Has Anyone Here Ever Modified/Customized An Existing Plugin?

[MJM]

This would be new territory for me - but has anyone here ever customized an existing third party plugin (say something like poka or flytonic review plugins for example)?

I'm curious how it went vs designing a custom plugin for yourself instead, and how you handled future updates.

Essentially I'd like to use the backbone of one of these plugins, since they include some useful elements - but modify some of the fields, change some of the display, maybe add some new variations.

I've never done anything like this - I'm assuming I'd hire a dev from somewhere like Codeable.io - but open and appreciative of any suggestions, especially from anyone who has done similar in the past.

[xecutable]

I've modified both my flytonic themes and my casino review plugin, and the updates are a nightmare. Not because it's something hard to change, but because I forget what I've edited at some point.

I started keeping track in a txt file to what line I've changed and what exactly I've done. They have a lot of issues when it comes to mobile scaling. For some reason they've chosen a weird display on images and thumbnails as well as lines and rows, so I had to edit most of the stuff myself.

I've messaged them here and there for documenting what exactly the update changed or which files, so I know if it's just 2 includes files I don't have to look for changes with WinMerge. I'm yet to get a reply on that ticket and it's been a year .

The backbone I'd say is fine. Future updates once you've changed something might be a hassle if you need the updates at all. After Wordpress depreciated jQuery-migrate, I had to update them because they started failing to work. I waited for a week for flytonic to confirm an update was released, but JK.

One day I just went and downloaded the files and they were a newer version. To my surprise their "fix" wasn't anything but including the jQuery-migrate.php in their includes and defining it at the start of the plugin and themes. Talk about laziness and up to date coding.....

[MJM]

Xecutable, thanks for taking the time to reply - we have fought the same battle it sounds like - but you have taken some action, I commend you for that. It has potential to be such a great product, especially with the geotargeting baked into the table builder.

I do get replies to queries from time to time, but they are always one line and don't really put any consideration to what I'm asking. Usually they both say they are too busy doing custom work while in the next mail telling me they can't take custom work from me when I offer to pay for improvements.

I know the flytonic review plugin uses ACF as a backbone - I can see the custom fields right in the review. In my case, I'm wanting to change the "country" and "established" fields to something else. I can delete a field, change a field, whatever - right there, but when I click update the changes don't take. I asked them about that, and the response I got was to leave the fields blank - just an example of how they answer one small part of the question without answering the whole question.

The ONLY reason I've kept using it for so long is because of the ability to have extensive geotargeting setup using one short code. If I make my own tables, I will have to rely on multiple short codes which isn't that big of a deal, but annoys me nonetheless.

Mind a PM about this? Maybe we can trade some knowledge on this, help each other out. I was compeltely unaware of the "wierd mobile" things you mention, but I've complained to them any times the review cards are too small.

Long overdue for me to do something about this one way or another and gain some more control over what I display, how, and where. I'm not a coder, or designer, but pretty much DIY everything at this point.

[universal4]

As a side note, the best method of even considering modifying a theme is to create a child theme, then only modifying the child theme, since theme updates will not overwrite changes to the child theme, then the only thing you have to deal with is any changes to the theme that trickle down to your edited child theme, which is often none or at least less.

Agree that the method of keeping track of changes you made such as X stated he does in a text file is a good method, obviously making a backup immediately before making any changes is also suggested.

Another thing one could try is to put the plugin on another site, test site or even a subdomain, and applying changes on that site to see if the desired results are achieved and do not break functions needed.

Rick
Universal4

[MJM]

As a side note, the best method of even considering modifying a theme is to create a child theme, then only modifying the child theme, since theme updates will not overwrite changes to the child theme, then the only thing you have to deal with is any changes to the theme that trickle down to your edited child theme, which is often none or at least less.

Rick
Universal4

Not trying to edit a theme - fairly well versed in how to do that. Specifically talking about editing (improving) a plugin.

[DaftDog]

Not trying to edit a theme - fairly well versed in how to do that. Specifically talking about editing (improving) a plugin.

Would be nice if WordPress made it possible for developers to create child-plugins.

Edit: It may be possible by creating a plugin addon: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...-for-wordpress

[xecutable]

Mind a PM about this? Maybe we can trade some knowledge on this, help each other out. I was compeltely unaware of the "wierd mobile" things you mention, but I've complained to them any times the review cards are too small.

Nope not at all. PM me whenever you want to. Yeah their table doesn't scale with mobile sizes, but rather totally change the way it looks from a 4 column table to a 1 by 1 with a big image and text below it. I want it to be: when size decreases enough from 4 columns get down to 3, and again when size decreases enough get down to 2. That's how pretty much responsive tables work.

I fail to understand why developers do not offer comprehensive support for their own products, and the only thing I can come up with is too many clients, too rich to care.

[flytonic]

Hey Guys, Good tech discussion thread, I accept healthy criticism here and will try to improve further. @Mike, I need to say that You never appreciate our work , lol. We don't know the comfort level of customers on technical stuffs so usually avoid going into too much code level details during communication on support ticket and focus on current functionality of theme/plugin. Those discussion go into another direction of providing tech solution in support tickets or getting a blame of "misguiding".
The fields you want to edit are arguments passed in the methods of the program.. Those are created as a part of new custom posts once plugin is installed. Changing those fields will change signature of the the method.. If you get these terms, feel free to edit the plugin..And like mentioned earlier, upgrade would be a bit pain once you add custom codes.. When we release new features, customers ask what all files changed, what all lines changed, is it justified when we recently made changes to thousands of lines of codes..Think from developer side also, But I welcome such thread, Thanks !!

[universal4]

The current owners of Flytonic are not the original developers, and seem to act only after quite a series of complaints. Sad since it was sales to affiliates here and a few other direct niches, as well as the original developers listening to affiliates that helped improve their product enough to make it a viable solution for many.

However, this thread is NOT about Flytonic directly, and those discussions should be taken up with the current Flytonic owners and support team.

Anyone that can shed more light on MJM's original question on modifying or customizing existing plugins, would be greatly appreciated.

I like the suggestion DaftDog posted and will read more on that method, since an add-on or similar function (similar to the way a child-theme works) might help with reducing changes due to updates or customization's made. (Thanks DD, I will read more about that as it appears to really help with the original question)

Has anyone ever used the github tool linked in that thread at stackoverflow?

The instructions are pretty straightforward, even updating the parent plugin, and this part is the best. Any website tool that actually requires to have a beer, must be ok to at least try. LOL

1. Step 1
2. Step 2
3. Step 3
4. Pour yourself a beer.

That's it!



Rick
Universal4

[MJM]

Xecutable spent a couple hours this morning walking me through some impactful changes on my flytonic setup - enjoyed the conversation and can’t say how thankful I am for his assistance. Hopefully I can somehow return the favor sometime.

still interested in others experiences with modifying, extending, or creating a plug-in.

[universal4]

One person I talked to about this suggested that usually what he does is try to find an action or filter that will modify the output of a plugin is needed beyond normal css changes.

If that method works, you would normally add those filters into possibly the theme's function file, so they would not be overwritten with a plugin update.

Obviously in that scenario, a child theme would help avoid the problem of a theme update overwriting your edits.

Rick
Universal4

[Betarena]

I never changed an existing plugin.

You can take the code or parts of it that are of interest and create a new plugin, this way, you avoid problems with the updates.

It is advisable to check if the author of the plugin authorizes this type of change or if he asks for his name to be