Thursday 24 September, 2009
Dooodl misery!
Let me start this post with a big…
I really screwed up yesterday. I updated the Dooodl plugin and commited it to SVN. After having done that I wanted to wait until the changes reflected on the WordPress site (which sometimes takes a few minutes). However I had to go over to Ward for dinner, so I took my laptop…
When arrived there I checked the site back and saw the changes. I updated the plugin on my site immediately using the WP-plugin auto-update functionality. That’s when all hell broke loose…
I saw that all the doodle-images on my site were gone, but the userdata (in the database) remained. When checking the FTP I realized what happened… The images are saved inside the plugin folder in a folder called ‘doodls’. Once you let WordPress update the plugin automatically it tells you it ‘removed the old version of the plugin‘, before it ‘upgraded the plugin succesfully‘. It actually removes everything in that directory. I did NOT know that! I expected the plugin to replace all the existing files with new files and add the missing files/folders. And that’s why everything saved by the plugin was was lost once updated…
In my case I immediately lost about 120 doodles you guys submitted. Lucky for me I took a backup only half an hour before running the upgrade . In the end I only lost 11 images. I hope I’m the only one who ran into this misery.
But now…
There’s a new version online (1.0.5) (1.0.6 featuring smaller brushes 
) which will not have that issue anymore. But before running off and installing this version please take a look at this and please be absolutely sure to have a backup of your doodles before installing ANY other version of the plugin…
- Before updating, download the /wp-content/plugins/dooodl/doodls/ folder. This folder contains all doodles your users saved. If you don’t, you will lose all images your users saved.
- Create a folder in /wp-content/uploads/ and name it ‘doodls‘.
- Upload the images to this(/wp-content/uploads/doodls/) folder.
- Now you can upgrade the new version of the plugin.
Again: I’m terribly sorry about all this and I really hope you didn’t lose (too much) of your doodles. I already tested 1.0.6 and it’s working perfectly. If you safely copy/backup the folder with doodles (using the steps above) then you should be safe
Having said all this…
If you got any feedback or information on how WordPress updates itself and plugins, do let me know. I really wouldn’t like running into this kind of trouble again…
Hello there! I’m not planning to used the sidebar widget (yet). However, is is possible to add the plugin via a template tag? Thanks for your answer in advance!
Hmz, I’ll look into it. I’ll keep you posted here
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Hi Nelson: I just commited 1.0.8 to the wordpress servers. It will appear on the site shortly. That version is ‘theme-widget-unready’-friendly (omg what a term…). Call it using “
< ? if (function_exists('Dooodl_widget')) Dooodl_widget(); ?>I tried using but it showed an image with a bunch of SQL and PHP errors. I think I have the latest version of the plugin as it (WP ACP) hasn’t told me to update yet.
send me an email with a screenshot of the errors and the version # installed (right now, the latest build is 1.0.8) to dooodl-at-nocreativity. i’ll look into it then
Yeah, I just upgraded I had to clear my browser’s cache lol. The template tag is now working! You can view it at http://neodeviants.com/
By the way, I have found some HTML formating deficiencies. Also, the shadowbox.js plugin has not been updated in so long so the plugin is not working for me (shadowbox.js). I’ll be still using shadowbox through a different way xhtm/css “classes”.
Anyway, if you wish to contact me feel free to do so! Thanks a bunch for such a deviously delicious plugin!
shadowbox.js seems to be working now. Good sh*t man!
So everything is working like it should?
Yes! Nice blog, bwt! It’s devious!
Thx man! I’m glad to see you like it! Enjoy!
Hey! Great plugin, however, I’m having that Doodl-not-saving issue. Looked around, it seems others have the problem too, doesn’t seem like it’s been solved though. :/ You’ll find the plugin here: http://cyberd.org/wp-content/plugins/dooodl/ . If you can figure out what the problem is that would be much appriciated. Looking forward to those rating/administration features!
Did You ever feel like roiling over and Playing Dead?
I have been Trying to Make my website since August. No Matter what I do, No Matter Theme, Plug in what ever. Nothing Likes My Domain. I LOOOOOOOVVVEEE Your Plug In , It is realy awesome,But Like all The other things I love I cant use it, all It does Is get Hung up. AUUGGHH
Hi there,
Your plugin is wonderful for my website.
However, I installed the plugin and put it in the widget area.
But when I try yo click on either the link to see all dooodls or to create one myself, I get the following error:
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request
My website is http://123graffiti.com/
Can you help me fix the problem?
I already tried to put a .htaccess file on my server, but that didn’t help..
Thanks!
Pim