WordPress Link Directory Plugin Debug

WordPress Link  Directory 1.42  plugin by  ebrandmarketing.com.au (wp_linkdirectory_plugin) is a very useful link  exchange plugin to  link directory you can manage from your  wordpress admin panel.

I just download and install it in this blog (powered by WordPress 2.7.1). Nothing particularly difficult as far as the installation and changing setting. I consider myself seasoned wordpress expert, not a self-proclaimed wordpress guru though. Unzipping the downlowded file reveals 3 main folders (directory, wp-admin, wp-content).

* “Link exchange” menu substitutes the “Users”  menu on the left-hand sidebar of your admin panel: that’s not good!

* Browsing links in the admin panel problem:  whenever 2 subcategories from different parent categories  share the same name.
- Solution: add
$l_rescategorymysql=” and parent=’$l_rescategory’”; 
in the else condition on line 184 (or anywhere in that vicinity) right after
 $linkcategorynicename = $_GET['s'];

Then go to line 199 and change the query statement:
$categoryid = $wpdb->get_var(“SELECT `id` FROM `$eblex_categories` WHERE `nicename`=’$linkcategorynicename’”);
to
$categoryid = $wpdb->get_var(“SELECT `id` FROM `$eblex_categories` WHERE `nicename`=’$linkcategorynicename’ $l_rescategorymysql”);

Open display.inc.php  in the “directory” folder (directory > display.inc.php)  then add:
$l_rescategorymysql=” AND parent=’$l_rescategory’”; 
 inside the else condition on line 179 ,  right after  the statement
$linkcategorynicename = $_GET['scat'];

Now go to line 182 and change the SQL query
$categoryid = $wpdb->get_var(“SELECT `id` FROM `$eblex_categories` WHERE `nicename`=’$linkcategorynicename’”);
into
$categoryid = $wpdb->get_var(“SELECT `id` FROM `$eblex_categories` WHERE `nicename`=’$linkcategorynicename’ $l_rescategorymysql”);
That should help distinguish subcategories sharing the same name from diffrent parent categories.

captcha.php file
* Replace the variable $black by $white on line 49 to display white captcha characters on a black background defined in line 34 by the ImageFill function or vice-versa.

Reference to the styling file (directory > style.css) is wrong when going to links pages in a hierarchical structure  directory/category/subcategory/page. The reference to the style.css file indicates that CSS file would be located inside the category folder ( <link href=”../../style.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” /> ).
Another ../ is needed to reach the “directory folder.
The source of this issue resides in the statement :
$urladdon = “../../”; 
in  line 242 inside the else condition of the directory > headerfunc.inc.php .
To solve that matter, remove the statement above and replace it by the set of “if” conditions:
if($_GET['cat'] != “”){$urladdon = “../”; }
if($_GET['scat'] != “”){ $urladdon=”../../”;  }
if($_GET['page']!=”"){$urladdon.=”../”;  }

The plugin also uses the deprecated PHP  (<?) short tags (i.e <?=$urladdon; ?>)  to output variable instead of <?php echo …… ; ?>. You can check to see if your web server supports PHP short tags or not by looking into the HTML code generated by your directory page. If you encounter something like <?=$ that means PHP short tags are not supported by your web hosting server.

Download Link: Official Download Site: WordPress Link Exchange Plug in
I have made the tweaks mentioned above and put everything back in a zip folder. You can download it from here: WordPress Link Exchamge Plug in
Drop me a comment to let me know how did your installation go.