Using WordPress as your application stack

Using WordPress as
your application stack
WHY AND HOW

@me
Senior Full Stack WordPress Developer
Plugin author of Author Avatars List http://wordpress.org/plugins/author-avatars/
and WP Site Verification tool http://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-site-verification-tool/
Slides @ http://www.slideshare.net/pbearne

Why WordPress?
•Stable
•Supported
•Community
•Scales

Why not WordPress?
•Code debt
•PHP
•Has PHP global’s
•Not sexy

23%
OF THE SITES IN WHOLE INTERNET

How
•Actions and filters
•JSON API
•jQuery - Backbone
•Template hierarchy
•Custom post types

Filter
add_filter(‘fliter_name’, ‘function_to_run’);
Function function_to_run( $var ){
$var .= ‘hello world’;
return $var;
}
http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API#Filters

Action
add_action(‘action_name’, ‘function_to_run’);
Function function_to_run( $var = null ){
echo ‘hello world’;
}
http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API#Actions

Ajax Route
/**
* Register a rewrite endpoint for the API.
*/
function prefix_add_api_endpoints() {
add_rewrite_tag( '%api_item_id%', '([0-9]+)' );
add_rewrite_rule( 'api/items/([0-9]+)/?',
'index.php?api_item_id=$matches[1]', 'top' );
}
add_action( 'init', 'prefix_add_api_endpoints' );
https://10up.github.io/Engineering-Best-Practices/php/#ajax-endpoints

Ajax handler
function prefix_do_api() {
global $wp_query;
$item_id = $wp_query->get( 'api_item_id' );
if ( ! empty( $item_id ) ) {
$response = array();
// Do stuff with $item_id
wp_send_json( $response );
}
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'prefix_do_api' );

JSON API wordpress.com
Part of the Jetpack plug-in
http://developer.wordpress.com/docs/api/
https://developer.wordpress.com/docs/api/console/
End point
https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1/
e.g.
https://public-api.
wordpress.com/rest/v1/sites/authoravatars.wordpress.com/

JSON API wp.org (self host)
Part of next version of core (currently plug-in)
http://wp-api.org/
End point
https://domain.com/wp-json/

JSON API wp-api.org/ v. WP.com
WP.com
Wp-api.org
Caching
On you server
Little load on your servers
Extendable
Access to WordPress.com user and stats
More complete
The API’s don’t match (yet)

BackBone
Included with WordPress 
To just load it
wp_enqueue_script( ‘backbone’ );
Or better still load as a dependency of your script
wp_enqueue_script( ‘myscript’, ‘path/to/script, array( 'backbone' ) );
https://github.com/tlovett1/_s_backbone

Template Hierarchy
The order Wordpress load its template files
http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy

Custom post types
The main logical data object
in WordPress
The standard types are :
post, page, media
add_action( 'init', 'create_post_type' );
function create_post_type() {
register_post_type(
'acme_product',
array( 'labels' => array(
'name' => __( 'Products' ),
'singular_name' => __( 'Product' )
),
'public' => true,
'has_archive' => true, )
);
}
http://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Types

Custom metadata
The data linked to a post object
Text or serialized data
Use CMB2 to easily create admin forms
Hide the metadata from admin by
starting the id with an “_”
$meta_boxes[ 'tombstone_page_metabox' ] = array(
'id' => __( 'tombstone_page_metabox',
Config::get_text_domain() ),
'title' => __( 'Tombstone Details',
'object_types' => array( self::get_tombstone_post_type() ),
https://github.com/WebDevStudios/CMB2
// Post types
'context' => 'normal',
'priority' => 'high',
'show_names' => true, // Show field names on the left
'fields' => array(
array(
'name' => __( 'Tag line', Config::get_text_domain()
),
'desc' => __( 'Enter the pull Quote',
'id' => Config::_get_prefix() . 'tagline',
'type' => 'textarea_small',
'attributes' => array(
'style' => 'width:100%;',
),
),
)
);

Call external API and cache
Use the internal
wp_remote_get() get remote data.
Then cache the data with a
transients cache
or
tlc_transient()
$request = wp_remote_get('http://example.com');
$response = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $request );
echo $response;
<?php
// Define your callback (other examples use
this)
function my_callback() {
return wp_remote_retrieve_body(
wp_remote_get( 'http://example.com/feed.xml',
array( 'timeout' => 30 ) )
);
} // Grab that feed echo
$data = tlc_transient( 'example-feed' )
->updates_with( 'my_callback' )
->expires_in( 300 )
->get();
If( false != $data ){
// show data
}
?>
https://github.com/markjaquith/WP-TLC-Transients

Questions?
http://www.slideshare.net/pbearne

Using WordPress as your application stack

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