Version 8.3.1 of the Advanced Sidebar Menu plugin is now available and ready for general use. The purpose of this version was to fully support PHP 8 and improve stability.
PHP 8
PHP 8 (not unlike the PHP 7 release) provided the entire development community some new challenges. With existing functions, changing return types, and named properties adding a whole new level of backward compatibility considerations, we didn’t want to give any false starts to declaring PHP 8 compatibility. We secretly supported PHP 8 months ago, but wanted to give plenty of time for everything to organically bring issues.
We can now say with full confidence, “This plugin is fully compatible with PHP 8.”
Update Endpoint Improvements
Previously our update endpoint relied on WordPress Core passing the current plugin’s version to request for updates. Going forward, we use our own version constant. This assures the endpoint always uses the correct version without possible inconsistencies created by filters. It also guarantees your site will only request updates when needed and not do unnecessary work.
We also improved user agent handling to prevent valid requests from being blocked due to slight differences in user agent strings.
Changelog Links To Blog
If you head over to the changelog, you’ll find that many of the minor versions are now linked to the appropriate release blog. Click the link and you’ll get the full release notes for each version.
Miscellaneous
- Introduced a readme for our translation process to streamline outside contributions.
- Require WordPress core 5.2+.
- Tested to WordPress core 5.7.2.