Learn why and how to create custom fields and metaboxes for you

1. Technology Hotspot & Salon
WordPress Custom
Fields and Metaboxes
East Bay WordPress Meetup
268 14th Street, Oakland, CA 94612 | Open 11-7 Monday - Friday | Drop-in co-working space, workshops and technology services | More info: http://www.techliminal.com
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Content in this presentation is Copyright (c) 2010 Tech Liminal. CC-Share-Alike. Feel free to use stuff from this presentation, but leave a link to Tech Liminal

2. Introduction
Anca Tech Liminal
• Web Developer • Technology Hotspot & Salon
• Information Architect • Co-Working
• 15 years of experience in • Workshops, Conferences
technology & marketing orgs • Expert, friendly help with web &
• Freelancer, Entrepreneur social media
anca@techliminal.com
www.techliminal.com 2 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

3. Agenda
• Why Custom Fields / Metaboxes
• Example 1: Directory Website
• Example 2: Conference Website
• WP Alchemy
• Custom Fields in the Database
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4. Why?
• Custom post types + custom fields turn WordPress
from a blogging/CMS into a viable tool for operating
your business
• Domain knowledge (e.g. events, products, etc)
• Make it easier for users to put information in the right
place
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5. Directory Website
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6. Montclair Village Directory Website
Listing by category
Custom Information
for each business
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7. Montclair Village Directory Website
Custom Fields in the
Custom Metabox Database
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8. Compare With Plain Custom Fields
“Plain” Custom Fields
Custom Metabox
•Easier to remember what needs to be filled in
•Better user experience for new people
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9. How This is Displayed
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10. Conference Website
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11. Scenario
• International conference with events held during 1
week in September/February
• Local Event Organizers create and manage their own
events
• About 300 Organizers, 1000 events each time around
• These are not WordPress experts
• They only use this tool for 8 weeks/year
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12. Some Design Concerns
• Each Metabox matches to a particular part of the
event organization process
• Some information is not accessible to all users
• Designed based on how the application is going to be
used.
• Minimize support requests, questions, errors.
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13. Event Post Type
•Custom Post Type + Metaboxes
•Implemented in a plugin
Custom Metabox
Custom Metabox Posts 2 Posts FTW
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14. On The Front End
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15. MetaBoxes: WP Alchemy
• http://www.farinspace.com/wpalchemy-metabox/
• Add to a folder in your theme or plugin
• Build HTML metaboxes
• Makes Saving and Retrieving Easier
Subfolder in my
Plugin
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16. MetaBoxes: WP Alchemy
mb_event_info.php -
Metabox template you
control.
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17. MetaBoxes: Putting It In the Post
show it only on my
“event” post type (in
plugin code)
Individual, rather than
array of, fields
Not sure why, but it has
to be loaded on init,
rather than admin_init
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18. Create an array for the
What About Searches? custom field values to
query.
Add each field value to
the meta_query array,
with compare property
This checks for a
single vlaue
Add the Meta_query to
the query args
Perform the query
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19. Resources
• WordPress for Programmers: TL Class Starting in January
• Tech Liminal WordPress Support Group
• http://techliminal.com/wordpress-support-group
• WP Alchemy: http://www.farinspace.com/wpalchemy-metabox/
• Tammy Hart’s reusable Metaboxes:
• https://github.com/tammyhart/Reusable-Custom-WordPress-Meta-Boxes
• http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/add_meta_box
• Learn about adding metaboxes
• http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_post_type
• Create your custom post type
• http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_post_meta - How to get
(and set) custom fields programmatically
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