Building a Recipe Search Plugin for WordPress
Posted on 21st June 2023
Introduction
WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that enables you to create a website or blog from scratch, or to improve an existing website. There are two ways to add functionality to a WordPress site: through the use of plugins, and through custom programming.
In this article, we will focus on how to create a plugin that adds a recipe search feature to a WordPress site. We will cover the following topics:
• What is a plugin?
• What are the benefits of using a plugin?
• How to create a plugin?
• How to add a recipe search feature to a WordPress site?
What is a plugin?
A plugin is a piece of software that extends the functionality of a WordPress site. There are thousands of plugins available for WordPress, and they can be used to add almost any type of functionality to a WordPress site.
What are the benefits of using a plugin?
There are several benefits to using a plugin:
• Plugins are easy to install and activate.
• Plugins are easy to use.
• Plugins are often free.
• Plugins are available for a wide range of needs.
How to create a plugin?
Creating a plugin is a two-step process:
1. Create the plugin file.
2. Activate the plugin.
Creating the plugin file
The first step is to create the plugin file. The plugin file is a PHP file that contains the code for the plugin. The plugin file must be saved in the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
The plugin file must contain the following information:
• Plugin Name
• Plugin URI
• Description
• Author
• Version
• Author URI
The plugin file can also contain additional information, such as license information and credits.
Activating the plugin
Once the plugin file has been created, the plugin can be activated from the WordPress admin panel. To activate the plugin, go to the Plugins page and click the Activate link for the plugin.
How to add a recipe search feature to a WordPress site?
Adding a recipe search feature to a WordPress site is a two-step process:
1. Install and activate the WP Recipe Maker plugin.
2. Use the WP Recipe Maker plugin to create a recipe search form.
Installing and activating the WP Recipe Maker plugin
The first step is to install and activate the WP Recipe Maker plugin. WP Recipe Maker is a free plugin that enables you to easily add recipes to your WordPress site.
To install the plugin, go to the Plugins page and click the Add New button. In the search field, type WP Recipe Maker and press the Enter key. The search results will display the WP Recipe Maker plugin. Click the Install Now button.
Once the plugin has been installed, click the Activate button.
Creating a recipe search form
The next step is to use the WP Recipe Maker plugin to create a recipe search form. To do this, go to the WP Recipe Maker page and click the Add Recipe button.
In the recipe editor, scroll down to the Recipe Settings section and click the Enable Recipe Search checkbox.
The recipe search form will now be displayed on your WordPress site.
When you’re ready, simply paste the text into the input field and click on the “Submit” button.
If you want to learn more about how to develop WordPress plugins, check out our Plugin Development Course.
When it comes to developing WordPress plugins, there are a few different approaches you can take. In this article, we’re going to focus on how to build a recipe search plugin for WordPress.
This plugin will let visitors search for recipes by ingredients, title, or keywords. It will also display a list of related recipes on the results page.
To get started, you’ll need to create a new plugin. You can do this by creating a new directory in your WordPress installation’s wp-content/plugins directory.
Next, you’ll need to create a new file in this directory named recipe-search.php. This file will be the plugin’s main PHP file.
At the top of this file, you’ll need to add the following lines of code:
These lines of code provide basic information about your plugin. The Plugin Name is the name of your plugin, while the Plugin URI is a link to your plugin’s website. The Description is a short description of what your plugin does.
The Version number is the current version of your plugin. This should be incremented every time you release a new version of your plugin.
The Author is your name or the name of your company. The Author URI is a link to your website.
The License is the license under which your plugin is released. The most common license for WordPress plugins is the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Next, you’ll need to write the code for your plugin. We’ll start by adding a function that will register a new WordPress widget. Widgets are small blocks of content that can be added to the sidebars of WordPress themes.
To register a new widget, you’ll need to add the following code to your plugin:
This code registers a new widget called Recipe_Search_Widget.
Next, you’ll need to write the code for the widget itself. Widgets are written as PHP classes. The code for the Recipe_Search_Widget class will look like this:
__( ‘A widget that lets visitors search for recipes by ingredients, title, or keywords.’, ‘text_domain’ ), ) // Args
);
}
/**
* Front-end display of widget.
*
* @see WP_Widget::widget()
*
* @param array $args Widget arguments.
* @param array $instance Saved values from database.
*/
public function widget( $args, $instance ) {
extract( $args );
$title = apply_filters( ‘widget_title’, $instance[‘title’] );
echo $before_widget;
if ( ! empty( $title ) ) {
echo $before_title . $title . $after_title;
}
echo __( ‘Hello, World!’, ‘text_domain’ );
echo $after_widget;
}
/**
* Back-end widget form.
*
* @see WP_Widget::form()
*
* @param array $instance Previously saved values from database.
*/
public function form( $instance ) {
if ( isset( $instance[ ‘title’ ] ) ) {
$title = $instance[ ‘title’ ];
}
else {
$title = __( ‘New title’, ‘text_domain’ );
}
?>
<label for="get_field_name( ‘title’ ); ?>”>
<input class="widefat" id="get_field_id( ‘title’ ); ?>” name=”get_field_name( ‘title’ ); ?>” type=”text” value=”” />
This code defines the Recipe_Search_Widget class. This class extends the WP_Widget class, which is the standard class for all WordPress widgets.
The __construct() function is used to register the widget with WordPress. The first parameter is the id of the widget, the second is the name of the widget, and the third is an array of options for the widget.
The form() function is used to display the widget’s settings form in the WordPress admin area. This function is only used when the widget is first added to a sidebar.
The update() function is used to save the widget’s settings when the form is submitted.
The widget() function is used to display the widget on the front-end of the site.
Now that you’ve written the code for the plugin, you’ll need to activate it. You can do this by going to the Plugins page in the WordPress admin area and clicking on the “Activate” link for the plugin.
Once the plugin is activated, you can add it to a sidebar by going to the Appearance > Widgets page.
You should now see the widget listed in the Available Widgets section. You can drag and drop the widget into the sidebar of your choice.
Now that the widget is added to the sidebar, visitors to your site will be able to search for recipes by ingredients, title, or keywords.
If you want to learn more about how to develop WordPress plugins, check out our Plugin Development Course.
