Building a Custom Search Filter for WordPress
Posted on 19th June 2023
The WordPress plugin repository is a great place to find plugins to add to your site. However, sometimes you may need a plugin that is not available in the repository. In this case, you may need to build a custom plugin.
What is a Custom Plugin?
A custom plugin is a WordPress plugin that is not available in the WordPress plugin repository. Custom plugins are often created by developers to meet the specific needs of a client or to add features that are not available in existing plugins.
Why Would I Need a Custom Plugin?
There are several reasons why you might need a custom plugin. Perhaps you need a plugin that is not available in the WordPress plugin repository. Maybe you need a plugin that is not compatible with your current theme. Or, you may want to add a custom feature to your site that is not available in any existing plugin.
How Do I Create a Custom Plugin?
Creating a custom plugin is not as difficult as it may sound. In fact, it is relatively easy to create a basic plugin. However, if you want to add complex features or integrate with third-party services, you may need to hire a developer to create the plugin for you.
Step 1: Choose a Unique Plugin Name
The first step in creating a custom plugin is to choose a unique name for your plugin. This name should be descriptive and easy to remember. It is also important to choose a name that is not already in use by another plugin. You can check the WordPress plugin repository to see if your chosen name is available.
Step 2: Create a Plugin Folder
Next, you will need to create a folder for your plugin. This folder should be located in the /wp-content/plugins/ directory. The name of the folder should be the same as the plugin name you chose in step 1.
Step 3: Create a Plugin File
Now you will need to create a plugin file. This file should be located in the plugin folder you created in step 2. The file name should be the same as the plugin name you chose in step 1, with the .php extension.
Step 4: Write the Plugin Code
The next step is to write the code for your plugin. The code will vary depending on the features you want to add. However, all plugins must have a plugin header. The plugin header is a comment block at the top of the plugin file that contains information about the plugin.
Step 5: Activate the Plugin
Once you have written the code for your plugin, you will need to activate it. To do this, log in to the WordPress admin area and go to the Plugins page. Find the plugin in the list of plugins and click the Activate link.
Step 6: Test the Plugin
After activating the plugin, you should test it to make sure it is working as expected. To do this, you can use the WordPress debug mode. First, you will need to add the following line to the wp-config.php file:
define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );
Next, you will need to visit the page or post where you are using the plugin. If everything is working correctly, you will see debugging information displayed on the screen.
Conclusion
Building a custom plugin is not as difficult as it may sound. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily create a basic plugin. However, if you want to add complex features or integrate with third-party services, you may need to hire a developer to create the plugin for you.
In the previous article, we looked at how to build a basic search filter for WordPress. In this article, we’ll take a look at how to add some advanced features to our search filter.
First, let’s add a dropdown menu to our search form. This will allow users to select which post type they want to search for. Add the following code to your search form:
Post Page Attachment
Now, let’s add a checkbox to our search form. This will allow users to search for posts that contain the exact phrase they entered into the search field. Add the following code to your search form:
Exact match
Finally, let’s add a submit button to our search form. This will allow users to submit their search query. Add the following code to your search form:
Now that we’ve added our advanced features, our search form should look like this:
<form role="search" method="get" class="search-form" action="”> Post Page Attachment Exact match
Now that we’ve added our advanced features, our search filter is much more powerful. In the next article, we’ll take a look at how to add a custom search results page to our WordPress site.
In this tutorial, we will be creating a custom search filter for WordPress. This filter will allow us to search for posts by their title, content, and author.
First, we will need to create a new file in our WordPress theme. We will name this file search.php.
Next, we will need to add the following code to our search.php file:
‘post’,
‘s’ => $_GET[‘term’]
);
$query = new WP_Query( $args );
if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
$query->the_post();
echo ‘
‘ . get_the_title() . ‘
‘;
echo ‘
‘ . get_the_content() . ‘
‘;
echo ‘
‘ . get_the_author() . ‘
‘;
}
} else {
echo ‘No posts found.’;
}
wp_reset_postdata();
?>
In the code above, we are setting the post type to ‘post’ and telling WordPress to search for posts that contain the search term entered by the user.
We are then looping through each post and displaying the title, content, and author.
If no posts are found, we are displaying a ‘No posts found’ message.
Finally, we are resetting the post data.
Now that our search.php file is complete, we can test our custom search filter by going to our WordPress site and adding the following to the end of the URL:
?s=test
You should see a list of all posts that contain the word ‘test’ in their title, content, or author.
