--- title: Custom Updater - Work In Progress date: 2025-04-17T19:33:58Z modified: 2025-04-27T10:36:37Z permalink: "https://techarticles.co.uk/custom-updater-work-in-progress/" type: post status: publish excerpt: "" wpid: 4774 categories: - Blog - Coding - Plugins - Wordpress timestamp: 2025-04-27T10:36:37Z tags: - Blog - Coding - Plugins - Wordpress --- In the last few weeks, I’ve made some good progress with SDKS for Hoster, WP Software License & WooCommerce API Manager, which gives me a pretty universal setup for future development if I don’t want to use [SureCart](https://ta0.uk/surecart). In fact,, using these custom SDK’S, I can deploy a “woocommerce site” and have it serving a license and updates in a matter of minutes to a new plugin. My work on a Quadmenus version has stalled due to support times and a worrying ability to “generate orders” using the secret key. My free plugins update using a slightly modified version of Yahnis Elsts plugin-update-checker and connect to a server running a reasonably heavily modified wp-update-server from the same author, a version of which can be found [here ](https://github.com/stingray82/wp-update-server-modifications)with added API authentication so each plugin has its own “key” and will only serve that plugin as an update. I have begun working on a custom integration for the plugins to reduce the updater size from , and this is the initial version of that updater. ``` php /** * Universal Updater Drop‑In for Plugins & Themes * Encapsulated in UUPD_Updater – safe to include multiple times. * * Usage: * * 1) Copy this file to `inc/updater.php` inside your plugin or theme. * * 2) In a **plugin**, in your main plugin file (e.g. `rup-changelogger.php`), hard‑code your version * and bootstrap on `plugins_loaded` + `admin_init` to avoid text‑domain warnings: * * // Define your plugin version * define( 'RUP_PLUGIN_VERSION', '1.0' ); * * // Register updater early enough for the Updates screen * add_action( 'plugins_loaded', function() { $updater_config = [ 'plugin_file' => plugin_basename( __FILE__ ), 'slug' => 'rup-changelogger', // "rup-changelogger" 'name' => 'Changelogger', // "Changelogger" 'version' => RUP_PLUGIN_VERSION, // "1.01" 'key' => 'YourSecretKeyHere', 'server' => 'https://updater.reallyusefulplugins.com/u/', ]; * require_once __DIR__ . '/inc/updater.php'; * new UUPD_Updater( $updater_config ); * } ); * * 3) In a **theme**, in your theme’s `functions.php`, bootstrap on `after_setup_theme` + `admin_init`: * * add_action( 'after_setup_theme', function() { * $updater_config = [ * 'slug' => 'test-updater-theme', // match your theme folder & Text Domain * 'name' => 'Test Updater Theme', // your theme’s human name * 'version' => '1.0.0', // match your style.css Version header * 'key' => 'YourSecretKeyHere', * 'server' => 'https://updater.reallyusefulplugins.com/u/', * ]; * require get_stylesheet_directory() . '/inc/updater.php'; * // register update‐checker in time for WP Admin Updates * add_action( 'admin_init', function() use ( $updater_config ) { * new UUPD_Updater( $updater_config ); * } ); * } ); * * 4) To enable logging of every HTTP call and injection step, add anywhere: * * add_filter( 'updater_enable_debug', fn( $e ) => true ); * * 5) In your `wp-config.php`, be sure to turn on WP_DEBUG_LOG: * * define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); * define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); * * Now your updater will: * - Fetch `/u/?action=get_metadata&slug={slug}&key={key}` on‐demand * - Cache the JSON for 1 hour * - Inject plugin updates if `plugin_file` is present * - Inject theme updates otherwise * - Populate the “View details” dialogs with your changelog */ if ( ! class_exists( 'UUPD_Updater' ) ) { class UUPD_Updater { /** @var array */ private $config; /** * @param array $config { * string 'slug' Plugin or theme slug. * string 'name' Human‐readable name. * string 'version' Current version. * string 'key' Your secret key. * string 'server' Base URL of your updater endpoint. * string 'plugin_file' Only for plugins: plugin_basename(__FILE__). * } */ public function __construct( array $config ) { $this->config = $config; $this->register_hooks(); } /** Attach only the appropriate hooks. */ private function register_hooks() { if ( ! empty( $this->config['plugin_file'] ) ) { add_filter( 'pre_set_site_transient_update_plugins', [ $this, 'plugin_update' ], 10, 1 ); add_filter( 'plugins_api', [ $this, 'plugin_info' ], 10, 3 ); } else { add_filter( 'pre_set_site_transient_update_themes', [ $this, 'theme_update' ], 10, 1 ); add_filter( 'themes_api', [ $this, 'theme_info' ], 10, 3 ); } } /** Perform the HTTP request and cache the JSON for 6 hours. */ private function fetch_remote() { $c = $this->config; $slug = rawurlencode( $c['slug'] ); $key = rawurlencode( $c['key'] ); // get the current site’s host (e.g. “example.com”) $home = untrailingslashit( home_url() ); $host = rawurlencode( wp_parse_url( $home, PHP_URL_HOST ) ); // build URL with domain= query-param $url = untrailingslashit( $c['server'] ) . "/?action=get_metadata&slug={$slug}&key={$key}&domain={$host}"; $this->log( "→ Fetching metadata: {$url}" ); $resp = wp_remote_get( $url, [ 'timeout' => 15, 'headers' => [ 'Accept' => 'application/json', 'User-Agent' => 'WordPress/' . get_bloginfo('version'), ], ] ); if ( is_wp_error( $resp ) ) { return $this->log( '✗ HTTP error: ' . $resp->get_error_message() ); } $code = wp_remote_retrieve_response_code( $resp ); $body = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $resp ); $this->log( "← HTTP {$code}: " . trim( $body ) ); if ( 200 !== (int) $code ) { return; } $meta = json_decode( $body ); if ( ! $meta ) { return $this->log( '✗ JSON decode failed: ' . var_export( $body, true ) ); } // Ensure expected properties exist foreach ( [ 'version','tested','requires','changelog_html','homepage','download_url' ] as $f ) { if ( ! isset( $meta->$f ) ) { $meta->$f = ''; } } // Cache for 6 hours set_transient( 'upd_' . $c['slug'], $meta, 6 * HOUR_IN_SECONDS ); $this->log( "✓ Cached metadata for '{$c['slug']}' → v{$meta->version} (6h)" ); } /** Plugin: inject update when remote > current */ public function plugin_update( $trans ) { $c = $this->config; $slug = $c['slug']; $file = $c['plugin_file']; $this->log( "→ Plugin-update hook for '{$slug}'" ); $current = $trans->checked[ $file ] ?? $c['version']; $this->log( " Current plugin v{$current}" ); // On-demand fetch if missing if ( false === ( $meta = get_transient( 'upd_' . $slug ) ) ) { $this->fetch_remote(); $meta = get_transient( 'upd_' . $slug ); } if ( ! $meta ) { return $trans; } $this->log( " Remote plugin v{$meta->version}" ); if ( version_compare( $meta->version, $current, '<=' ) ) { $this->log( " ✗ No newer version" ); return $trans; } $this->log( " ✓ Injecting plugin update → v{$meta->version}" ); $trans->response[ $file ] = (object) [ 'slug' => $slug, 'new_version' => $meta->version, 'package' => $meta->download_url, 'tested' => $meta->tested, 'requires' => $meta->requires, 'sections' => [ 'changelog' => $meta->changelog_html ], ]; return $trans; } /** Plugin: details popup */ public function plugin_info( $res, $action, $args ) { $c = $this->config; if ( 'plugin_information' !== $action || $args->slug !== $c['slug'] ) { return $res; } $meta = get_transient( 'upd_' . $c['slug'] ); if ( ! $meta ) { return $res; } return (object) [ 'name' => $c['name'], 'slug' => $c['slug'], 'version' => $meta->version, 'tested' => $meta->tested, 'requires' => $meta->requires, 'sections' => [ 'changelog' => $meta->changelog_html ], 'download_link' => $meta->download_url, ]; } /** Theme: inject update when remote > current */ public function theme_update( $trans ) { $c = $this->config; $slug = $c['slug']; $this->log( "→ Theme-update hook for '{$slug}'" ); $current = $trans->checked[ $slug ] ?? wp_get_theme( $slug )->get( 'Version' ); $this->log( " Current theme v{$current}" ); // On-demand fetch if missing if ( false === ( $meta = get_transient( 'upd_' . $slug ) ) ) { $this->fetch_remote(); $meta = get_transient( 'upd_' . $slug ); } if ( ! $meta ) { return $trans; } $this->log( " Remote theme v{$meta->version}" ); if ( version_compare( $meta->version, $current, '<=' ) ) { $this->log( " ✗ No newer version" ); return $trans; } $this->log( " ✓ Injecting theme update → v{$meta->version}" ); $trans->response[ $slug ] = [ 'theme' => $slug, 'new_version' => $meta->version, 'package' => $meta->download_url, 'url' => $meta->homepage, ]; return $trans; } /** Theme: details popup */ public function theme_info( $res, $action, $args ) { $c = $this->config; if ( 'theme_information' !== $action || $args->slug !== $c['slug'] ) { return $res; } $meta = get_transient( 'upd_' . $c['slug'] ); if ( ! $meta ) { return $res; } return (object) [ 'name' => $c['name'], 'slug' => $c['slug'], 'version' => $meta->version, 'tested' => $meta->tested, 'requires' => $meta->requires, 'sections' => [ 'changelog' => $meta->changelog_html ], 'download_link' => $meta->download_url, 'homepage' => $meta->homepage, ]; } /** Optional debug logger */ private function log( $msg ) { if ( apply_filters( 'updater_enable_debug', false ) ) { error_log( "[Updater] {$msg}" ); } } } } ```PHP My plan with this is simple: to have a much lighter integration with the free plugins. This means some of the smaller ones will be much smaller in size and will fully auto-update using my custom endpoint and the set license keys. What’s more, it’s designed to work with WP Update Server The Good News is I am very nearly done with the boring dev prep and can get back to creating something again 27th April 2025 – Small Update to send domain details with the update