Thanks for your time.
Getting into black magic between plugins here and I don't have too much knowledge on the right WordPressy way to go about this, so:
Let's say I have an arbitrary plugin that adds 3 custom fields to every Post, but it doesn't require them or offer a setting to do so, and I want them required without hacking that plugin. What is the correct WordPress approach to enforce that they are filled with something valid on Publish?
Related
Actually I have changed some code in WordPress Store Locator. I want it to remain when plugin will update. So I want to create a child plugin for that. Any ideas on how I could manage it?
This varies plugin to plugin, and it sometimes isn't even possible, other times plugins have documentation to extend them easily (such as WooCommerce and Gravity Forms). Some of them create Action Hooks with do_action() that let you extend the functionality easily. A common example is updating a post after a Gravity Form is submitted with their gform_after_submission hook.
Effectively, it depends on what you want to do, and how the plugin implements the functionality you want to change. If they add text with a Closure or Anonymous Function, it will be harder to modify said text, and you may have to look at something strange like doing a run-time find and replace using Output Buffering, typically on the template_redirect hook.
If you want to remove something a plugin does, you can often unhook it with remove_action. This can be a bit tricky depending on how the plugin is instantiated, sometimes its as simple as:
remove_action( 'some_hook', 'function_to_remove' );
Other times it's more complicated like:
global $plugin_class_var;
remove_action( 'some_hook', array($plugin_class_var, 'function_to_remove') );
Those are the basics of extending (or even 'shrinking'?) a plugin's functionality, and it's not always doable appropriately. Unfortunately the narrow answer to your question is outside of the scope of what we can provide from StackOverflow.
From here, you'll need to figure out exactly what you want to do with the plugin, and dig through the plugin's files to see if there's an appropriate hook or function you can use. If you're still stuck, you'll need to post a new question (don't update this one) with your exact desired result and anything you've tried, and the relevant code that goes along with it. "I want to change a plugin without editing core files" isn't nearly specific enough. "I want to replace an icon with a custom icon in this plugin, here's what I've tried" is specific enough to possibly answer.
Good luck!
I just went through myself and I had so many changes that I couldn't just override the actions.
I created this tool that allows you to create a child plugin like a child theme. You can make updates to the plugin and still update it without losing your changes.
I'm posting this here because it relates and hopefully becomes useful to the next person who runs into this issue.
https://github.com/ThomasDepole/wordpress-child-plugin-tool
As per WordPress standard, it's called plugin's addon.
if the plugin has provided any action to update that functionality then you can use it with your addon (child plugin).
Here I am sending a link for reference.
https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/add_action/
Is this possible to achieve without too much effort or a plugin? It's simply to instantly redirect to a site I've made in my portfolio if the post doesn't have any content.
Note that I don't want a script in the actual post to redirect since I only use Wordpress as the backend and fetch all the data to be used by a JavaScript backbone app.
EDIT : Added some extra info in a comment
Short Answer: No. You cannot set your Post Permalink to an external asset without directly editing the database.
Long Answer: First off, you need to understand the purpose of the Permalink. It isn't just an arbitrary link to somewhere. It's reserved specifically for storing where that specific post lives within the context of your Wordpress installation.
Your post doesn't live on example.com. It has its own ID, and Wordpress has a specific spot set aside for it where it can be seen on YOUR domain. Leave it as such.
Instead, what you should be doing is employing the tools Wordpress gives you to achieve what you want. A Plugin doesn't exist for what you want because - quite frankly - it's a fairly trivial task when approached CORRECTLY and doesn't warrant the use of an external resource.
So what's the correct way?
Use a Custom Field. Name your Custom Field something like 'externalHref' and fill that in with your link to the website you want to point to in case there's no post content.
Then in whatever templates you're using to generate your posts, just check either for the existence of your Custom Field called 'externalHref' or check for the non-existence of Post Content. In either case, instead of generating a link using The Permalink you can simply build a link that points to wherever you need.
I'm very new to WP development. I host a website which needs a list of trails (hiking, biking, etc) and I'd like to write a WordPress plugin to do it.
Can someone please tell me if I'm taking the right approach, and if what I'm proposing is possible.
I'd like the site to end up with an auto-generated and filtered index at http://example.com/trail-guide, and the discrete trail info pages at http://example.com/trail-guide/trailname. This data would all be stored in a single database table holding info for each trail, with an admin page for adding, editing, and deleting entries from here.
Is a WP plugin the best way to go about doing this, or should I be looking at something else?
From the way you're describing, your best bet would be to Register A Custom Post Type. This can be done by adding to your existing theme's Functions.php file, or by creating a plugin.
If you don't plan on changing themes, my advice would be to just hardcode everything into your functions.php file. Otherwise, creating a plugin for this particular job would be the safest alternative.
Using this functionality in tandem with Custom Meta Boxes and Custom Taxonomies will allow you to keep everything organized within the Wordpress Framework with your own special data.
This means that these new posts can also be queried at any time through the standard Wordpress Loop or search box.
If you are uncomfortable with writing your own functions to extend your existing framework, you might want to look into some plugins like GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools to manage your own.
Hope this helps.
I am new to Wordpress (using roughly 6 months) and just now getting into development when I decided I would attempt to replicate a project I have going currently and after reading multiple blogs regarding plugin development and custom post types, I am thoroughly confused as to which direction I should go. I am in need of creating a site that has back-end management (admin only) and then end-user management where the end-user should have a page that allows them to manage their items.
With custom post types, I am able to create the objects that I will need to use but that doesn't give me total control when it comes to allowing the end-user to modify them from a front-end interface.
With a plugin, I think I am able to create exactly what I need but not sure how to yet but at the same time, thinking through the structure of Wordpress, everything is basically a post, correct? So, if that's the case, my plugin would need to have the ability to register new custom post types. Does it sound like I am on the right track or am I way off here?
Custom Post Types can add a lot of power, especially if you dress up the Custom Fields with meta boxes. You can always use a role-scoping plugin to limit the access of end-users to only be able to use these Custom Posts and nothing else. CPT are a great way to handle inventory management and not rely on a plugin that will either cost $ or potentially break months down the road.
That said, many plugin you would find would most likely just create a Custom Post Type anyway. Take a look around on the codex for info on creating CPT, and if you're interested, look at jaredatch's work on Github.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Types
https://github.com/jaredatch/Custom-Metaboxes-and-Fields-for-WordPress
A client of mine has a site in wordpress, with one section being a directory of agents that each have different text and videos associated with them.
The client wants to be able to easily add/remove/change these agents from within the wordpress admin interface. There will be anywhere from 50-75 of these agents, so doing each page manually is not very attractive.
We currently have 3 agents added as posts, and i understand that we can store additional information inside the post itself, so that is not a problem. What we would like to create is a simpler way of managing those pages where the content cannot be changed by the maintainer, and the additional fields on the post are hard coded so there would be no room for user error.
What i am interested in is if anyone has done something similar in the past and can share their approach and experience, or if anyone can point me in the right direction as to how i can accomplish this and what i need to be aware of.
Thanks.
Yes, Custom Post Types are a perfect fit for your needs. Here are some links to articles explaining them:
http://justintadlock.com/archives/2010/04/29/custom-post-types-in-wordpress
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-use-custom-post-types/
http://thinkvitamin.com/dev/create-your-first-wordpress-custom-post-type/
You can use a plugin like Custom Post Type UI or just add the register_post_type() calls to your theme's functions.php file:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/custom-post-type-ui/
Then you can use a plugin like "Simple Fields" to add metaboxes to your Agent post type (although there are numerous plugins offering similar functionality; I'm building one myself!):
http://eskapism.se/code-playground/simple-fields/
Hope this helps...
Have you thought about using custom post types? You could create type called Agent and then each agent would be like a post. That way you could search for specific agents easily in the admin and then go in to the post for each agent to change their details.