another language besides English and with 3.0 due out in January, it just wasn’t worth the hassle.

The good news is this release will not affect the translation files (.po) so you won’t need to re-edit them. The files that were edited either had no text to translate or were just altered without pushing the rest of the code down the page. The only thing you will notice is that five new PayPal currencies were added at the end of the drop down list instead of alphabetically listing them. This was to prevent any existing language files from having to be updated. They will be alphabetized in 3.0.

Here are some of the changes to expect from this small release

• Added a path sniffer feature to discover uploads image directory. This helps resolve an issue for some where the thumbnail images are blank on the home and single pages.
• Changed from using php mail to wp_mail on “report ad” and “send message” features. This resolves an intl character issue and problems sending email on some hosts.
• Added PayPal support for five new currencies which include the Brazilian Real, Malaysian Ringgits, Philippine Pesos, Taiwan New Dollars, and Thai Baht.
• Updated all plugins to the latest versions.

Again, if you are an English speaking customer selling ads in USD and don’t have any issues with your image thumbnails, you don’t need to take any action. If you do however, feel compelled to upgrade, you can always use your original e-junkie download link to get the latest version.

I still need to finish up on some testing but plan on seeing 2.9.3 out no later than this Sunday 12/20/09.

If you are already using v2.9 or v2.9.1, the main difference (besides some bug fixes) is how the ad form works and looks. There were some people who were having trouble with the modal box form button (it just wouldn’t work) but others didn’t have a problem at all.

Myself and my developer spent many hours working with customers trying to troubleshoot and isolate the problem. We released one patch that fixed it for some, but I still was not satisfied until it was working for everyone.

So v2.9.2 now has the sliding jquery form which is actually the original one CP used (what v2.8 uses). It will be the supported ad form going forward so it’s highly recommended you upgrade from any flavor of 2.9 to 2.9.2 immediately. If you’ve made any changes to your CP theme, I advise you to bring them over into v2.9.2 instead of trying to upgrade your existing v2.9 or v2.9.1.

View the changelog.txt file included in the download and you’ll see the exact changes and files affected. The /classipress/classifiedform directory has also been removed and replaced with process_form.php and post-form.php in the CP root which is how v2.8 was structured.

Upgrading from v2.9 or v2.9.1

1. Download and unzip v2.9.2. You can get the latest version by clicking on your original e-junkie email link. If you deleted or lost the email, contact me and include the email address you used to purchase CP (your PayPal email address). Please don’t be lazy and actually look for the original email first before contacting me.
2. Put your site in maintenance mode. Download and install this plugin if you don’t already have it.
3. Turn off any WP Cache plugins such as WP Super Cache (if applicable).
4. Rename your existing ClassiPress theme folder to “classipress_OLD”. This will essentially turn off your CP theme and use the default WP theme.
5. FTP only the v2.9.2 “classipress” folder into your themes folder. Also FTP the contents of the “plugins” folder to your WP plugins folder. Skip if you’ve already got the latest plugins.
6. Now go and activate v2.9.2 from within WordPress. You will see two that look exactly the same. Pick one and activate it. If it says v2.9.2, then you selected the correct one. If not, activate the other one.
7. Step through your CP config, settings, and payment pages and save each one. Your settings will still be the same as what you previously had before (except maybe the color scheme).
8. View your site and try submitting a new ad. You will notice the form is different than what you previously had.
9. If everything looks ok, then delete your test ad and turn off maintenance mode. Activate your cache plugin (if applicable).
10. If you were using CP in a different language (i.e. using a .mo file), you will need to update your classipress.pot and regenerate a .mo file. Read below for more details.

Upgrading from v2.8, v2.8.1, v2.8.2

This upgrade will be a little more involved for those who are using the 2.8 version series. The good news is there are a lot more features and benefits in the latest release. If you haven’t already read about them, check out the ClassiPress Features page to understand all the new goodies you get for free.

1. Follow the first 7 steps above.
2. When you get to step #7, make sure to review the new options on each of the ClassiPress admin pages. You will see lots of new features which will need to be setup and saved. If this isn’t done correctly, you will have problems with the ad submissions. CP admin pages (configure, settings, payment) must be saved first.
3. There are three new pages you need to setup to create the dashboard, profile, and ad edit functionality. Detailed instructions can be found within the install guide in the “User Dashboard & Profile Setup” section. Please read it carefully before asking for support. Most questions asked are because people didn’t read everything.
4. Now continue with steps 8-10 listed above.

ClassiPress in your language

If you are already using ClassiPress in a different language you will need to update your .po and recreate your .mo file. There is new text in v2.9.2 that needs to be translated and some text has moved to different lines. If you do not do this, your upgraded CP will not translate the text properly and look funny on your site.

Once you receive the new v2.9.2 .pot file, you need to open your existing translated .po file (i.e. pr_PR.po) in POEdit and select the “Update from POT file” option under the “Catalog” menu. Point it to the v2.9.2 .pot file and PoEdit will show you what text is new and needs to be translated. After you have translated the new text, save the project and then it will create your new .mo file. Overwrite your old .mo file in your /themes/classipress directory and look at your site.

Questions or comments

If you have any support or upgrade questions, please post them in the online support forum and NOT the comments section below. You can use the comments section below for general remarks or to thank me for spending my entire weekend preparing the upgrade for my customers.

I am sure you will enjoy this update as it addresses the most popular requests from everyone. ClassiPress has come a long way since it’s inception last year and you can expect it to evolve even further!

The main focus of this release has been to address a couple of things. Primarily to build in the most requested customer features submitted in our Feature Request forum and to better organize the underlying ClassiPress framework and code. When existing customers get the latest upgrade, you will notice how some files have been moved around and additional directories have been created. This is not an attempt to confuse you or make things difficult when upgrading but rather to organize ClassiPress more logically so additional growth and features will be easier to add.

This release is also taking more time than I originally anticipated but it’s important not to rush it out. There are lots of new advanced features packed into this release so it’s important to thoroughly test everything before launching it.

The great news is there’s been a lot of buzz around this upcoming release and the excitement continues to build. I’ve had people emailing and asking me in the forums as to when it will be released so let me officially answer that now. The launch date will be May 24th of course pending any last minute bug fixes or issues.

Ok, now it’s the part you’ve been waiting for. Here is a high-level list of features expected to be included in v2.9:

• Customer dashboard listing all their ads current status, edit & pause ad features
• Customer profile page where they can update their own info & include a picture
• Category-level pricing. Supports free categories as well
• Percentage-based pricing. Ad cost will depend on what item listing cost is
• Featured ad option so you can charge extra to be highlighted and listed at the top
• Themed login, register, and forgot password pages.
• New multi-step ad form with better validation and easier to add additional fields
• Column ascending and descending sorting for all listings
• Redesigned header with page nav, login, and a 468×60 banner spot
• Google maps  so ads will show map of item location
• Revamped categories to support multiple dropdown sub-categories
• Created 2 levels of dropdown navigation for the header pages
• Countdown timer to show remaining time left for each ad
• Added a new ad form field called URL
• Replaced prototype and scriptaculous with jquery
• Replaced lightbox with fancybox for image viewing
• and much more!

Here are a couple of screen shots to see what it will look like.

Ok, now that I’ve gotten you all excited you’ll have to hang on for just a little bit longer until it’s released. In the meantime I recommend joining our high paying affiliate program and write a blog post of your own. Doing a review of ClassiPress and then linking to us within your post is the best way to generate some bucks.

Prices will also be going up 20% starting July 1st so if you plan on buying ClassiPress, it’s a good idea to purchase it sooner rather than later. Keep in mind that all updates are free so you don’t need to worry about paying upgrade fees later.

For those of you who are ready to buy but not until v2.9 is released, I recommend you sign-up on the home page to receive updates. I will send out an email once it’s available so you’ll be one of the first to download it!

UPDATE: ClassiPress v2.9 is now available! Just released on 5/24 and is the best release yet. Check out the new live demo now! Existing customers – You will receive an email later this week with instructions on how to obtain this free update.

~David
Founder, ClassiPress

As you probably already know, ClassiPress v2.8 was released on April 6th and includes many new features and enhancements. Unlike previous updates, this version is quite different infrastructure-wise and requires ClassiPress customers to carefully migrate their current classified ads.

So why did we make the big change?
ClassiPress was originally built without using WordPress custom fields which in the long haul, limits the growth and potential of the ClassiPress product. Version 2.8 has since moved all non-description field information into custom WordPress fields. This is a huge change but will benefit you and your ClassiPress instance down the road so you can take advantage of several new and upcoming features.

So anyone who is currently using any version prior to 2.8 will need to follow these instructions carefully in order to migrate their ads over properly. I highly recommend backing up your WordPress database and theme before making any changes just so you have the option of rolling back later. Depending on the size of your site, this migration could take minutes or hours. Essentially, you will be going through each and every post and moving content from one place to another. The good news is if you miss something, it will be easy to tell since your site ads will look strange.

If you have a huge site and don’t want to have to manually update each and every classified ad, then you might want to just stay with your current version. Set aside a few hours preferably at night or early morning when you expect the least amount of traffic. I highly recommend downloading and installing the Maintenance Mode plugin and use that while performing the migration. You’ll be able to see your site but anyone else who stops by will see a “this site is undergoing maintenance” page. Very handy.

Once you’ve taken your site “offline” with the plugin, you will be ready to go. First copy over ClassiPress v2.8 into your current classipress theme directory but create a backup of your current theme just in case…especially if you’ve done any custom work to your ClassiPress files.  To compare what has changed with each file, I recommend downloading WinMerge which is a differencing and merging tool. It allows you to open two files and compare line by line what has changed as well as move over one line and not another. Perfect for those who have modded their existing version of ClassiPress and want to bring over parts of v2.8

Anything you have done will be overwritten with the v2.8 installation. If prompted, say yes to overwriting all existing files. Now go into your WordPress admin area and you’ll see a newer ClassiPress section. You might need to clear your browser cache if it’s not showing up correctly. Then expand that to see the new menu items. No need to make any changes here yet…I just wanted to make you aware of those new menu items.

Now view your site and don’t be upset when things look strange. It’s because the migration hasn’t been done yet. We are ready to move on. So instead of everything being written and saved into the post description field, we will be moving everything (except the ad description) into custom fields. Here is an example of what your existing ad should look like:

I have highlighted the fields we will be moving out of the description field and into custom fields. The ones that are not highlighted should stay but just remove the [] [/] tags around them. The AIM, YIM, Gtalk, MSN fields have all been deprecated due to a majority of customers not wanting them. You can keep them but they need to stay in the description field.

Let’s Begin

The six new custom fields you will need to create (just only need to do this the first time. They will show up on all your other posts after you save them once) will be as follows: name, email, phone, price, location, and images. You do that by going to any existing post within WordPress, scroll down to the bottom section where it says “Custom Fields”, and then click “Enter new”. Now type in the name of the new custom field (which are the six I listed above) one for each entry. It’s very important you spell them correctly too otherwise it won’t work properly. Then to the right you will paste in the name of the ad owner which you get from in between the [name] [/name] tags in the description area. So it should look something like this:

Then click the “Add Custom Field” button to save it. The background will turn yellow which means you saved it correctly. Now do that five more times for the rest of your custom fields. Once you have finished, you can delete everything in the description field except what’s in between the [description] and [/description] tags. So your description section should now just contain regular text which is just the ad description. See where I’m going with this?

Now save your post and view your site and post to make sure it looks correct. If all looks good, then you can move onto the next post. Do this for every post you have. Here is what the final converted post should look like.

You’ll notice how all custom fields are listed with information to the right. See that the images field has the entire url separated by commas. This is the correct way and how ClassiPress knows to pull the images onto the classified ads post. In the above description field, you’ll see how it’s just plain text now without any [][/] tags.

After you have completely migrated over all your posts, your site is ready to go back into action. Turn off the maintenance mode plugin so visitors can access your site again. Now would also be a good change to follow the included README-FIRST.txt instructions you received in the upgrade .zip email. You’ll need to activate a few plugins and run through the new options pages before everything is setup properly.

Hopefully these instructions work well enough for everyone. If you have any questions or problems, please post them in the ClassiPress Support forum so I can answer them. Good luck and I promise you will be very pleased with the latest version once everything is migrated over!