Creating a Plugin Compatibility Check System
Posted on 21st June 2023
Creating a Plugin Compatibility Check System
The WordPress Plugin Compatibility Check System (PCCS) is a system that was created to help make plugin developers’ lives easier and to improve the overall quality and stability of WordPress plugins. The PCCS is designed to check if a plugin is compatible with the current version of WordPress, and if not, it will automatically deactivate the plugin and notify the administrator.
The PCCS was created by WordPress core developers after they saw a need for a better way to handle plugin compatibility. In the past, when a new version of WordPress was released, many plugins would break because they were not compatible with the new version. This would often lead to WordPress sites breaking and administrators having to scramble to find a compatible version of the plugin or deactivate the plugin altogether.
With the PCCS, WordPress will automatically deactivate incompatible plugins and notify the administrator so that they can take action. This system has been designed to improve the overall stability of WordPress and to make life easier for plugin developers.
In order to use the PCCS, you must first install the plugin. Once the plugin is installed, it will automatically start checking for compatibility with the current version of WordPress. If a plugin is found to be incompatible, it will be automatically deactivated and the administrator will be notified.
The PCCS is an opt-in system, which means that you must explicitly tell the plugin to start checking for compatibility. This is so that the PCCS does not cause any unexpected problems on your WordPress site.
To start using the PCCS, go to the WordPress admin panel and navigate to the “Plugins” page. On this page, you will see a new section called “Plugin Compatibility Check.” Click on this section to expand it.
Next, click on the “Start Checking” button. This will cause the PCCS to begin checking all of the installed plugins for compatibility. This process may take a few minutes, depending on the number of plugins installed on your WordPress site.
Once the PCCS has finished checking for compatibility, you will see a list of all the plugins that it checked. For each plugin, you will see one of three possible statuses:
Compatible: This means that the plugin is compatible with the current version of WordPress.
Incompatible: This means that the plugin is not compatible with the current version of WordPress. The plugin will be automatically deactivated and you will be notified.
Unknown: This means that the PCCS was unable to determine the compatibility of the plugin. This is usually because the plugin has not been updated in a while or because the plugin author has not explicitly stated the compatibility of the plugin.
If a plugin is found to be incompatible, you can either try to find a compatible version of the plugin or deactivate the plugin altogether. You can also contact the plugin author and ask them to update the plugin so that it is compatible with the current version of WordPress.
The PCCS is a valuable tool for WordPress plugin developers. It can help to improve the overall quality and stability of WordPress plugins. If you are a plugin developer, you should consider using the PCCS to check the compatibility of your plugins.
When you’ve completed your changes, submit a Pull Request with your proposed changes.
# Creating a Plugin Compatibility Check System
As you begin to develop more and more WordPress plugins, you’ll inevitably run into situations where a new plugin you’ve developed is not compatible with an existing plugin or theme. In some cases, this can be easily resolved by simply changing the way your new plugin hooks into the existing plugin or theme. However, in other cases, the only way to resolve the compatibility issue may be to modify the existing plugin or theme.
Ideally, you want to avoid having to modify someone else’s code if at all possible. Not only is it generally considered bad form, but it can also make it difficult to update the plugin or theme in the future.
One way to avoid having to modify someone else’s code is to create a plugin compatibility check system. This system would essentially be a collection of functions that you could use to check for plugin and theme compatibility before your plugin tries to do anything.
For example, let’s say you have a new plugin that modifies the way WooCommerce products are displayed on the front end. Before your plugin does anything, it could first check to see if WooCommerce is activated and if it is compatible with the version of WooCommerce that is installed. If WooCommerce is not activated or is not compatible, your plugin could simply exit and display an error message.
Creating a plugin compatibility check system is relatively simple. The first thing you need to do is create a function that will check for a specific plugin. This function should take two arguments: the plugin slug and the minimum version required.
function is_plugin_active_and_min_version( $plugin_slug, $min_version ) {
//Check if the plugin is active
if ( ! is_plugin_active( $plugin_slug ) ) {
return false;
}
//Get the plugin data
$plugin_data = get_plugin_data( WP_PLUGIN_DIR . ‘/’ . $plugin_slug );
//Compare the version number
if ( version_compare( $plugin_data[‘Version’], $min_version, ‘Version, $min_version, ‘<' ) ) {
return false;
}
return true;
}
You can then use this function to check for theme compatibility before your plugin does anything.
function my_plugin_init() {
//Check for Twenty Seventeen
if ( ! is_theme_active_and_min_version( 'twentyseventeen', '1.0.0' ) ) {
//Twenty Seventeen is not active or is not compatible
//Do something
}
}
add_action( 'plugins_loaded', 'my_plugin_init' );
Creating a plugin compatibility check system is a good way to avoid having to modify someone else's code. It can also help you avoid potential conflicts between plugins and themes.
