This tutorial will describe the implementation of a WordPress plugin starting from scratch. The plugin will connect to an external OSCommerce database and display random products on your WordPress site. It also implements a configuration page for the WordPress admin panel.
Almost every Wordpress user is familiar with plugins and their benefits as a whole. They simplify complex tasks and enhance the functionality of your weblog without modifying the core. Even though there are thousands of plugins available on web, still sometimes we couldn't find the one that yields the same result, as we want. Why not create our very own plugin? Well, if you can tweak your theme (basic HTML editing, simple CSS enhancements), you can make your own plugin in no time. Let's see how to create a basic Wordpress plugin that serves as a platform for a more complex one.
We’re going to create a very simple, very specific functionality plugin that you can (hopefully) use to replace your theme’s functions.php file.
Video presentation on how to create a wordpress plugin
In today’s tutorial, we will create a simple wordpress plugin to add unique custom meta data to your blog posts/pages and extend it according to your own needs.
Every so often the Wordpress plugin directory does not offer a complete solution to a problem you are having. When this happens, sometimes the best option is to dig into the Wordpress Plugin API and build what you need.
Now you have insight to build a plugin on WordPress. I will guide you to create wordpress plugin that follow WordPress Guidelines. We will create plugin called “writter”.
WordPress plugins are PHP scripts that alter your website. The changes could be anything from the simplest tweak in the header to a more drastic makeover (such as changing how log-ins work, triggering emails to be sent, and much more).
In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to write a basic WordPress Plugin. Coding a wordpress plugin, should have a basic php knowledge, the functions, the operators, the statements, etc…
It doesn’t have to be that complex. I will demonstrate how to create a simple plugin in 20 lines, the plugin can add some HTML to page footer and/or post. This is an “Hello World”, so I won’t explain the plugin framework in detail but I will cover essential concepts.
Here it is, a video guide to creating your first WordPress plugin (in under 5 minutes!). If people like this enough, I might do these kinds of tutorials on a regular basis.
If your here then you are most probably looking to make a blank WordPress Plugin. The code for which is on this page at the bottom. It is explained as we go along and makes a fantastic base for whatever you are trying to extend WordPress with.
I now want to expand upon that and walk you through the process of creating your own widget that will display your recent tweets by using Twitter’s profile tool. If at any point you start wondering what I’m doing, refer back to the original guide for a more thorough explanation of the individual components of the code
In the name of “learning by doing” I’m going to show you how to create a plugin with a very basic (and pretty much impractical) task: our plugin will check if a WordPress post is empty, and if it is, add some text. It’s very simple, don’t worry ;) It will be fun!
In order to advance your WordPress plugin development (or even theme development), one of the steps you will need to make is learning how to create and work with additional database tables, which you can use to store information used by your plugin.