glz_custom_fields unveiled
It's official, glz_custom_fields has been launched. For the ones that have no idea what I'm talking about here, take a look at drop down lists for custom fields on Textpattern Forum. For the ones that do know and would like to see the plugin in action, glz_custom_fields_unveiled.mov (10.33MB). A few screenshots while you're waiting for the screencast to download:
As you might know from the forum, this plugin is for grabs for £10 (or $20, or €10). It's a big (1,5k lines of code big), complex plugin that took me a few months to develop.
Since my original post back in December 2005 - 10 more custom fields please - a fellow TXP user, Randy, asked me to make a private plugin which was using the unlimited, pimped custom fields concept. 3 months later, after having finished the plugin for Randy and realizing that putting the hack in a plugin was possible, here we are, the custom fields plugin happening.
The £10 will get you updates for life and unleash the true potential of your favourite blogging tool.
After donating, you will be taken straight to a copy of glz_custom fields v1.2.3. Let's rock!
<< Add/remove admin tabs without hacking txplib_head.php ... glz_custom_fields 1.1 released >>
I’m all for supporting awesome plug-ins like this, or at least.. it appears to be awesome. But, while I love Textpattern… a lot of people jump on the TXP bandwagon proclaiming it to be the best thing since oxygen and then a few months later they walk away from it completely for the likes of WordPress or some other system.
$20 is a whole steenkin lot of money to me at the moment (more than it should be), so if I pay… how long will the plugin be supported?
— Geoff Sep 20, 11:19 PM #
Hi Gerhard, support this plugin textarea too? I need one field like keywords.
— Ivo Sep 21, 09:52 AM #
I owe a lot of thanks to people who spend their valuable time developing plugins and I think it’s just fair to support them. Yet I don’t think 10 Pounds adequate. We all have to work hard for our living and I simply just can’t afford to pay so much for each plugin (and, to jump onto your wagon it would only be fair to pay the other plugin developers too). I’d be ready to pay you 5 – which is still a tidy sum in Euros.
— Ellen Sep 21, 02:36 PM #
if you think £10 is ‘too much’ for this plugin then you obviously don’t really need it.
frankly, i find it to be insulting that some of you think the plugin isn’t worth that much (re:little).
geoff: people like to try out new software. right now, expression engine is the cat’s pajamas for the ‘cms-hip’ crowd. i tried it out and it is indeed powerful. but in the end, i still come back to textpattern. i have no purpose for wordpress as i dont really blog at all, and its more of a chore to set it up as a legitimate cms then it is with textpattern. plus, have you tried to get ‘community’ support on the wordpress forums? its such a joke!
— stevelam Sep 22, 12:16 AM #
@Geoff: I’ve sent you an e-mail about your query
@Ivo: it doesn’t support textareas, but checkboxes could do the trick for you. Custom_x article values are still limited to 255 characters though. v2.0 will lift this constraint.
@Ellen: you don’t have to pay for it, you can either hack TXP and get the same features as per my blog post 2 years ago (the hack still works with 4.0.5 by the way) or you can try and write your own custom fields plugin using my hack as a starting point. The plugin is a privilege, not a necessity
— Gerhard Lazu Sep 22, 02:03 PM #
Love the screencast and this is a sorely needed feature. How about having a date picker type of custom field with a date picker button along the lines of:http://www.frequency-decoder.com/2006/10/02/unobtrusive-date-picker-widgit-update/
That would clinch it for me.
Also, how dependent is it on the existing txp admin setup (I ask because I’ve customised mine)?
— Jakob Sep 23, 12:14 AM #
Jakob, your Date Picker request will be present in v1.1 as per the forum post
It’s not dependent unless you have made some changes for custom fields in the database or if you have hacked the display for the Write tab.
— Gerhard Lazu Sep 26, 04:11 PM #
I don’t understand why people are complaining about the (low) price. I mean, you don’t charge your clients when you make a website?
Custom fields is what I’ve been waiting for years, and even considered switching to EE only for this feature. This is more than a simple plugin.
Thanks Gerhard!
— Daniel Rough Oct 2, 10:13 AM #
I agree. From what I can tell it seems the plugin is actually undervalued. We have been lucky to have such good plugin developers helping us all along the way – mostly for free.
If you are building a CMS for a client I don’t think it’s a stretch to add a free extra pounds/dollars, what have you, to the fee to make your and your client’s life a bit easier.
Thanks for hard work.
— hbarrett Oct 5, 03:34 AM #
I need Textarea support and I’m happy to pay a decent price for a decent plugin!
What is the planned delivery date of Version 2?
— Ollie Oct 8, 04:19 PM #
Guys, thank you all for the kind words :).
Ollie, I’m still struggling to find time to put v1.0 final out, sorry mate, no idea. Between a day job and a humongous Rails project, there is little time for anything else.
— Gerhard Lazu Oct 20, 10:12 AM #
Thanks for the excellent plugin Gerhard. I hope you are able to release 1.0 soon – I think I can’t use the plugin until then, as I need some of the features outlined. Please…!
— Jonathan Stubbs Oct 27, 03:14 PM #
And is the Rails app the “big thing” you talked (teased!) about?
— Jonathan Stubbs Oct 27, 03:16 PM #
How did I only find this pugin today? Way to solve all my problems, man.
— Nick Caldwell Feb 4, 09:42 AM #
Happy to hear that Nick! And it will get only better ; ).
— Gerhard Lazu Feb 4, 04:08 PM #
Hi, there. I just want to express my thanks and congratulations for this great achievement.
So what I think, and also looking at the code:
Gerhard has put a mark, and this plugin is a milestone in the history of Textpattern’s Evolution. So , if there is ever going to be another Book about TXP, then I am quite sure, that this will be mentioned in it.
And for all those mourners about a price of two Latte versus months of tedious work:
Go, play with Joomla and Mambots.
regards, marios
— marios Feb 18, 04:47 PM #
Thank you very much Marios for this great feedback ; ). More things are to come out shortly…
— Gerhard Lazu Mar 11, 09:35 AM #
Hi Gerhard! I want to echo the above sentiments – I can’t believe anyone is whining about the cost of this plugin. I watched the movie you posted, and it looks really powerful. I have 2 questions – In a search of multiple custom fields, would I be able to set it up so the user could search for ALL the terms or ANY of the terms? In other words, specify an AND or OR search, as in my current script: http://www.napostl.com/php/search_members.php ?
Also, if I use this plugin I will be putting a lot of long checklists in the custom fields area. Will I be able to control (hacking okay) the layout a little bit, so it’s not cluttered and is easy to navigate?
Ooh – one more question – should I upgrade a TXP site to 4.0.6 before installing the plugin?
Many thanks,
Nora
— Nora Brown Apr 10, 11:03 PM #
Great plugin! But I can’t use it as pretty much every template (section) I have uses custom fields differently.
It would be fantastic if the next version would allow for different set ups for each section.
Or is that just not possible? Changing a page’s section could be problematic.
— Lawrence Apr 14, 04:30 PM #
Wow, just found this and will try it after my holiday for sure – have a couple projects where this could be the linchpin. Honestly, I cant believe anyone would begrudge paying 10 for such a useful plugin. Its nothing for this kind of functionality as long as the plugin is continued to be supported…
— Damien Buckley May 12, 04:21 AM #
Dear Gerhard,
I am really interested in “purchasing” your plugin and I would like to know what is the licence you are releasing it under. If I needed to use it in more than one installation, would I need to pay for each time I use it? Thanks.
— Hannah Mar 21, 06:33 PM #
Hi Hannah, it’s GNU GPL. You can use it on as many installations as you want. You also get upgrades for life, no upgrade fees from v1 to v2 for example etc.
— Gerhard Mar 29, 12:22 AM #
Hello!
I have a blog that runs on the 4.2.0 version of textpattern. Is this plug-in compatible with that version? If so, I’d purchase it for sure. Thanks.
— Ege Sep 29, 11:32 AM #
Hi Ege, yes it is compatible indeed. I’ve just released a new version today which works with the default TXP 4.2.0, no hacks required. Cheers!
— Gerhard Sep 29, 12:01 PM #
Hi Gerhard – just wanted to say thanks for such a great plugin! Just got a copy and it will make my life a lot easier :)
— Robert Jun 9, 12:01 AM #