Stealth Update

Description

This plugin allows you to choose to update a post without having WordPress automatically update the post’s post_modified timestamp.

WordPress maintains a post field called post_modified which tracks the date the post was last edited. This value is used by feeds to indicate the latest update to each post or to report the latest updated post. Plugins and themes may also reference the post modification date to call attention to posts that have been updated. However, if an update is such that you don’t want it to be recorded in the post_modified date field (perhaps due to the update being a small formatting/editing change or fixing a typo, or if you just want to keep quiet about an update), then this plugin is for you.

This plugin adds a “Stealth update?” checkbox to the “Publish” box of any post’s or page’s “Edit Post” admin page.

Note: The plugin records when a post is stealth updated, so subsequent edits of the post will have the “Stealth update?” checkbox checked by default.

Links: Plugin Homepage | Plugin Directory Page | Author Homepage

Filters

The plugin is further customizable via two filters. Typically, these customizations would be put into your active theme’s functions.php file, or used by another plugin.

c2c_stealth_update_meta_key (filter)

The ‘c2c_stealth_update_meta_key’ filter allows you to override the name of the custom field key used by the plugin to store a post’s stealth update status. This isn’t a common need.

Arguments:

• $custom_field_key (string): The custom field key to be used by the plugin. By default this is ‘_stealth-update’.

Example:

/**
 * Defines a custom meta key to be used by Stealth Update.
 *
 * @param string $custom_field_key The default custom field key name.
 * @return string
 */
function override_stealth_update_key( $custom_field_key ) {
    return '_my_custom_stealth-update';
}
add_filter( 'c2c_stealth_update_meta_key', 'override_stealth_update_key' );

c2c_stealth_update_default (filter)

The ‘c2c_stealth_update_default’ filter allows you to override the default state of the ‘Stealth Update?’ checkbox.

Arguments:

• $state (boolean): The default state of the checkbox. By default this is false.
• $post (WP_Post): The post currently being created/edited.

Example:

// Have the Stealth Update? checkbox checked by default.
add_filter( 'c2c_stealth_update_default', '__return_true' );

Screenshots

Installation

1. Whether installing or updating, whether this plugin or any other, it is always advisable to back-up your data before starting
2. Unzip stealth-update.zip inside the /wp-content/plugins/ directory (or install via the built-in WordPress plugin installer)
3. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ admin menu in WordPress
4. Click the ‘Stealth update?’ checkbox when updating a post to prevent the date of the update from being saved for the post.

FAQ

Why would I want to stealth update a post?

This update dates for posts are used by feeds to indicate the latest update to each post or to report the latest updated post. Plugins and other manual uses of some of WordPress’s template tags may also reference the post modification date to call attention to posts that have been updated. However, if an update is such that you don’t want it to be recorded in the post_modified date field (perhaps due to the update being a small formatting/editing change or fix, or if you just want to keep quiet about an update), then this plugin is for you.

Can I have the checkbox checked by default?

Yes. See the Filters section (under Other Notes) and look for the example using the ‘c2c_stealth_update_default’ filter. You’ll have to put that code into your active theme’s functions.php file. Note that if a post was updated with the checkbox checked, when that post gets edited again the checkbox will be checked by default.

Does this plugin include unit tests?

Yes.

Reviews

Brilliant!

shirtguy72 March 1, 2022

Perfect! Thanks Scott!

Still Works !

May February 26, 2018

This plugin still works well. If you want to control modified date, it is very helpful.

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

2.5 (2016-03-25)

Highlights:
* This release adds the ability to set the stealth update checkbox via the quick edit box, adds a lock icon next to the post date in the admin listing to denote a post has stealth update enabled, adds support for language packs, and has some minor behind-the-scenes changes.

Details:
* New: Add ability to set the ‘Stealth Update?’ value in the Quick Edit form.
* Add add_to_submitbox(), add_to_quick_edit(), admin_enqueue_scripts().
* Add option arg $checked to add_ui() and use its value as the default if not null.
* Props ecdltf.
* New: Add lock icon next to post’s date column in posts table to indicate which posts have stealth update enabled.
* Bugfix: Don’t bother operating on newly created posts since their saving isn’t an update.
* Change: Delete meta key on save if stealth update is not enabled for post.
* Change: Don’t unnecessarily set hidden field with original post_modified value.
* Change: Run esc_attr() on the field name before display for safety.
* Change: Don’t run esc_attr() on meta key name as it need not be so restrictive (and isn’t for display).
* Change: Add support for language packs:
* Set textdomain using a string instead of a variable.
* Don’t load textdomain from file.
* Remove ‘Domain Path’ from plugin header.
* Remove .pot file and /lang subdirectory.
* Change: Add docblocks for class variables.
* New: Add LICENSE file.
* New: Add empty index.php to prevent files from being listed if web server has enabled directory listings.
* Change: Add docblock to example code.
* Change: Note compatibility through WP 4.5+.
* Change: Update copyright date (2016).

2.4.3 (2015-08-09)

• Bugfix: Remove ‘Stealth Update?’ checkbox from quick edit panel as its implementation has since been broken. Potential return in v2.5.
• Update: Note compatibility through WP 4.3+

2.4.2 (2015-02-21)

• Revert to using dirname(__FILE__); DIR is only supported in PHP 5.3+

2.4.1 (2015-02-17)

• Add more unit tests
• Reformat plugin header
• Use DIR instead of dirname(__FILE__)
• Note compatibility through WP 4.1+
• Change documentation links to w.org to be https
• Minor documentation spacing changes throughout
• Update copyright date (2015)
• Add plugin icon
• Regenerate .pot

2.4 (2014-01-23)

• Add unit tests
• Minor documentation improvements
• Minor code reformatting (spacing, bracing)
• Note compatibility through WP 3.8+
• Drop compatibility with version of WP older than 3.6
• Update copyright date (2014)
• Regenerate .pot
• Change donate link
• Update screenshots
• Add banner

2.3

• Deprecate ‘stealth_update_meta_key’ filter in favor of ‘c2c_stealth_update_meta_key’ (but keep it temporarily for backwards compatibility)
• Don’t allow a blank string from ‘c2c_stealth_update_meta_key’ to override the default meta key name
• Remove private static $textdomain and its use; include textdomain name as string in translation calls
• Remove function load_textdomain()
• Add check to prevent execution of code if file is directly accessed
• Re-license as GPLv2 or later (from X11)
• Add ‘License’ and ‘License URI’ header tags to readme.txt and plugin file
• Regenerate .pot
• Tweak description
• Minor improvements to inline and readme documentation
• Minor code reformatting
• Remove ending PHP close tag
• Remove commented out debugging code
• Note compatibility through WP 3.5+
• Tweak installation instructions in readme.txt
• Update copyright date (2013)
• Move screenshots into repo’s assets directory

2.2.1

• Add version() to return plugin’s version
• Update readme with example and documentation for new filter
• Note compatibility through WP 3.3+
• Update screenshots for WP 3.3
• Use DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR instead of hardcoded ‘/’
• Create ‘lang’ subdirectory and move .pot file into it
• Regenerate .pot
• Add ‘Domain Path’ directive to top of main plugin file
• Add link to plugin directory page to readme.txt
• Update copyright date (2012)

2.2

• Add filter ‘c2c_stealth_update_default’ to allow configuring checkbox to be checked by default
• Note compatibility through WP 3.2+
• Minor code formatting changes (spacing)
• Fix plugin homepage and author links in description in readme.txt

2.1

• Switch from object instantiation to direct class invocation
• Explicitly declare all functions public static and class variables private static
• Note compatibility through WP 3.1+
• Update copyright date (2011)

2.0.2

• Bugfix for auto-save losing value of stealth update status

2.0.1

• Define Text Domain plugin header
• Supply textdomain to localization functions
• Rename class from ‘StealthUpdate’ to ‘c2c_StealthUpdate’
• Add Frequently Asked Questions and Filters sections to readme.txt
• Readme updates
• Add .pot file

2.0

• Add checkbox labeled ‘Stealth update?’ to Publish meta_box rather than requiring direct use of custom fields
• Add class of ‘c2c-stealth-update’ to admin UI div containing checkbox
• Add filter ‘stealth_update_meta_key’ to allow overriding custom field key name
• Re-implemented entire approach
• Remove functions add_js(), admin_menu(), add_meta_box()
• Store plugin instance in global variable, $c2c_stealth_update, to allow for external manipulation
• Full support for localization
• Remove docs from top of plugin file (all that and more are in readme.txt)
• Minor code reformatting (spacing)
• Add PHPDoc documentation
• Note compatibility with WP 3.0+
• Drop compatibility with versions of WP older than 2.9
• Update screenshots
• Update copyright date
• Add package info to top of plugin file
• Add Changelog and Upgrade Notice sections to readme.txt
• First commit to WP plugin repository

1.0

• Initial release