I spent a lot of time last week updating the WP LinkedIn plugin and its extensions (you probably saw several updates going through the WordPress repository) latest versions of the plugins are now:

• WP LinkedIn 2.4.1
• WP LinkedIn for Companies 1.5
• WP LinkedIn Multi-Users 1.5
• WP LinkedIn Advanced Templates 1.1

There are a lot of small improvements overall (including a new options page, now with tabs) and I invite you to check out the change logs of the plugins. There are also two big ameliorations worth mentioning in more details:

An improved automatic update system for the extensions

I use the Easy Digital Download plugin and its Software License extension to manage the plugin shop and the licensing system, it has been great so far but I noticed a big drawback when it comes to plugin updates and license renewals: By default, if you forgot to enter your license keys on the options page, if it is invalid or if it has expired, you would not see when new versions of the extensions are available.

Which means that you would completely miss on what you actually paid for or you would not know if your licenses are worth renewing.

So I fixed this. Now, whether you entered a license key or not, or if it has expired, you will see the new versions in your WordPress dashboard (wether or not you can actually download the update still depends on the status of your license). A small exception however: if you have an old version of the extensions and didn’t enter your license keys, it still doesn’t work, so make sure to enter something in the license field. It can be anything but you will need a valid license key to download new updates.

Also worth noting, all communications between the plugins and this server are now done using HTTPS. Just a small thing to make sure nobody hacks your website using the update system.

All plugins now support WordPress Multisite

The WP LinkedIn plugin and its extensions now all support being added to a WordPress Multisite installation. What is changing in a multisite installation:

• Management of the LinkedIn API keys and the license keys for the extensions are left to the Super Admin.
• There is a special redirect mechanism that ensures that you only have to register one redirect URL with the LinkedIn API (before you had to register all the individual blogs’ redirect URLs)
• Admin notices are only shown to those who can do something about it (no use showing a problem with the keys to a blog subscriber)

Do not hesitate to leave a comment if you have any remark about those changes or if you have any feature you would like to see included in future versions.

Image Credits: Nan Palmero