# 404 Solution #

Automatically redirect 404s when the slug matches (for permalink changes), when a very similar name match is found, or always to a default page.

## Description ##

404 Solution logs 404s and allows them to be redirected to pages that exist. Redirects can also be created based on the best possible match for the URL the visitor was most likely trying to reach.

### Features: ###

* Redirect 404 URLs to existing pages or ignore them.
* Automatically create redirects based on the URL the visitor was most likely trying to visit.
* Get a list of 404 URLs as they happen.
* View logs of hits to 404 pages and redirects including referrer data.
* WooCommerce compatible - pages, posts, products, and custom post types are supported.
* Create automatic redirects for any URL resolving to a single page or post that isn't the current permalink.
* Basic plugin usage statistics.
* Automatically remove redirects when the URL matches a new page or post permalink.
* Automatically remove manual and automatic redirects once they are no longer being used.

Convert your 404 traffic by providing your visitors with a better browsing experience and eliminate 404 URLs on your site.

## Etc ##
* Untested: Test whether changing the permalink structure twice (3 different permalinks structures total) causes us to
    forward twice unnecessarily. Test by doing the following: Choose a permalink structre, create a page, change the 
    permalink structure, go to the old URL of the page to create an automatic redirect, change the permalink structure
    to a third type, go to the old URL of the page. Are we forwarded to the second (non-existent) permalink structre and 
    not the current valid one?  Workaround: Delete all redirects and start over.
* To be added: Multilingual support using icl_object_id.

## Installation ##

1. Unzip the files and upload the contents to `/wp-content/plugins/`.
2. Activate the plugin.
3. Use the `Settings -> 404 Solution` options page to set the options.

## Frequently Asked Questions ##

### How long does it take for 404 URLs to start showing up? ###

As long as the "Capture incoming 404 URLs" option is enabled in the options section, the 404 URLs will show up in the captured list as soon as a visitor hits a 404 page.

### Will there be a slow down on my site when running the plugin? ###

No, there should be no noticeable slow down when running the plugin on your site.

### Will this plugin redirect my pages if I change my permalinks structure? ###

Yes! 404 Solution records the page/post ID number and looks up the most current permalink before redirecting the user.

### Can I redirect all 404's to a particular page? ###

Yes. It's as easy as turning on this feature in the options.

## Screenshots ##

1. Admin Options Screen
![1. Admin Options Screen](http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/404-solution/trunk/assets/screenshot-1.jpg)

2. Logs
![2. Logs](http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/404-solution/trunk/assets/screenshot-2.jpg)

3. Create New Redirect
![3. Create New Redirect](http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/404-solution/trunk/assets/screenshot-3.jpg)

## Changelog ##

## Version 1.9.0 (August 12, 2017) ##
* FIX: Allow manual redirects to forward to the home page.
* Improvement: Support user defined post types (defaults are post, page, and product).
* Improvement: Change "Slurp" to "Yahoo! Slurp" and add SeznamBot, Pinterestbot, and UptimeRobot to the list of known bots for the do not log list.

## Version 1.8.2 (August 8, 2017) ##
* FIX: Verify that the daily cleanup cron job is running.
* FIX: Include post type "product" in the spell checker for compatibility with WooCommerce (fix part 1/?).
* FIX: Ignore characters -, _, ., and ~ in URLs when spell checking slugs (for ozzymuppet).

## Version 1.8.1 (June 13, 2017) ##
* Improvement: Add a new link and don't require a link to view the debug file (for perthmetro).

## Version 1.8.0 ##
* Improvement: Do not create captured URLs for specified user agent strings (such as search engine bots).

## Version 1.7.4 (June 8, 2017) ##
* FIX: Try to fix issue #19 for totalfood (Redirects & Captured 404s Not Recording Hits).

## Version 1.7.3 (June 2, 2017) ##
* FIX: Try to fix issue #12 for scidave (Illegal mix of collations).

## Version 1.7.2 (June 1, 2017) ##
* FIX: Try to fix issue #12 for scidave (Call to a member function readFileContents() on a non-object).

## Version 1.7.1 (May 27, 2017) ##
* FIX: Always show the requested URL on the "Logs" tab (even after a redirect is deleted).
* FIX: "View Logs For" on the logs tab shows all of the URLs found in the logs.

## Version 1.7.0 (May 24, 2017) ##
* Improvement: Old log entries are deleted automatically based on the maximum log size.
* Improvement: Log structure improved. Log entries no longer require redirects. 
This means additional functionality can be added in the future, 
such as redirects based on regular expressions and ignoring requests based on user agents.

## Version 1.6.7 (May 3, 2017) ## 
* FIX: Correctly log URLs with only special characters at the end, like /&.
* FIX: Fix a blank options page when a page exists with a parent page (for Mike and wdyim).

## Version 1.6.6 (April 20, 2017) ##
* Improvement: Avoid logging redirects from exact slug matches missing only the trailing slash (avoid canonical 
    redirects - let WordPress handle them).
* Improvement: Remove the "force permalinks" option. That option is always on now.

## Version 1.6.5 ##
* Improvement: Add 500 and "all" to the rows per page option to close issue #8 (Move ALL Captured 404 URLs to Trash).
* FIX: Correct the "Redirects" tab display when the user clicks the link from the settings menu.

## Version 1.6.4 (April 6, 2017) ##
* Improvement: Add a "rows per page" option for pagination for ozzymuppet.
* FIX: Allow an error message to be logged when the logger hasn't been initialized (for totalfood).

## Version 1.6.3 (April 1, 2017) ##
* FIX: Log URLs with queries correctly and add REMOTE_ADDR, HTTP_USER_AGENT, and REQUEST_URI to the debug log for ozzymuppet.
* Improvement: Add a way to import redirects (Tools -> Import) from the old "404 Redirected" plugin for Dave and Mark.

## Version 1.6.2 ##
* FIX: Pagination links keep you on the same tab again.
* FIX: You can empty the trash again.

## Version 1.6.1 ##
* FIX: In some cases editing multiple captured 404s was not possible (when header information was already sent to
    the browser by a different plugin).
* Improvement: Forward using the fallback method of JavaScript (window.location.replace() if sending the Location:
    header does not work due to premature outptut).

## Version 1.6.0 ##
* Improvement: Allow the default 404 page to be the "home page."
* Improvement: Add a debug and error log file for Dave.
* FIX: No duplicate captured URLs are created when a URL already exists and is not in the trash.

## Version 1.5.9 ##
* FIX: Allow creating and editing redirects to external URLs again. 
* Improvement: Add the "create redirect" bulk operation to captured 404s.
* Improvement: Order posts alphabetically in the dropdown list.

## Version 1.5.8 ##
* FIX: Store relative URLs correctly (without the "http://" in front).

## Version 1.5.7 ##
* Improvement: Ignore requests for "draft" posts from "Zemanta Aggregator" (from the "WordPress Related Posts" plugin).
* Improvement: Handle normal ?p=# requests.
* Improvement: Be a little more relaxed about spelling (e.g. aboutt forwards to about).

## Version 1.5.6 ##
* FIX: Deleting logs and redirects in the "tools" section works again.
* Improvement: Permalink structure changes for posts are handled better when the slug matches exactly.
* Improvement: Include screenshots on the plugin page, a banner, and an icon.

## Version 1.5.5 ##
* FIX: Correct duplicate logging. 
* Improvement: Add debug messages.
* Improvement: Reorganize redirect code.

## Version 1.5.4 ##
* FIX: Suggestions can be included via custom PHP code added to 404.php

### Version 1.5.3 ###
* Refactor all code to prepare for WordPress.org release.

### Version 1.5.2 ###
* FIX plugin activation. Avoid "Default value for parameters with a class type hint can only be NULL"
* Add a Settings link to the WordPress plugins page.

### Version 1.5.1 ###
* Prepare for release on WordPress.org.
* Sanitize, escape, and validate POST calls.

### Version 1.5.0 ###
* Rename to 404 Solution (forked from 404 Redirected at https://github.com/ThemeMix/redirectioner)
* Update branding links
* Add an option to redirect all 404s to a specific page.
* When a slug matches a post exactly then redirect to that post (score +100). This covers cases when permalinks change.