Affiliator 0.1.3 released
May 28th, 2008
I apologize for the lack of updates recently. My real job has kept me very busy for the past few months. This is just a quick update to allow you to change the format of the generated HTML links, as requested by a user. The user who requested this needed his links in the following format:
[http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000JRSB/?tag=doggettc-20][Buy Final Fantasy VII] (seriously, buy it from the third-party seller with the same name as me, so I can build a new non-slow computer)
The simplest solution was to allow you to specify your own link formats, so I’ve added a field to the Affiliator options page under Tools->Addons that allows just that. To help you get started, here are some common formats:
- Default HTML: <a href=”#{GENERATED_LINK}” target=”_blank”>#{PRODUCT_TITLE}</a>
- BBCode: [url=#{GENERATED_LINK}]#{PRODUCT_TITLE}[/url]
- User request from above: [#{GENERATED_LINK}][Buy #{PRODUCT_TITLE}]
It should be fairly easy to get your links into whatever format you (or your blog/site) prefer. Just make sure you set your generated links to auto-wrap after setting your format, and the work will be done for you.
I’ve also added a PayPal donation link to the sidebar, at the same user’s suggestion. If you’d like to support the development of Affiliator, all donations are greatly appreciated. They will mostly be used to buy turkey for the cat pictured in the sidebar, to keep him from crying and distracting me from writing code.
Lastly, I haven’t forgotten the users’ requests for multiple international affiliate link generation (with link status checking). That’s coming soon, I just haven’t had time to work on this lately, and I’m horribly sorry for the delay.
I lied, that wasn’t the last thing. Here’s the link for the new version on Mozilla Addons:
If you like Affiliator, please write a review on that page. The more reviews it gets, the sooner it goes public, which means it will automatically notify you of updates.
Thank you all again for your support of this project.


June 19th, 2008 at 11:05 AM
This addon looks absolutely divine – I can’t imagine how much time I’ll save. Except I can’t install it! FF3 on OS X gives me:
—
Firefox could not install the file at
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/downloads/file/29355/affiliator-0.1.3-fx.xpi
because: Invalid file hash (possible download corruption)
-261
—
Any ideas?
June 19th, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Hi Becky,
Thanks for trying Affiliator. I’ve seen this problem before with another user, and the problem then was a corrupted download from Mozilla Addons. Clearing your cache and restarting Firefox, then redownloading the extension. Due to the release of FF3, Mozilla Addons was swamped, and it may have dropped some packets during the download, causing it to corrupt.
If that doesn’t solve your problem, please let me know, and I’ll send you a known-good copy in an email.
Thanks,
Chris
January 26th, 2010 at 9:43 PM
I hope I’m not just doing something stupid but I installed this AddOn, restarted Firefox (most recent version as of Jan 26, 2009 on both Mac and PC) and I can’t find the Affiliator menu item anywhere. But Firefox says that the AddOn is installed.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:30 PM
Mike, are you on an Amazon product page? That should be the only place the menu shows up. Otherwise, it stays hidden. You can also right-click the toolbar (with the forward/back/reload/home buttons), choose “Customize”, and add the Affiliator icon to the toolbar, which will be disabled unless you’re on an Amazon product page.
Hope that helps.