Creating Custom Shortcodes in WordPress Plugin Development
Posted on 20th June 2023
Creating Custom Shortcodes in WordPress Plugin Development
WordPress is a great platform for creating websites and blogs. It’s user friendly and has a ton of features and customization options. One of the most useful features of WordPress is the ability to create custom shortcodes.
Shortcodes are a great way to add custom functionality to your website or blog without having to write any code. They can be used to insert images, videos, forms, and other content into your posts and pages.
In this article, we’ll show you how to create custom shortcodes in WordPress plugin development.
What are Shortcodes?
Shortcodes are small pieces of code that can be used to add functionality to your website or blog. They are similar to HTML tags, but they are much simpler and easier to use.
Shortcodes can be used to insert images, videos, forms, and other content into your posts and pages. They can also be used to create custom menus, sidebars, and other features.
Creating Custom Shortcodes
To create a custom shortcode, you first need to create a new file in your WordPress plugin development project. This file will contain the code for your custom shortcode.
Next, you need to add the following code to your new file:
This code will create a new function called my_shortcode() that will contain the code for your custom shortcode.
Next, you need to add your code to the my_shortcode() function. This is where you’ll add the code that will insert your content into the post or page.
For example, let’s say you want to insert an image into a post. You would use the following code:
<?php
function my_shortcode() {
echo '
‘;
}
add_shortcode( ‘my_shortcode’, ‘my_shortcode’ );
?>
This code will insert the image into the post or page when the [my_shortcode] shortcode is used.
Now let’s say you want to insert a video into a post. You would use the following code:
<?php
function my_shortcode() {
echo '’;
}
add_shortcode( ‘my_shortcode’, ‘my_shortcode’ );
?>
This code will insert the video into the post or page when the [my_shortcode] shortcode is used.
Shortcode Attributes
Shortcodes can also have attributes. Attributes are used to add additional information to a shortcode.
For example, let’s say you want to insert an image into a post and you want to specify the width and height of the image. You would use the following code:
‘100’,
‘height’ => ‘100’,
), $atts ) );
echo ‘‘;
}
add_shortcode( ‘my_shortcode’, ‘my_shortcode’ );
?>
This code will insert the image into the post or page when the [my_shortcode] shortcode is used. The width and height attributes will be used to set the width and height of the image.
You can also use the following code to insert a video into a post and specify the width and height of the video:
‘560’,
‘height’ => ‘315’,
), $atts ) );
echo ”;
}
add_shortcode( ‘my_shortcode’, ‘my_shortcode’ );
?>
This code will insert the video into the post or page when the [my_shortcode] shortcode is used. The width and height attributes will be used to set the width and height of the video.
You can also use the following code to insert a form into a post:
”,
‘method’ => ‘post’,
), $atts ) );
echo ”;
// your form code goes here
echo ”;
}
add_shortcode( ‘my_shortcode’, ‘my_shortcode’ );
?>
This code will insert the form into the post or page when the [my_shortcode] shortcode is used. The action and method attributes will be used to set the action and method of the form.
You can also use the following code to insert a custom menu into a post or page:
”,
), $atts ) );
wp_nav_menu( array(
‘menu’ => $menu,
) );
}
add_shortcode( ‘my_shortcode’, ‘my_shortcode’ );
?>
This code will insert the custom menu into the post or page when the [my_shortcode] shortcode is used. The menu attribute will be used to set the menu.
Shortcode Options
There are a few options that you can use to customize the way your shortcodes work.
The first option is the ‘callback’ option. This option allows you to specify a callback function to run when the shortcode is used.
The callback function will receive two arguments. The first argument is an array of attributes. The second argument is the content of the shortcode.
For example, let’s say you want to create a shortcode that will wrap the content in a
<?php
function my_shortcode( $atts, $content ) {
return '
‘;
}
add_shortcode( ‘my_shortcode’, ‘my_shortcode’ );
?>
This code will wrap the content in a
The second option is the ‘self-closing’ option. This option allows you to specify whether the shortcode is self-closing or not.
A self-closing shortcode is one that doesn’t have any content. For example, the [youtube] shortcode is self-closing.
A non-self-closing shortcode is one that has content. For example, the [youtube] shortcode is not self-closing.
The default value for this option is ‘false’. This means that the shortcode will not be self-closing unless you specify ‘true’.
For example, let’s say you want to create a self-closing shortcode. You would use the following code:
true,
) );
?>
This code will create a self-closing shortcode.
The third option is the ‘class’ option. This option allows you to specify a class to add to the shortcode.
For example, let’s say you want to add a class to the [youtube] shortcode. You would use the following code:
‘my-class’,
