Recently I walked folks through building a simple WordPress plugin from scratch at the WordPress Developers meetup in Fresno (my hometown).
We went through how to build a plugin for taking donations, optionally with a Stripe Checkout overlay.
Learning Resources
As promised, here’s a list of resources to get you started with plugin development.
- https://developer.wordpress.org/ – Recently updated. Great code reference for looking up core WP functions, actions, filters, etc.
- http://wpseek.com/ – The other code reference for quick core WP lookups.
- http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Coding_Standards – Try to adhere to these as much as possible.
- https://pippinsplugins.com/learn/ – A ton of tutorials, code samples, videos, etc. I highly recommend his member-only site.
- https://tommcfarlin.com/ – Another great WP developer to learn from.
- http://wpsessions.com/ – Top notch lengthier video courses.
- http://wordpress.tv/ – Tons of WordCamp video presentations found here for free.
- http://code.tutsplus.com/categories/wordpress – A wide variety of WP dev topics.
- http://applyfilters.fm/ – My favorite WP dev podcast.
- http://wpdevtable.com/ – My 2nd favorite.
Developer Tools
Here’s a few tools I use as I’m developing and debugging plugins.
- https://github.com/manovotny/wptest – Populate your WP install with a ton of posts, pages and media using all aspects of the core WP features. It’s a great way to check how well your plugin works with everything built into WP.
- https://github.com/tommcfarlin/WordPress-Plugin-Boilerplate – For larger plugins this is a great boilerplate to follow to keep your code and files well organized and standardized.
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/developer/ – A collection of 10 useful developer plugins by Automattic.
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/sysinfo/ – See all details about your WP install, PHP, MySQL, etc. Great to install on customer sites to see what they’re using.
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/query-monitor/ – All details about all database queries.
GCE Version 2.0 to be Released late August September 2014
Please submit any questions or troubleshooting requests in the public support forms
If you haven’t used Stripe for accepting payments online yet, you’re missing out on the best. Hands down.
They take care of payment processing with minimal headaches and extensive developer resources. But they also have a beautiful checkout form you can start using right away on your site.
Stripe Checkout was recently revamped with mobile optimizations and a high conversion form layout that’s gone through probably millions of A/B tests. See the demo for yourself.
Since it’s an embedded button that pops up a checkout form overlay provided by Stripe, you get all their improvements and optimizations automatically as they test and iterate.
It’s pretty simple to add HTML code and the JavaScript reference to any site, but in case you don’t want to bother with that, Nick Young and I created a simple Stripe Checkout plugin for WordPress.
It’s free in the WordPress repository, or simply search for “Stripe checkout” in your WordPress admin.
But wait…aren’t there a ton of good Stripe plugins already out there.
The simple answer is yes. And there are some good ones. If you want to integrate with plugins for e-commerce, membership sites, form building, etc., this plugin is not what you’re looking for. If you’re using one of these, you can probably find a Stripe add-on designed for it.
This Stripe plugin also does not store any post meta for transactions or send emails. Stripe does this for you, though you have to explicitly enable customer receipts.
Note that Stripe suggests that the pages hosting the checkout form be SSL (start with https://).
For version 1.0, there’s just a few settings to enter, then you place a shortcode on your pages where you want the button and overlay. That’s it.
At this point, like our Gumroad WordPress plugin, we’d like to hear from actual users what features they need.
Let us know your feature requests and they might get in a future update.
Update April 24, 2014
Added a few more shortcode options: multiple currencies, billing/shipping addresses, redirect URL, etc. See the changelog.
When folks want to integrate Pinterest with their WordPress site, usually it’s a focus on the “Pin It” button, which is why I created the Pinterest “Pin It” button WordPress plugin in the first place.
However, some people need a few more Pinterest widgets on their sidebar and other widget areas, which luckily Pinterest provides embed code for in their widget builder.
Besides the “Pin It” button, Pinterest provides code for a Follow button, Pin widget, Profile widget and Board widget. Since the “Pin It” button is taken care of in it’s own plugin, Nick Young and I created a Pinterest Widgets WordPress plugin that takes care of these 4 other widgets and all their options.
Oh, and you can use shortcodes to output all 4 widgets as well.
Download the free Pinterest Widgets WordPress plugin here (or simply search for “pinterest widgets” when adding a plugin in your WordPress admin).
While developing a commercial WordPress plugin one element you’ll probably want to add is automatic updates for your customers. They’re used to it from free plugins in the WordPress.org repository, so why not make it an easy transition for them with your premium plugin.
Why software license keys?
To verify each install of your plugin is valid, you’ll need to generate a unique license key for each purchase. Each customer then gets the same seamless one-click updates as you release them. No re-downloading, FTP uploads, or any of that nonsense.
A unique license key can also serve as a check when the customer creates (or you create) an account in your support system. You can take it further and log the sites the plugin and license key are being used on to make sure you’re only supporting the number of sites it’s intended for.
It’s not a requirement to provide a license key or automatic updates for a premium WordPress plugin, but it sure makes support and maintenance easier.
Options for the auto-updater only
Developing your own auto-updater and license key system was the most popular way up until there was a few more options in 2012. Quite possibly still the most popular.
If you’ve already established a purchase and delivery system for your plugin, and you don’t mind adding a license key generator yourself, here are a few sources to get the auto-updater working.
A Guide to the WordPress HTTP API: Automatic Plugin Updates by Abid Omar – This is a pretty extensive WP Tuts tutorial complete with screenshots and source files.
TGM Updater by Thomas Griffin and Gary Jones – This project on Github never reached 1.0, but it’s a great code base to start with.
Auto Hosted by David Chandra (reviewed on WP Daily) – I just ran across this recently. This is a premium plugin but you get something a little more polished, documented and with support.
Plugins for the complete package: Purchase, delivery, license key and auto-updater
Since I was in the market for a complete premium plugin package (digital delivery plus a license key and auto-update system), I turned towards the e-commerce plugins that provided all of this along with good documentation and support.
At this time, I only know of two.
Easy Digital Downloads + Software Licensing Extension
This is what I went with when I launched Pinterest “Pin It” Button Pro in the fall of 2012. I was fortunate in my timing in that EDD + SL was out there to use even though it was fairly new. There were a few technical issues along the way, but the products have matured a ton since release and I get fantastic support from Pippin and crew. There is extensive documentation and code snippets on how to integrate with your commercial plugin.
If EDD + SL didn’t work out for me I would’ve tried out WC + Software. I love the themes and plugins over at WooThemes and you can’t deny the widespread usage of WooCommerce in the WordPress e-commerce space (digital goods or not). I’d love to hear if any plugin shops out there are using this setup and how they like it. They have documentation for the add-on and I know their support is great.
Hosted complete package solutions
If you can be a little patient, there’s a pretty cool hosted solution for premium plugin and theme shops “coming soon” (pun intended).
SellWP is the “easiest way to start selling your WordPress themes and plugins.” It’s a brand new hosted solution right around the corner and comes from John Turner, the developer behind the Coming Soon Pro plugin.
You’ll still setup your marketing website as you normally would, but this solution provides the rest for you (yes the purchase, delivery, license key and auto-updater).
If you’re interested go check out the new video and sign up on the launch list over at SellWP.