Planning Our Plugin

Let’s plan out our plugin. There are multiple features and considerations that we need to think about before we start writing code.

In this episode, we will talk about the strategy of reducing redundant code and how to architect a custom site. We talk about why using the same file embedded into each theme and plugin can increase your costs, risks, and time.

Then we’ll talk about the different tasks that this plugin will do, including:

1. Move the versioning utility file out of the theme, i.e. that we built in Part 1, and put it into our new plugin.
2. Strip off the version number query string and move it into the filename.
3. Add the rewrite rule for Apache in .htaccess and configuration file for Nginx.
4. Deal with assets that already have the version number as part of the static URL.
5. External assets.
6. Configurable way to skip certain assets.

This plugin is changing the static URL. The path to the asset file does not exist. Why? We will change the filename by adding the version number between the filename and the extension. I show that to you in the episode.

Therefore, we have to add a rewrite rule for the web server to know how to route to the physical file on the server’s hard drive.

Building it in OOP

You will build this plugin in OOP. However, I’m not teaching you OOP in this lab. Therefore, if you want to know more about OOP, go do this lab:

15 Episodes
03:04:55 Runtime

Introduction to PHP Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) for WordPress

Object-oriented programming (OOP) seeks to emulate real objects through code. In life, objects have both characteristics, those attributes that define it, and behavior. OOP is a completely different approach to programming than procedural. As such, its actual implementation is often misapplied and misunderstood. In this hands-on lab, you will get an introduction to OOP. You'll explore how to implement it for your WordPress plugins and theme.

Learn more

If you prefer not to build this plugin, but rather you just want to use it, you can download it off of GitHub.