What is a Meta Box?
Lab: WordPress Meta Box Basics
Video Runtime: 07:28
Let’s recap what a meta box is and why and when you should build a custom one. A meta box is a UI (user interface) component to allow interactivity with content but without the technical aspects. Think about that statement. A meta box makes it easy to interact with content by adding, editing, deleting, etc.
WordPress comes with a built Custom Field meta box. That interface is fine for simple projects or your own stuff.
But for clients, we want to make it easier, more intuitive, and less technical. A meta box lets us abstract away the complexity such as remembering the correct meta key name or value type.
Repeat after me: A meta box is not magical.
It’s not. It’s merely:
- An add function to register the meta box with WordPress.
- A render function to send the HTML out to the browser.
- A save function to take what the person changed and send it to the database for storage.
- A view file for the HTML.
That’s it. I’ll show you in this lab.
When was the last time you got out of your chair and stretched? Just saying…
Episodes
Total Lab Runtime: 02:21:18
- 1 Lab Introductionfree 07:20
- 2 What is a Meta Box?free 07:28
- 3 Add a New Meta Boxpro 11:46
- 4 Meta Box HTMLpro 18:39
- 5 Save Process & $_POSTfree 12:33
- 6 Bail Out if Not Our Meta Boxpro 05:03
- 7 Nonce Security Checkpro 10:16
- 8 On Save - Update or Delete Custom Field?pro 12:03
- 9 Validate & Sanitize BEFORE Updating Databasefree 14:41
- 10 Add Another Custom Fieldpro 08:49
- 11 Making Save Easier with $_POST Keypro 05:32
- 12 Better Saving Strategy for Multiple Custom Fieldspro 14:47
- 13 Changing Where Meta Box Appearspro 06:02
- 14 Passing Arguments to Renderpro 02:18
- 15 Wrap & Making it Reusablepro 04:01
