After not having updated WordPress for a while (we were still on 2.3), the new WordPress iPhone Application convinced us that it was about time.

Unfortunately, all my categories were missing after the upgrade. Seems like the wp_categories table got removed an replaced by wp_terms and wp_term_taxonomy. The entries are still there, just without name and descriptions.

Fortunately there are ways to fix it (if you have a backup, harhar).

David Cumps wrote a nice post about how to fix it manually, but if you have lots of Categories, you can do it automatically too (if you prepare of it).

First step (before the upgrade) is to save a version of the wp_categories table:

mysqldump -uUsername -pPassword wordpress_db
wp_categories > wp_categories.sql

After the upgrade you have to play it back and run the following two queries:

mysql -uUsername -pPassword
wordpress_db < wp_categories.sql

UPDATE wp_terms, wp_categories
SET wp_terms.name = wp_categories.cat_name,
wp_terms.slug = wp_categories.category_nicename
WHERE wp_terms.term_id = wp_categories.cat_ID

UPDATE wp_term_taxonomy, wp_categories
SET wp_term_taxonomy.description =
wp_categories.category_description
WHERE wp_term_taxonomy.term_id = wp_categories.cat_ID

If you didn’t make a backup of the wp_categories table, you can just load the whole backup again and give it a different name. When you run the 2 queries, just prefix the table names with the name of the backup DB.

Update: If you have subcategories, you can try the query I posted in my comment below. I didn’t actually try it myself, so be careful.

This is exactly what I was waiting for. A plugin into Windows Live Writer that creates a DotNetKicks Button. Lucky for me it works together with WordPress.

http://www.aaronlerch.com/blog/2007/10/21/dotnetkicks-kick-it-counter-plugin-for-windows-live-writer/

It was developed by Aaron Lerch.

A little review:

Installation was a breeze, no issues with WordPress or with Live Writer (I’m using the 2008 Final Version on Vista). Adding the Button is a easy too. In fact, I used it for this post.

Since I was already working on this topic, if figured I give the Digg This plugin a try too.

http://lvildosola.blogspot.com/2007/03/digg-this-plugin-for-windows-live.html

Installation was no issue either. Unfortunately, neither the title, the text or the topic did get submitted to Digg. And the appearance was not set to Compact either. The problem is WordPress:

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
digg_url = \'http://remy.supertext.ch/\';
digg_title = \'DotNetKicks Plugin for WordPress\';
digg_bodytext = \'This is cool.\';
digg_topic = \'programming\';
digg_skin = \'compact\';
//--></script>

As one can see, WordPress adds the “\” to the Javascript code, which might not exactly help. But what does help, is if you use Text Control and set the “Format this post with: No Formatting” option.

It was about time for some Blog-Maintenance again. I installed the “Do Follow” Plugin that was recommended by Sam in a comment to one of my earlier posts.

http://www.steinis.ch/index.php/2007/03/10/aktion-dofollow/

It basically removes the “nofollow” attribute in all WordPress comments, which might help spread some news. On the other hand, I heard that most seach engines are not looking for this attribute anyway, but who knows?

Then, I finally got a Feedburner Feed setup. Now I can WATCH you…

Finally there something better than always using Print Screen. It’s called the Snipping Tool and you can get it by typing  “snippingtool” in the Vista start menu.

One caveat is there, the tool is only included in the Tablet PC tools, it’s not installed by default and not part of the Vista Basic.

No idea why such a basic, but cool tool is not part of the standard Vista setup?!

Another one of these “Blogging about blogging” posts, sorry guys.

But it was actually not easy to find a captcha plugin for wordpress that would work on on an IIS server. This one does, cause it uses no pictures, but just a litte math problem.

Math Comment Spam Protection Plugin

And this is how it could look like:

 Getting a little tired of the ugly wordpress urls in WordPress if you run it on an IIS server? Yeah, no mod_rewrite for us poor Windows folks.

But there is help, I just installed the a little ISAPI filter that does pretty much the same and works just fine (so far).

Binary Fortress Software – WordPress URL Rewrite

Installation is a mere copy&past plus a small ini file where you specify which folders to ”rewrite”. Only thing, it needs the VC++ redistributable, but often that is already installed from some other tool.

Enjoy my new beautiful links!