PHP Auto Update Script 1.2 adds option to execute raw MySQL queries inside scripts directly from updates server.

If you read our blog or follow phpmillion on Twitter, you probably remember our last month’s promise for even more good news to PHP developers. If you don’t, refresh your memory here – Auto PHP Licenser 2.0: GOD Mode Activated! Today, we are happy to release PHP Auto Update Script 1.2; a significant improvement to the best-rated PHP auto update system on Envato marketplace. And this is probably the most exciting feature ever:

Added: option to execute raw MySQL queries inside scripts directly from updates server;

In case you are new to our PHP self-update system, let us briefly explain how it works. Beside offering many other features, it enables authors to upload and store script files and MySQL queries separately. Now, when new version adds changes to code, author can make a small upgrade package containing new/modified files only. As a result, PHP self-update script on client’s machine can download a tiny archive containing only new files and apply update in seconds. In other words, client doesn’t need to re-download whole installation package with new version every time a new release is available. Needless to say, such a feature greatly reduces upgrade time and improves overall user’s experience. Vice-versa, when new version only adds changes to database, developer can create a small package with single *.sql file. Now, if complete script uses 10 MB (just an example) of space, user can update his installation by downloading and executing one *.sql file (which usually is less than 10 KB in size), thus reducing download size 1000x or more!

With this in mind, PHP Auto Update Script 1.2 goes one step further and enables developers to fetch and execute MySQL queries right from their servers. How does it work? When new version introduces changes to database, author doesn’t even need to configure PHP auto update system to download *.sql files to client’s machine. Instead, he can setup script to automatically fetch and execute a corresponding MySQL query right from his server once new version is available. Sure enough, PHP self-update system enables developers to customize updates engine in full;. For example, author #1 might automatically execute queries in background every time an update is released. Author #2 might display a notification to user that script is about to be updated. Author #3 might just want to notify user about new version and let him decide if he wants to upgrade. The possibilities are endless!

Plus many more new features, updates and improvements.

Another useful change to PHP self-update script is this:

Added: function to recursively delete individual files and directories in any location;

It’s no secret that new versions continuously drop support for out-of-date extensions, migrate to new modules, and so on. In effect, updated installations contain more and more unused files left by previous versions. Starting with v1.2, we suggest developers to cleanup after themselves every time they release an update. If new version doesn’t need some files anymore, all author has to do is pass their names as argument to ausDeleteFileDirectory function. PHP auto update system will automatically locate and delete these files in script’s installation directory, effectively reducing disk space usage and increasing script’s performance. All this and even more – on autopilot!

After all, v1.2 brings many other changes and improvements to update PHP scripts faster. As usually, you will find them in the changelog. With this in mind, launch Software Updates section in your administration dashboard, click Upgrade Now button and enjoy our hard work!

Oh, did we mention a new Demo Script? It’s a real-life application, which we created for you to show how easy you can to integrate PHP Auto Update Script into any PHP-based script. Run, test and enjoy it!