What WP JSON Posts does is returning any page, post or feed you like as JSON. If you want to load a page into a lightbox you shouldn’t need to use something else than the actual URL. And that’s exactly how easy WP JSON Posts is to use. An AJAX request to http://example.com/this-is-my-page?jsonposts=1 will give you a JSON representation of that page.

I’m sure you already got some ideas about how you can implement this in your own theme or plugin. Go ahead and download WP JSON Posts now! Otherwise just read on and I’ll show you just how deep the rabbit… how much you can accomplish with this WordPress plugin.

Feature overview:

• Get JSON data for any post, page, archive, the front page etc.
• It works even for custom posts and taxonomy archives.
• And all this are enabled completely automagically.
• Choose what data you need.
• Customize number of posts and what posts you’ve already got.
• No bloat. No unnecessary functions. You are free to do whatever you want.
• It’s free! Licensed under GPLv3.

Note: custom queries, page templates and other stuff you put in the template files are ignored. That’s kinda the definition of this plugin.

What exactly does it do?

The strength of WP JSON Posts is that it’s based on WordPress own built in post query. That is, when you visit a certain URL WordPress does some hard work figuring out what you want to see and goes to get those posts. Usually WordPress then applies the correct template, be it single.php or taxonomy-whatever.php. But if WP JSON Posts finds a key named ‘jsonposts’, the theme is swapped for JSON.

As of version 1.0.1 the following data can be returned for each post:

• ID
• the_title
• the_content
• The content already HTML-formatted
• the_excerpt
• the_category
• An array for every category as an object. The same data as in the WordPress category-object plus the url.
• cat_ID
• cat_name
• cat_url
• category_count
• category_description
• category_nicename
• category_parent
• count
• description
• name
• object_id
• parent
• slug
• taxonomy
• term_group
• term_id
• term_taxonomy_id
• the_date
• Date formatted as “2009-06-11 10:58″. May be subject to change in future updates.
• the_permalink
• the_post_thumbnail
• Array of image properties:
• url
• width
• height
• crop (bool)

There’s one more thing…

Well, four actually. These are the parameters you can send as GET requests to customize what post data that are returned. In summary you could send &exclude=the_content-the_category&number_of_posts=10&offset=10&imgsize=small.

The above data contains pretty much a shitload of data which might be unnecessary. Often you only want the title and the featured image. Thats where the &exclude parameter comes in handy. My plugin expects it to be a dash-separated string of properties to remove. For example &exclude=the_content-the_date-the_category would remove those properties from the returned post objects. Default is to send everything.

Sometimes you don’t want to get the full normal result of a feed, but only the first couple of posts. For example on the front page of my portfolio I want to get a different number of posts depending on how long the rows are. &number_of_posts=5 will take care of this.

The third parameter you may attach is &offset. This is used to specify how many post you’ve already got, just like WordPress’ own offset parameter. &offset=10 would start getting posts at the eleventh post. Default is 0.

Finally you might have to specify what size you want the featured image to be. &imgsize=case would return the image size named “case”. Default is “small”.

By now I’m really sure you’ve got a few ideas how to use this plugin. Why don’t you download WP JSON Posts now? And don’t hesitate to write some feedback in the comment section below.

In the front end you’ll find an inspirational slideshow, a video blogg and an image gallery with lightbox enlargement. In the back end there’s an internal chat, group management and custom image taxonomies. All this with 36 users and three custom user levels in mind.

Special features is the content slideshow on the front page that is easily edited, and the image lightboxes on some pages for viewing large size images. All this was of course made using WordPress.

Visit fistulasjukhuset and see it yourself!

Some noteworthy features are the real-time search, where a user gets suggestions based on existing reviews while typing, and signing in using Facebook connect to avoid the need for creating an account.

Prakti was awarded a scholarship for “best development project”.

Except from design I also created new content, restructured the usable content and added some missing features. For example commenting, an automatic document archive etc. One challenge was to incorporate existing functions from the old CMS into WordPress, which I did using custom built plugins.

To make the content easily updated, “custom post types” were used heavily. They are used to difference between different kind of content, e.g. products and articles, make each as easy to update as a Word document. Since I’m a friend of availability, all features are still working even if JavaScript is disabled.

The most prominent change design-wise is that I put a lot more images on the front page to immediately convey what services Häståkeriet offers. Another feature is the custom made calendar that shows when the activities occur.

Go ahead and download Simple Calendar now! Or continue reading about the features.

• Why should I use Simple Calendar
• Features
• Localization
• How to use Simple Calendar
  • Parameters
  • Syntax
  • Examples
• Changelog

Why should I use Simple Calendar?

Are you looking for a calendar plugin that is actually usable? A plugin that doesn’t try to cram in every imaginable feature in a too cluttered interface? Do you want nothing more than to add an event on a certain date and time, and then it’s done?

If so, the Simple Calendar WordPress plugin is made for you. Simple Calendar was created to make it as easy as possible to add events to a calendar and show them on your blog. By default you may simply use the widget to show upcoming events. If you’re more into programming you can use call the function ahsc_show_events($args) as described below.

Features

• A really simple interface for adding events
• A widget listing upcoming events
• Internationalization
• Possible to show events on a single page

Localization

Simple Calendar fully supports localization. Simple Calendar is currently translated to the following languages:

• (Swedish is coming)

If you have made a translation, you’re free to send me an email and you will be featured as a contributor and listed on this page.

Note: the POT file is coming as soon as the plugin is accepted into the WordPress plugin respiratory

How to use Simple Calendar

For use in e.g. a sidebar there is a widget that shows upcoming events. Just drag it to where you want it, chose a title and number of events to show and you’re done! If you are displaying all events on a single page you may also want to paste the url in last field.

If you want to show the calendar on any page, just write <?php echo ahsc_show_events($args); ?> in a template file.

Parameters in ahsc_show_events()

The following is a list of parameters and values allowed when calling the ahsc_show_events() function.

• before_list
  Default: <ul class=”ahsc_calendar”>
  Usage: What should be written before the list of events
• after_list
  Default: </ul>
  Usage: What should be written after the list of events.
• before_event
  Default: <li>
  Usage: What should be written before each event.
• after_event
  Default: </li>
  Usage: What should be written after each event.
• before_event_title
  Default: <h4>
  Usage: What should be written before the title of each event.
• after_event_title
  Default: </h4>
  Usage: What should be written after the title of each event
• before_event_date
  Default: <span class=”date”>
  Usage: What should be written before the date of each event.
• after_event_date
  Default: </span>
  Usage: What should be written after the date of each event.
• before_event_desc
  Default: none
  Usage: What should be written before the content of each event.
• after_event_desc
  Default: none
  Usage: What should be written after the content of each event.
• begin
  Default: current_date()
  Usage: The oldest date any returned event may occur on.
  Allowed values: date formatted as YYYY-MM-DD or ‘current_date()’.
• end
  Default: 2100-01-01
  Usage: Events may occur on any date before, but not including, this date.
  Allowed values: date formatted as YYYY-MM-DD or ‘current_date()’.
• number
  Default: 5
  Usage: Maximum number of events to be shown.
  Allowed values: any integer. 0 (zero) will return unlimited number of events.
• order
  Default: ASC
  Usage: In which order the events should be sorted in.
  Allowed values: ASC or DESC
• orderby
  Default: ‘Begin’
  Usage: Which column the events should be sorted by.
  Allowed values: Id, Begin, Begin_time

Parameters syntax

The syntax for the parameters is based on the wp_parse_args() function which means you add arguments in the same way as in for example a query_string().

<?php echo ahsc_show_events(‘number=10&order=DESC’); ?>

Please note that the parameters currently are NOT sql-escaped (because I see no security issue as long as the plugin is used as intended). Thus, if you use data in the parameters sent by a user, make sure the input is secure.

Examples

Show a list of all events that occurred in the past:

<?php echo ahsc_show_events(‘number=0&begin=2000-01-01&end=current_date()&order=DESC’); ?>

Show today’s events (not actually tested):

<?php
    $args = 'end=' . date('Y-m-d',strtotime('+1 day'));
    echo ahsc_show_events($args);
?>

Show upcoming events with h2 instead of h4 headers:

<?php echo ahsc_show_events(‘before_event_title=<h2>&after_event_title=</h2>’); ?>

Changelog

0.20 The first public release

Download Simple Calendar Now!

Modxcms

Wattenkungen ville ha hemsidan i modxcms, en cms (Content Management System) jag aldrig hade hört talas om tidigare. Jag var en aning skeptisk till en början eftersom den jag inte hade arbetat med modx och av att döma från informationen på deras hemsida verkade den ganska knepig. Efter att ha testat modxcms blev jag dock positivt överraskad. Det tog bara någon timme att sätta mig in i hur modx fungerade och hur man använder snippets, templates etc.

Jag måste erkänna moxcms hade sina fördelar, men vissa brister var extremt irriterande för en van WordPress-användare som mig. T.ex. kan man inte köra php direkt i template-filen (jag listade i alla fall inte ut hur man gjorde på den korta tiden jag provade), vilket jag inte för mitt liv kan förstå orsaken till. Hanteringen av s.k. Template Variables var dock extremt smidig och är en funktion som jag gärna skulle se implementerad i WordPress.

Template Variables

Samtliga sidor på wattenkungen.se består av minst tre separata innehållsområden som användaren (kunden) ska kunna ändra utan att kunna någon kod, som mest fanns det sex sidor (dock ej publicerad i skrivande stund). Att lösa detta i WordPress hade varit i det närmaste omöjligt och hade krävt antingen missbruk av widgets, krånglig implementering av css för olika stycken, en specialgjord plugin eller Custom Fields. I modx var dock detta enkelt gjort med hjälp av Template Variables. Template Variables motsvarighet i WordPress är Custom Fields, med den skillnaden att det är hur enkelt som helst att använda i modx. Bara att bestämma vilka variabler av vilken typ som ska visas för varje template och börja skriva.

Design

Min uppgift var att implementera en befintlig design i modxcms. Jag fick designen levererad till mig i form av en psd ur vilken jag klippte ut logotyp, bakgrundsbilder och andra element. Därpå följde arbetet att göra en html-mall av det hela för att sedan lägga in kod för de delar som skulle styras av WordPress. Jag installerade allt på min lokala testserver och såg till så att allt fungerade innan jag exporterade till live.sidan. Wattenkungen skapade allt innehåll och publicerade mesta av det själva.

CSS3

Efersom CSS3 ännu inte är standard enligt w3c har jag inte provat det så mycket ännu. I och med det här projektet fick jag dock tillfälle att lära mig några nya CSS-tekniker, t.ex. @font-face och text-shadow. Att se till att hemsidan ändå går att se i samtliga webbläsare har ändå varit  högsta prioritet.

Jag tackar Wattenkungen för den här gången och ser mig om efter nya utmaningar. (det ryktas om att jag snart släpper en ny sajt)

Hittills har jag varit en av få webbdesigners som vågat erkänna att one.com faktiskt var ett bra webbhotell att hosta sin webbsida hos. Detta tips har dock varit riktat främst mot dem som har en mindre seriös hemsida eller blogg och räknar med max 100 besökare om dagen. Om man har en kommersiell sajt på 100-tals sidor med flera tusen besökare om dagen har man råd att betala för ett riktigt webbhotell.

Med det sagt måste jag dock säga att jag på senare tid har fått anledning att ändra åsikt. Visst är one.com fortfarande det billigaste och enklaste webbhotellet, det har inte ändrats. Det är bara det att WordPress inte längre fungerar på one.com. Efter lite efterforskning kom jag fram till att det berodde på att one.com har för lite minne tilldelat per hemsida. Jag har pratat med supporten på one.com och fått beskedet att de inte kan göra något åt detta just nu.

Att säga att det inte fungerar är kanske en överdrift. Lyckas du installera WordPress så är allt bra. Men räkna med att det inte kommer att fungera att uppdatera WordPress automatiskt eller ens manuellt. Det kan också uppstå problem om du har för många eller väldigt krävande plugins.

Tyvärr känner jag inte till några riktigt bra alternativ. Jag har dåliga erfarenheter av andra webbhotell i samma prisklass, t.ex. web10 och surftown. Binero är en smula dyrare men så mycket bättre att de två inte går att jämföra.