Pressbits 005: Don’t delete plugin options on deactivation

What this episode covers

In this episode of Pressbits I discuss my pet peeve of plugin developers deleting my options settings on deactivation, rather than upon uninstallation. You should listen to it, especially if you’re a plugin developer. Download audio file (Pressbits-0005-plugin-options-and-deactivation.mp3) If you would rather download it directly you can do that too , or subscribe to this show via RSS or on iTunes . If you would prefer a written summary, you can also read that just after the jump. Deactivating and uninstalling a plugin are not the same thing Let’s talk about plugin options. Specifically, what I expect as a user when I deactivate a plugin, versus uninstall one. WordPress has some hooks built in that help enable plugin others to do things, namely register_activation_hook , register_deactivation_hook , and register_uninstall_hook . The deactivation hook and uninstall hook are great places to trigger certain things. Unfortunately, too many plugin authors unset options in the wrong one. When I deactivate a plugin, I’m not really trying to totally remove the plugin from my site, but rather just turn it off. So when a plugin author deletes all of the options I’ve selected on a plugins’ settings screen on the deactivation hook, it makes me angry that I have to go and reset them when I turn it back on. So angry that I might just find another solution for what your plugin is doing. What they should be doing instead, is removing these options, and everything else, with the uninstall hook. When i uninstall a plugin completely, it is safe to assume I am finished with it, and it is the appropriate place to take such action. But when I simply deactivate, in all likelihood I’m just debugging something in my theme or another plugin, or maybe backing up or upgrading something. So consider this a friendly message to plugin developers, and future plugin developers – remove options on the uninstall hook, and not the deactivation hook. You just finished reading Pressbits 005: Don't delete plugin options on deactivation on WPCandy . Please consider leaving a comment!

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