WordPress Plugin Development Cookbook

Table of Contents

• Preface

• Chapter 1: Preparing a Local Development Environment
• Introduction
• Installing a web server on your computer
• Downloading and configuring a local WordPress installation
• Creating a local Subversion repository
• Importing initial files to a local Subversion repository
• Checking out files from a Subversion repository
• Committing changes to a Subversion repository
• Reverting uncommitted file changes
• Viewing file history and reverting content changes to older revisions
• Installing a dedicated code/text editor
• Installing and configuring the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment
• Interacting with a Subversion repository from the NetBeans interface
• Managing a MySQL database server from the NetBeans interface

• Chapter 2: Plugin Framework Basics
• Introduction
• Creating a plugin file and header
• Adding output content to page headers using plugin actions
• Using WordPress path utility functions to load external files and images
• Modifying the page title using plugin filters
• Adding text after each item's content using plugin filters
• Inserting link statistics tracking code in page body using plugin filters
• Troubleshooting coding errors and printing variable content
• Creating a new simple shortcode
• Creating a new shortcode with parameters
• Creating a new enclosing shortcode
• Loading a stylesheet to format plugin output
• Writing plugins using object-oriented PHP

• Chapter 3: User Settings and Administration Pages
• Introduction
• Creating default user settings on plugin initialization
• Storing user settings using arrays
• Removing plugin data on deletion
• Creating an administration page menu item in the Settings menu
• Creating a multi-level administration menu
• Hiding items which users should not access from the default menu
• Rendering the admin page contents using HTML
• Processing and storing plugin configuration data
• Displaying a confirmation message when options are saved
• Adding custom help pages
• Rendering the admin page contents using the Settings API
• Accessing user settings from action and filter hooks
• Formatting admin pages using meta boxes
• Splitting admin code from the main plugin file to optimize site performance
• Storing stylesheet data in user settings
• Managing multiple sets of user settings from a single admin page

• Chapter 4: The Power of Custom Post Types
• Introduction
• Creating a custom post type
• Adding a new section to the custom post type editor
• Displaying single custom post type items using custom templates
• Creating an archive page for custom post types
• Displaying custom post type data in shortcodes
• Adding custom categories for custom post types
• Hiding the category editor from the custom post type editor
• Displaying additional columns in the custom post list page
• Adding filters for custom categories to the custom post list page
• Updating page title to include custom post data using plugin filters

• Chapter 5: Customizing Post and Page Editors
• Introduction
• Adding extra fields to the post editor using custom meta boxes
• Displaying custom post data in theme templates
• Hiding the Custom Field section in the post editor
• Extending the post editor to allow users to upload files directly

• Chapter 6: Accepting User Content Submissions
• Introduction
• Creating a client-side content submission form
• Saving user-submitted content in custom post types
• Sending e-mail notifications upon new submissions
• Implementing a captcha on user forms

• Chapter 7: Creating Custom MySQL Database Tables
• Introduction
• Creating new database tables
• Deleting custom tables on plugin removal
• Updating custom table structure on plugin upgrade
• Displaying custom table data in an admin page
• Inserting and updating records in custom tables
• Deleting records from custom tables
• Displaying custom database table data in shortcodes
• Implementing a search function to retrieve custom table data
• Importing data from a user file into custom tables

• Chapter 8: Leveraging JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX Scripts
• Introduction
• Safely loading jQuery onto WordPress web pages
• Displaying a pop-up dialog using the built-in ThickBox plugin
• Controlling pop-up dialog display using shortcodes
• Displaying a calendar day selector using the Datepicker plugin
• Adding tooltips to admin page form fields using the TipTip plugin
• Using AJAX to dynamically update partial page contents

• Chapter 9: Adding New Widgets to the WordPress Library
• Introduction
• Creating a new widget in WordPress
• Displaying configuration options
• Validating configuration options
• Implementing the widget display function
• Adding a custom dashboard widget

• Chapter 10: Enabling Plugin Internationalization
• Introduction
• Changing the WordPress language configuration
• Adapting default user settings for translation
• Making admin page code ready for translation
• Modifying shortcode output for translation
• Translating text strings using Poedit
• Loading a language file in the plugin initialization

• Chapter 11: Distributing Your Plugin on wordpress.org
• Introduction
• Creating a readme file for your plugin
• Applying for your plugin to be hosted on wordpress.org
• Uploading your plugin using Subversion
• Providing a plugin banner image

• Index