Wordpress - Copy media library or categorize? - wordpress

Question

I have a plugin in mind for Wordpress (that I'm aiming to create) that bascially are going to use the same features of the media - library (uploading / viewing / setting descriptions etc on images).
Is there a way of "copying" the media library and then use it/modifiy it as you wish?
Background:
I want to categories these photos for different customers (that the owner of the site uploads). I believe the built-in media library should be used for site-specific photos (like logos, product photos etc). I don't want mix built-in "media-library" with specific customers photos.
Guidelines
Maybe there's a better approach. (Is it better to create categories in the media-categories for each customer?) If there is, please tell me. I'm looking for guidelines - not a solution.

Answer 1

Solution 1:
First query posts, and then for each one of them use something like this code:
$images = get_children( array(
'post_parent' => get_the_ID(),
'post_type' => 'attachment',
'post_mime_type' => 'image',
'numberposts' => -1
) );
foreach ( (array) $images as $image ) {
print wp_get_attachment_url( $image->ID );
}
I don't like this solution because it will generate many SQL queries.
Solution 2:
Write your own SQL query which will select all images at once. It should look something like this:
// change this to your custom post type, attachment in your case.
$post_type = 'attachment';
global $wpdb;
$where = get_posts_by_author_sql( $post_type );
$query = "SELECT * FROM $wpdb->posts p where p.post_type = 'attachment' AND (p.post_mime_type LIKE 'image/%') AND (p.post_status = 'inherit') AND p.post_parent IN (SELECT $wpdb->posts.ID FROM $wpdb->posts {$where} ) ORDER BY p.post_date DESC";
$results = $wpdb->get_results( $query );
if ( $results ) {
foreach ( (array) $results as $image ) {
print wp_get_attachment_url( $image->ID );
}
}
The way I would build that plugin, is creating a custom post type, similar to the media upload type, and then modify it as you wish (adding a category for example).
I like the idea of the plugin, so let me you know then you finish, Good luck.
Edit: If you are actually want to copy all the image files to another directory you could do something like this using :
$source = wp_upload_dir(); // get WordPress upload directory
$dest= "wp-content/My-new-Directory"; // where you would like to copy
mkdir($dest, 0755);
foreach (
$iterator = new \RecursiveIteratorIterator(
new \RecursiveDirectoryIterator($source, \RecursiveDirectoryIterator::SKIP_DOTS),
\RecursiveIteratorIterator::SELF_FIRST) as $item
) {
if ($item->isDir()) {
mkdir($dest . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $iterator->getSubPathName());
} else {
copy($item, $dest . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $iterator->getSubPathName());
}
}

Answer 2

Theoretically, you could copy the whole media gallery.
Media gallery (in admin panel) is basically a post type archive. Post type in question being attachment.
By defining your custom post type, you could add all the action, display and functionality hooks needed to replicate the attachment functionality.
If you want to categorize your attachment either by using a hierarchical or non hiearchical taxonomy you could register a custom taxonomy for the attachment post type.
Both ways are semi-complex, and are perhaps unneeded. Would you be so kind to describe your usage scenario in more detail, so I could help you better.