Yes, I believe it’s possible. Please take a look at the [pass] shortcode – right now its description is under Settings -> Custom Content -> Other.
For example, you could do something like this:
[pass field="field_name"]
[tminus t="{FIELD}"] .. [/tminus]
[/pass]
I will try this, I managed to do it with PHP but of course this will be better.
The issue is the “field_name” parameter will be the result of another plugin like [plugin foo=”bar”][/plugin] so I hope it works.
It didn’t work, that t- plugin is a stubborn one, maybe it is because of that…
It does sound tricky – when you say “field_name” is the result of another plugin, do you mean the field name is dynamic and can change? Theoretically, it’s possible to use nested pass, using [pass]..[/pass] first, then [-pass]..[/-pass] inside. Maybe it’s possible to pass a field value as parameter to the second pass..not sure if that would work.
You can confirm that the right field value is being passed:
[field field_name]
..or..
[pass field="field_name"]
{FIELD}
[/pass]
For example:
I’m getting the date from the database, and trying to pass that as a parameter to another plugin. I think the syntax is OK, but I might be using the wrong variable name, also I’m trying to format the date as well.
[raw][pass global="_GET" field="eventidpar"][loop type="pods_event" field="id_event" start="{FIELD}"][content field="date_event" date_format="d/m/Y"][field date_event][content field="title_event"][-pass datetime={DATE_EVENT} date_format="d/m/Y"][TS-VCSC-Countdown counter_scope="1" counter_interval="60" counter_date="{DATETIME}" reset_hours="0" reset_minutes="15" reset_seconds="0" reset_restart="true" date_zeros="false" date_days="true" date_hours="true" date_minutes="true" date_seconds="false" style="horizontal" border_thick="1" border_color="#dddddd" circle_width="5" color_background_basic="#f7f7f7" color_numbers_basic="#000000" color_text_basic="#000000" color_background_bars="#ffc728" color_numbers_bars="#ffffff" color_text_bars="#a76500" color_barback_bars="#a66600" color_barfore_bars="#ffffff" color_background_clock1="#000000" color_numbers_clock1="#ffffff" color_background_clock2="#000000" color_numbers_clock2="#00deff" color_dividers_clock2="#00deff" color_background_circles="#000000" color_numbers_circles="#ffffff" color_text_circles="#929292" color_circleback_all="#282828" color_circlefore_days="#117d8b" color_circlefore_hours="#117d8b" color_circlefore_minutes="#117d8b" color_circlefore_seconds="#117d8b" color_background_horizontal="#ffffff" color_flippers_horizontal="#ea9400" color_numbers_horizontal="#ffffff" color_text_horizontal="#929292" color_background_flipboard="#ffffff" column_equal_width="false" column_background_color="#f7f7f7" column_border_thick="1" column_border_color="#dddddd" margin_top="-50" margin_bottom="-50"]date passed: {DATETIME}[/-pass][/loop][/pass][/raw]
Woo, that is surely pushing the limit of what shortcodes can do. 🙂
OK, let me see if I can understand what you’re doing there..
[pass global="_GET" field="eventidpar"]
[loop type="pods_event" field="id_event" start="{FIELD}"]
[content field="date_event" date_format="d/m/Y"]
[field date_event]
[content field="title_event"]
[-pass datetime={DATE_EVENT} date_format="d/m/Y"]
[TS-VCSC-Countdown counter_date="{DATETIME}"...]
date passed: {DATETIME}
[/-pass]
[/loop]
[/pass]
1) You’re passing $_GET[‘eventidpar’] to the loop’s start parameter. That will check if the beginning of the field value matches. Is there a reason for using start instead of value?
2) I think the problem is how parameters are passed to [-pass]. This shortcode doesn’t have a date_format parameter. It should be something like this:
[-pass field="date_event"]
..and passed to the next:
counter_date="{FIELD}"
In a way, I think you might achieve the whole thing simpler by using PHP.
1) just a mistake it should be value for sure instead of start
2) I will try it that way
3) there is a strong need for an inline language for WordPress. I can use PHP (which I do for this case) debugging PHP is a huge pain in my neck. I use the Global Content Blocks plugin to inject PHP and it works fine, I just don’t think that a WordPress developer should drop to PHP to accomplish such simple tasks as passing parameters and doing loops, checking logic etc.
Did I miss something, is there an inline language plugin for WordPress?
Thank you by the way for taking time to reply me 🙂
Yes, I understand what you mean – there are some plugins I’ve seen that can be used to place PHP script inside posts, but I think many users want a simpler solution. Have you had a chance to look at the [load] shortcode? It can used to include template files, which may have shortcodes as well as PHP.
In a way, this plugin is becoming like a mini-language as you describe. It was not my original plan – at first I just needed to display one custom field, then some posts, and over time, the “vocabulary” grew. There are some limitations with the whole shortcode system: using brackets [] instead of a less common character; not able to nest shortcodes of the same name (that’s why there’s [loop], [-loop], [if], [-if]..); no simple way to avoid shortcode name conflict; etc. If I had a chance to design a language (!) from scratch, I would do it differently.
So far, shortcodes are flexible enough and easy to learn. They’re like “macros” in a way, to simplify common tasks. I myself use this plugin in every project, because it makes it very fast to write templates.
Anyway, please let me know how #2 goes. The question is, does the field date_event contain values with the right format to pass to TS-VCSC-Countdown.
You are correct!
Using load is an option that I can try instead of using the plugin Global Content Blocks.
Is there a standard for the files I can load?
For example can shortcodes, PHP and HTML co exist in a single file, if yes how, if no what is the correct workflow to use PHP, html and shortcodes?
And yes #2 did not work, exactly because of the format of the date…
Another question is can you pass more than 1 parameter to a shortcode?
Currently I’m using do shortcodes in php for complex parameter passing.
It’s funny but I rather use do shortcode in PHP and use PHP just for logic and data manipulation. Remote debugging is not the easiest thing for PHP, what is your favorite method of debugging remote PHP?
This has turned to be a very valuable information, I have to archive it 🙂
Tony
With [load], you can do something like this:
[load dir="views" file="template.html"]
And inside wp-content/views/template.html:
<h1>Example</h1>
..HTML with shortcodes..
<ul class="post-list">
[loop type="post" count="3"]
<li class="post-list-item">[field title] - [field date]</li>
[/loop]
</ul>
..as well as PHP..
<?php
$some_value = complexFunction();
echo do_shortcode('[code with="'.$some_value.'"]');
?>
I hope that helps!
For debugging, I set WP_DEBUG to true, and sometimes use Query Monitor.
Yes, you can pass more than one parameter:
[pass fields="first_field, second_field"]
[some_shortcode parameter="{FIRST_FIELD}" second="{SECOND_FIELD}"]
[/pass]
I use Query Monitor as well with WP_DEBUG to true…
The names of the fields passed are not important right, they can be anything like xyz1, xyz2?
I think loading files and editing them locally over SSH is the best way for inserting PHP and shortcodes…
Thanks a lot again, our conversation assured me that I’m on the right track and did not miss any information for my developments. 🙂
Tony
Sure, I enjoy these programming talks, to learn how people are doing things.
A more serious debug tool is Xdebug, although I haven’t used it much.
—
When passing multiple fields, the names of fields correspond to the “tags”:
[pass fields="xyz1, xyz2"]
Passing {XYZ1} and {XYZ2}
[/pass]
—
It depends on preference and need, but I like to have all my templates organized in wp-content/views folder, so I can edit them with a code editor instead of inside WP admin.
