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Plugin Help, Support and Customization

Twitter Tools Support

FAQs / Tips / Common Issues

Why doesn't my tweet include the blog post URL?

Most likely you have enabled the optional bit.ly plugin, but have not entered a valid API key and password. A common error is copying and pasting an extra space along with the bit.ly API key – make sure only your API key and no spaces are included in that field. #

Why aren't my digests posting?

If your server had a hiccup in the middle of posting a digest, Twitter Tools might think that it’s still trying to post a digest and thus won’t start working on another. Try clicking the ‘Reset Digests’ button on the settings page – that may get things working again. #

I have updated Twitter Tools to version 2.4 without any errors. I have a good connection to Twitter. Why aren't my tweets being displayed?

There are two potential issues here:

1. Your Twitter application may have been registered with the wrong Twitter username. Go to Settings -> Twitter Tools and click the Account Information link to see the Twitter username that is registered with the application you created at dev.twitter.com.

2. Twitter is having timeline issues. In our testing, Twitter is receiving all tweets sent by Twitter Tools as long as their system is up and running. However, there are appear to be timeline problems with Twitter displaying those statuses in a timely manner. Unfortunately, Twitter Tools can’t fix this. Please contact api@twitter.com to let them know that you’re seeing issues with your tweets showing up in the timeline. Our experience is that their response times to emails is 3-7 days. #

Can I remove the 'New Blog Post:' prefix entirely?

No, this is not a good idea. Twitter Tools needs to be able to look at the beginning of the tweet and identify if it’s a notification from your blog or not. Otherwise, Twitter Tools and Twitter could keep passing the blog posts and resulting tweets back and forth resulting in the ’spinning fireball of death’ #

What do I do if I receive the error: Authentication Error

You will need information from two pages to get Twitter Tools set up. If you’re not able to connect to Twitter, it may be that something went wrong with your copy and paste of the appropriate API keys and tokens.

You’ll get the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret from this page — http://dev.twitter.com/apps/######/

You’ll get the Access Token and Access Token Secret from this page — http://dev.twitter.com/apps/######/my_token

If you’re logged out of Twitter’s Developer Area, you can log in at http://dev.twitter.com/login. Once you’ve logged in, you can click Your Apps at the top of the page to get to your Twitter Tools app. #

Why aren't my tweets updating in the sidebar or why are they not being created into posts?

On the Twitter Tools settings page, try using the Reset Tweet Checking and Update Tweets buttons. If that does not cause the tweets to start updating again, use the Test Login button near your Twitter username & password. #

Why is my title being truncated when Twitter Tools publishes my tweet?

Twitter limits tweets to 140 characters. Twitter Tools has to allow for the length of the shortened URL to your post, plus the length of the prefix, when determining whether the post title will have to be truncated. Longer post titles will be truncated because of Twitter’s limitation. #

Parse error on line 19 of twitteroauth.php

If you are receiving this error is likely because your web host is serving your files using PHP version 4. However, many web hosts are able to support PHP version 5 via configuration options. Try contacting your web host and see if they are able to switch your account to make use of PHP version 5 or instruct you on how to make the switch yourself. #

What is the Application Name I should be using when setting up Twitter Tools?

You can choose your own application name so long as it is unique, not “Web,” “Twitter Tools,” etc.

The application name shows up in streams for users on Twitter.com. For instance if you look at our Twitter stream – http://twitter.com/wphelpcenter – under each tweet in light gray text you will see, “via CoTweet”. This is because we use an application called CoTweet to send our Tweets.

The value you provide here is what will show up in that spot. Perhaps using the domain name of your site or the name of your site is a good option. It is up to you what you enter here. Please note that you must choose a name that is not in use by any other application/user. It must be unique. #

I'm getting a Fatal error: Class 'OAuthSignatureMethod_HMAC_SHA1' not found when I try to connect with Twitter Tools. What's wrong?

This problem typically has to do with your hosting environment. There is a PECL module that includes OAuth support for PHP. It is loaded on some Web servers, and by default it does not have the class OAuthSignatureMethod_HMAC_SHA1 defined. Twitter Tools attempts to define this class, but the incomplete PECL module prevents Twitter Tools from loading it’s complete version of the module. Please contact your Web host to see if they can disable this module for your site. #

I am receiving an error message, "Call to undefined function curl_init()"

Please check with your web host to ensure they have the PHP CURL libraries installed as they are required for Twitter Tools to function. CURL is helpful to many web applications and once installed, this error message or any others mentioning CURL should stop displaying. #

Installation Instructions

  1. Download the plugin archive and expand it (you've likely already done this).
  2. Put the 'twitter-tools' directory into your wp-content/plugins/ directory.
  3. Go to the Plugins page in your WordPress Administration area and click 'Activate' for Twitter Tools.
  4. Go to the Twitter Tools Options page (Settings > Twitter Tools) to set up your Twitter information and preferences.

FAQ

Who is allowed to post a Tweet from within WordPress?

Anyone who has a 'publish_post' permission. Basically, if you can post to the blog, you can also post to Twitter (using the account info in the Twitter Tools configuration).

What happens if I have both my tweets posting to my blog as posts and my posts sent to Twitter? Will it cause the world to end in a spinning fireball of death?

Actually, Twitter Tools has taken this into account and you can safely enable both creating posts from your tweets and tweets from your posts without duplicating them in either place.

Does Twitter Tools use a URL shortening service by default?

No, Twitter Tools sends your long URL to Twitter and Twitter chooses to shorten it or not.

As of version 2.0 a plugin to do this with the Bit.ly service is included as an option.

Can Twitter Tools use a URL shortening service?

Yes, Twitter Tools includes a filter:

tweet_blog_post_url

as of version 1.6. Plugins for this filter may already exist, or you can create your own. The plugin needs to attach to this filter using the standard WordPress add_filter() function and return a URL that will then be passed with your blog post tweet.

As of version 2.0 a plugin to do this with the Bit.ly service is included as an option.

Is there any way to change the 'New Blog Post:' prefix when my new posts get tweeted?

Yes, as of version 2.0 you can change this on the Options page.

Can I remove the 'New Blog Post:' prefix entirely?

No, this is not a good idea. Twitter Tools needs to be able to look at the beginning of the tweet and identify if it's a notification from your blog or not. Otherwise, Twitter Tools and Twitter could keep passing the blog posts and resulting tweets back and forth resulting in the 'spinning fireball of death' mentioned above.

Changelog

2.4

  • Replaced 401 authentication with OAuth.
  • Now relies on WordPress to provide JSON encode/decode functions.
  • WP 3.0 compatibility fix for hashtags plugin (set default hashtags properly).
  • WP 3.0 compatibility fix for creating duplicate post meta.
  • Added support form to settings page.

2.3.1

  • Fixed a typo that was breaking the latest tweet template tag.

2.3

  • Added nonces
  • Patched several potential security issues (thanks Mark Jaquith)
  • Load JS and CSS in separate process to possibly avoid some race conditions

2.2.1

  • Typo-fix that should allow resetting digests properly (not sure when this broke, thanks lionel_chollet).

2.2

  • The use of the native json_encode() function, required by the changes in WordPress 2.9 (version 2.1) created a problem for users with servers running 32-bit PHP. the json_decode() function treats the tweet ID field as an integer instead of a string, which causes the issues. Thanks to Joe Tortuga and Ciaran Walsh for sending in the fix.

2.1.2

  • Missed one last(?) instance of Services_JSON

2.1.1

  • Missed replacing a couple of instances of Services_JSON

2.1

  • Make install code a little smarter
  • Add unique index on tweet ID columns, remove duplicates and optimize table
  • Track the currently installed version for easier upgrades in the future
  • Cleanup around login test code
  • Add action on Update Tweets (aktt_update_tweets)
  • Add a shortcode to display recent tweets
  • Exclude replies in aktt_latest_tweet() function (if option selected)
  • Better RegEx for username and hashtag linking
  • Use site_url() and admin_url(), losing backward compatibility but gaining SSL compatibility
  • Added WordPress HelpCenter contact info to settings page
  • Use standard meta boxes (not backwards compatible) for post screen settings
  • Change how Services_JSON is included to be compatible with changes in WP 2.9 and PHP < 5.2
  • Digest functionality is marked as experimental, they need to be fundamentally rewritten to avoid race conditions experienced by some users
  • Misc code cleanup and bug fixes
  • Added language dir and .pot file

Bit.ly plugin

  • Changed RegEx for finding URLs in tweet content (thanks Porter Maus)
  • Added a j.mp option
  • Cleaned up the settings form
  • Added a trim() on the API Key for people that struggle with copy/paste
  • Use admin_url(), losing backward compatibility but gaining SSL compatibility

Exclude Category plugin

  • Use admin_url(), losing backward compatibility but gaining SSL compatibility

Hashtags plugin

  • Use admin_url(), losing backward compatibility but gaining SSL compatibility

2.0

  • Added various hooks and filters to enable other plugins to interact with Twitter Tools.
  • Added option to set blog post tweet prefix
  • Added CSS classes for elements in tweet list
  • Initial release of Bit.ly for Twitter Tools - enables shortening your URLs and tracking them on your Bit.ly account.
  • Initial release of #hashtags for Twitter Tools - enables adding hashtags to your blog post tweets.
  • Initial release of Exclude Category for Twitter Tools - enables not tweeting posts in chosen categories.

Help, Support & Customization for

Twitter Tools

Call now: 303-395-1346

Using WordPress HelpCenter for help with Twitter Tools supports Alex King (the plugin developer).

Plugin Info

Current Version:
2.4
Minimum WordPress Version:
2.9
Tested up to WordPress Version:
3.0.1
Compatible with WordPress MU:
yes
Plugin Author:
Alex King

WordPress.org Page

SVN Repository

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