WPSSO Core – The Complete Structured Data Plugin: Schema Markup and Meta Tags for Social and SEO

Journal

Release Schedule

New versions of the plugin are released approximately every week (more or less). New features are added, tested, and released incrementally, instead of grouping them together in a major version release. When minor bugs fixes and/or code improvements are applied, new versions are also released. This release schedule keeps the code stable and reliable, at the cost of more frequent updates.

See release early, release often (RERO) software development philosophy on Wikipedia for more information on the benefits of smaller / more frequent releases.

Version Numbering

Version components: {major}.{minor}.{bugfix}[-{stage}.{level}]

• {major} = Major structural code changes and/or incompatible API changes (ie. breaking changes).hanges).
• {minor} = New functionality was added or improved in a backwards-compatible manner.
• {bugfix} = Backwards-compatible bug fixes or small improvements.
• {stage}.{level} = Pre-production release: dev < a (alpha) < b (beta) < rc (release candidate).

Standard Edition Repositories

• GitHub
• WordPress.org

Development Version Updates

WPSSO Core Premium edition customers have access to development, alpha, beta, and release candidate version updates:

Under the SSO > Update Manager settings page, select the « Development and Up » (for example) version filter for the WPSSO Core plugin and/or its add-ons. When new development versions are available, they will automatically appear under your WordPress Dashboard > Updates page. You can reselect the « Stable / Production » version filter at any time to reinstall the latest stable version.

WPSSO Core Standard edition users (ie. the plugin hosted on WordPress.org) have access to the latest development version under the Advanced Options section.

Changelog / Release Notes

Version 15.5.0 (2023/03/10)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • Added a SSO > Advanced Settings > Document Types > Schema > Type by Post Type > Products Group option.
  • Removed support for the Easy Digital Downloads plugin.
  • Removed support for the WooCommerce Show Single Variations plugin.
• Bugfixes
  • None.
• Developer Notes
  • Added a new ‘product:quantity’ internal meta tag for the WPSSO GMF add-on.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.4.3 (2023/03/04)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • Added a notice to recommend enabling the « Inherit Featured Image » option for WooCommerce.
  • Updated the WPSSO JSON add-on deprecation notice.
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed missing WpssoUtil::save_all_times() method for old deprecated add-ons.
• Developer Notes
  • None.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.4.2 (2023/02/28)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • Re-added the WPSSO JSON add-on deprecation notice.
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed missing add-on names in deprecation notices for plugins that no longer exist.
• Developer Notes
  • None.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.4.1 (2023/02/23)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • Updated the notice text for rejected images.
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed the version number when registering the ‘sucom-admin-page’ script.
• Developer Notes
  • Updated « admin_bar » variable names to « toolbar » for uniformity.
  • Refactored transient cache handling in the WpssoHead->get_head_array() method.
  • Replaced the static version number for ‘sucom-admin-page’ in WpssoScript->admin_register_page_scripts().
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.4.0 (2023/02/20)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • Updated the default tabs layout to vertical.
  • Updated custom fields import to ignore non-existant custom fields instead of using an empty string.
  • Removed the SSO > Advanced Settings > Attributes and Metadata > Custom Fields options:
    • How-To Steps Custom Field
    • How-To Supplies Custom Field
    • How-To Tools Custom Field
    • Recipe Ingredients Custom Field
    • Recipe Instructions Custom Field
• Bugfixes
  • None.
• Developer Notes
  • Renamed the ‘wpsso_status_std_features’ filter to ‘wpsso_features_status’.
  • Removed the ‘wpsso_metabox_tabs_layout_{metabox_id}’ filter.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.3.1 (2023/02/17)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • Added an informational notice when a background task is running.
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed the missing notices stylesheet when in the WordPress block editor.
  • Fixed multi input and textarea fields to always show if they have a value (even if the previous field is empty).
• Developer Notes
  • Added a new WpssoUtil->action_show_admin_notices() method.
  • Removed the ‘is_required’ CSS class from input fields.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.3.0 (2023/02/14)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • Changed the default « Product Variation Title » value in the Advanced Settings page to ‘%%var_title%% %%sep%% %%var_attrs%%’.
  • Deprecated the WPSSO Core cache clearing function and method.
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed Google warning « Review has multiple aggregate ratings » for Schema ProductGroup variants.
• Developer Notes
  • Added a new SucomErrorException::http_error() method for the WPSSO GMF and CMCF add-ons.
  • Added a new WpssoUser->get_cache_id() method.
  • Added a new WpssoUser->doing_task() method.
  • Added a new WpssoUtil->is_task_running() method.
  • Added a new WpssoUtil->set_task_limit() method.
  • Added a new WpssoUtilCache->get_cache_id() method.
  • Added a new WpssoUtilCache->doing_task() method.
  • Refactored WpssoUser->schedule_add_person_role() method.
  • Refactored WpssoUser->add_person_role() method.
  • Refactored WpssoUser->schedule_remove_person_role() method.
  • Refactored WpssoUser->remove_person_role() method.
  • Refactored WpssoUtilCache->schedule_refresh() method.
  • Refactored WpssoUtilCache->refresh() method.
  • Deprecated the WpssoUser->stop_add_person_role() method.
  • Deprecated the WpssoUtilCache->schedule_clear() method.
  • Deprecated the WpssoUtilCache->clear() method.
  • Deprecated the WpssoUtilCache->stop_refresh() method.
  • Deprecated the wpsso_clear_cache() function.
  • Renamed the WpssoUtilCache->clear_other() method to WpssoUtilCache->clear_cache().
  • Renamed the ‘WPSSO_META_CACHE_PRIORITY’ constant to ‘WPSSO_META_CLEAR_PRIORITY’.
  • Removed the ‘WPSSO_CACHE_REFRESH_SLEEP_TIME’ constant.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.2.0 (2023/02/11)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • Added new Place tab options in the SSO > Advanced Settings > Schema Defaults metabox:
    • Default Place Schema Type
    • Default Place Country
    • Default Place Timezone
  • Added an ‘@id’ property value to the Schema AggregateRating markup.
  • Added support for the WooCommerce ‘woocommerce_breadcrumb_main_term’ filter to return the primary product category.
  • Removed the offers property from the Schema ProductGroup markup (not required as each variant has its own offers property).
• Bugfixes
  • None.
• Developer Notes
  • Added a new WpssoAbstractWpMeta->md_cache_disable() method.
  • Added a new WpssoAbstractWpMeta->md_cache_enable() method.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.1.1 (2023/02/08)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • Added support for Schema products with offers or Schema product groups with variants, depending on the Schema Type selected in the Document SSO metabox.
  • Added inheritance of some Schema ProductGroup properties (‘name’, ‘description’, ‘aggregateRating’, and ‘review’) for the product group variants.
• Bugfixes
  • None.
• Developer Notes
  • Added a Schema ‘@id’ property to product reviews.
  • Added a new WpssoIntegEcomWooCommerce->add_mt_ratings() private method.
  • Added a new WpssoIntegEcomWooCommerce->add_mt_reviews() private method.
  • Updated the WpssoIntegEcomWooCommerce->filter_og_seed() method to return variants for the Schema ProductGroup type, and offers for the Schema Product type.
  • Updated the WpssoJsonTypeProductGroup->filter_json_data_https_schema_org_productgroup() method to provide inheritance of ‘name’, ‘description’, ‘aggregateRating’, ‘review’ properties for the product group variants.
  • Updated the WpssoOpenGraphNS->filter_og_data_https_ogp_me_ns_product() method to provide inheritance of ‘og:description’ for product offers and product group variants.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.0.1 (2023/02/04)

• New Features
  • None.
• Improvements
  • None.
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed re-setting PHP ‘error_log’ to an empty value when PHP ‘open_basedir’ is true.
• Developer Notes
  • Refactored the SucomUtil::safe_error_log() method.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.

Version 15.0.0 (2023/02/03)

This version changes the Schema markup for WooCommerce variations. Instead of creating Schema Product markup with offers (one offer per variation), WPSSO Core now creates Schema ProductGroup markup with products (one product per variation) and one offer per product.

See here for more info: https://surniaulula.com/2023/apps/wordpress/plugins/wpsso/whats-new-in-wpsso-core-v15/

• New Features
  • Added support for Schema ProductGroup markup for WooCommerce product variations.
• Improvements
  • Added a new « Minimize Schema JSON-LD » option in the SSO > Advanced Settings page.
  • Removed filter to allow sorting of the WooCommerce variations array (no longer needed).
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed potential missing price currency and value units meta tags for WooCommerce products with variations.
  • Fixed extra min/max energy efficiency meta tags when no energy efficiency value selected.
• Developer Notes
  • Added a new ‘wpsso_json_data_single_product_group_exclude_varies_by’ filter.
  • Added a new ‘wpsso_json_data_single_product_group_varies_by’ filter.
  • Added a new ‘wpsso_init_json_filter_{lib_dir}_{lib_id}’ filter.
  • Added a new WpssoSchemaSingle::add_product_group_data() method.
  • Added a new WpssoOpenGraph->get_product_retailer_item_image_urls() method.
  • Added a new WpssoOpenGraph->get_product_retailer_item_image() method.
  • Added a new WpssoOpenGraph->get_product_retailer_item_mod() method.
  • Added a ‘$page_type_id’ argument to the WpssoSchemaSingle::add_offer_data() method.
  • Added a ‘$page_type_id’ argument to the WpssoSchemaSingle::add_product_data() method.
  • Added a ‘$page_type_id’ argument to the WpssoSchemaSingle::get_offer_data() method.
  • Added a ‘$page_type_id’ argument to the WpssoSchemaSingle::get_product_data() method.
  • Renamed the WpssoSchema::add_author_coauthor_data() method to WpssoSchema::add_author_coauthors_data().
  • Renamed the WpssoSchema::add_comment_list_data() method to WpssoSchema::add_comments_data().
  • Renamed the WpssoSchema::add_howto_step_data() method to WpssoSchema::add_howto_steps_data().
  • Renamed the WpssoSchema::add_offers_aggregate_data() method to WpssoSchema::add_offers_aggregate_data_mt().
  • Renamed the WpssoSchema::add_offers_data() method to WpssoSchema::add_offers_data_mt().
  • Renamed the WpssoSchema::add_variants_data() method to WpssoSchema::add_variants_data_mt().
  • Removed the WpssoIntegEcomWooCommerce->maybe_sort_available_variations() private method.
  • Removed the ‘wpsso_request_url_query_attrs_cache_disable’ filter.
  • Removed the WPSSO_JSON_PRETTY_PRINT constant.
• Requires At Least
  • PHP v7.2.
  • WordPress v5.4.