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I want to make some edits to a plugin that I've downloaded. I used the Plugin Editor, but the changes did not show up. I tried refreshing, logging out/back in, and deactivating/activating the plugin.

I gave up on that route and decided to:

  • deactivate/delete the plugin via the admin page
  • delete the plugin folder via FTP to make sure there were no remaining files
  • make the desired edits to my local copy
  • upload the folder to the site via FTP
  • activate plugin

I verified that the new, edited file is up on the server, but the changes still do not show up.

I am guessing there is some sort of caching going on, but I don't know where to begin to clear it.

Other info that may be helpful:

  • The URL of the page that I am trying to update is .../wp-admin/admin.php?page=dlm_addnew
  • The plugin is Download Monitor and the file I updated is uploader.php
  • I have no caching plugins and no wp-content/cache folder
  • My site has cPanel, phpMyAdmin, etc.

Thank you for your time!

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Does it say You need to make this file writable before you can save your changes. See the Codex for more information. underneath the text area? – m0r7if3r May 22 '12 at 18:15
Actually when I made the edits, it said something along the lines of "File edited successfully". But the changes didn't show up. That is why I decided to just delete the plugin, make the changes locally, and then upload it. Still doesn't work, though. – Nathron May 22 '12 at 18:21

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Easiest way to test for caching - make a plugin-breaking change (remove a ; or something), upload it, and see what happens. If your admin panel whitescreens, congratulations - you don't have caching. If it doesn't, chances are your server is caching all php content with something APC. Contact them and ask about caching.

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So I tried to break it by removing a semicolon. Didn't work. I contacted my host (hostpapa). They told me to refresh my browser cache (which I tried already). I also tried accessing the page in chrome incognito windows since it doesn't cache pages, and tried shift+f5 and ctrl+f5. My host said that they had no caching on their end. – Nathron May 22 '12 at 19:37
To confirm for sure, create a file in the root of your site called info.php, and put this in it: <?php phpinfo(); ?>. Then navigate to mysite.com/info.php and search for both APC and cache. If there's still no caching, I wonder if the file you're editing is actually being called/used where you're expecting. – SickHippie May 22 '12 at 19:54
So I changed directions with this... I searched the entire plugin directory for a keyword of the code I was editing. I'm not sure why, but the plugin has code that isn't even used. I was editing a php file that apparently does nothing at all. haha. What a big waste of time. If anybody has this plugin (Download Monitor), the unused code is wp-content\plugins\download-monitor\uploader.php and the working code is wp-content\plugins\download-monitor\admin\add_new.php. I wonder if this is a bug that happened during an update, or if he meant to have redundant code for some reason. – Nathron May 22 '12 at 22:06
It might be there as a fallback for older versions of WordPress. I've run into a couple plugins that have 2-3 versions of a file that are WP version dependent. Glad you got it sorted! – SickHippie May 22 '12 at 22:23
Thanks for the help! I wasn't aware that developers did that. – Nathron May 22 '12 at 22:42

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