8 useful code snippets to get started with WordPress 3.0
How to create a custom post type
Custom post type are an incredible step forward for WordPress, because it will allow developers to create post types according to their needs.
For now, we have posts, and pages. With WordPress 3.0, we’ll be able to create a new post type called products, where a client can sell his products only, while regular post for his blog.
Creating a custom post type is easy: All you have to do is to open your theme functions.php file and paste the following:
$args = array(
'label' => __('Products'),
'singular_label' => __('Product'),
'public' => true,
'show_ui' => true,
'capability_type' => 'page',
'hierarchical' => false,
'rewrite' => true,
'query_var' => 'products',
'supports' => array('title', 'thumbnail')
);
register_post_type( 'album' , $args );
Once you saved the file, login to your WordPress dashboard and have a look at the navigation on the left: A new post type, named Products, has been added.
Source: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_post_type
Custom post types with custom taxonomies
In the previous example, I’ve shown you how to create a custom post type, which is pretty useful to use WordPress as a real CMS and not a simple blog publishing platform.
Now, let’s see something a little bit more complex, but extremely interesting: Creating a custom post type associated with custom taxonomies. For those who don’t know, a taxonomy is a term (such as category, tag or anything else) related to posts. For more information about taxonomies, you should have a look at WordPress Codex.
In this example, we’ll create a custom post type named Albums, which belong to “Genres” (the custom categories) and have “Performer” as tags. This snippet has to be pasted in your functions.php file. With those 27 lines of codes, you can create a fully functional music albums archive. Ain’t that powerful?
function post_type_albums() {
register_post_type(
'albums',
array('label' => __('Albums'),
'public' => true,
'show_ui' => true,
'supports' => array(
'post-thumbnails',
'excerpts',
'trackbacks',
'comments')
)
);
// Adding the Custom Taxonomy for Genres. Here we can create categories specific for this post type.
register_taxonomy( 'genres', 'albums', array( 'hierarchical' => true, 'label' => __('Genres') ) );
// Adding the Custom Taxonomy for Performer. Here we can add tags specific for this post type.
register_taxonomy( 'performer', 'albums',
array(
'hierarchical' => false,
'label' => __('Performer'),
'query_var' => 'performer',
'rewrite' => array('slug' => 'performer' )
)
);
}
add_action('init', 'post_type_albums');
Source: http://wpspecial.net/2010/03/how-to-add-custom-post-types-in-wordpress/
Query custom post types
Now that you’ve learned how to create custom post types, the next step is to learn how to retrieve them from the WordPress database and display it on your blog.
Good news for developers, there’s nothing hard or new in the process. Custom post types can be retrieved easily, using the WP_Query object.
The following example will create a custom loop which will get only the albums custom post type.
<ul>
<?php global $wp_query;
$wp_query = new WP_Query("post_type=albums&post_status=publish");
while ($wp_query->have_posts()) : $wp_query->the_post(); ?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</ul>
Enable multisite feature
One of the most exiting new feature of WordPress 3.0 is definitely multisite management. In brief, with a single installation of WordPress you’ll be able to run a network of WordPress blog. How cool is that?
To take advantage of this feature, simply paste the following line of code in your wp-config.php file. This file is located at the root of your WordPress install.
define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
Source: http://wptheming.com/2010/03/wordpress-3-0-enable-network/
Custom author profiles
Most of the top blogs of the industry do not have a single author but a team of different contributors. WordPress allows you to create author pages, but WordPress 3.0 is introducing a new function which will allow you to use different templates for different authors, like we can currently do with categories.
All you have to do is to create an author page named author-XX.php where XX is either the author ID or nicename. For example, if your user nicename is “john”, you’ll have to call the file author-john.php.
Source: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_author_template
Add custom backgrounds
WordPress 3.0 is introducing a new feature that will for sure be loved by non tech-friendly users: Custom background. The feature allows the user to upload a background in his WordPress dashboard, specify its position, and automatically have it added to his blog.
Of course, the theme used by the blogger has to support this feature, otherwise the uploaded background will not be visible. To do so, simply open your functions.php file and paste the following line:
add_custom_background();
Style WordPress editor using CSS
WordPress features a WYSIWYG editor, which allow you to see text in bold, italic, and so on. But some people want more, such as being able to visualize their blog post in the blog font and colors.
This new feature allows you to create a css file (named editor-style.css in the example below) and link it to the editor for a better WYSIWYG rendering. Simply paste this code snippet to your functions.php file.
add_filter('mce_css', 'my_editor_style');
function my_editor_style($url) {
if ( !empty($url) )
$url .= ',';
// Change the path here if using sub-directory
$url .= trailingslashit( get_stylesheet_directory_uri() ) . 'editor-style.css';
return $url;
}
Source: http://azaozz.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/can-themes-style-the-visual-editor/
Make your theme compatible with WordPress 3.0 menus
WordPress 3.0 is going to feature a totally new menu system, which will allow users to add only the desired pages, add categories, and more. Good news for theme developers; adding WP 3.0 menu support to your themes is extremely easy.
To do so, open functions.php and add the following line:
add_theme_support( 'nav-menus' );
Once added, you can use the brand new wp_nav_menu() function in your theme files:
wp_nav_menu('sort_column=menu_order&container_class=navigation');
As you can see, it accepts the same kind of parameters than the good ol’ wp_list_categories() function.
Source: http://wpspecial.net/2010/04/menu-support-for-wordpress-3-0-themes/
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8 useful code snippets to get started with WordPress 3.0