OpenLampTech No. 149
WordPress at war | Bolt PHP framework | Eloquent deep dive | Parameterise your parameter names | MySQL database design mistakes
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All commentary, thoughts, and opinions are mine unless otherwise quoted.
Add Fields into WooCommerce New Product Editor
As far as I am aware, the (new) WooCommerce product editor is still in beta (at the time of writing). However, you can customize it with Gutenberg blocks. Using the popular @wordpress/create-block
tool seems to be a solid starting point.
This article provides a good example of the step-by-step process of adding a custom field to a tab in the editor.
I have written in the past about extending the WooCommerce product editor with PHP which is in a similar vein as this content.
Master PHP Development with Bolt: The Ultimate Framework for Modern Web Applications
Bolt is a new PHP framework. I've not used it but want to share this article with the OpenLampTech community.
Bolt follows a modern MVC architecture and also supports routing and a command-line interface.
Database integration, ORM, and templating are available in Bolt too.
[Medium]
WPMarmite Pay: A new alternative to e-commerce plugins for your projects
WooCommerce is probably the most used e-commerce plugin for WordPress. There are other options available and if you wish to avoid the complexity of a full e-commerce setup, WPMarmite Pay may be a good alternative.
WPMarmite Pay will enable you to sell products and/or services directly from your WordPress website using Stripe.
[WPMarmite]
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Deep Dive into Eloquent: 40 Rarely Used Eloquent ORM Methods Every Laravel Developer MUST Know
I'm not a Laravel developer but from what I can tell, one of Laravel's (many) strengths is Eloquent, its powerful ORM.
While I don't think an ORM is the ultimate answer for working with SQL databases, especially for more analytic or reporting-style types of queries, if there is an existing ORM method that will get you the results you need, then, by all means, use it.
Eloquent has methods for almost any database-related “tasks” you may need and this article shares those you might not have heard about or thought of.
[Medium]
Security Tip: Parameterise your Parameter Names!
Great tip here by Laravel security expert Stephen Rees-Carter.
Here are some general tips I noted from the article that are worth paying attention to;
Never trust user input
Use a list of allowed names and values when dealing with database names and table columns
Remove sensitive keywords and special characters
[Securing Laravel]
Proposal Seeks To Replace MySQL With MariaDB By Default For Ubuntu 25.04
Most Linux distros have been using MariaDB as the default MySQL server install for years now.
Except Ubuntu.
However, the Debian (and Ubuntu) MariaDB maintainer proposes to do the same with the upcoming 25.04 Ubuntu release, replacing Oracle MySQL.
In the past, MariaDB was considered a drop-in replacement for MySQL but now it has established itself as its own DBMS apart from MySQL and is quite different.
I have to wonder if this change does take place, will any websites or applications break due to the switch from MySQL to MariaDB?
[Phoronix]
You can believe one thing, there is never a dull moment in the WordPress space.
I don't have a horse in this race either way and I don't care (that much), so long as open-source WordPress continues to grow and thrive.
Sadly, this one may get even more intense as time goes on with more action to come.
Three common MySQL database design mistakes
There are many areas in which I can improve as a developer and database design is at the very top of that list (something I struggle with).
This is a very good article with 3 overall areas of importance (and improvement) in database design:
Less than optimal data types
Improper or non-existent indexes
Storing semi-structured data properly.
I absolutely love and can relate to this snippet from one of the passages, quoted directly from the source:
“…but of course, the results of our decisions are always more obvious in hindsight.”
Well said.
Automattic Responds to WP Engine’s Cease and Desist with Legal Action (September 24th, 2024)
The drama continues in the WordPress world, sadly.
I am very confused about something.
I thought WordPress and WooCommerce were both open-source. Does Automattic own those names as trademarks?
I realize there is a difference between WordPress(dot)com and WordPress(dot)org and that WordPress software is open source.
It's the “devil is in the details” that I don't understand. Plus, I don't have a lot of legal sense at all.
My main hope is that WordPress continues to grow and thrive.
[WP Tavern]
WooCommerce News and Updates
WooCommerce 9.3.3: Dot Release (September 25th, 2024)
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Thank you for reading. I hope you have a great rest of your week.
Take care.
Josh Otwell
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