Thanks to an observant user (Rob) for flagging me on an important bug whose fix now forces the release of Role Scoper 1.0.0 Beta 6. The bug only pertains to previous 1.0.0 Beta releases.  The new bulk administration form for setting Post/Page restrictions did not correctly store the restriction data for the Post/Page Reader or Editor roles.  Note: Since the bug generated incomplete database entries, the version update alone will not fix affected entries. Any blogs which used RS 1.0.0 Beta 1 through 5 to set these restrictions should:

1. Install this update
2. Re-save the restrictions using either bulk admin or the individual post/page edit form

The recent 1.0.0 beta releases correct a conflict with the Bad Behavior and WP Super Cache plugins, and add Windows Live Writer compatibility. Anyone experiencing conflicts with other plugins or tools should first refer to the Plugin Compatibility Guide.  Please report any undocumented issues to the support forum.

A few bugs and plugin compatibility issues are also fixed:

• doc: added RoleScoper_PluginCompat.html to document plugin incompatibilities.  Includes code edit workarounds for Exec-PHP and Maintenance Mode plugins.

• fixed: Windows Live Writer XML-RPC support (technical FYI: WLW passes post_id=1 for new posts)

• fixed: WP Super Cache compatibility

• fixed: For non-Admin users, “Edit Comments” listing omitted some comments, duplicated others

• fixed: Call to undefined function wpp_cache_flush_group() for some installations

31 Oct Update:

I just discovered this beta release had admin menu display problems when running the ozh menu plugin with WP 2.6.  The Restrictions menu was not displayed properly when viewing Roles, and vice versa.  For expedience, the download “beta4.zip” now actually contains the slightly revised beta4b.

• feature: Filter Recent Comments list (built-in widget) according to post/page visibility

• fixed: Post/Page restrictions were not applied; resulting “array_keys” error message

• fixed: PHP error message in post/page edit form above role assignment tabs

• fixed: Group administrator assignments were not created / modified

• fixed: PHP error message “wrong datatype in… admin-bulk_rs.php” in post/page edit form, php

• fixed: In some wp-admin cases, category count query was not filtered correctly; resulting db error

After chewing on some of the more difficult feature requests and recurring user interface critique for almost three months, it’s high time I released Role Scoper 1.0.0 Beta 1.  Note that this version is not ready for WP 2.7.  It is ready to greatly simplify and empower your role administration, though please note that this beta version is not production-ready. Testing, bug reports, documentation help, and some employment would all be appreciated.

Here is the hefty list of new features and fixes:

• change: Group administration is now linked from Users tab
• change: User and Group role assignments are handled together via Roles tab
• change: Realm settings are now a subtab within Options
• feature: Inline hints below admin page headers provide a brief description, can be disabled
• change: “Exclusive Section Roles” are now called “Category Restrictions”, “Link Category Restrictions”, etc.
• change: “Exclusive Object Roles” are now called “Page Restrictions”, “Post Restrictions”, etc.
• change: “Blog Roles” are now called “General Roles”
• change: Simplified menu navigation: Restrictions and Roles tabs each have Category, Link Category, Post, Page subtabs
• feature: Propagation of Page/Post Restrictions (for child pages/posts)
• feature: Bulk administration of Page and Post Roles
• feature: Bulk administration of Page and Post Restrictions
• feature: Improved navigation & viewing of tree Category / Page / Post bulk admin
• feature: Default Restrictions
• feature: Default Roles
• feature: Default Groups
• feature: Pending Revisions
• Contributors can edit posts/pages, creating a pending rev which an editor can “restore” (requires option setting)
• feature: rs_cache_flush.php can be copied from role-scoper/wp_root_optional to WP root and excecuted manually or by cron to clear a corrupt file cache
• feature: When administering Category Roles or Category Restrictions, Manage menu links to “Manage Categories”
• feature: When administering Page Roles or Page Restrictions, Write and Manage menus link to Page submenus
• feature: Option to hide the private posts/pages user can’t read, while teasing unreadable published (exclusive) posts/pages
• feature: Option to use the post excerpt as the hidden content teaser
• feature: Role assignment lists are grouped by assign_for, and natural-case alphabetized within each grouping
• feature: “Check role for all categories/pages/posts” shortcut at bottom of bulk admin tree
• fixed: Object roles selection UI highlighting of implicit user roles sometimes failed to account for post/page restrictions
• fixed: Pages list was excluding private pages, even if user could read them
• fixed: Categories containing only private posts were not listed, even if the user had read access
• fixed: Fatal PHP error following deactivation of post / link data source via Role Scoper Realm setting
• fixed: On Manage Pages screen, subpages were displayed without hierarchy for non-admin user in some cases
• fixed: On Manage Links screen, links were duplicated and possibly non-editable
• fixed: Non-editors did could not view/edit gallery items attached to their post/page
• fixed: On the WP “Edit Category” page, Group names were not displayed in the Group Roles table
• fixed: On the WP “Edit Category” page, User/Group names for “child sections only” role assignments were not grayed
• fixed: On the WP “Edit Category” page, key was duplicated for group/user roles and wasn’t formatted correctly
• fixed: Double underlines on prev, next, top links in Section Roles and Exclusive Sections admin pages
• fixed: In Role tabs of Post/Page Edit form, checkbox captions refreshed erratically in IE6
• fixed: On post/page deletion, restrictions (Exclusive Object Roles) were not deleted
• fixed: Prevent line breaks in various administrative links
• fixed: File cache was effectively disabled if certain Options or Realm settings were modified
• performance: Memory caching of non-stored options to eliminate 5-10 queries in some configurations
• change: Roles propagated on term/object creation get assigner_id 0

Known remaining bugs include Windows Live Writer incompatability, possible issues with Link editing / role administration.  Plugin compatability issues remain with ozh dropdown (simply because I’ve not yet taken advantage of its new menu hooks), Exec-PHP, Mini-Meta, WP-Postratings, Flutter, Microkid.  These issues, as well as WP 2.7 support and a documented workaround for the Maintenance Mode plugin conflict, should be included in a 1.0.0 release within the next 2-3 weeks.

Thanks for your patience in waiting on forum support as I completed this intense revision.  May it serve as a useful tool for your collaborative efforts at constructive and creative communication.

In wp-content/plugins/role-scoper/hardway/hardway_rs.php, add:
if ( ! empty($child_of) && ! empty($depth) && ( 1 == $depth ) ) {
foreach ( $pages as $key => $page ) {
if ( isset($page->post_parent) && ( $child_of != $page->post_parent ) )
unset($pages[$key]);
}
}
just before:
$cache[ $ckey ] = $pages;

Thanks to Marci for the bug report.

In wp-content/plugins/role-scoper/hardway/hardway_rs.php, add
if ( $list_private_pages ) $request = str_replace("AND post_status='publish'", "AND ( post_status IN ('publish','private') )", $request);
just before

if ( ( ! is_admin() && ! defined('XMLRPC_REQUEST')
As you know may know, this functionality also requires enabling the checkbox “include Private Pages in listing if user can read them” in Role Scoper Options.

An equivalent fix will be included in the next Role Scoper revision.

Also in Role Scoper 0.9.27 are a few fixes related to post editing by users with limited category access:

• fixed: Extremely slow loading of Page Parent dropdown due to recursive queries on page edit by non-administrator

• fixed: If a user who lacks editing capabilities in the default category saves a page without selecting a category, the post was stored as draft/pending in category “-1″ and the user could not re-edit it

• feature: If post would be set to default category but user lacks save/edit/publish capability there, it is instead defaulted to first category in user’s available list

• fixed: Post/Page counts on Manage Posts/Pages were not filtered correctly for users with ID > 9