How much does Pods cost?
Pods is free and will remain free, but check out how much effort it’s taken to get it to where it is today!
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sc0ttkclark
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sc0ttkclark
Pods 2.0 has arrived!
Background
The Pods Framework has been around since late 2008. Planning, design, development, and testing started in 2010 for Pods 2.0 leading to an Alpha release on January 2nd, 2012. Beta was released on August 12th, 2012. Now Pods 2.0 has finally arrived, as of September 21st, 2012!
After our soft launch, we’ve been working on bug fixes for the past few weeks to ensure maximum stability and backwards compatibility before going full force with our 2.0 announcement. That point has been reached and we’re ready for the flood of new users that awaits, including our awesome Pods 1.x users who are anxious to upgrade.
Have at it, and most of all — Enjoy the freedom of developing any type of content with any type of field that you can think of for WordPress!
Bug Reports / Feature Requests
Please report bugs and suggest features in our GitHub Issues area. We’ve got an awesome feature line up for Pods 2.1 that is already in progress, we’ll announce our 2.1 testing program in the next month. Pods 2.1 is scheduled to be released alongside WordPress 3.5 on December 5th, 2012.
Big Thanks to our Sponsors!
We have to really thank Automattic and Matt Mullenweg for all they’ve done to help us, we honestly could not have finished Pods 2.0 and taken it to the next level without their support.
RD2 provided some awesome UI design work for our new 2.0 upgrade screens.
MarkNet Group provided extra help when we needed it to keep the project going over the past two years, major kudos!
What’s new?
Below is a feature list that goes over what 2.0 offers, we hope you enjoy it as much as we have while we’ve used it on our own projects.
- Slick new interface, fully revamped to make managing your Pods easy and stress-free
- Large performance enhancements using transients and object caching (reducing queries per page load in both dashboard and site to the lowest possible number, sometimes that’s ZERO)
- New Upgrade wizard screens designed by RD2 will help you upgrade from previous versions and report any potential known issues beforeit actually upgrades your site
- We’ve partnered with Automattic to offer 1 free month of VaultPress service to users upgrading from Pods 1.x, you will see the offer in the upgrade screens.
- We’ve also partnered with iThemes to offer 25% off of a BackupBuddy license to users upgrading from Pods 1.x, you will see the offer in the upgrade screens.
- Add New Pod wizard guides you through creating or extending content types with custom fields
- Create New Content Types
- Custom Post Types
- Custom Taxonomies
- Advanced Content Types (each type lives in it’s own table, outside of the WP object architecture)
- Extend Existing Content Types
- Post Types (Posts, Pages, Existing Custom Post Types)
- Taxonomies (Categories, Tags, Existing Custom Taxonomies)
- Media
- Users
- Comments
- Create New Content Types
- Choose to store your data using meta-based storage (default) or custom table-based storage
- New Field Editor and Field Types
- New Field Type options built in (no more input helpers for most common input types!)
- Date / Time – Date, Time, or both
- Number – Plain Number or Currency
- Text – Plain Text, Website, Phone, E-mail, or Password
- Paragraph Text – Plain Paragraph, WYSIWYG (TinyMCE or CLEditor, or add your own), or Code (Syntax Highlighting)
- Color Picker – Choose colors, because colors are great (Using the default WP color picker, Farbtastic in 3.4)
- Yes / No – You can’t really go wrong with a checkbox, but we’ve added a few charms to make it stand out
- File / Image / Video – Upload new media or select from existing ones with our Media Library integration, or use a simple uploader, your choice
- Relationships – Relate any item, to any item of any WP object type or another Pod, now with improved Bidirectional relationship support
- New Field Type options built in (no more input helpers for most common input types!)
- New grouping fields API on the Add/Edit forms for Post Types, Taxonomies, Media, Users, and Comments (We’re adding a management UI for this coming in 2.1)
- New Shortcode popup integration with TinyMCE editor (now provide one-off templates within the shortcode itself)
- New Widgets (and provide one-off templates within the widget itself)
- New Form UI front and back
- New Attachments option available for File Uploads allows you to click “Attach” and select media items from the normal built-in WP Media Library pop-up
- New Componentsallow additional functionality to be enabled but not loaded if you don’t want/need them
- Pod Templates
- Pod Pages
- Pod Helpers
- Roles and Capabilities
- Add / Edit Roles (Administrator, Editor, etc..)
- Add / Edit Capabilities for each Role
- Markdown Syntax for Paragraph Text fields
- Migrate: Import from Custom Post Type UI
- Import Custom Post Types and Taxonomies created by the Custom Post Type UI plugin
- Import them all, or choose a few
- Optionally cleanup the Custom Post Type UI options when done, removing the imported objects from it’s control
- Basic WPML Integration and confirmed Polylang compatibility
- Fully Localized interface and error messages! All of our text strings in the plugin now run through the i18n functions. We don’t have any translations yet, but we’re looking at getting GlotPress setup for translators to start getting in.
- Requires at least WordPress 3.4 and is tested against WordPress 3.4 and 3.5 releases
Not sure about Pods 2.0 yet? Screenshot time!
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hsatterwhite
Holy Cow in a plugin Scott! I’ve been looking at it since Thursday afternoon and it’s absolutely wonderful. The UI is great, intuitive, and very forgiving when you’re making mistakes. Love seeing how far you’ve come with Pods as it is by far one of the most powerful plugins/frameworks/extendomatic-in-a-box things to to ever happen to WordPress.
I’m a big fan of how you re-vamped “Helpers”. Using it as a custom post type with the built-in WordPress revisions feature is spot on smart. This is honestly the first time I’ve ever looked at Pods 2.0 in any of its forms. The really cool thing to me is that you created “Helpers” in a way that provides flexibility and history. Using Code Mirror for syntax highlighting, storing it as a custom post type, and utilizing WordPress’ built-in revisions function takes “Helpers” light years beyond what it was in the 1.x.x releases. As a long time user of Pods I’m completely overjoyed with Pods 2.0!
Again, thanks for all that you’ve contributed to the WordPress community.
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sc0ttkclark
It’s messages like these that make what I do worth it. That’s exactly what I set out to do for Pods 2.0, so I’m very glad that was successful!
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sc0ttkclark
Hey stranger! Where have we been? We’ve been hard at work on code for Pods 2.1 and the next features coming in Pods 2.x
Keep an eye out on our GitHub at http://pods.io/github/ to see full change logs (check Issues) of what’s been changed, fixed, and added.
Pods 2.1 comes out tomorrow when WP 3.5 hits the scene, we’ve got some cool new features that we’ve put together so we can reach full WordPress VIP hosting compatibility. That means that WP VIP sites will be able to run this plugin, and joins a very exclusive list of plugins that have been vetted for the platform. This is definitely exciting, as every thing we tweak and improve, all of that gets passed onto our users and the developers who use this plugin for their projects.
Sorry for not posting more here, I’ve been head in the code in the IRC and on GitHub. But check out what’s coming up in December — I’ll be devoting the remainder of the month and as many weeks as it takes afterwards to get our site up to snuff again which includes a large amount of new documentation and video tutorials. See you all soon, and don’t forget code is poetry!
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jdinsmore
Scott your passion and dedication to this project is amazing. I’m sure I speak for many in the WP community in saying how grateful I am for your efforts and the incredible software you and the team have written.
PODS rivals any COTS CMS and IMHO blows them out of the water. I know I will continue to donate a portion of each of my projects that uses PODS and hope others do the same.
Keep up the good work and again….thank you!
PS – PODS 2X rocks!!
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sc0ttkclark
Thanks! I don’t really know why I do what I do, because it’s pretty insane to most people outside of the open source world, but it’s something I can’t really live without..
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sc0ttkclark
Enhanced Field Types
We spent some time tonight and landed on an enhancement we hope you will enjoy… We’ve broken out the Text, Paragraph Text, Number, and Date / Time fields into groups of field types!
Check them out in the beta now, or look below for a quick view of how it looks. You might even realize you missed a field capability you hadn’t noticed before
You can click the image above to enlarge.
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sc0ttkclark
Pods core table structure differences between Pods 1.x, Pods 2.0 Alpha, and Pods 2.0 Alpha 32
Pods 1.x
You may not have been aware of this, but Pods 1.x installs custom tables to store it’s information in a way that’s usually standard for standalone PHP projects. Here’s the table list we had in Pods 1.x, 7 core tables in all:
- wp_pod – This table was used to store an index of every pod item you create, along with some core information. It was like a ‘wp_posts’ table in a way. It wasn’t my decision but I believe the reason behind it was the same as wp_posts, but it could also have been the fact that the old Manage Content interface had all of the items together (but filterable by pod), which proved to be harder to manage in certain circumstances. Since around Pods 1.10 when we merged Pods UI, our interface has been separated out for a better UX while the table itself remained in place.
- wp_pod_types – This table was used to store a list of all of the Pods you created and their corresponding options.
- wp_pod_fields – This table was used to store a list of all of the fields for the Pods you created and their corresponding options.
- wp_pod_templates – This table was used to store a list of all of the Pod Templates you created.
- wp_pod_pages – This table was used to store a list of all of the Pod Pages you created.
- wp_pod_helpers – This table was used to store a list of all of the Pod Helpers you created.
- wp_pod_rel – This table is used to store a information on each relationship or file field you have for a pod, on a per-item basis. It makes it easy (and perform better) for MySQL queries to do more complex things with fewer joins and hacks.
- wp_pod_tbl_* – These tables are created for every Pod you create. Every non-relationship and non-file field you create, gets it’s own table column sculpted around the field type it is. A number field becomes a number column, a date field becomes a date column, and so on.
Pods 2.0 Alpha
In Pods 2.0, we set out to develop code that performs better and to optimize our database table structures. In that process, we reduced the number of tables substantially down to 4 core tables in all:
- wp_pods – This table was used to store a list of all of the Pods you created and their corresponding options.
- wp_pods_fields – This table was used to store a list of all of the fields for the Pods you created and their corresponding options.
- wp_pod_objects – This table was used to store a list of all of the Pod Templates, Pages, and Helpers you created.
- wp_pods_rel – This table is used to store a information on each relationship or file field you have for a pod, on a per-item basis. It makes it easy (and perform better) for MySQL queries to do more complex things with fewer joins and hacks.
- wp_pod_tbl_* – These tables are created for every Pod you create or extend (opt-in, the default is to not create a new table and use native meta-based storage). Every non-relationship and non-file field you create, gets it’s own table column sculpted around the field type it is. A number field becomes a number column, a date field becomes a date column, and so on. The old Pods 1.x wp_pod table was merged into these, so each pod table is exactly what you want and need, letting you remove the name, created, updated, and author fields for the content types that don’t need it.
Pods 2.0 Alpha 32
While developing Pods 2.0, Automattic started giving us attention and moved forward to officially sponsor our development. We consulted with their server team over at their VIP hosting platform and determined that some of our 2.0 tables could be reduced even further. As a result, Pods 2.0 as of Alpha 32 now has only 1 core table in all:
- wp_pods_rel – This table is used to store a information on each relationship or file field you have for a pod, on a per-item basis. It makes it easy (and perform better) for MySQL queries to do more complex things with fewer joins and hacks.
- wp_pod_tbl_* – These tables are created for every Pod you create or extend (opt-in, the default is to not create a new table and use native meta-based storage). Every non-relationship and non-file field you create, gets it’s own table column sculpted around the field type it is. A number field becomes a number column, a date field becomes a date column, and so on. The old Pods 1.x wp_pod table was merged into these, so each pod table is exactly what you want and need, letting you remove the name, created, updated, and author fields for the content types that don’t need it.
Where did they all go? They’re now stored as post types and custom post meta fields. Don’t worry, you don’t have to learn new code, our API remains the same and you can now utilize our API to do even more. We interface with WP_Query and the WP object post/meta update functions. We’re also storing full Pods and their options in transients for even more performance and less MySQL queries per page.
- _pods_pod – Pods and their options
- _pods_field – Pod fields and their options
- _pods_object_template – Pod Templates and their options
- _pods_object_page – Pod Pages and their options
- _pods_object_helper – Pod Helpers and their options
Tableless Mode to be introduced in Pods 2.1
It’s still not ready for primetime on the VIP hosting service, but in Pods 2.1, we’ll make our custom core tables completely optional. Individual Pod tables are already only created as an opt-in process when creating / extending content types in Pods 2.0, so that option will be removed if the tableless mode is enabled in 2.1. The wp_pods_rel table will also not be created or used, and instead the native meta tables for each content type will be used to store that relationship information. Pods 2.0 already stores a backup copy of relationships in wp_postmeta to make that transition easier.
We’re looking forward to further improving Pods throughout 2.x, thanks for hanging in there throughout our ever evolving project.
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bakaburg1
I think I’m missing something…
Wasn’t using custom tables for pods stuff lighter and with a smaller footprint than wordpress meta system?
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sc0ttkclark
We didn’t need as many tables as we had in 2.0 anyway, we could have accomplished the same thing with just two core tables, wp_pods and wp_pods_rel, where wp_pods served as the table to store Pods, Pod Fields, Pod Templates, Pod Pages, and Pod Helpers. But if we’re reducing tables, we might as well go into Post Types as the performance and footprint is greatly reduced through our usage of Transients and Object caching already. So, yes, on a data side it is a smaller footprint to have custom tables than to use Post Types and Meta, but reducing custom tables ensures that Pods can scale on larger hosts that have architecture-limitations when it comes to custom tables (Like WP VIP has, among others).
We’ll still have package import/export available just like in Pods 1.x.
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sc0ttkclark
Introducing the new Pods 2.0 Upgrade screens
Upgrading Pods to new versions has previously been a silent background process. Things were done, you weren’t given substantial information in case of an error, and there was no UI to guide you through the process. No more!
Our new Pods 2.0 Upgrade screens will guide you through upgrading from Pods 1.x to Pods 2.0, and any future upgrades that may be necessary throughout Pods 2.x – and it’s beautiful! Thanks to the incredibly generous RD2 team and designer Rey Latham for making this happen!
We’ve also partnered up with iThemes to offer 25% off of any BackupBuddy license! BackupBuddy is the all-in-one WordPress backup plugin that lets you backup, restore, migrate, and do it all locally or remotely to a number of different services. Together, we’ve got you covered for whatever your needs are during the upgrade process and beyond.
Screenshots
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davidangel
Aww man, looks awesome!
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anditko
Nice and clean design that fits the admin theme. Great job!
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sc0ttkclark
Upping the requirements for Pods 2.0 to WP 3.4, it only makes sense that our next awesome version uses the latest and greatest, as support for previous versions would be something of a patchwork quilt with all the actions/filters/functions being unavailable, giving users a suboptimal experience with a reduced functionality plugin. It also will help reduce support issues!
Pushing our latest patches in and updating to Pods 2.0 Alpha 14 today. Prepping features for the beta testing period about to hit in a couple of weeks.
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sc0ttkclark
The good news is we’re launching our new site on June 25th! The bad news? Nope, none of that! More good news also arrives on June 25th, perhaps earlier, but we’ve got a lot planned for June so keep an eye out! Hold tight, and don’t get lost in the sea of commits!
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sc0ttkclark
Meeting with the team this week to discuss our next steps, should have a final set-in-stone launch date for both the new website and Pods 2.0 — so excited!
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magi182
Woot woot!
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sc0ttkclark
Pods 2.0 Alpha 11 is out, if you’re wondering where all the other alpha versions went, they were here and gone in a flash as I’ve been committing fixes and features like crazy this weekend!
Latest big ticket item that @mpvanwinkle and I have been working on since this past Fall has been the Meta box integration for Post Types, Taxonomies, Media, Users, and Comments. In the latest alpha, we’ve now got integration into each one of those forms (both add and edit!). It’s dynamic, so any field you create for your pods that are integrated with those objects will appear in the corresponding object’s forms. Storage is meta only right now, working on getting further support for the Pods table-based storage for each of the objects.
Form UI work will be progressing further this week as @mikedamage will be working on it heavily. We’ll be working on getting that done and pushed into an upcoming 2.0 alpha for both admin and front (theme-side) forms.
Get in on the alpha today and check it all out, provide feedback, and of course test
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sc0ttkclark
Pods 2.0 Alpha 6 is out, includes some bug fixes and a new updater that will allow you to upgrade from within WordPress to the latest alpha/beta versions as they come out via the 2.0 branch in GitHub.
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sc0ttkclark
Just signed on Fifth Room Creative to provide Development / Design support to the 2.0 release cycle! Thank you Mike Damage and Steve Guberman!
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bjornet 8:23 pm on September 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I really appreciate you for showing this, this example helps me as developer to set a decent pricetag on my work and of cause understand the tremendous amount of work you guys have put into Pods.