Tag Archives: plugin

How to make specific WordPress posts visible only when accessed directly

Wordpress Logo BlueRecently I had to to publish an article in a way that common site visitors aren't aware of it's existence. Basically this article had to be excluded from all WordPress loops and visible only when accessed directly. General idea of solution presented in this article is to use pre_get_posts hook to alter WP_Query. Goal is excluding hidden post on frontend, area that isn't single post and when area is single post other than hidden post it self. Now allow me to share code snippet that can be used for this purpose.

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PHP function for adding admin menu separator inside WordPress backend

WordPress admin menu separatorOften your WordPress plugin or theme adds admin submenu inside WordPress admin interface using add_menu_page() functions on admin_menu hook or using WordPress Settings API. When your code adds multiple submenu items wouldn't it be nice to create section on admin menu to reduce clutter? Unfortunately WordPress currently doesn't support adding admin menu separators so you must do it manually by filtering $menu global variable. Here's function for doing that together with an example that should demonstrate it's use.

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Detect visitor's country from his IP address in your WordPress plugin or theme

GeolocationRecently while coding my "who is online" WordPress plugin Quick Count I had an idea that it would be great if I could somehow detect visitor's country of origin from his IP address. After doing some research I've learned that most online IP to country services are proprietary and offer limited services for free or they don't offer free service at all. Then I came across a great ip-countryside open source project by Markus Goldstein. He has developed open source C++ application that creates IP to country database using 5 Regional Internet Registries (RIR): AFRINIC, APNIC, ARIN, LACNIC and RIPE. I've decided to create open source WordPress plugin named Quick Flag that uses this database to provide IP to country services to all WordPress community. In this article I'll show you how to install and use Quick Flag IP to country functionality from your own plugin or theme.

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Add your custom post type count to Right Now admin dashboard widget with WordPress plugin

Wordpress Logo BlueRecently I've published my latest WordPress plugin Quick Poll where I've used custom post type feature of recent WordPress versions to implement voting poll functionality. Wouldn't it be nice to show your custom post type count on WordPress dashboard Right Now widget right bellow the number of posts, pages, comments, categories and tags? This would definitely help your custom post type to blend into default WordPress functionality. It is also handy because clicking on your custom post type count will take user right to the list of your custom post type posts. In this article I'm presenting code to do just that.

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WordPress plugin Quick Poll brings voting polls to your blog or site

Today I've published my latest WordPress plugin. This time I'm bringing voting polls to your WordPress blog or site in the form of Quick Poll WordPress plugin. My goal was to create highly WordPress integrated open source plugin with all features you expect to find in such software. I've also tried to blend voting poll functionality into usual WordPress features, that's why I chose custom post type WordPress feature to implement voting polls. This way you can publish and edit voting polls in the same familiar manner as you control regular posts and pages.

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