Fed up with your WordPress Archive Widget getting longer and longer, with no way to limit the output? Well now you have an answer. We have been asked on many occassions how the WordPress Archive Widget could be limited to output just a few lines, so we decided to upload the solution here. Follow our Simple 4 Step Process below and you will stop the Archive Widget from taking over your pages, due to so many past posts.

Step 1 – Find the File to Update.

First you need to find the file responsible for limiting your Archive Widget, navigate through your WordPress site or Blog files to the ‘/wp-includes’ folder and then open the ‘default-widgets.php’ file from within this folder.

Step 2 – Locate the Line of Code Requiring Change.

Once you have the file ‘default-widgets.php’ open you will need to find the line of code listed below, you should find this around line 239 of your existing WordPress or Blog code:-
<?php wp_get_archives(apply_filters(‘widget_archives_args’, array(‘type’ => ‘monthly’, ‘show_post_count’ => $c))); ?>


Step 3 – Change The Code to Now Limit Output.

Once you have located the line of code, as above, you now need to change the line of code to the below:-

 <?php wp_get_archives(apply_filters(‘widget_archives_args’, array(‘type’ => ‘monthly’, ‘show_post_count’ => $c, ‘limit’ => 5))); ?>

You will notice a new variable ‘limit’ => 5 has been added to signify how many archive posts you want to display, change this ’5′ to whatever number you require your posts limiting to and save the file.

Step 4 – Upload Your Changes.

The final stage is to upload your changed file “default-widgets.php” back to your Website or Blog Server so that the changes can take effect.

You are now done limiting your WordPress Archive Widget.

On viewing your Website or Blog you should now notice that WordPress has Limited the Archive Post Links to the number that you selected above. ]]> http://www.imagecreation.co.uk/2959/how-to-limit-archive-links-in-widget/feed/ 1 http://www.imagecreation.co.uk/2864/eshop-paypal-not-processing-orders/ http://www.imagecreation.co.uk/2864/eshop-paypal-not-processing-orders/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:51:42 +0000 SteveHey http://www.imagecreation.co.uk/?p=2864 Hard day yesterday trying to get the eShop WordPress plug-in working properly on one of our client websites, followed all the set up instructions exactly as described, been caught out before trying to cut corners so always work to the correct settings & recommendations to start nowadays.

On completing the set up as per instructions whatever we did the eShop Checkout would just not return and processes the download orders after returning successful from the PayPal checkout. After hours & hours of pulling out our hair, searching Google for the solution just got us nowhere, everything pointed to our current set up being correct, however it still didn’t work.

The problem we experienced was that once the order had been processed by PayPal and the user returned to our Website no order emails were sent out to either the Website Admin or the User, the completed and paid for order would just sit in our WordPress & eShop Admin as still processing.

So we decided to go against the grain and tweak our settings against the online advice given, after a few tweaks the problem was sorted and everything fired into action, if you are experiencing the same or similar problems to us above we recommend trying the below to see if your problems are rectified.

Before starting out on any alterations or setting changes to your Website
please make sure you back up your Website Files and Your MySQL Database.

1. First off double check all your eShop WordPress Plug-In Settings & PayPal setting are correct as per the set up and guide. eShop Setup Documents.
2. Navigate through the checkout progress with test order on the live shop, when you reach the final confirmation page before being redirected to PayPal right click the page and select the view page source option.
3. You will need to search through your source code to find the following line:-
   <input type="hidden" name="notify_url" value="http://www.YourDomain.co.uk/shopping-cart/thank-you/?eshopaction=paypalipn">
The easiest way to do this is use the top menu Edit | Find and enter “notify_url” in the search box, hit next or enter and you should be taken the line of code needed. Make a note of the highlighted URL above obviously replacing www.YourDomain.co.uk with your own Website address taken from your own page source, you will need this URL later to add into your PayPal account, remember you should have a business PayPal account for this Plug-In to work correctly.
4. Next login to your PayPal account and navigate to Profile | My Selling Preferences.
5. Scroll down to location for Instant Payment Notification (IPN) and click the link to update your settings.
6. Set the notification URL to the URL you located in source code and made a note of above & select the Receive IPN messages (Enabled) radio button, save your settings.
7. Navigate back to Profile | My Selling Preferences, now look for the Website Preferences Section and select the update settings link.
8. Turn On Auto Return for Website Payments and again enter the URL as copied and noted above in to the Return URL text box area.
9. The other settings on this page should already be set as these are recommended by the eShop Plug-In Set Up Guide and you should have checked the recommended settings in Step One.
10. Save All of Your New PayPal Settings and then run a test order through your live Website, you should now be sent all the relevant order emails and the end user placing the order should also have received thier order email with any download links etc… The order should also now be sitting in the active section of your eShop admin and the transaction ID logged as sent from PayPal etc…

We really hope that this helps you solve problems with Your eShop & WordPress Installs when you run into problems processing payments using PayPal, let us know how you get on below.

Completely FREE and Open-Source charting component for your WordPress Website’s, create animated Flash charts that give your WordPress installs the wow factor. This Free version should cover all your basic charting needs with 22 popular charts, Column, Line, Pie, Bar, Area, Stacked, Candlestick & Funnel charts, these are compatible across all browsers. FusionCharts Free pull the data from XML files or you can integrate them with any MySQL Database with a little PHP & MySQL know how.

Step One: Go Download the FusionCharts Free Package Here.
http://www.fusioncharts.com/free/download/

Step Two: Extract The Downloaded Zip Archive Onto Your Desktop.
Extract the files form the Zip Archive leaving the folder names the same, this will make it easier to follow the next steps.

Step Three: Upload the Fusion Chart Files to Your Website Server.
You know need to upload the extracted files to the
Root of your Website, hopefully you already know about FTP, as this is by far the easiest method, if not please consult your hosting provider to find out how to upload these files to your Website Server Root. The Root Folder is just the folder that contains your full Website files and your index file.

After uploading you can check to see if everything is OK by pointing your browser at http://yourdomain.com/FusionChartsFree/ you should see the Fusion Charts Documentation appear proving that everything so far has gone to plan. We recommend making a note of the main folders needed for your installation to work, if you have kept everything named the same as recommended above, the folders will be:-

Charts - http://yourdomain.com/FusionChartsFree/Charts/
Sample Data Files - http://yourdomain.com/FusionChartsFree/Gallery/Data/
The Main JavaScript File - http://yourdomain.com/FusionChartsFree/JSClass/

Step Four: Create Your Own Data Folder.
You now need to create a data folder for your FusionCharts data files to be stored, create a new folder in the root of your Website and name this folder "FusionChartsData", this is where you’ll store your later project data files so that they are easy to find.

You now have everything ready to get your new FusionCharts up and running on your WordPress Website.

Step Five: Create a New WordPress Blog Post or Page.
Login into your WordPress Administration Area and create a new post or page, then go to the HTML mode of the WYSIWYG editor, this is on top of were you normally write your posts etc….

Step Six: Copy & Paste or Type The Following Code-Block into Your New Post:-

<div id="chartdiv" align="center"></div>
<script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.YourDomain.com/FusionChartsFree/JSClass/FusionCharts.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var chart = new FusionCharts("http://www.YourDomain.com/FusionChartsFree/Charts/FCF_Column3D.swf", "ChartId", "600", "350");
chart.setDataURL("http://www.YourDomain.com/FusionChartsFree/Gallery/Data/Column3D.xml");
chart.render("chartdiv");
</script>

Step Seven: Set Up the Codes to Make Things Work.
After pasting the code into your post you will need to change the parts marked in Red to your own Domain Name and then publish your post and preview your results, you should see a copy of the chart as shown above.

Step Eight: Now Create Charts from Your Own Data.
We recommend looking at the sample XML files stored in the sample directory of your extracted archive, FusionChartsFree/Gallery/Data/ you will then learn how the XML files are put together, you can then change the data contained in the samples as needed for your own projects thus creating you own unique charts.

Step Nine: Alter the Code Above to Point to New Charts and Data.
After playing with the sample data files and you have created your own custom version, upload the new file to the Folder created earlier "FusionChartsData", then alter the following line of code to include your new data file:- chart.setDataURL("http://www.YourDomain.com/FusionChartsFree/Gallery/Data/YourDataFile.xml"); If you wish to change your FusionChart type just change the following line of code and point it to a new chart listed in your charts directory as detailed above:-
var chart = new FusionCharts("http://www.YourDomain.com/FusionChartsFree/Charts/FCF_Line.swf", "ChartId", "600", "350");

Important Note: the WordPress WYSIWYG Editor may cause your code to not function correctly, symbols often get converted to HTML code, for example "<" becomes "&lt;". To solve any issues preview your new post in your browser and use the Browsers "View Source" to make sure that the code is exactly the same as entered when you included it in your post, make any necessary changes and try again. If you still have issues, you might try installing the Raw HTML WordPress Plugin and put your FusionChart codes within the [raw]…[/raw] tag.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)  is the simplest and most secure way to exchange files over the Internet. FTP is most commonly used to upload and download files from your website hosting space. The ability to transfer files back-and-forth makes FTP an essential process for anyone creating a website, this process is normal controlled by settings in your website design software or via an FTP Client.

An FTP client is a piece of software designed to transfer files between two computers over the Internet, in this case connecting your computer to our ImageCreation.co.uk hosting servers. Popular FTP clients are Filezilla, SmartFTP, FTP Explorer, Core FTP & the more professional and paid for CuteFTP.

We Recommend Using Filezilla to Get Started as it’s FREE & Easy To Use. Click Here to Download Now.

We will assume that you are OK with downloading and installing software,  if not Click Here for Installation Guide.

The FileZilla FTP Client is a classic two-pane design. The pane on the left displays the files on your computer and the pane on the right displays the files on the remote computer see below:-

 The Main Parts of the FileZilla FTP Main Window.

1/ Main Software Toolbar
2/ Quick Connect to Server Bar
3/ FTP Message Log Area
4/ Local Computer Pane, Folders & Files
5/ Remote Computer Pane, Folders & Files
6/ The File Transfer Queue.

How to Connect to Your Your Server Using FileZilla FTP.

Once the FileZilla FTP client is installed your next step is to connect to your server ready for the transfer of files & data between Local & Remote computers. You should have been supplied with an FTP Hostname/FTP Server Name/IP Address, Username and Password when you signed up for your Website Hosting Account, these are normally contained in your Hosting Account Welcome Emails.

Below we have used some fictional login data – please use your own data instead if you want to actively follow this tutorial and transfer a few files so that you get used to using FTP.

Hostname: example.org Username: john Password: 7PjU#.J3

To get you started we will use the (2/ Quick Connect to Server Bar) for establishing your first connection:

Enter Your FTP Hostname/FTP Server Name/IP Address into the Quick Connect Bars Host: field, your supplied username into the Username: field as well as the password into the Password: field. You may leave the Port: field empty unless your login information specifies a certain port to use. Now to get connected click on the Quickconnect button.

Please Note: If your hosting  login information specifies a protocol like SFTP or FTPS, enter the FTP Hostname/FTP Server Name/IP Address as follows: sftp://hostname or ftps://hostname respectively.

Your FileZilla FTP Client will now try to connect to your remote hosting server. If a successful connection is made, you will notice that the right “column” (5/ Remote Computer Pane, Folders & Files) switched from Not connected to to displaying a list of your remote files and directories.

Uploading Files to Your Remote Server.

The first stage in any uploading process is to locate the files that you wish to upload – in the local pane (4/ Local Computer Pane), You will see a listing of Folders & Files – locate the directory containing the files you wish to upload (e.g. folder to upload from: example.org the folder & files index.html and images/).

Next step is to navigate to the desired target directory on the remote server using the server pane’s file listings  (5/ Remote Computer Pane, Folders & Files)

To upload your local data to your remote server, select the respective files/directories and drag them from the (4/ Local Computer Pane, Folders & Files), to the (5/ Remote Computer Pane, Folders & Files). After dragging the folders & files you will notice that the files have been added to the (6/ The File Transfer Queue.) at the bottom of the main window and soon thereafter get removed again – since they were (hopefully, if nothing went wrong) just uploaded to your remote server.

The uploaded files & directories should now be displayed (5/ Remote Computer Pane, Folders & Files) on the right.

Note: If you don’t like using drag-and-drop, you can also Right Click on Files/Directories (in the lower local pane) and Select Upload to upload them – or simply double-click a file entry (this does not work for directories).

Downloading Files From Your Remote Server.

Downloading files, or complete directories from your remote server works essentially the same way as uploading – you just drag the files/directories from (5/ Remote Computer Pane, Folders & Files)  to  (4/ Local Computer Pane, Folders & Files) this time, instead of the other way round.

Please Note: for your security and to stop you from accidentally overwriting a file or folder during uploading or download, the FileZilla FTP Client will by default display a dialog box asking you what you want to do (overwrite, rename, skip…).

Our Conclusion & Your Next Steps With FTP.

FileZilla FTP Client is a great piece of software and best of all it’s FREE, the software will easily get you started in the world of FTP, transfer your files & folders between local & remote computers and allow to easily upload your website designs etc…..

Although this is only a getting started guide there is a lot more you can do with this software, when you are confident connecting to servers, uploading & downloading  etc… and you wish to advance your understanding visit the main FileZilla website by Clicking Here for more advanced information.

Many thanks for reading our FileZilla Quick Start Guide, please let us know below how you get on.

As time progresses we will be adding some new and exciting services that will enable you and your organisations to succeed on-line, our new Mobile Website Service is currently in development and will be announced as soon as we are ready.

Lots going on here at Image Creation and we will be using our new Website & Social Media Integration to keep you all informed on what is happening in the world of Web Design & Internet Marketing.

Please take the time to have a look around and we are sure that you will find what you are looking for.

Many thanks to our clients for supporting us over the past years and we are looking forward to meeting new and exciting people as our client base grows.

Any problems please do not hesitate to contact a member of our Team

Steve Hey

Senior Web Design & Development Manager.
www.ImageCreation.co.uk