Building Web Apps With WordPress · 2nd Edition by Coleman, Jason -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Foreword Preface

Who This Book Is For Who This Book Is Not For What You’ll Learn About the Code Conventions Used in This Book Using Code Examples O’Reilly Online Learning How to Contact Us Acknowledgments

1. Building Web Apps with WordPress

What Is a Website? What Is an App? What Is a Web App?

Features of a Web App Mobile Apps Progressive Web Apps

Why Use WordPress?

You Are Already Using WordPress Content Management Is Easy with WordPress User Management Is Easy and Secure with WordPress Plugins Flexibility Is Important Frequent Security Updates Cost Responses to Some Common Criticisms of WordPress

When Not to Use WordPress

You Plan to License or Sell Your Site’s Technology Another Platform Will Get You “There” Faster Flexibility Is Not Important to You Your App Needs to Be Highly Real Time

WordPress as an Application Framework

WordPress Versus Model-View-Controller Frameworks

Anatomy of a WordPress App

What Is SchoolPress? SchoolPress Runs on a WordPress Multisite Network The SchoolPress Business Model Membership Levels and User Roles Classes Are BuddyPress Groups Assignments Are a CPT Submissions Are a (Sub)CPT for Assignments Semesters Are a Taxonomy on the Class CPT Departments Are a Taxonomy on the Class CPT SchoolPress Has One Main Custom Plugin SchoolPress Uses a Few Other Custom Plugins SchoolPress Uses the Memberlite Theme

2. WordPress Basics

WordPress Directory Structure

Root Directory /wp-admin /wp-includes /wp-content

WordPress Database Structure

wp_options Functions Found in /wp-includes/option.php wp_users Functions Found in /wp-includes/… wp_usermeta wp_posts Functions Found in /wp-includes/post.php wp_postmeta Functions Found in /wp-includes/post.php wp_comments Functions Found in /wp-includes/comment.php wp_commentsmeta Functions Found in /wp-includes/comment.php wp_terms Functions Found in /wp-includes/taxonomy.php wp_termmeta wp_term_taxonomy /wp-includes/taxonomy.php wp_term_relationships

Hooks: Actions and Filters

Actions Filters

Development and Hosting Environments

Working Locally Choosing a Web Host Development, Staging, and Production Environments

Extending WordPress

3. Using WordPress Plugins

The General Public License, Version 2, License Installing WordPress Plugins Building Your Own Plugin File Structure for an App Plugin

/adminpages/ /classes/ /css/ /js/ /images/ /includes/ /includes/lib/ /pages/ /services/ /scheduled/ /schoolpress.php

Add-Ons to Existing Plugins Use Cases and Examples

The WordPress Loop WordPress Global Variables

Free Plugins

Admin Columns Advanced Custom Fields BadgeOS Posts 2 Posts Members W3 Total Cache Yoast SEO

Premium Plugins

Gravity Forms BackupBuddy WP All Import

Community Plugins

BuddyPress

4. Themes

Themes Versus Plugins

Where to Place Code When Developing Apps When Developing Plugins Where to Place Code When Developing Themes

The Template Hierarchy Page Templates

Sample Page Template Using Hooks to Copy Templates When Should You Use a Theme Template?

Theme-Related WordPress Functions

Using locate_template in Your Plugins

Style.css

Versioning Your Theme’s CSS Files

functions.php Themes and CPTs Popular Theme Frameworks

WordPress Theme Frameworks Non-WordPress Theme Frameworks

Creating a Child Theme for Memberlite Including Bootstrap in Your App’s Theme Menus

Navigation Menus Dynamic Menus

Responsive Design

Device and Display Detection in CSS Device and Feature Detection in JavaScript Device Detection in PHP Final Note on Browser Detection

5. Custom Post Types, Post Metadata, and Taxonomies

Default Post Types and CPTs

Page Post Attachment Revisions Navigation Menu Item Custom CSS Changesets oEmbed Cache User Requests Reusable Blocks

Defining and Registering CPTs

register_post_type( $post_type, $args );

What Is a Taxonomy and How Should I Use It?

Taxonomies Versus Post Meta Creating Custom Taxonomies register_taxonomy( $taxonomy, $object_type, $args ) register_taxonomy_for_object_type( $taxonomy, $object_type )

Using CPTs and Taxonomies in Your Themes and Plugins

The Theme Archive and Single Template Files Good Old WP_Query and get_posts()

Metadata with CPTs

add_meta_box( $id, $title, $callback, $screen, $context, $priority, $callback_args ) Using Meta Boxes with the Block Editor

Custom Wrapper Classes for CPTs

Extending WP_Post Versus Wrapping It Why Use Wrapper Classes? Keep Your CPTs and Taxonomies Together Keep It in the Wrapper Class Wrapper Classes Read Better

6. Users, Roles, and Capabilities

Getting User Data Add, Update, and Delete Users Hooks and Filters What Are Roles and Capabilities?

Checking a User’s Role and Capabilities Creating Custom Roles and Capabilities

Extending the WP_User Class Adding Registration and Profile Fields Customizing the Users Table in the Dashboard Plugins

Theme My Login Hide the Admin Bar from Nonadministrators Paid Memberships Pro PMPro Register Helper Members WP User Fields

7. Working with WordPress APIs, Objects, and Helper Functions

Shortcode API

Shortcode Attributes Nested Shortcodes Removing Shortcodes Other Useful Shortcode-Related Functions

Widgets API

Before You Add Your Own Widget Adding Widgets Defining a Widget Area Embedding a Widget Outside of a Dynamic Sidebar

Dashboard Widgets API

Removing Dashboard Widgets Adding Your Own Dashboard Widget

Settings API

Do You Really Need a Settings Page? Could You Use a Hook or Filter Instead? Use Standards When Adding Settings Ignore Standards When Adding Settings

Rewrite API

Adding Rewrite Rules Flushing Rewrite Rules Other Rewrite Functions

WP-Cron

Adding Custom Intervals Scheduling Single Events Kicking Off Cron Jobs from the Server Using Server Crons Only

WP Mail

Sending Nicer Emails with WordPress

File Header API

Adding File Headers to Your Own Files Adding New Headers to Plugins and Themes

Heartbeat API

8. Secure WordPress

Why It’s Important Security Basics

Update Frequently Don’t Use the Username “admin” Use a Strong Password Examples of Bad Passwords Examples of Good Passwords

Hardening WordPress

Don’t Allow Admins to Edit Plugins or Themes Change Default Database Tables Prefix Move wp-config.php Hide Login Error Messages Hide Your WordPress Version Don’t Allow Logins via wp-login.php Add Custom .htaccess Rules for Locking Down wp-admin

SSL Certificates and HTTPS

Installing an SSL Certificate on Your Server WordPress Login and WordPress Administrator over SSL Debugging HTTPS Issues Avoiding SSL Errors with the “Nuclear Option”

Back Up Everything! Scan, Scan, Scan! Useful Security Plugins

Spam-Blocking Plugins Backup Plugins Firewall/Scanner Plugins Login and Password-Protection Plugins

Writing Secure Code

Check User Capabilities Custom SQL Statements Data Validation, Sanitization, and Escaping Nonces

9. JavaScript Frameworks and Workflow

What Is ECMAScript? What Is ES6? What Is ES9? What Is ESNext? What Is Ajax? What Is JSON? jQuery and WordPress

Enqueuing Other JavaScript Libraries Where to Put Your Custom JavaScript

Ajax Calls with WordPress and jQuery Managing Multiple Ajax Requests Heartbeat API WordPress Limitations with Asynchronous Processing JavaScript Frameworks

Backbone.js React

10. WordPress REST API

What Is a REST API?

API REST JSON HTTP

Why Use the WordPress REST API? Using the WordPress REST API V2

Discovery Authentication Routes and Endpoints Requests Responses

Adding Your Own Routes and Endpoints

register_rest_route( $namespace, $route, $args, $override ); Setting Up the WordPress Single Sign-On Plugin Adding the /wp-sso/v1/check Route Bundling Basic Authentication with Our Plugin Using the Endpoint We Set Up to Check User Credentials

Popular Plugins Using the WordPress REST API

WooCommerce BuddyPress Paid Memberships Pro

11. Project Gutenberg, Blocks, and Custom Block Types

The WordPress Editor The Classic Editor Plugin Using Blocks for Content and Design Using Blocks for Functionality Creating Your Own Blocks

Minimal Block Example

Using Custom Blocks to Build App Experiences

Enabling the Block Editor in Your CPTs Block Categories The Homework Blocks Limiting Blocks to Specific CPTs Limiting CPTs to Specific Blocks Block Templates Saving Block Data to Post Meta

Tips

Enable WP_SCRIPT_DEBUG Use filemtime() for the Script Version More Tips Learn JavaScript, Node.js, and React More Deeply

12. WordPress Multisite Networks

Why Multisite? Why Not Multisite? Multisite Alternatives

Multiple Authors or Categories on the Same WordPress Site Custom Post Types Totally Separate Sites Use a WordPress Maintenance Service Multitenancy

Setting Up a Multisite Network Managing a Multisite Network

Dashboard Sites Users Themes Plugins Settings Updates

Multisite Database Structure

Networkwide Tables Individual Site Tables Shared Site Tables

Domain Mapping Random Useful Multisite Plugins

Gravity Forms User Registration Add-On Member Network Sites Add-On for Paid Memberships Pro More Privacy Options Multisite Global Media Multisite Plugin Manager Multisite Global Search Multisite Robots.txt Manager NS Cloner: Site Copier WP Multi Network

Basic Multisite Functionality

$blog_id is_multisite() get_current_blog_id() switch_to_blog( $new_blog ) restore_current_blog() get_blog_details( $fields = null, $get_all = true ) update_blog_details( $blog_id, $details = array() ) get_blog_status( $id, $pref ) update_blog_status( $blog_id, $pref, $value ) get_blog_option( $id, $option, $default = false ) update_blog_option( $id, $option, $value ) delete_blog_option( $id, $option ) get_blog_post( $blog_id, $post_id ) add_user_to_blog( $blog_id, $user_id, $role ) wpmu_delete_user( $user_id ) create_empty_blog( $domain, $path, $weblog_title, $site_id = 1 ) Functions We Didn’t Mention

13. Localizing WordPress Apps

Do You Even Need to Localize Your App? How Localization Is Done in WordPress Defining Your Locale in WordPress Text Domains

Setting the Text Domain

Prepping Your Strings with Translation Functions

__( $text, $domain = “default” ) _e( $text, $domain = “default” ) _x( $text, $context, $domain = “default” ) _ex( $title, $context, $domain = “default” ) Escaping and Translating at the Same Time

Creating and Loading Translation Files

Our File Structure for Localization Generating a .pot File Creating a .po File Creating a .mo File

GlotPress

Using GlotPress for Your WordPress.org Plugins and Themes Creating Your Own GlotPress Server

14. WordPress Optimization and Scaling

Terms Origin Versus Edge Testing

What to Test Chrome Debug Bar The WordPress Site Health Tool Apache Bench Siege

W3 Total Cache

Page Cache Settings Minify Database Caching Object Cache CDNs GZIP Compression

Hosting

WordPress-Specific Hosts Rolling Your Own Server

Selective Caching

The Transient API Multisite Transients

Using JavaScript to Increase Performance Custom Tables Bypassing WordPress

15. Ecommerce

Choosing a Plugin

WooCommerce Paid Memberships Pro Easy Digital Downloads

Payment Gateways Merchant Accounts Setting Up SaaS with Paid Memberships Pro The SaaS Model

Step 0: Establishing How You Want to Charge for Your App Step 1: Installing and Activating Paid Memberships Pro Step 2: Setting Up the Level Step 3: Setting Up Pages Step 4: Choosing Payment Settings Step 5: Choosing Email Settings Step 6: Choosing Advanced Settings Step 7: Locking Down Pages Step 8: Customizing Paid Memberships Pro

16. Mobile Apps Powered by WordPress

Mobile App Use Cases Native and Hybrid Mobile Apps

What Is a Native Mobile App? What Is a Hybrid Mobile App? Why Hybrid over Native? Cordova Ionic Framework App Wrapper AppPresser

17. PHP Libraries, Web Service Integrations, and Platform Migrations

PHP Libraries

Image Generation and Manipulation PDF Generation Geolocation and Geotargeting File Compression and Archiving Developer Tools

External APIs and Web Services

Elasticsearch ElasticPress by 10up Google Vision Google Maps Google Translate Twilio Other Popular APIs

Migrations

Host Migrations Platform Migrations Create a Data Mapping Guide

18. The Future

Where We’ve Been The REST API

WordPress Plugins Will Focus More on APIs Headless WordPress GraphQL

Gutenberg

The Administrator Interface Will Move to React/Gutenberg Gutenberg Will Power a Frontend Editing Experience for WordPress Block Templates Will Replace Themes Blocks Will Replace Plugins

WordPress Market Share Will Increase and Decrease WordPress Will Become a More Popular Platform for Mobile Development WordPress Will Continue to Be Useful for Developing Apps of All Kinds

Index

← Prev
Back
Next →

← Prev
Back
Next →