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How hard would it be to create a Wordpress plugin?

by Edwin Torres
16 replies
Hey,

I am trying to venture into other languages, and was wondering how long it would take to create a Wordpress plugin?

I am pretty good at C# (intermediate), and have made countless programs in it, mostly dealing with website automation.

I also have ran several websites and own a few Wordpress blogs of my own so I have also pretty good knowledge in HTML (beginner to intermediate).

I know next to nothing about CSS if that matters.

How long do you think it'll take me to learn the basics of PHP, and to create a Wordpress plugin?

I want to make stuff that automates certain tasks (maybe a blog submitter, or a scraper).
#create #hard #plugin #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author jacktackett
    Edwin, since you're an experienced programmer it will not take you long to put together a plugin and get up to speed in php. I would recommend downloading a few plugins and simple study their code - most are straight up php. There are also courses specifically for creating plug in - Robert Plank has a good one though it is kind of pricy. I'm sure you'll find plenty of sample code via Google and Bing as well. Plus many sites will provide sample code to access their API systems - like Amazon, Paypal and Google.
    Good luck!
    --Jack
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  • Profile picture of the author gcampton
    Originally Posted by Edwin Torres View Post

    Hey,

    I am trying to venture into other languages, and was wondering how long it would take to create a Wordpress plugin?

    I am pretty good at C# (intermediate), and have made countless programs in it, mostly dealing with website automation.

    I also have ran several websites and own a few Wordpress blogs of my own so I have also pretty good knowledge in HTML (beginner to intermediate).

    I know next to nothing about CSS if that matters.

    How long do you think it'll take me to learn the basics of PHP, and to create a Wordpress plugin?

    I want to make stuff that automates certain tasks (maybe a blog submitter, or a scraper).
    PHP is pretty much the same as C++, JAVA, C# etc. Same kind of OOP language only it's primarily used online. It also uses a lot of the same syntax.

    WordPress has quite good resources. codex (dot) wordpress (dot) org.

    As far as CSS goes, it's pretty darn simple and you don't need to know much of anything of it anything you need to know can be simply looked up at w3schools (dot) com

    If you know how to use HTML then CSS isn't a far reach at all, it's got very similar variables.

    Also I suggest looking at the plugin called "Hello Dolly" it comes per-installed (at least it used to up until recently) on all WordPress installations. This is just a very simple plugin that displays quotes on the admin side.

    Then I would look at other automation software and figure out what they are doing and expand or collapse on it, using their code samples but definitely check out "Hello Dolly" first, if you can't figure out how it works then you're not going to figure out automation.

    I'm pretty sure WPRobot has a free (no modules) download.... I might be wrong. But this might be a good start, otherwise there's some good WSO's that do similar things perhaps it would be in your best interest to pick one of these up for $17 and have a look at how it does things.

    Goodluck and if you need alpha tester pm me!
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    • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
      Originally Posted by jacktackett View Post

      Edwin, since you're an experienced programmer it will not take you long to put together a plugin and get up to speed in php. I would recommend downloading a few plugins and simple study their code - most are straight up php. There are also courses specifically for creating plug in - Robert Plank has a good one though it is kind of pricy. I'm sure you'll find plenty of sample code via Google and Bing as well. Plus many sites will provide sample code to access their API systems - like Amazon, Paypal and Google.
      Good luck!
      --Jack
      Hopefully I can learn it in a day or two .

      Also, do you know what his PHP product is about? Is it PHP Copywriting?

      Originally Posted by gcampton View Post

      PHP is pretty much the same as C++, JAVA, C# etc. Same kind of OOP language only it's primarily used online. It also uses a lot of the same syntax.

      WordPress has quite good resources. codex (dot) wordpress (dot) org.

      As far as CSS goes, it's pretty darn simple and you don't need to know much of anything of it anything you need to know can be simply looked up at w3schools (dot) com

      If you know how to use HTML then CSS isn't a far reach at all, it's got very similar variables.

      Also I suggest looking at the plugin called "Hello Dolly" it comes per-installed (at least it used to up until recently) on all WordPress installations. This is just a very simple plugin that displays quotes on the admin side.

      Then I would look at other automation software and figure out what they are doing and expand or collapse on it, using their code samples but definitely check out "Hello Dolly" first, if you can't figure out how it works then you're not going to figure out automation.

      I'm pretty sure WPRobot has a free (no modules) download.... I might be wrong. But this might be a good start, otherwise there's some good WSO's that do similar things perhaps it would be in your best interest to pick one of these up for $17 and have a look at how it does things.

      Goodluck and if you need alpha tester pm me!
      Thanks for the tips! Much appreciated
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveWF
    This would be a good start. Plenty of useful tutorials.

    Code:
    http://wplift.com/20-really-handy-tutorials-to-help-you-build-wordpress-plugins
    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Amandasimmons
    Small Plugin can be concluded in about a week but the larger ones (WordPress SEO by Yoast) may take weeks and months. Good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author tomlitchfield
    Hey Edwin,

    The main thing about programming in WP is understanding the framework and API in addition to PHP. If you have all that down (and jquery too) you can knock a plugin out in a couple days depending on what it does.

    Since you know C# you'll probably pick up PHP in a few days. After that the challenge will be the framework. Unfortunately, the wp codex only has very basic stuff and the books out there on plugin dev are not that great. Still, these are better resources than nothing at all and you're going to need them for reference. Most of your learning is going to come by trying stuff on your own and seeing if you can get it to work, at least that's how it was for me.

    If you make backend plugins you many not need to deal with CSS and just use WP's built in admin styles.

    You may need to know some Jquery basics. Fortunately the jquery community is great and there's a lot of help out there.

    You can shortcut the process by buying plugin code, I do that a lot because I'm so busy. In this case you can get away with knowing less. For personal use that would be ok, but if you're planning on selling your plugins be prepared to dive in to code to fix bugs!
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  • Profile picture of the author mehdi7604
    1week to learn PHP ?
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    • Profile picture of the author Jesse L
      Originally Posted by mehdi7604 View Post

      1week to learn PHP ?
      I learned coldfusion in one week, at least enough to fake it

      I think the main thing you will want to watch is your security, at least before going live. Be sure to validate all data types, filter for sql injections, etc...

      But php is not difficult to catch onto and you should have no problems with it.
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      • Profile picture of the author mehdi7604
        Originally Posted by Jesse L View Post

        I learned coldfusion in one week, at least enough to fake it

        I think the main thing you will want to watch is your security, at least before going live. Be sure to validate all data types, filter for sql injections, etc...

        But php is not difficult to catch onto and you should have no problems with it.
        1 week is relative, it depends of the capacity and the backround of the person, + the time he or she has ..
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  • Profile picture of the author locke815
    If you are good in PHP, it'll be relatively easy to create a Wordpress plugin.
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  • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
    Any tutorials guys?

    I got the basic concept down but actions and filters are messing me up a little bit.
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    • Profile picture of the author DEaFeYe
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      • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
        Originally Posted by DEaFeYe View Post

        I think I'd start with learning to do some straight PHP before jumping into the added complexities of a WP plugin (not that it's a ton, but still).

        If C# is your background this transition from a strictly structured strongly typed language to a looser and more permissive PHP will come as a bit of a shock. You may hate it and claim its the devil, or end up never going back to structured voluntarily.

        I'd also recommend taking the extra time to transition from windows based development into Linux based (Ubuntu is pretty nooby friendly and has the most similar look/feel to Windows if you're not working from the command line), assuming your C# background isn't something obscure like Unity. While this won't actually affect your source itself and adds another hurdle before completion, you'll get familiar with the environment a lot of open source tools are run in at production levels, you'll find that basic administration will be much smoother, and you'll be able to guarantee there aren't any crazy environment dependent quirks that take place on windows affecting your testing and therefor ability to make something that can be released cross platforms.

        It's a big leap, honestly. I started my career with Delphi desktop apps and moved into Perl web development so the transition shock is similar. Yes, there are similarities and you'll have large advantages over a complete programming noobie, but you'll be dealing with some higher level concepts C# tends to shelter you from, and you'll have some crutches that you leaned on kicked out so you'll have to find new ones.

        Once you do make that transition, you'll find out that you become a better programmer in both (yes, working in other languages teaches you new approaches to use tools you already knew), so the journey is well worth it. How long will it take you to transition? There's no solid number. Shorter than when you picked up your first but longer than you'd hope to expect. How long will it take you to write your *second* PHP project? If you learn right the first time, likely faster than you completed your most recent C# project.
        I have been learning the basics of PHP and got it down.

        I've messed around with Wordpress plugin development and I got the idea of it a little bit, but there are so many actions and filters that I sometimes don't know what to choose because they all sound so similar.

        Also, do you know of an form builder so I can build the form in the program and output the code in HTML? Or do I have to do it from scratch?
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        • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
          Originally Posted by Edwin Torres View Post

          I have been learning the basics of PHP and got it down.

          I've messed around with Wordpress plugin development and I got the idea of it a little bit, but there are so many actions and filters that I sometimes don't know what to choose because they all sound so similar.

          Also, do you know of an form builder so I can build the form in the program and output the code in HTML? Or do I have to do it from scratch?
          I'm sure you've looked at the Plugin API Codex page: Plugin API « WordPress Codex, and the Action Reference Plugin API/Action Reference « WordPress Codex and Filter Reference Plugin API/Filter Reference « WordPress Codex pages. There is also a complete hook reference here: WordPress hooks database - action and filter hooks for wp plugin developers -- Adam Brown, BYU Political Science but it's a little more difficult to follow.

          The WP Codex has a discoverable search that you can add to Firefox. I find it indispensable, along with a PHPXref digest of WP, which I just have sitting on my dev box.

          One of the most important things to remember about plugins is they shouldn't DO ANYTHING all by themselves. All of their functionality should be added via WP actions and filters.
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  • Profile picture of the author zerofill
    Biggest issue for me when writing a WordPress plugin is getting myself to want to do it. Creating plugins is very repetitious, and boring as all hell in my opinion. After you make a few of them, you will be begging to go back to larger scale applications. At least that is how I feel. Even though I still write the things, it isn't enjoyable at all to me.

    Most of them I write just to make it quick for people that I might be outsourcing to. If I want to do many of the things I may have hacked together on a site somewhere. I will mess around on a normal site and then see the results from using what I did, and want to scale it, I often turn it into a plugin. Just because I can pay people to setup a bunch of blogs exactly how I want them. Then they just install my plugin for a certain functionality I want on the sites.

    I have so many plugins I have written that I kept only for myself. Mainly because I didn't feel like explaining their purpose, or just didn't want others using the techniques, etc.

    It's nice to have the ability to make one if you want. But I still find them extremely annoying to create. I couldn't pop them out 2 a week like some people do. Would drive me nuts.

    I guess it depends on what you are wanting to create them for. Good business in making cool plugins. They do sell well.

    If you are good with C# though, PHP will actually be annoying to you I bet. It isn't as strict as C#. So may C# people, get aggravated with it's laziness, I guess you could call it lol.

    One person mentioned the OOP aspect of PHP. I don't know that I would consider PHP an OOP language. You can definitely code it in that way. But that doesn't make it truly an OOP language. Many frameworks, etc, out there push it more towards being OOP. But it just depends on what you are writing and how you are writing it, for how far the OOP comes into play with PHP.
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  • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
    Yeah I think I'll stop with wordpress development. I didnt know it required you to know a lot of HTML and CSS, plus it has a pretty steep learning curve IMHO.

    C# is better.

    And yes, I hate how un-strict (is that a word?) PHP is. I wanna declare a string and an integer but a variable is pretty much both of those so its get annoying sometimes.
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