A new version of the WordPress AdSense-Deluxe plugin from Acme Technologies was released tonight with a new feature for inserting ads in your templates through the use of a PHP function call [thanks to Ivan V. and Tim G. for this suggestion], and an experimental implementation of automatica weekly version checking.

AdSense-Deluxe is a powerful WordPress plugin which offers an easy-to-use options control panel for defining multiple AdSense ad unit styles, switching styles across all posts, and enabling/disabling ad display globally or on specific types of pages (main page, archive pages, post pages, etc.).

AdSense in WordPress Template Files

In version 0.5 of AdSense-Deluxe there is now a function you can call to output the default ad unit style, or any of the previously-defined ad styles by name. The syntax for this function when placed within a WordPress template file is the following:

<?php adsense_deluxe_ads('my_AdBlock_name'); ?>

If you leave the parameter to the function call empty, it outputs the default ad style (as defined in AdSense-Deluxe options panel with the WordPress Admin).

WARNING!: If you use this function call in your templates and for any reason disable the plug-in, you will risk breaking your blog pages (depending on the setting for ‘display_errors’ in the PHP.ini configuration file). So I strongly recommend you always make the function call conditional with this PHP code:


<?php if(function_exists('ad_unit_name')) :
adsense_deluxe_ads('my_ad_unit'); endif; ?>


Automatic Version Checking

AdSense-Deluxe is updated on a fairly regular basis and particularly in the case of bugs, I’d like for users to get notified that an update is available. To that end, I’ve added automatic version checking which once every seven days requests a file from the Acme Technologies’ server which contains the latest version number and compares it to the current version in use. [Note, this is a standard http GET request so nothing is transmitted to my server beyond the normal information that’s sent when you view this web page… your privacy is in no way compromised.] When a newer version is found, a message is displayed at the top of your AdSense-Deluxe options page.

You can get the latest update at AdSense for WordPress Plugin - AdSense-Deluxe

This entry was posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2005 at 8:42 pm and is filed under AdSense, WordPress Plugins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. | Permalink