unable to detect broken links inside embedded shortcodes

  • Resolved MrPhunin

    (@mrphunin)


    5 months ago

    Hi there,

    I’m really happy with how the Broken Link Notifier plugin works — it detects normal broken links beautifully!

    However, I’ve noticed that it doesn’t seem to detect broken links inside embedded shortcodes.
    For example, this broken embedded link goes unnoticed:

    [evp_embed_video url="https://storage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/BigBuckError.mp4"]

    It looks like the plugin doesn’t currently scan URLs that are part of shortcode attributes (like inside [evp_embed_video]). Easy Video Player plugin

    Would it be possible to add support for checking URLs inside shortcodes as well?
    That would make the plugin even more complete and super helpful for people embedding videos or other media.

    Thanks a lot for your great work on this tool!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Plugin Support Aristocles

    (@aristocles)

    5 months ago

    Hi again, @mrphunin! 🙂

    The plugin scans pages via JavaScript and AJAX after the page loads and the shortcodes are rendered, so it would not be able to see links inside shortcode parameters. The only way I can think as a general workaround would be to add the URL to a hidden element underneath the shortcode. For example: <a href="https://yoururl.com" style="display: none;">Name of Link for Reference</a>. The plugin still finds broken hidden links. Not sure if that helps.

    I thought about adding support for it in the multi-scan; however, it’s more important to scan the rendered shortcodes, and it’s performance-heavy to scan the page twice (pre-rendered and then post-rendered), so I nixed the idea.

    If you share a link with me to a page that has the video shortcode, or share the rendered code output with me, I can look at it and see if I can add support for the video embed, though. I’ve done that with a couple of video viewers. Let me know. If you’re sharing a private link, you can jump on Discord (https://discord.gg/3HnzNEJVnR) or email me ([email protected]).

    Ari

    Thread Starter MrPhunin

    (@mrphunin)

    5 months ago

    Hi Ari,

    Thank you so much for the detailed explanation, that makes perfect sense regarding how the plugin handles JavaScript and shortcode rendering. I really appreciate you taking the time to clarify that.

    Interestingly, I tried three different external scanners, and two of them — Dead Link Checker and Dr Link Check — were actually able to detect the broken embedded .mp4 links on my site. That helped me confirm which ones needed fixing, and those same links were also highlighted in the plugin’s Multi-Scan section.

    Thanks buddy!, again for your help and for offering to look into shortcode support — that’s very kind of you!

    Plugin Support Aristocles

    (@aristocles)

    5 months ago

    Oh good. For sure. Let me know if you need anything else. 🙂

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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