WordPress Plugin Development Cookbook
Explore the complete set of tools to craft powerful plugins that extend the world's most popular CMS, 3rd Edition
WordPress is one of the most widely used, powerful, and open content management systems (CMSs). Whether you're a site owner trying to find the right extension, a developer who wants to contribute to the community, or a website developer working to fulfill a client's needs, learning how to extend WordPress' capabilities will help you to unleash its full potential. This book will help you become familiar with API functions to create secure plugins with easy-to-use administration interfaces.
This third edition contains new recipes and up-to-date code samples, including new chapters on creating custom blocks for the block editor and integrating data from external sources. From one chapter to the next, you'll learn how to create plugins of varying complexity, ranging from a few lines of code to complex extensions that provide intricate new capabilities. You'll start by using the basic mechanisms provided in WordPress to create plugins, followed by recipes covering how to design administration panels, enhance the post editor with custom fields, store custom data, and even create custom blocks. You'll safely incorporate dynamic elements into web pages using scripting languages, learn how to integrate data from external sources, and build new widgets that users will be able to add to WordPress sidebars and widget areas.
By the end of this book, you will be able to create WordPress plugins to perform any task you can imagine.
What you will learn
Discover action and filter hooks, which form the basis of plugin creation
Explore the creation of administration pages and add new content management sections through custom post types and custom fields
Add new components to the block editor library
Fetch, cache, and regularly update data from external sources
Bring in external data sources to enhance your content
Make your pages dynamic by using JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX and adding new widgets to the platform
Add support for plugin translation and distributing your work to the WordPress community
Who this book is for
This book is for WordPress users, developers, and site integrators interested in creating new plugins to address their personal needs, fulfill client requirements, and bring new capabilities to the WordPress community. Basic knowledge of PHP and WordPress is expected.
Table of Contents
Preparing a Local Development Environment
Plugin Framework Basics
User Settings and Administration Pages
The Power of Custom Post Types
Customizing Post and Page Editors
Extending the Block Editor
Accepting User Content Submissions
Customizing User Data
Leveraging JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX Scripts
Adding New Widgets to the WordPress Library
Fetching, Caching, and Regularly Updating External Site Data
Enabling Plugin Internationalization
Distributing Your Plugin on WordPress.org
