Email Users v4.6.0-beta-3 now available

If you’ve been following the Email Users Support Forum, you are aware that for the past couple of days I have been chasing a bug which affects some users and places all of their intended recipient email addresses in the CC header instead of the BCC header.

This has been a challenging bug to find as it doesn’t happen on any of the systems I have access to.  Fortunately I had a few users affected by this problem willing to help me and I appreciate their assistance.  I am not sure how I would resolved this problem without their assistance.  Again, thanks.

So what was the problem?  The WordPress wp_mail() API allows you to pass extra header information as part of the mail content.  Email Users makes use of this by constructing a BCC header which contains all of the email addresses for the intended recipients.  The wp_mail() function supports headers as a single string or an array of headers, each header as an array element.

Up until this evening Email Users had constructed all email headers as a string.  With a large number of email addresses this string could end up being very long.  However, I don’t believe the length of the string had anything to do with the problem.

When wp_mail() receives headers as a string, it tries to intelligently decompose them.  In some cases it appears that the string wasn’t splitting correctly which means the BCC field wasn’t ever seen.  The “Bcc:” text became part of an email address which was subsequently discarded because it resulted in a bad address.

Email Users v4.6.0 has a rewrite of the mailusers_send_mail() function plus some new debug functionality which helps resolve these sorts of issues.  Additionally, the new debug is under user control so can be turned on and off as needed.

Email Users Beta (5642 downloads )

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For testing this new version, I recommend turning Debug on until you’re comfortable with the the structure of the email addresses.

Questions or comments -don’t hesitate to ask.

Debugging the Email Users CC issue

For the past few days I have been chasing a reported issue where Email Users is putting recipient addresses into the CC header instead of the BCC header.  This has been a challenge to chase down.  To assist in this I have add a bunch of  new debug and checking to Email Users.

Email  Users will now check and report if wp_mail() has been overloaded by a plugin or theme.  Since wp_mail() is a pluggable function, this is the one area which is really out of the control of Email Users.  Simply knowing if wp_mail() has been overloaded is very helpful.

Additionally, I have finally found a way to initiate a complete email which is aborted just prior to the email actually being sent.  The content of several internal structures is displayed on the Dashboard so the email headers can easily be examined.

This build is in DEBUG mode which means it will never actually send an email unless wp_mail() has been overloaded in which case all bets are off.  Please visit the Settings page first to determine if wp_mail() has been overloaded.  If it has, do not send any email but let me know which plugin or theme has overloaded wp_mail().

Email Users Beta (5642 downloads )

WordPress Google Form v0.58-beta-2 available

I have just released beta-2 of WordPress Google Form v0,58.  This update addresses a couple of significant issues, notably the inability to disable some of the default options.

The problem with the default settings  based on checkboxes is described pretty well in this article by Devin Price.  I was dealing with the essentially the same problem Devin describes although my solution is slightly different, his solution was helpful in fixing this problem.

While fixing this problem I also added a new Reset button which appears on the Advanced tab.  This Reset button will reset the plugin to use the default settings.

This beta release also includes a fix to address the problem when an ampersand appears in a text box on a multi-page form.  This problem was reported on WordPress Support Forum.

Google Forms Beta (8794 downloads )

wp-SwimTeam v1.40-beta-6 available

I have just uploaded beta-6 of wp-SwimTeam v1.40.  This is a very minor update, the only fix is to deal with a typo which causes the activation process to fail.  If you had updated the plugin by simply dropping the beta release on top of your existing install, you would not have encountered this problem.

The type came about as I have started adding roles and capabilities to wp-SwimTeam (which has been a long standing request).  I have some basic roles and capabilities defined however they are not currently being used for anything.  Their first use will be to allow access to the plugin menus on the Dashboard.  More to come on this later.

wp-SwimTeam Beta (2478 downloads )

wp-SwimTeam v1.40-beta-5 now available

I have just uploaded beta-5 of wp-SwimTeam v1.40.  This is a minor update, the only fix is to the generation of the USS Number when used as swimmer labels.  Previously the USS Number was being computed in YYMMDD format where as the USS Swimming SDIF specification calls it out in MMDDYY format.

wp-SwimTeam Beta (2478 downloads )

wp-SwimTeam v1.40-beta-4 available

This morning I posted beta-4 of wp-SwimTeam v1.40.  This beta update addresses a number of issues mentioned recently on the WordPress Support Forum.

  1. Support for Age Groups where min and max age are identical.
  2. Mapping zero (0) as upper and lower max age in event files to min and max age in wp-SwimTeam.

There are a few other fixes as well plus some debug code cleanup.  I still have a couple of things to clean up before releasing v1.40.  Also in this build as are the basic building blocks for Roles and Capabilities.  If you use a Roles and Capabilities plugin, you may see some new swim team related data which has been defined but is not yet being used.

wp-SwimTeam Beta (2478 downloads )