May 3rd, 2019

Breadcrumb NavXT 6.3.0

Posted by John Havlik in Word* > Plugins

Holy Gutenberg breadcrumb trail block Batman! Originally scheduled for inclusion in Breadcrumb NavXT 6.2, the Breadcrumb Trail Gutenberg Block finally makes an appearance in 6.3. Additionally, changes were made to improve accessibility standards support (both in the settings page and in the breadcrumb trail). Lastly, a bug that caused a PHP error in bcn_breadcrumb_trail::fill() has been fixed.

bcn_display_attribute_array Filter

Back in 6.0, the bcn_display_attributes filter was added to replace the old bcn_li_attributes filter. This was little more than a name change for the filter. Unfortunately, neither filter is easy to use—both require string processing. As an alternative, easier to use filter, bcn_display_attribute_array was added to Breadcrumb NavXT 6.3. This filter works against a key-value pair array of the attributes.

bcn-aria-current Template Tag

To facilitate WAI-ARIA Breadcrumb support, a new template tag was added in 6.3. Unlike the other template tags that start and end with %, this template tag is simply bcn-aria-current. This tag is replaced with aria-current="page" when the breadcrumb represents the current page, otherwise it is replaced with an empty string.

As always, you can grab the latest version of Breadcrumb NavXT from the Breadcrumb NavXT page. If you experience any issues with this version of Breadcrumb NavXT, please leave a comment on this post detailing the issue.

October 26th, 2018

Breadcrumb NavXT 6.2.1

Posted by John Havlik in Word* > Plugins

This is the first, and hopefully only, bug fix release of the 6.2 branch of Breadcrumb NavXT. One bug was fixed in this release. In 6.2.0 changes introduced into the default settings handling code for Custom Post Types contained a bug relating to the handling of hierarchical CPTs. This bug manifested itself as PHP warnings on the frontend, on the settings page, and as “the following settings were not saved” messages in the settings page.

Additionally, the default template for unlinked breadcrumbs has been modified to include a span element wrapping the title. This makes the markup of the individual breadcrumbs consistent in that they are wrapped in a span element.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

September 24th, 2018

Breadcrumb NavXT 6.2.0

Posted by John Havlik in Word* > Plugins

Holy pre-Gutenberg Block introduction release Batman! Originally, 6.2 was to contain a Gutenberg Block, however it did not make the release. New in 6.2 are two filters (bcn_register_rest_endpoint and bcn_breadcrumb_assemble_json_ld_array), and support for following a primary (post parent hierarchy) and then secondary hierarchy (specified in the Hierarchy option for the post type).

A few bug fixes were included in this release. A bug preventing the settings reset option under the help drop down from working was fixed. A cause of PHP warnings to show up on the custom post type and custom taxonomy settings immediately after upgrading/migrating the settings to a new version was fixed.

Several behavior changes were made in this release. The biggest involves the REST API endpoints no longer being enabled by default. Additionally, the default templates were changed for two reasons. The first was to simplify and clarify the translatable content. The second was to improve Schema.org BreadcrumbList compatibility. As part of these changes, the default unlinked breadcrumb templates no longer contain span elements, or any Schema.org BreadcrumbList markup. This fixes an issue seen in the Google Structured Data Testing Tool.

REST API Changes

As introduced in 6.1, the REST API was enabled by default. In 6.2, this changes. Now, individual Breadcrumb NavXT REST API endpoints must be requested via the newly introduced bcn_register_rest_endpoint filter. This provides a method for plugins using the Breadcrumb NavXT REST API to request and expose only the endpoints that are needed. Note that the BCN_DISABLE_REST_API constant can still disable the Breadcrumb NavXT REST API and takes priority over the new filter.

These changes were made in an effort to decrease the attack surface of Breadcrumb NavXT and were prompted by concerns raised by Janek Vind. Previously, the author endpoint could be used to find usernames based on user ID if the display name was kept as the username. While WordPress itself will make this information available, some users employ methods to prevent WordPress from making this information public. Hence, changes were made to the default behavior in Breadcrumb NavXT

Primary/Secondary Hierarchy

This newly introduced option for post types (except pages), allows for hierarchies that start with the post parent and once that hierarchy has been exhausted follows the post hierarchy option. This allows attachment like behavior for custom post types.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

June 1st, 2018

Breadcrumb NavXT 6.1.0

Posted by John Havlik in Word* > Plugins

Holy REST API Batman! New in this release is the addition of REST API endpoints for posts (of any post type), terms (of any taxonomy), and author archives. Support for root pages for author archives was also added. Additionally, support for microdata format Schema.org BreadcrumbList was added to the included widget.

On the bug fix front, two bugs were fixed in this version. One bug involved a PHP warning being thrown due to get_term() not returning an instance of WP_Term. The other involved fixing the incorrect label for the Schema.org BreadcrumbList RDFa format option.

REST API

The Breadcrumb NavXT REST API introduces endpoints for retrieving Schema.org BreadcrumbList compliant JSON-LD formatted breadcrumb trails for posts, terms, and author archives. For applications that do not need the REST API, it may be disabled by defining BCN_DISABLE_REST_API to be false in wp-config.php. See the Breadcrumb NavXT Rest API Reference for more information.

Regarding Support

Previously, support for Breadcrumb NavXT was provided on this site and the WordPress.org sub-forum for Breadcrumb NavXT. Breadcrumb NavXT even included a link to the release announcement for reporting bugs. However, starting with 6.1.0, official support is moving completely over to the WordPress.org sub-forum for Breadcrumb NavXT. Most support queries already come through the forums, this just codifies it. Users of the premium extensions with valid support license keys still receive email support initiated via the support ticket form.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]