How to Implement Custom Post Order in WordPress Plugin
Posted on 18th June 2023
Introduction
When developing a WordPress plugin, you may need to give your users the ability to set a custom post order. This can be useful for a number of reasons, such as allowing them to display posts in a specific order on the front-end of their website. In this article, we will show you how to implement custom post order in a WordPress plugin.
Step 1: Create a Custom Post Type
In order to implement custom post order, you first need to create a custom post type. You can do this by adding the following code to your plugin:
function my_plugin_register_post_type() {
$args = array(
'labels' => array(
'name' => __( 'Books', 'my-plugin' ),
'singular_name' => __( 'Book', 'my-plugin' )
),
'public' => true,
'has_archive' => true,
'supports' => array( 'title', 'editor', 'custom-fields' ),
);
register_post_type( 'book', $args );
}
add_action( 'init', 'my_plugin_register_post_type' );This code will create a custom post type called “Books”. You can change the name and labels to anything you want. Once you have registered your custom post type, you can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Add Metabox for Custom Post Order
Next, you need to add a metabox to your custom post type where users can set the order of the posts. You can do this by adding the following code to your plugin:
function my_plugin_add_meta_box() {
add_meta_box(
'my-plugin-meta-box',
__( 'Post Order', 'my-plugin' ),
'my_plugin_render_meta_box',
'book',
'side',
'default'
);
}
add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'my_plugin_add_meta_box' );This code will add a metabox to your custom post type called “Post Order”. You can change the title and position of the metabox to anything you want. Once you have added the metabox, you can move on to the next step.
Step 3: Render Metabox Content
Now that you have added the metabox, you need to write the code that will render the metabox content. This can be done by adding the following code to your plugin:
function my_plugin_render_meta_box( $post ) {
// Add nonce for security and authentication.
wp_nonce_field( 'my_plugin_nonce_action', 'my_plugin_nonce' );
// Retrieve an existing value from the database.
$my_plugin_post_order = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'my_plugin_post_order', true );
// Set default values.
if( empty( $my_plugin_post_order ) ) $my_plugin_post_order = '';
// Form fields.
echo '';
echo ' ';
echo ' ';
echo ' ';
echo ' ' . __( 'Enter a number to set the order of this post.', 'my-plugin' ) . '
';
echo ' ';
echo ' ';
echo '
';
}This code will render a text field where users can enter a number to set the post order. You can change the field label and description to anything you want. Once you have added this code, you can move on to the next step.
Step 4: Save Metabox Data
The next step is to save the data from the metabox when the post is saved. This can be done by adding the following code to your plugin:
function my_plugin_save_meta_box_data( $post_id ) {
// Sanitize user input.
$my_plugin_post_order_data = sanitize_text_field( $_POST['my_plugin_post_order'] );
// Update the meta field in the database.
update_post_meta( $post_id, 'my_plugin_post_order', $my_plugin_post_order_data );
}
add_action( 'save_post', 'my_plugin_save_meta_box_data' );This code will save the post order data when the post is saved. Once you have added this code, you can move on to the next step.
Step 5: Display Posts in Custom Order
The final step is to display the posts in the custom order on the front-end of your website. This can be done by adding the following code to your plugin:
function my_plugin_query_posts( $query ) {
if ( is_admin() || ! $query->is_main_query() )
return;
if ( is_post_type_archive( 'book' ) ) {
$query->set( 'orderby', 'meta_value_num' );
$query->set( 'meta_key', 'my_plugin_post_order' );
}
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'my_plugin_query_posts' );This code will query the posts in the custom post type and order them by the post order meta field. Once you have added this code, the posts will be displayed in the custom order on the front-end of your website.
Conclusion
In this article, we showed you how to implement custom post order in a WordPress plugin. This can be useful for a number of reasons, such as allowing your users to display posts in a specific order on the front-end of their website. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
If you want to add a custom post order to your WordPress plugin, you can use the WP_Query class.
To use this class, you first need to include the file wp-includes/class-wp-query.php in your plugin.
Once you have included the class, you can create a new WP_Query object and pass in an array of arguments.
One of the arguments you can pass is ‘orderby’. This argument accepts a variety of values, but for custom post order, you need to use ‘menu_order’.
You can also pass in ‘order’ as an argument. This argument accepts ‘ASC’ or ‘DESC’ as values. ‘ASC’ is the default value.
Once you have created the WP_Query object, you can call the ‘have_posts()’ and ‘the_post()’ methods to loop through the posts.
You can use the ‘get_post_type()’ method to check the post type of the current post.
If you want to only display posts of a certain type, you can use the ‘post_type’ argument when you create the WP_Query object.
You can also use the ‘posts_per_page’ argument to control how many posts are displayed on each page.
When you are finished looping through the posts, you need to call the ‘wp_reset_postdata()’ method. This method resets the global $post variable to the original post.
By default, WordPress will display posts in reverse chronological order. This means that the most recent post will be displayed first.
If you want to change the order of the posts, you can use the ‘orderby’ argument in the WP_Query class.
There are a number of different values you can use for ‘orderby’. For custom post order, you need to use ‘menu_order’.
You can also use the ‘order’ argument to control the order of the posts. The ‘order’ argument accepts ‘ASC’ or ‘DESC’ as values. ‘ASC’ is the default value.
If you want to only display posts of a certain type, you can use the ‘post_type’ argument when you create the WP_Query object.
You can also use the ‘posts_per_page’ argument to control how many posts are displayed on each page.
When you are finished looping through the posts, you need to call the ‘wp_reset_postdata()’ method. This method resets the global $post variable to the original post.
