WordPress Guestbook Generator Plugin

I created a couple of posts that demonstrated how to make a WordPress Guestbook. Some of you might have found it a bit daunting, so here’s a plugin that will do everything for you!

Plugin Name: Guestbook Generator
Description: Generates a guestbook for WordPress blogs. Once activated, click on Options > Guestbook Generator.
Version: 0.8
Author: Andrew dela Serna
Notice: Compatible only with WordPress 2.1. Support for older versions will continue but updates/upgrades will be focused on the newest versions of WordPress. Scroll down to download Version 0.7 which is designed for Wordress 2.0.X.

Features:

1. No files to edit. Just upload the plugin, activate it then run the generator.
2. Guestbook template seamlessly integrates with your current theme.
3. When changing themes, simply run the generator to create the necessary files.
4. Like a true-blue guestbook, entries are arranged from newest to oldest.
5. Remember the time when guestbooks were the “in” thing? Hopefully this plugin will bring back the ol’ days. Hehe.

Installation:

1. Download the plugin from http://www.alleba.com/blog/wp-downloads/guestbook-generator.zip. If you don’t want paged comments, download this one instead.
2. Extract and upload the contents of the archive to ‘yourserver.com/wp-content/plugins/guestbook-generator/’
3. Login to your WordPress admin panel and browse to the Plugins section.
4. Activate the Guestbook Generator plugin.
5. Go to Options > Guestbook Generator to create your guestbook.
6. That’s it!

On a side note, if you already followed my instructions from my previous posts, you have to delete your current guestbook page and guestbook template files (guestbook.php, guestcomments.php) for the plugin to work. However, I suggest that you stick to your guestbook if you already have a lot of people who signed it. You may use this plugin if you’re switching themes.

I have tested Guestbook Generator on a lot of themes. Some still required a little tweaking especially on the wording. You might want to check out my reloaded instructions if you decide to edit the files in the Theme Editor.

Lastly, since this is the initial release, I would love to hear your comments, complaints or suggestions. Hope you like it.

Update: There is an issue with the guestbook not being found/viewable right after generating it. I’ll fix this tomorrow. In the meantime, you can edit the guestbook and save it. That should do the trick.

0.2 Update: The above issue has been resolved and so far the plugin works perfectly in all the blogs I tested it on.

0.3 Update: Cleaned up some coding.

0.4 Update: Added better error handling. Reversed the order of comments from newest to oldest (Thanks Ulaan B.)

0.5 Update: Even more error handling. Noted issues with the older Default theme and K2 theme.

0.6 Update: Corrected to avoid errors with K2 theme.

0.7 Update: Fixed some replacement mechanisms that will avoid errors with any theme.

0.8 Update: Solved compatibility issues with WordPress 2.1.

0.9 Update: Added paged comments functionality. Requires the Paged Comments plugin.

Version 0.7 for WordPress 2.0.x
For those experiencing problems with chmoding your theme folder, please download this version (WordPress 2.0.x)

329 comments

  1. I installed the plugin for wordpress and it was a life saver for a last minute need. Now that I have over 10 respones (12) it only shows the last 2 and there is no change page option that shows. Page 1 |2… Thoughts?

  2. Great plugin! Is it possible to open the links of the people who write in your guestbook in a new window (target=_blank)?

    It seems that you cannot change that in the guestbook.php and guestcomments.php files.

  3. HI, I love the plugin. However, is working but the when I go to option panel, it ask to generate the guestbook again and I have not menu what so ever to edit. And one last thing, instead of display a few post like the one showed here, is displaying a loooooooong list with all the post in the same page. How can I fix this please!

  4. Hello,

    I’ve installed your plugin. Great! Very simple but it looks quite profesional!

    One Problem: I use the PrimePres 1.2.2 Theme. Next to the installation of PageComments and Guestbook Generator, the header-rotation of my theme doesn’t work any more. May I ask you to give me an advice how to handle these problem? Have you planned to publish an update of your plugin during the next weeks?

    Kind regards,

    Jakob

  5. I installed the plugin for wordpress and it was a life saver for a last minute need. Now that I have over 10 respones (12) it only shows the last 2 and there is no change page option that shows. Page 1 |2… Thoughts?

  6. Hello, I am totally new on wordpress and it’s my first time with plugins. I have downloaded the guestbook plugin and then it told me I had to download the page copmments plugin so I did that to. Now I have activated them booth on my admin page but I don’t know what to do next. How do I put the guestbook on one of my pages? (Excuse my spelling, I’m a student from sweden) Thanks alot!

  7. Thanks for the plugin. I’ve been using it for awhile now, but recently encountered a problem. When I upgraded to the latest version of WordPress my old Guestbook page and all of its comments (entries in the guestbook) were missing. Those were years if accummulated entries. Do I just have to start over, or is that page with the comments buried somewhere in my database and retrievable?

  8. Hi! Thanks for the guestbook. Now I wonder how to make the newest post show first on the page? Now the oldest is showing first??

  9. Pingback: » Guestbook
  10. As said in your general guestbook, it works like a charm on WP 2.7.1… but one question: Is there some simple way (I guess you would have to edit the “core” files of WP) to turn the reply function off? As for now, it is possible for anyone to reply to others posts, I guess this is inherited from WP’s general settings… but this isn’t a usual functionality in a guestbook 🙂

  11. I am trying to impliment your Guest Book for a client who runs a Guest House. Most Guest Books for this type of site is more interested in what country the visitor is from.. I tried substituting the URL field to be the Country (website of visitor is not important)… How do I remove the hyperlink from the URL field (guess it is handled by the comments.PHP page? so the entry reads

    Greg McEwan from South Africa says:

    Terrible Guest House… food was terrible, walls were to green

  12. I don’t have the possibility OPTIONS in WordPress (version 2.7.1/Dutch) Do you know the (html)code for this guestbook so i can make a sort of a link in my ‘page’? You can contact me on pattym@orange.nl Thanks!!

  13. hey,

    I got your guestbook generator. Strange, but my comments are sorted from oldest to newest! How can I change that ???

    thx

  14. 4. Like a true-blue guestbook, entries are arranged from newest to oldest.

    This doesn’t work on my page. What could be the problem ?

  15. Hi Andrew,
    I would like to use your Guestbook Generator plugin on my website, ajharbison.com. I would like to modify the fields of the guestbook, and I see where they are in the guestcomments.php file; but on the actual guestbook page, they don’t appear–there’s only one big text box marked “Guestbook Entries:”. The text “submit guestbook entry” also runs far too big for the submit button beneath the guestbook. Can you tell me 1) how to get the fields (name, email, site, etc.) to show up on the guestbook page, and 2) how to expand the button to fit the “submit guestbook entry” text? Thank you!

    Sincerely,
    AJ Harbison

  16. Hey,
    I tried to install your plugin and got the following error message for a few lines (not only line 44)

    Warning: fputs(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /is/htdocs/wp1091547_9PKAFS6X2F/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/guestbook-generator-nonchmod/guestbook_utility.php on line 44

    I tried both the no chmod and the normal version.
    Any idea why it doesn’t work?

    thanks a lot,
    sassan

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