Settings API in 9 Steps

I’m going to update my DX Plugin Base script soon with sample code, but Settings API are something that needs a few lines of text too.

There are several good resources for that, such as:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_API

http://ottodestruct.com/blog/2009/wordpress-settings-api-tutorial/

http://wp.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-complete-guide-to-the-wordpress-settings-api-part-2-sections-fields-and-settings/ (awesome btw)

But for the very quick overview of what to be done, that’s needed:

  1. hook to admin_init with a function registering settings
  2. call register_setting to reserve a slot in the DB where the setting is to be stored (setting name for DB, how is it stored in DB)
  3. call add_setting_section to create a section for settings (setting name, setting title, callback func, page on which to display – existing slug or a new one)
  4. call add_setting_field to create a simple setting (field ID, field name, callback, page name, section name)
  5. in the callback function for a field, get the option (param 2 from step 2) and use it as a value from the array, such as $option_arr[specific_field]
  6. in the template, create a form with post submit with an action of options.php
  7. call settings_fields with the parameter from register_setting
  8. call do_settings_sections with the slug of the page where you display it
  9. save the project

My name is Mario Peshev, a global SME Business Advisor running digital businesses for 20 the past years.

Born in Bulgaria, Europe, I gained diverse management experience through my training work across Europe, North America, and the Arab world. With 10,000+ hours in consulting and training for organizations like SAP, VMware, CERN, I’ve dedicated a huge amount of my time to helping hundreds of SMEs growing in different stages of the business lifecycle.

My martech agency DevriX grew past 50 people and ranks as a top 10 WordPress global agency and Growth Blueprint, my advisory firm, has served 400+ SME founders and executives with monthly ongoing strategy sessions.


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