Author Archives: Mark

Updating Website

I am in the process of changing hosting providers. In the process both shoalsummitsolutions.com and dev.shoalsummitsolutions.com MAY experience intermittent outages. If you need support with manuals, products, forums, etc and the websites are down, please contact me directly mark@shoalsummitsolutions.com.

MSTW Team Rosters 4.6 Release

Version 4.6 of the MSTW Team Rosters plugin will be released later this week. It should appear on your plugins page, or you can pull it from WordPress.org. It contains the following features:

Custom ordering of fields/columns. The plugin now allows admins to customize the order of roster fields/plugins on the plugin’s Settings screen, similar to MSTW League Manager plugin. This applies only to custom roster types, other defined roster types like, pro, high-school, college, etc.

Players on multiple teams. Fixed the dropdown menu on the Player Profiles screen for players on multiple teams. The team’s players now display correctly. Note this is only an issue when a player is on multiple team. (For example, on the MSTW dev site, Willie Mays on the 1954 NY Giants and the 1962 SF Giants.)

Player Galleries. Improved the responsiveness of player galleries to the default data fields/columns (set on the Settings screen -> Roster Table Fields & Columns tab) and color (set on the Roster Table Colors tab) combined with any arguments provided to the shortcode.

Player Galleries Taxonomy Pages. Did you know Player Galleries can be displayed in two ways – the [mstw-tr-gallery] shortcode and team taxonomy pages ?? The team taxonomy pages now accept the arguments that the shortcode accepts. See the link from team taxonomy pages above and/or the MSTW Team Rosters man pages for a more complete discussion.

New POEdit Template. Created a new POEdit Template file for I18N (translation) support.

VERSION 4.7
Development of version 4.7 will begin soon. It will include the initial implementation of multiple years for teams, and improvements to CSV Import/Export to move rosters between sites. If you have other items on your wish-list, please send me e-mail ASAP.

Team Rosters 4.5

Team Rosters version 4.5 is now available on wordpress.org. This release includes a number of new features and several bug fixes. The significant enhancements include:

A complete summary of changes is available on this man page and in the plugin’s readme.txt file. The following video provides a summary of the color and data field settings for the [mstw-roster-table-2] shortcode.

What’s next? Several upgrades and clean-up chores are on the list:

  • Upgrading the Data Fields and Columns settings to allow columns to be re-positioned.
  • Investigate adding a year for each roster, and allowing the capability to move a team’s players from one year’s roster to the next year, perhaps updating the applicable information like class and experience and ‘graduating’ seniors.
  • Add the recently added fields like ‘long position’ and ‘long class’ to the CSV import feature and re-test.
  • Clean up the player photo size mess. I’m not settled on what to do here, but the player photos may be locked in at 125×125 px. (Scaling appropriately when resizing windows. I recommend using this size until this gets sorted out.

If you have other requests now is the time to send them.

Custom CSS for Team Rosters Player Galleries

/*
 * CSS File for Team Rosters Plugin
 * Excerpt from the mstw-tr-custom-styles.css on dev.shoalsummitsolutions.com
 *
 * Slight changes may be required depending on your theme's default CSS
 * your-site-url/wp-content/themes/your-parent-theme/style.css
 * your-site-url/wp-content/themes/your-child-theme/style.css
 *
 * Hopefully you are using a child-theme. You can read why in many places including:
 * https://shoalsummitsolutions.com/why-a-child-theme/
 * 
 * Put your custom css in this specific file:
 * your-site-url/wp-content/themes/your-active-theme/mstw-tr-custom-styles.css
 *
 */

/*-------------------------------------------------------	
 *	Player Gallery settings for Cal Bears
 *------------------------------------------------------*/
/* 
 * Cal Blue #OO3362;
 * Cal Gold #FDB515;
 * Cal Gray(accent) #B0B9C0;
 * 
 */
 
h1.team-head-title_cal-bears {
	font-size : 28px;
	color     : #OO3362;
	}

div.player-tile_cal-bears {
	background-color : #003362;
	color            : #FDB515;
	}
 
div.player-name-number_cal-bears {
	color:       #FDB515;
	}
	
div.player-name-number_cal-bears .player-name a:link, 
div.player-name-number_cal-bears .player-name a:visited {
	color:           #FDB515;
	text-decoration: underline;
	}
	
div.player-name-number_cal-bears .player-name a:hover, 
div.player-name-number_cal-bears .player-name a:active {
	color:           #FDB515;
	text-decoration: none;
	}
	
div.player-info-container table.player-info_cal-bears {
	color: #FDB515;
	}
	

/*-------------------------------------------------------	
 *	Player Gallery settings for SF Giants
 *------------------------------------------------------*/
/* 
 * Giants Black			#000
 * Giants Orange		#FC4614	
 * Giants Tan(accent)	#C49A6C	
 * Giants Cream(accent)	#F0EDE3	
 * 
 */
 
h1.team-head-title_sf-giants,
h1.team-head-title_2012-sf-giants {
	font-size: 28px;
	color: #000;
	}

div.player-tile_sf-giants,
div.player-tile_2012-sf-giants {
	background-color: #FC4614	;
	color: #000;
	}
 
div.player-name-number_sf-giants,
div.player-name-number_2012-sf-giants {
	color:       #000;
	}
	
div.player-name-number_sf-giants .player-name a:link, 
div.player-name-number_sf-giants .player-name a:visited,
div.player-name-number_2012-sf-giants .player-name a:link, 
div.player-name-number_2012-sf-giants .player-name a:visited {
	color:           #000;
	text-decoration: underline;
	}
	
div.player-name-number_sf-giants .player-name a:hover, 
div.player-name-number_sf-giants .player-name a:active,
div.player-name-number_2012-sf-giants .player-name a:hover, 
div.player-name-number_2012-sf-giants .player-name a:active {
	color:           #000;
	text-decoration: none;
	}
	
div.player-info-container table.player-info_sf-giants,
div.player-info-container table.player-info_2012-sf-giants {
	color: #000;
	}
	
	
/*-------------------------------------------------------	
 *	Player Gallery settings for Boston Celtics
 *------------------------------------------------------*/
/* 
 * Celtic Green #028249;
 * Celtic White #fff;
 * Celtic Black(accent) #000;
 * 
 */
 
h1.team-head-title_celts {
	font-size: 28px;
	color: #028249;
	}

div.player-tile_celts {
	background-color: #028249;
	color: #fff;
	}
 
div.player-name-number_celts {
	color: #fff;
	}
	
div.player-name-number_celts .player-name a:link, 
div.player-name-number_celts .player-name a:visited {
	color:           #fff;
	text-decoration: underline;
	}
	
div.player-name-number_celts .player-name a:hover, 
div.player-name-number_celts .player-name a:active {
	color:           #fff;
	text-decoration: none;
	}
	
div.player-info-container table.player-info_celts {
	color: #fff;
	}

Custom CSS for Team Rosters Player Profiles

/*
 * CSS File for Team Rosters Plugin
 * Excerpt from the mstw-tr-custom-styles.css on dev.shoalsummitsolutions.com
 *
 * Slight changes may be required depending on your theme's default CSS
 * your-site-url/wp-content/themes/your-parent-theme/style.css
 * your-site-url/wp-content/themes/your-child-theme/style.css
 *
 * Hopefully you are using a child-theme. You can read why in many places including:
 * https://shoalsummitsolutions.com/why-a-child-theme/
 * 
 * Put your custom css in this specific file:
 * your-site-url/wp-content/themes/your-active-theme/mstw-tr-custom-styles.css
 *
 */
	
/*-------------------------------------------------------	
 *	Player Profile settings for Cal Bears
 *------------------------------------------------------*/
/* 
 * Cal Blue #003262;
 * Cal Gold #FDB515;
 * Cal Gray(accent) #DDD;
 * 
 */	

h1.player-head-title.player-head-title_cal-bears,
h1.player-head-title.player-head-title_cal-bears-csv {
	color: #003262;
	}
	
/* player-header contains player photo and information */
div.player-header_cal-bears,
div.player-header_cal-bears-csv {
	background-color: #003262;
	}

div.player-header_cal-bears #player-name-nbr,
div.player-header_cal-bears-csv #player-name-nbr {
	color: #FDB515;
	}

div.player-header_cal-bears #player-info-table,
div.player-header_cal-bears-csv #player-info-table {
	border-left: 2px solid #888;
	color: #FDB515;
	}
		
div.player-bio_cal-bears,
div.player-bio_cal-bears-csv {
	color            : #003262;
	background-color : #DDD;
	border-color     : #003262;
	}

div.player-bio_cal-bears h1, div.player-bio_cal-bears h2, div.player-bio_cal-bears h3,
div.player-bio_cal-bears-csv h1, div.player-bio_cal-bears-csv h2, div.player-bio_cal-bears-csv h3  {
	color: #003262;
	margin-bottom: 12px;
	margin-bottom: 1.0rem;
	margin-top: 6px;
	margin-top: 1.0rem;
	}
	
div.player-bio_cal-bears a:link, div.player-bio_cal-bears a:visited,
div.player-bio_cal-bears-csv a:link, div.player-bio_cal-bears-csv a:visited {
	color: #003262;
	text-decoration: underline;
	}
	
div.player-bio_cal-bears a:hover, div.player-bio_cal-bears a:active,
div.player-bio_cal-bears-csv a:hover, div.player-bio_cal-bears-csv a:active {
	color: #888;		
	text-decoration: underline;
	}
	

/*-------------------------------------------------------	
 *	Player Profile settings for 2012 SF Giants
 *------------------------------------------------------*/
/* 
 * Giants Black			#000
 * Giants Orange		#FC4614	
 * Giants Tan(accent)	#C49A6C	
 * Giants Cream(accent)	#F0EDE3	
 * 
 */	

h1.player-head-title.player-head-title_sf-giants,
h1.player-head-title.player-head-title_2012-sf-giants,
h1.player-head-title.player-head-title_sf-giants-1954 {
	color: #FC4614;
	}
	
/* player-header contains player photo and information */
div.player-header_sf-giants,
div.player-header_2012-sf-giants,
div.player-header_sf-giants-1954 {
	background-color: #C49A6C; /*#000;*/
	}

div.player-header_sf-giants #player-name-nbr,
div.player-header_2012-sf-giants #player-name-nbr,
div.player-header_sf-giants-1954 #player-name-nbr {
	color: #000;
	}

div.player-header_sf-giants #player-info-table,
div.player-header_2012-sf-giants #player-info-table,
div.player-header_sf-giants-1954 #player-info-table {
	border-left: 2px solid #C49A6C;
	color: #000; /*#FC4614;*/
	}
		
div.player-bio_sf-giants,
div.player-bio_2012-sf-giants,
div.player-bio_sf-giants-1954 {
	color: #000;
	background-color: #F0EDE3;
	border-color: #FC4614;
	}

div.player-bio_sf-giants h1, 
div.player-bio_sf-giants h2, 
div.player-bio_sf-giants h3,
div.player-bio_2012-sf-giants h1, 
div.player-bio_2012-sf-giants h2, 
div.player-bio_2012-sf-giants h3,
div.player-bio_sf-giants-1954 h1, 
div.player-bio_sf-giants-1954 h2, 
div.player-bio_sf-giants-1954 h3  {
	color: #FC4614;
	margin-bottom: 12px;
	margin-bottom: 1.0rem;
	margin-top: 6px;
	margin-top: 1.0rem;
	}
	
div.player-bio_sf-giants a:link, 
div.player-bio_sf-giants a:visited,
div.player-bio_2012-sf-giants a:link, 
div.player-bio_2012-sf-giants a:visited,
div.player-bio_sf-giants-1954 a:link, 
div.player-bio_sf-giants-1954 a:visited {
	color: #000;
	text-decoration: underline;
	}
	
div.player-bio_sf-giants a:hover, 
div.player-bio_sf-giants a:active,
div.player-bio_2012-sf-giants a:hover, 
div.player-bio_2012-sf-giants a:active,
div.player-bio_sf-giants-1954 a:hover, 
div.player-bio_sf-giants-1954 a:active {
	color: #C49A6C;		
	text-decoration: underline;
	}
	

/*-------------------------------------------------------	
 *	Player Profile settings for Boston Celtics
 *------------------------------------------------------*/
/* 
 * Celtic Green #028249;
 * Celtic White #fff;
 * Celtic Black(accent) #000;
 * 
 */

h1.player-head-title.player-head-title_celts {
	color: #028249;
	}
	
/* player-header contains player photo and information */
div.player-header_celts {
	background-color: #028249;
	}

div.player-header_celts #player-name-nbr {
	color: #fff;
	}

div.player-header_celts #player-info-table {
	border-left: 2px solid #fff;
	color: #fff;
	}
		
div.player-bio_celts {
	color: #000;
	background-color: #fff;
	border-color: #028249;
	}

div.player-bio_celts h1, 
div.player-bio_celts h2, 
div.player-bio_celts h3  {
	color: #028249;
	margin-bottom: 12px;
	margin-bottom: 1.0rem;
	margin-top: 6px;
	margin-top: 1.0rem;
	}
	
div.player-bio_celts a:link, 
div.player-bio_celts a:visited {
	color: #028249;
	text-decoration: underline;
	}
	
div.player-bio_celts a:hover, 
div.player-bio_celts a:active {
	color: #028249;		
	text-decoration: none;
	}

MSTW Bracket Builder Version 1.3

Version 1.3 of the MSTW Bracket Builder Free and Premium plugins is now available. Users of the free version should have been notified in their Admin Dashboard about the upgrade on WordPress.org. Users of the premium version may now download it from the MSTW Store (www.shoalsummitsolutions.com -> Store -> All My Downloads). If version 1.2 is working great for you, there’s no pressing reason to download this version. You can read more about why it is (or will soon be) necessary in this post.

New Versions of MSTW Bracket Builder

The following gets a bit ‘computer-nerdy’, so cutting to the chase, if your version the plugin is working for you, there’s no need to upgrade MSTW Bracket Builder or MSTW Bracket Builder Premium right now. The functional upgrades in these releases are minimal, and you probably don’t need them.

New versions of MSTW Bracket Builder (1.3) and MSTW Bracket Builder Premium (v1.3) will be released this week. These versions were created because PHP (a programming language that WordPress depends on) depreciated the each( ) function, which unfortunately these plugins use in critical ways. How critical? You could not create tournaments without it.

This may be too much information, so feel free to stop reading, but this will affect all WordPress sites in the not too distant future. So …

WordPress currently recommends PHP 7.4. However, security support for PHP 7.4 is ending this month (Nov 2022). So hosting providers will likely be moving to PHP 8.0 in the not too distant future. The good news is that WordPress itself is already compatible with PHP 8.0.

PHP 8.0 is a major version update with a large number of changes that break backwards compatibility, and many features that were deprecated within the PHP 7.x feature releases have been officially removed. So some plugins, my guess is more than a few, will break when websites [hosting providers] upgrade to PHP 8.0. Actually PHP 8.1 is already released. That’s how this all got started with MSTW Bracket Builder. I’m wading through the rest of the MSTW plugins right now.

If you are running plugins that are critical to your site, you might want to research those plugins’ status with regard to PHP 8.0.

BTW, thanks very much to the PHP 8.0 “early adopters” who brought this issue to my attention. You know who you are! While, I may have been cursing you when the plugin code was laying in pieces and everything was broken (JK), I appreciate you because I have been ignoring this issue for far too long.

Change Log

1.3

  • The major purpose of this release was to remove the each() construct because it has been removed from PHP 8.0.
  • Added ‘-‘ versions of shortcodes. I.E., [mstw-tourney-bracket] and [mstw_tourney_bracket] both work.
  • Cleaned up a couple of minor bugs.
  • Some improvements to the admin screens.

1.2

  • Extensive changes to the plugin’s stylesheet to insure brackets layout correctly (in containers with a min-width of 1200px)
  • Fixed Bug. Tourney slug now shows correctly On the Tournaments admin screen’s table.
  • Fixed Bug. Team Names that have not been entered now display as blank rather than -1.

1.1

  • Fixed bug. Calls mstw_bb_get_current_post_type instead of mstw_get_current_post_type in mstw_bb_admin (left over from LM).
  • Fixed bug (left-over test code) in single-tourney.php template.
  • Fixed bug. Call to mstw_safe_ref(), which no longer exists.
  • Fixed bugs (typos) with CSS tags.
  • Updated Quick Start Screen
  • Added more error checking and internationalized strings throughout

1.0

  • Initial release.