Hello!
I know it’s been awhile since I’ve released an update for Million Dollar Script and since lots of people have been asking lately, I’m working on one and it will be out in the coming days, if everything goes well.
I’ve fixed a number of bugs and added some new features that people have requested and revamped some areas a little. I’ve also been working on converting the user/buy pixels area into using AJAX so that it doesn’t have to use an iframe anymore.
I’m also working on another often requested option to make the advanced pixel selection method have a better ordering process. This means that when you have it set to use the advanced pixel selection method, instead of users having to select the blocks they want, then pay, then come back and upload their images, they will have a more intuitive ordering process. They will select their blocks, upload their image, fill out their link and text and whatnot, then they will be redirected to the payment.
I’ve also redesigned the order screen a little, but since it uses AJAX you can style it through your WP theme and override the styles however you like with your own CSS.
I’d like to note that MDS requires PHP 8 or higher. If you are still on PHP 7.4 it won’t work properly anymore. PHP 7.4 is outdated now so you should definitely upgrade if you haven’t yet. However PHP 8.2 may be too new still and some WP plugins and maybe even WP itself might not work completely properly with it yet. PHP 8.0 and maybe even 8.1 should work ok, depending on your plugins.
I’ve also decided to stop development on the old standalone version of MDS for now. It’s just too much work to try and work on 3 separate versions of code at the same time, and too difficult for people to use and has taken up a lot of time trying to help people with it. I can instead spend more time on the WordPress plugin version while continuing to work on MDS 3.0.
I am still slowly making progress on MDS 3.0 too but like usual I’ve had to pretty much start over again. The framework I had chosen to use before doesn’t appear to be getting updates anymore and stopped working properly in newer versions of WP. I spent some time messing with it to try and figure out the issues but I think I would rather just not waste my time on it and find something stable and reliable I can use how I want to or make my own. I decided to do some research and find a system I can use and I’ve been experimenting a lot with various things and even contributing to some however I can. There are a lot of nice things out there these days but finding something that is free, open source and stable that can be used with MDS and has all the features I want seems to be rather challenging.
I’m looking for something that can create a plugin for WordPress and has some features like CSS and JS compilation/minimization and possibly image optimization. Also ideally it would integrate with composer and be able to use wpackagist.org so that I can pull in WP and plugin code for easily working with them. I have used Bedrock for part of that and I’ve experimented with a number of other things trying to find something I like. One thing that seems pretty nice is WordPress Plugin Boilerplate Powered. It isn’t exactly a framework but it’s pretty close and has some pretty nice features and can easily bring in some very useful tools and already has support for a number of the tools I already use. Using that with CMB2 might be a good option. I really want to find the absolute best option though and don’t want to settle for something that is just good enough for now.
At one point I did have MDS 3.0 to where it was possible to create orders and make payments. There was a grid that could be placed on the page too. The grid and blocks could be configured to any size and the grid could be processed and orders would appear on it. Although there was no tooltip popup yet, I did have some plans for that too I had started working on a little. It even worked with WooCommerce to take payments. It was still very bare bones and missing tons of features and not at all where I wanted it to be but it was something.
I still had to go through and check everything was done properly and secure and add some more features. I don’t want to release code publicly yet since I know it’s surely insecure in some way and I don’t want people trying to use insecure code. Plus it doesn’t actually work properly anymore in newer versions of WP and has to be rewritten. I can still use a lot of that code going forward, but I have to find a better system for using as a kind of framework so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel and try to cobble things together myself, although that may be what I end up doing eventually anyway.
I have also thought about making my own framework type of system, or just using basic WordPress functionality and adding my own things to it as necessary. I just don’t know yet though. I think it would just be a lot of extra work to try to make and maintain my own framework. Likewise using basic WP functionality and doing everything from scratch that way, it seems like a lot of unnecessary work when I know there are tools out there somewhere. I just have to find them, use them and stick with them.
Another thing I’ve done recently is simplify and lower the install service pricing. It now costs $75 (Canadian Dollars). There are no other costs involved other than your hosting and domain. I made this change because I’ve more closely integrated things than I originally had them and I’m finding that it doesn’t take me as much time to set things up anymore. Plus I also thought it was slightly confusing for people to have so many options. There was an option for standalone, WordPress integration, and also Divi and WooCommerce addons. Now I will install Divi and WooCommerce for you with the install if you like at no extra cost. There is only the WordPress install. No standalone version is available. You can still download the standalone version if you want but I’m only going to be working on the WordPress versions from now on.
Below is a screenshot of the new advanced pixel selection method screen. I still have some changes to make and lots more work to do but it’s coming together nicely and hopefully will be ready soon.
After that, but for the next release after this upcoming one, I want to convert the language to a better format by using WP functionality for it. There are a lot of places in the code to change for that though so that’ll surely take some time. I also want to completely replace all the core database usages to use the WP API and convert users to only be WP users. I’m sure there are other things I’m forgetting too. I suppose I’m slowly converting MDS 2 into what I want MDS 3 to be but it’s a huge amount of work.
If you have any questions or want any help with anything feel free to contact me any time or just send me a text on Discord and I’ll try to help.
