rangerhq-logbook/CHANGELOG.md

# Changelog

All notable changes to **A-WP-Notes** are documented here.
Format: [Keep a Changelog 1.1.0](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/) — versioning: [SemVer](https://semver.org/).

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## [Unreleased]

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## [3.1.0] — 2026-05-25

A single-day UX polish + bug-fix release. Nine commits worth of
work, focused on the main "My Notes" admin page: stripping out
years of layout debt, tightening the menu structure, removing
duplicates, and adding the per-user persistent dismissal of the
empty-state notice. No data migration required; storage model
unchanged (notes still live in `wp_options`).

### Removed — Tools → My Notes shortcut (with backward-compatible redirect)
The "Tools → My Notes" admin menu shortcut has been removed. It
routed to a separate bare-bones form at `?page=wp-notes-create`
rendered by `wp_notes_create_page()` — a stripped-down create form
with no notes list, no styling, and no parity with the main page.

The shortcut was a third route to "create a note" duplicating the
two that already exist and work better:

1. **WP Notes → My Notes** in the admin sidebar (the proper page —
   styled form + active/completed lists + edit + restore).
2. **Admin bar → WP Notes → New Note** quick-access (jumps to the
   form on the main page via `#new-note` anchor).

**Backward-compat redirect:** anyone hitting the legacy
`?page=wp-notes-create` URL (stale bookmark, old email link, etc.)
is now `wp_safe_redirect()`-ed to `?page=wp-notes` via an
`admin_init` hook. No 404 / no "you do not have sufficient
permissions" page.

**Code removed:**
- `wp_notes_add_tools_menu()` registration (the `add_management_page`
  call and its `add_action('admin_menu', ...)` hook).
- `wp_notes_create_page()` function body in full — the bare-bones
  form renderer, no longer referenced anywhere.

### Added — Persistent dismissal of the empty-state notice (user_meta)
The "No active/completed notes found" notice was already
dismissible per-page-load, but pressing X only hid it for the
current view — it returned on the next refresh. The dismissal is
now persisted to **user_meta** per-user-per-list-type, so once you
close it, it stays closed until you reset the flag.

**Mechanics:**
- `inc/wp-notes-display.php` checks
  `get_user_meta(uid, 'wp_notes_dismissed_empty_<type>')` before
  rendering and skips the notice entirely when set.
- `wp_ajax_wp_notes_dismiss_empty` (new handler in `wp-notes.php`)
  validates a nonce + `edit_posts` capability, then writes the flag
  via `update_user_meta()`. Accepts `type` of `active` or
  `completed`; rejects anything else.
- An inline jQuery handler in `wp_notes_add_inline_scripts()` listens
  for clicks on `.wp-notes-empty .notice-dismiss` (WP core's auto-
  injected X button), reads the data-attributes off the notice, and
  fires the AJAX call. WP core still handles the visual hide.
- The notice element carries `data-wp-notes-empty-type` and a fresh
  per-render `data-wp-notes-nonce` for the round trip.

**Reset:** the flag is per-user-meta keyed
`wp_notes_dismissed_empty_active` /
`wp_notes_dismissed_empty_completed`. To make the notice reappear
for a user, an admin can clear those keys (or `wp_delete_user`
removes them automatically). A UI button to reset dismissed notices
is not built yet — flagged as a future enhancement if needed.

### Fixed — Duplicate "Create a New WP Note" form at the bottom of My Notes
A second, bare-bones *"Create a New WP Note"* form was being
rendered at the **bottom** of the My Notes page, below the active
and completed lists. The form at the **top** (the proper `Add New
Note` postbox with color/size/font/emoji controls) is the intended
one — the bottom one was a duplicate, redundant from a UX standpoint.

**Root cause:** WordPress registers BOTH the parent menu's callback
AND a submenu's callback against the same page hook when the two
share a `menu_slug`. When `?page=wp-notes` is requested, both fire
in registration order. The submenu was passing `wp_notes_create_page`
as its callback (a separate bare-form renderer used by the
Tools-menu shortcut), so its output was getting appended below the
main page.

**Fix:** the My Notes submenu now passes an **empty string** as the
callback — the standard WP pattern when a submenu just relabels the
parent (same slug, same target page). Only the parent's
`wp_notes_page_callback` renders now. The `wp_notes_create_page`
function is unchanged and still serves the Tools → My Notes
shortcut at `?page=wp-notes-create`.

### Fixed — Empty-state notice ("No notes found") now dismissible
The "No active notes found" / "No completed notes found" inline
notice on the My Notes page rendered with `class="notice notice-info"`
but no `is-dismissible` modifier, so WordPress's core common.js
never attached an X close button to it. Users couldn't clear the
message for the current view. Adding `is-dismissible` is the only
change — WP core handles the X button render + click-to-hide
automatically. Dismissal is per-page-load (the message reappears on
next refresh if the list is still empty); persistence across
reloads would need user_meta tracking and isn't built yet.

**Notice inventory after this fix** — every notice the plugin emits
is now both dismissible AND only fires in its intended state:

| Notice | Class | Fires when |
|---|---|---|
| "No active/completed notes found" | `notice notice-info is-dismissible` | List is empty |
| Migration prompt | `notice notice-info is-dismissible` | `wp_notes_migration_completed` option is unset |
| Settings save / import errors / import success | rendered by core `settings_errors()` (auto-dismissible since WP 4.2) | Only on form submission events |

### Changed — Removed duplicate smiley-face button on the emoji picker
The "Add emoji" formatting option rendered two clickable elements
stacked: the *"Click to add emoji"* text input AND a separate button
beside it with a smiley-face dashicon. Both opened the same dropdown
picker — visually duplicated and slightly confusing. The standalone
button has been removed; clicking the input itself still opens the
picker (the JS already wired both targets to the same handler).
Keyboard navigation (Enter/Space to toggle, Escape to close)
follows focus to the input instead of the now-gone button.
Orphaned `.emoji-picker-button` CSS rule deleted.

### Changed — Menu labels: "Create WP Note" → "My Notes", "About WP Notes" → "About"
- **"Create WP Note" submenu renamed to "My Notes"** (both in the WP
  Notes parent menu and the Tools → quick-access shortcut). The page
  is the central dashboard — create form + active list + completed
  list + edit + restore — so "Create" was misleadingly narrow.
  "My Notes" matches the WP-native `Posts → All Posts` pattern.
- **"About WP Notes" submenu renamed to just "About".** The WP Notes
  brand is already carried by the parent menu, so the submenu can be
  plain-spoken.
- **About page H1 trimmed** to match the Tier-1 style on the main
  page: `<h1>About</h1>` + version chip instead of the old
  *"Welcome to WP Notes About Page v3.0.2"* mouthful. Same
  `wp-heading-inline` + `page-title-action` + `wp-header-end` recipe.
- Removed a redundant nested `<div id="header">` with `display: none`
  on the About page — it was dead markup leftover from an older
  layout.

### Changed — Banner moved to About page (side-by-side intro)
- **Banner image removed from the Create-Note page.** It was the
  first thing under the page title and took up significant vertical
  space before the user even saw the textarea. The Create-Note page
  is for *doing*, not for *reading-about*.
- **Banner added to the top of the About page** in a new
  side-by-side row: banner image on the left (capped at 320px wide,
  not full-bleed), and a short intro paragraph + "Go to WP Notes →"
  CTA on the right. Stacks vertically on narrow screens via
  `flex-wrap`. Lives inside its own `.wp-notes-about-intro` block so
  it doesn't interact with the rest of the About page's nested
  toggles.
- **`.wp-notes-header-banner` / `.wp-notes-banner-img` CSS removed**
  from `wp-notes-styles.php` — no longer used.

### Changed — Tier 1 UX cleanup
Single pass through `wp_notes_page_callback()` to remove the layout
debt that had built up over previous releases. Functionality is
unchanged; the page is shorter, has one H1, and stops contradicting
itself.

- **Single H1** on the page — was five (`Welcome to WP Notes`,
  `Welcome to WP Notes v3.0.2`, `About WP Notes`, `What WP Notes
  Offers`, `What's New in WP Notes v3.0.2`). Now: just
  `WP Notes` with the version chip alongside. Accessibility + SEO.
- **"Welcome / About" content** collapsed from THREE on-page
  surfaces (a dismissible top notice + a nested toggle + a manual
  "Show Welcome Message" button) down to a single one-line
  description that links to the dedicated About page where the long
  copy already lives.
- **Duplicate "Toggle Welcome Section" buttons removed.** Both
  outer and inner toggle buttons had the **same label** but
  different targets — genuinely confusing. Both gone.
- **"What's New v3.0.0" embedded changelog block removed.** It was
  hard-coded to v3.0.0 while the plugin reports v3.0.2 — the embed
  was lying. The real history lives in `CHANGELOG.md` now.
- **"Buy me a coffee" button moved from page header to page footer**
  — promo content should not be the first thing under the page
  title. Now sits at the bottom of the notes lists, centred, where
  footer items belong.
- **Invalid HTML cleaned up** — `<li>` tags outside `<ul>`, `<p>`
  tags wrapping `<div>` / `<ul>`. Was in the deleted welcome blob,
  so resolved by removal.
- **Dead bulk-action UI removed** — both the per-row checkboxes and
  the "Select all" header column in `wp_notes_display_notes()` and
  `wp_notes_list_table()` were rendered but nothing acted on the
  selection. Removed both, with an inline comment marking the spot
  for when real bulk-actions get wired up. Edit-form colspan
  adjusted (`6` → `4`) to match the new column count.
- **Inline `<style>` and `<script>` blocks for the dismissed
  about-box** (~80 lines of localStorage-based dismiss tracking and
  show/hide logic) **deleted** along with the about-box itself —
  WordPress's own `notice notice-info is-dismissible` and the
  user-meta dismissal API are the correct path if a banner needs to
  return.
- **`toggleSection()` JS helper removed** — no toggles remain on
  the page after the welcome-blob deletion.

### Fixed (PHP 8.2 deprecation)
- `${size}px` → `{$size}px` in the dashboard list-table render.
  `${var}` string interpolation is deprecated in PHP 8.2 and will
  hard-error in PHP 9.

### Notes
- The dedicated **About** page (`Settings → WP Notes → About WP
  Notes`) is unchanged and still renders `wp_notes_about_page()` from
  `inc/wp-notes-about.php`. All the long welcome/about copy lives
  there — exactly where it belongs.
- Banner image still renders, in its own bordered container at the
  top of the page. Moved out of the deleted nested toggle so it
  actually shows.
- Storage model is unchanged — notes still live in `wp_options`
  under `wp_notes` / `wp_done_notes`. The UX cleanup is purely
  presentational.

### Fixed
- **"Add New Note" sidebar submenu opening the WordPress post editor.**
  The plugin registered a `wp_note` custom post type with
  `show_ui => true` and `show_in_menu => 'wp-notes'`, which caused
  WordPress to auto-inject "All Notes" and "Add New" submenus under
  the WP Notes admin menu. The "Add New" submenu routed to
  `post-new.php?post_type=wp_note` — the standard WordPress post
  editor — but the live plugin stores notes in `wp_options`
  (`get_option('wp_notes')`), not as CPT posts. Saving in the post
  editor wrote to the wrong storage and the new note never appeared
  in the WP Notes list. Discovered 2026-05-25.

  Fixed by setting `show_ui` and `show_in_menu` to `false` on the
  `wp_note` CPT, and `show_ui` / `show_admin_column` /
  `show_in_rest` to `false` on the `wp_note_category` taxonomy. The
  CPT and taxonomy remain registered so `wp_notes_migrate_to_cpt()`
  can still use `wp_insert_post()` if/when the migration is run.
  The form on the actual WP Notes page (the one that POSTs to the
  same admin page) continues to work unchanged.

### Notes
- The plugin currently uses **two storage models**: the active one is
  `wp_options` (key `wp_notes`, with completed notes in
  `wp_done_notes`). The CPT + meta storage is the *target* of an
  unfinished migration; the helper `wp_notes_migrate_to_cpt()` is
  defined but unused by the live UI. Until that migration is
  completed, hiding the CPT from the admin UI prevents users from
  accidentally writing to the wrong store.

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## [3.0.2] — 2025-05-10 (last released version, baseline)

The v3 "without all the crap" release. Trimmed from the v1.1.5
feature-creep era which had bolted on:

- AI chat (multiple variants)
- AI personalities
- Journal mode
- Speedtest
- Tamagotchi (yes, really)
- Backup
- And more

v3 strips back to the essentials:

- Notes list (in `wp_options`)
- Create note form (color, size, font, emoji)
- Admin bar quick-access menu
- Settings page
- Import / Export
- About page
- Update checker

This baseline entry exists for historical context; future releases
should keep adding entries above and remove this note once a real
changelog history accrues.