To someone who hasn’t dealt with this problem before, this issue probably seems pretty intimidating (at least I think it did to me when I first got it). However, this is most likely a simple fix.

Arriving at the Problem

First, let’s talk about how I came about this problem today so you can avoid it in the future.

To speed things up, I like to keep a copy of the most recent version of WordPress on my computer with a few modifications. One thing I modify is the wp-config.php file; here are some of the changes:

/** MY CHANGES **/

// creates fewer database queries, thus improving performance
define('WP_HOME', 'http://URL.com');
define('WP_SITEURL', 'http://URL.com');

This will screw things up if I don’t replace 'http://URL.com' with the correct URL. More specifically, I get the “clear your old database tables first” message from WordPress. This is what happened today when I transferred a theme from my server to a client’s.

The Solution

<!-- EDIT -->
Quickest and easiest way in the comments. I haven’t tested it yet, but I know and trust the source.

1. Log in to phpMyAdmin (or other database management tool).

   You should be able to find phpMyAdmin in the control panel of your hosting account.

   With lunarpages, you need to click on MySQL Databases and scroll to the very bottom and click the phpMyAdmin link.

   With AT&T, you get to the control panel by adding /ControlPanel/ to the end of your URL.

   1. Once you log in, click on databases in the left column.
   2. If you haven’t already enabled MySQL, click MySQL under databases,
   3. create a password,
   4. and click the enable button on the right.
   5. Right beneath MySQL, click phpMyAdmin
   6. and enable it by clicking the button on the right.
   7. Then click the link that reads “Administer MySQL with phpMyAdmin.” Log in and you’ll be in phpMyAdmin.

   
   
   

   I haven’t had to do this with any other hosts so if you need help, contact your host, leave a comment, or send me an email and I’ll do my best to help you figure it out.

2. After logging in, you should be on a page that has a sidebar on the left with a list of all your databases. Click on the name of the database from which you need to clear tables.



<!-- I’m pretty sure this next step is irreversible, so make sure you’re on the right database -->

3. Now you just need to select all the tables that begin with the “wp_” prefix and choose “Drop” from the drop-down menu.
4. Make sure your wp-config.php file has all the correct information in it, and go to http://example.com/wp-admin/install.php/.

You should be good to go now. If you’re still having trouble, leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do. Also, if you have anything to add, feel free to do so in the comments.

For instance, I’m working on a site now where I want to display some pages in the sidebar, but not all, so I use the template tag “wp list pages” and the parameter “exclude.”

Here’s how the code looks:
<?php wp_list_pages(‘title_li=&exclude=PAGE_ID’); ?>

Problem is, I don’t know the page IDs and it’s not listed anywhere in Pages > Edit. However if you choose a specific page to edit, the URL in the navigation bar will end in “post=PAGE_ID”.

If you need multiple page IDs, go to Pages > Edit. The URL that titles point to ends in the page ID. In Firefox you can just hover over the link and look in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

My code ended up looking like this:
<?php wp_list_pages(‘title_li=&exclude=2, 308, 310, 312’); ?>

I found a few tutorials on how to create a local copy of an existing WordPress installation, but they were all very slightly off for someone using MAMP. I first got MAMP when I was learning how to install WordPress locally and since it works great, I didn’t want to install another local server environment.

Anyway, on to the instructions:

Exporting Your WordPress Database

1. Log in to phpMyAdmin through your host (usually in the cPanel). I use lunarpages so I’ll tell you how to get there on their site:
   <!–– Dave Hubler kindly left a comment on a slight difference for those using limedomains as their host. Thanks, broseph. ––>
   1. Log in by clicking the link in the header.
   2. Make sure you have the right hosting account selected in the drop-down menu and click Control Panel. If you have more than one hosting account, you’ll have to click the “Go to cPanel” button.
   3. Click on MySQL Databases among all the icons and scroll all the way to the bottom and click on the “phpMyAdmin” link.
2. Select the WordPress database from the sidebar on the left. Remember this database name for a future step.



3. Click the Export tab at the top, make sure everything is selected in the box on the left, the SQL radio button is selected, and the Data checkbox to the right is checked. Select the Save as file checkbox and click Go.

Importing Your WP Database into Your Local Copy

1. Download, install, and open MAMP if you haven’t already.
2. Using your FTP client, copy your site’s root folder to /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/
3. Go to the MAMP Start Page and click on phpMyAdmin.
   <!-- NOTE -->
   If for some reason MAMP didn’t start the servers and open the start page upon launch, do so now by clicking the buttons in the UI.
4. On the phpMyAdmin homepage there is an option to create a new database. Enter the database name from step 2 in Exporting Your WordPress Database and click Create.
5. Click on the new database in the sidebar on the left then choose the Import tab at the top.



6. Click Browse and select the database file you downloaded earlier. Click Go in the bottom left.

Setting Up Your Username and Password for Your Local Database

1. Go to the homepage of your local phpMyAdmin and choose Privileges from the MySQL column on the left.
2. Click Add a new User under the list of existing users.
3. Enter your username and password from the remote database.
   <!-- NOTE -->
   If you don’t remember your username and password, open your wp-config file and get the info there.
4. For Host, choose Local if the host in your wp-config file is localhost. Otherwise, choose Any.
5. Click Check All under Global privileges and click Go.

Setting the Proper URL

1. Go to the homepage of your local phpMyAdmin and choose your database from the column on the left.
2. Select Browse next to the table wp_options.



3. Find the option_name siteurl and click the corresponding edit link. Change the option_value to http://localhost:8888/root_folder_name and click Go.
   <!-- NOTE -->
   If using something other than MAMP, you’ll probably have to type http://localhost/root_folder_name



4. Find the option_name home and set the option_value to the same as you did for siteurl.

That should be it!

Make sure MAMP is running and check http://localhost:8888/root_folder_name (or http://localhost/root_folder_name) to see your local site.

I’m using LightWindow to display some of my work in my portfolio. LightWindow uses JavaScript, as does the method I used to display my latest tweet. I don’t really understand why, but whichever of the .js files was linked to last was the only one that would work. Speaking with my friend Joel led me to the solution.

I had to run the function jQuery.noConflict() and replace each $ with jQuery. It’s explained in more detail on the jQuery site, so if you’re still having trouble, I suggest looking there.

Here’s how my code looks now:

<script src="http://curtisblackwell.com/js/jquery-1.3.2.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">

	jQuery.noConflict();
		jQuery(function(){
			jQuery.getJSON('http://twitter.com/status/user_timeline/curtisblackwell.json?count=1&callback=?', function(data){
				jQuery.each(data, function(index, item){
					jQuery('#tweetscreen').append('<div id="tweetz"><p id="last-tweet">' + item.text + '<span id="blink">' + '|' + '</span>' + '</p></div>');
				});
			});
		});

</script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="/lightwindow/javascript/prototype.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/lightwindow/javascript/scriptaculous.js?load=effects"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/lightwindow/javascript/lightwindow.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/lightwindow/css/lightwindow.css" type="text/css" media="screen" />

<!-- EDIT -->
I have since linked to a javascript file so that my page validates, but the code is the same.