If you’re using the Shared Users Table trick to create an ad-hoc blog network, then you need to be using WP-Orphange. When you set the constants CUSTOM_USER_TABLE and CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE in your wp-config.php file, your users can log into any blog that defines the same Users table. However, if the blog isn’t the one they registered on they won’t be assigned any Roles or Capabilities on the other blogs, and they will be shown an error. I call these users ‘orphans.
WP-Orphanage is a WordPress plugin that automatically adopts all of your orphans automatically, and will set a Role for them on the blog they are trying to log into. You have control over which Role they are set to in wp-admin.
The v1.1 update fixes a bug introduced in the option screen in v1.0.1 and is recommended for all users of this plugin.
Many thanks to Vince from Alphak.net – Born to Be Wired for reporting this error and helping me debug the solution.
If you’ve implemented the Shared User Table trick in WordPress by defining CUSTOM_USER_TABLE and CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE in your wp-config file, then you’ve probably realized there is a serious draw back to this approach when building a blog network: Users who sign up on one blog do not get any privileges on any of the other blogs in your network. This is by design, but you don’t have to leave it at that.
Continue reading ‘WP-Orphanage v1.0 Released’
Or how to create a blog network with out WordPress Multi-User.
Almost 2 years ago, I was charged with the duty of building an integrated Blog network with WordPress, for the Parents Everywhere Network. WordPress MU wasn’t quite ready for prime time, as most plugins hadn’t been ported over, and documentation was sparse, and only the bravest of souls wanted to tangle with it. Remember, this was back before WP and MU development were in sync. So I had to come up with another way.
Continue reading ‘Implementing the WordPress Shared Users Table Trick’
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