The latest WordPress release includes a feature which will be especially noteworthy for plugin and theme authors distributing updates using our Software Licensing extension.
WordPress 5.5 includes support for auto-updating themes and plugins. Version 3.6.12 of Software Licensing includes updates to the plugin and theme update classes, as well as how they are implemented in our sample code, which users who want to support auto-updates will want to implement.
The new versions of the update classes are:
- EDD_Theme_Updater — 1.1.0
- EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater — 1.8.0
Changelog:
- The theme updater class now populates the
no_updateproperty of the WordPress theme update transient - The plugin updater class adds
pluginandidto the plugin version information which is added to the WordPress plugin update transient (theno_updateproperty population was initially added in Software Licensing 3.6.10)
The way theme and plugin authors initialize the updater classes will also need to be updated to work with the WordPress scheduled task. Plugin authors will note that the edd_sl_sample_plugin_updater function now uses the init hook, instead of admin_init. Both this function and the comparable updater method in the theme-updater-admin.php file now include a check for whether a cron job (scheduled task) is running, as well as the user privilege level.
Once you have updated your theme or plugin code to include these changes and it’s on your users’ sites, they will be able to enable auto-updates.
Documentation:
- Software Licensing – Updater Implementation for WordPress Themes
- Software Licensing – Updater Implementation for WordPress Plugins
Valid license holders can get these new sample files from within the Downloads section of your account.
This is great news and perfect timing! I literally created a task to look into this the other day.